When any well drilled through a workable coal bed is abandoned, it shall at that time be plugged to a point forty (40) feet below the lowest workable coal bed, in the following manner: The hole shall be filled with mud, clay or other nonporous material from the bottom to a point twenty (20) feet above the top of the lowest oil, gas or water-bearing strata, or a permanent bridge shall be anchored thirty (30) feet below its lowest oil, gas or water-bearing strata, and from this bridge it shall be filled with mud, clay or other nonporous material to a point twenty (20) feet above the strata, at which point there shall be placed a plug of cement or other suitable material that will completely seal the hole. Between this sealing plug and a point twenty (20) feet above the next higher oil, gas or water-bearing strata, the hole shall be treated in a like manner and at that point there shall be placed another suitable plug, that will completely seal the hole. In a like manner the hole shall be filled and plugged, or bridged, filled and plugged, with reference to each of its oil, gas or water-bearing strata. Whenever such strata are not widely separated and are free from water, they may be grouped and treated as a single productive stratum. After plugging all strata, a final plug shall be anchored approximately ten (10) feet below the bottom of the largest casing in the well and from that point to the surface the well shall be filled with mud, clay or other nonporous material.
Effective: October 1, 1942
History: Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky.
Stat. sec. 3766b-13.