Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 18 > Chapter 5 > Part I - General Provisions

• abandoned waste site: means a landfill, land treatment area, pit, pond, lagoon, or other surface feature that is not actively used for oil and gas operations, whether or not declared "abandoned" under this Part, and which contains oilfield wastes, including such surrounding property necessary to contain and impound the site and to secure the area from access by the general public. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:73
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assistant secretary: means the assistant secretary of the office of conservation within the Department of Energy and Natural Resources or his authorized representatives. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bonds: means revenue bonds, notes, certificates, or other evidences of indebtedness issued by an issuer pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commission: means the Oilfield Site Restoration Commission. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Conservation of the State of Louisiana. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of the office of conservation within the Department of Energy and Natural Resources or his authorized representatives from the injection and mining division of that office. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:73
• Common disaster: A sudden and extraordinary misfortune that brings about the simultaneous or near-simultaneous deaths of two or more associated persons, such as husband and wife.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Energy and Natural Resources. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• 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}
• 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.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• 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.
• Fund: means the Oilfield Site Restoration Fund. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Gas: means all natural gas, including casinghead gas, and all other hydrocarbons not defined as oil in Paragraph (7) of this Section. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
• Issuer: means a public trust and public corporation organized and existing by, under, and pursuant to the provisions of Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Oil: means crude petroleum oil, and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well head in liquid form by ordinary production methods. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
• Orphaned oilfield site: means an oilfield site which has no continued useful purpose for the exploration, production, or development of oil or gas and which has been declared to be an orphaned oilfield site by the assistant secretary under Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means the person, including operators and producers acting on behalf of the person, who has or had the right to drill into and to produce from a pool and to appropriate the production either for himself or for others. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
• Person: means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, tutor, curator, executor, administrator, fiduciary, or representative of any kind. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Political subdivision: means a parish, municipality, and any other unit of local government, including a school board and a special district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:581
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Producing oilfield site: means an oilfield site which is associated with the production of oil or gas for at least six months of the preceding calendar year. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• 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.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Responsible party: means the operator of record according to the office of conservation records, who last operated the property on which the oilfield site is located at the time the site is about to be abandoned, ceases operation, or becomes an unusable oilfield site, and that operator's partners and working interest owners of that oilfield site. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Revenues: means the revenues described in Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Site restoration: means any and all oilfield site restoration activities required of a responsible party of an oil or gas property by regulations adopted by the office of conservation pursuant to this Subtitle, including without limitation plugging of oil and gas wells, pit closure, site remediation, and removal of oilfield equipment. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• 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.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Unusable oilfield site: means an oilfield site which has no continued useful purpose for the exploration, production, or development of oil or gas and for which a responsible party can be located. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• wastes: means those fluids, sludges, elements, or compounds defined or identified as oilfield wastes or non-hazardous oilfield wastes pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:73