Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes > Chapter 349 - Coalbed Methane Development

• Abandoned: when used in connection with a well or hole means a well or hole which has never been used, or which, in the opinion of the department, will no longer be used for the production of coalbed methane or the injection or disposal of fluid therein. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Action: includes all proceedings in any court of this state. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney: means attorney-at-law. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Certified mail: means any method of governmental, commercial, or electronic delivery that allows a document or package to have proof of:
  (a) Sending the document or package. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• City: includes town. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Coal interest holder: means every record coal owner, record coal lessee, mine licensee as defined in KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• coal seam: means a seam of coal, whether workable or unworkable. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Coalbed methane: means gas produced from a reservoir found in a coalbed, a mined-out area, or gob. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Coalbed methane well: means any well drilled, deepened, converted, or reopened for the purpose of capturing coalbed methane for sale or use. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of the Department for Natural
  Resources. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Company: may extend and be applied to any corporation, company, person, partnership, joint stock company, or association. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Correlative rights: means the reasonable opportunity of each person entitled to recover, without waste, the coalbed methane in and under his or her tract or tracts, or the equivalent thereof. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department for Natural Resources. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Director: means the director of the Division of Oil and Gas as established in
  KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Division: means the Division of Mine Permits in the Department for Natural
  Resources. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, partnership, business trust, or limited liability company, means all those incorporated or formed by authority of this state. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Drilling unit: means the maximum area in a pool which may be drained efficiently by one (1) well so as to produce the reasonable maximum recoverable coalbed methane in the area. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Federal: refers to the United States. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Field rules: means rules established by orders of the review board relating to the drilling, completion, production of, and specifications for coalbed methane wells in a particular geographic area as defined by an order. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gob: means the de-stressed zone associated with any full-seam extraction of coal that extends above and below the mined-out coalbed. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• horizontal drilling: means the intentional act of drilling a borehole, shaft, or hole, which deviates from vertical for the purpose of penetrating a coal seam to produce coalbed methane. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Mine licensee: means the mine licensee as defined in KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Mine permittee: means the permittee as defined in KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Nonparticipating working interest owner: means a coalbed methane owner or lessee of a tract included in a drilling unit who elects to share in the operation of the coalbed methane well on a carried basis by agreeing to have his or her proportionate share of the costs allocable to his or her interest charged against his or her share of production from the coalbed methane well. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Operator: means any owner of the right to drill, develop, operate, and produce coalbed methane from a pool and to appropriate the coalbed methane produced therefrom, either for himself or herself, or for himself, herself, and others. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Other interested coalbed methane parties: means all working interest owners other than the operator, all royalty and overriding royalty interest owners or holders, and any other party who owns or holds a right or interest in a drilling unit, coalbed methane well site for which a drilling permit has been issued or is pending, and all associated equipment, facilities, infrastructure, and improvements. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Owner: when applied to any animal, means any person having a property interest in such animal. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Participating working interest owner: means a coalbed methane owner or lessee who elects to bear a share of the risks and costs of drilling, completing, equipping, operating, plugging, and abandoning a coalbed methane well equal to the proportion which the acreage in the drilling unit he or she owns or holds under lease bears to the total acreage of the drilling unit. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Person: means any person, corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, receiver, governmental agency subject to this chapter, trustee, so-called common law or statutory trust, guardian, executor, administrator, or fiduciary of any kind, federal agency, state agency, city, commission, political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or any interstate body. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Plat: means a map, drawing, or print showing the location of a well. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Registered mail: means any governmental, commercial, or electronic method of delivery that allows a document or package to have:
  (a) Its chain of custody recorded in a register to enable its location to be tracked. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Review board: means the Coalbed Methane Well Review Board. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stimulate: means any action taken to increase the flow of coalbed methane, or the inherent productivity of a coalbed methane well, including but not limited to fracturing, shooting, acidizing, or waterflooding, but excluding cleaning out, bailing, or workover operations. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Surface owner: means the person in whose name the surface of the land is assessed for purposes of taxes imposed according to the property valuation administrator. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Sworn: includes "affirmed" in all cases in which an affirmation may be substituted for an oath. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unit: means any tract or tracts which the department has determined are underlaid by a pool or pools of coalbed methane and are not drilling units as defined in subsection (10) of this section. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Unit operator: means the party designated in a pooling order to develop a unit by the drilling of one (1) or more coalbed methane wells. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Unitization: means the act of combining separately owned tracts or separate interests therein into a unit constituting all or some portion of a coalbed that produces or is capable of producing coalbed methane and the joint operation of that unit. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Vent hole: means a borehole, shaft driven, or hole dug, drilled, deepened, converted or reopened, which is used for the purpose of releasing or venting coalbed methane to the atmosphere and not for the purpose of capturing or producing coalbed methane for sale or use. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Venting: means the act of releasing coalbed methane to the atmosphere. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Violate: includes failure to comply with. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
• Well: means any borehole, shaft driven, or hole dug, drilled, deepened, converted or reopened for the purpose of capturing or producing coalbed methane for sale or use. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Workable coalbed: means :
  (a) Any coalbed twenty-four (24) inches or more in thickness. See Kentucky Statutes 349.010
• Year: means calendar year. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010