As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) “Active mining area” means the area within two hundred (200) feet surrounding current mine works under development, inclusive of the area of five (5) year projections, as indicated on the annually filed mine license map.
(2) “Barrel” or “barrel of oil” means forty-two (42) standard United States liquid measure gallons of two hundred thirty-one (231) cubic inches per gallon, computed at a temperature of sixty (60) degrees Fahrenheit.
(3) “Casing” means a string or strings of pipe commonly placed in wells drilled for natural gas and petroleum.
(4) “Cement” means hydraulic cement properly mixed with water only.
(5) “Coal operator” means any person who proposes to or does operate a coal mine.
(6) “Cubic feet of gas” means the volume of gas contained in one (1) cubic foot of space at a standard pressure base of fourteen and seventy-three hundredths (14.73) pounds per square inch and a temperature base of sixty (60) degrees Fahrenheit.
(7) “Department” means the Department for Natural Resources.
(8) “Directional survey” means a survey performed while drilling using continuous measuring technology, a survey made through drilling tools, or other surveys at such intervals to accurately determine the location of the deviated wellbore.
(9) “Gas” means natural gas.
(10) “Gas well” means any well which:
(a) Produces natural gas not associated or blended with crude petroleum oil any time during production; or
(b) Produces more than ten thousand (10,000) cubic feet of natural gas to each barrel of crude petroleum oil from the same producing horizon.
(11) “Inclination survey” means a survey performed to measure deviation from the true vertical, irrespective of direction, expressed in degrees.
(12) “NAD 83” means the North American Datum, 1983 version, using feet units. (13) “Oil” means petroleum.
(14) “Oil well” means any well which produces one (1) barrel or more of oil to each ten thousand (10,000) cubic feet of natural gas.
(15) “Plat” means a map, drawing, or print showing the location of a well.
(16) “Single Zone Projection” means the Kentucky Single Zone State Plane Coordinate System of 1983, based on Lambert Conformal Conic map projection with double standard parallels on the North American Datum, 1983 version, as established in 10
KAR 5:010.
(17) “True vertical” means the orientation of the well at ninety degrees (90°) from the horizontal plane at the surface elevation.
(18) “Unit” means any tract or tracts which the department has determined is underlaid by a pool or pools of oil and associated gas, and is not a “drilling unit” as defined in KRS § 353.510(19).
(19) “Well” means a borehole drilled or proposed to be drilled for the purpose of producing natural gas or petroleum, or one through which natural gas or petroleum is being produced.
(20) “Well operator” means any person who proposes to or does locate, drill, operate, or abandon any well.
(21) “Workable bed” means:
(a) A coal bed actually being operated commercially;
(b) A coal bed that the department decides can be operated commercially and the operation of which can reasonably be expected to commence within not more than ten (10) years; or
(c) Any coal bed that, from outcrop indication or other definite evidence, proves to the satisfaction of the department to be workable and, when operated, will require protection if wells are drilled through it.
Effective: June 25, 2009
History: Amended 2009 Ky. Acts ch. 79, sec. 14, effective June 25, 2009. — Amended
2005 Ky. Acts ch. 123, sec. 63, effective June 20, 2005. — Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 431, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1994. — Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. sec. 3766b-5.