(a) All sums received in payment of penalties assessed by the board pursuant to this part shall be placed in the state treasury in a separate account to be designated as the Tennessee board of water quality, oil and gas reclamation fund.

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 60-1-404

  • Board: means the Tennessee board of water quality, oil and gas created by §. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
  • 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.
  • Gas: means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not defined as oil, including condensate because it originally was in a gaseous phase in the reservoir. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
  • Oil: means crude petroleum that was originally in an oil phase in the reservoir. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
  • Operator: means any person who owns or is directly responsible for a business involved in some phase of the production, manufacture, refining or distribution of petroleum oil or natural gas. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) This fund shall be available to the board for expenditure for site protection and reclamation work on land and waters damaged by surface disturbances. The fund may be expended for such work following default and notice of forfeiture of bond, if the bond furnished by the operator is not sufficient to cover the cost of reclamation. It may also be expended for such work if the operations which caused the damage were not covered by the bond, including operations conducted before January 1, 1988.
(c) This fund shall also be available to the board for expenditure for the plugging of dry or abandoned wells. The fund may be expended for such work, following default and notice of forfeiture, if the bond furnished by the operator is not sufficient to cover the cost of plugging. It also may be expended to plug dry or abandoned wells not covered by a bond, including wells drilled before January 1, 1988.
(d) Any unencumbered or unexpended balance of this fund remaining at the end of any fiscal year together with any interest earned thereon shall not revert to the general fund, but shall be carried forward until expended for the purpose of site protection and reclamation or the plugging of dry or abandoned wells, as provided in this section.