West Virginia Code 22-6-13 – Notice to coal operators, owners or lessees and director of intention to fracture certain other wells; contents of such notice; bond; permit required
Before fracturing any well the well operator shall, by registered or certified mail, forward a notice of intention to fracture such well to the director and to each and every coal operator operating coal seams beneath said tract of land, who has mapped the same and filed such maps with the office of miners' health, safety and training in accordance with chapter twenty-two-a of this code, and the coal seam owner and lessee, if any, if said owner of record or lessee of record has recorded the declaration provided in section thirty-six of this article, and if said owner or lessee is not yet operating said coal seams beneath said tract of land.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-6-13
- Coal operator: means any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation that proposes to or does operate a coal mine. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- Director: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection as established in article one of this chapter or other person to whom the secretary has delegated authority or duties pursuant to sections six or eight, article one of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- Division: means the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Office: means any office, division, board, agency, unit, organizational entity or component thereof within the Department of Environmental Protection. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
- operator: means any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation that proposes to or does locate, drill, operate or abandon any well as herein defined. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- Owner: when used with reference to any well, shall include any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation that owns, manages, operates, controls or possesses such well as principal, or as lessee or contractor, employee or agent of such principal. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- Person: means any natural person, corporation, firm, partnership, partnership association, venture, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary or other representative of any kind, and includes any government or any political subdivision or any agency thereof. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- Well: means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction or injection or placement of any liquid or gas, or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction or injection or placement. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
The notice shall be addressed to the director and to each such coal operator at their respective addresses, shall contain the number of the drilling permit for such well and such other information as may be required by the director to enable the division and the coal operators to locate and identify such well and shall inform them that such notice is being mailed to them, respectively, by registered or certified mail, pursuant to the requirements of this article. The form for such notice of intention shall be furnished on request by the director.
If no objections are made, or are found by the director to such proposed fracturing within fifteen days from receipt of such notice by the director, the same shall be filed and become a permanent record of such fracturing, subject to inspection at any time by any interested person, and the director shall forthwith issue to the well operator a permit reciting the filing of such notice, that no objections have been made by the coal operators, or found thereto by the director, and authorizing the well operator to fracture such well. Unless the director has objections to such proposed fracturing, such permit shall be issued prior to the expiration of such fifteen-day period upon the obtaining by the well operator of the consent in writing of the coal operator or operators, owners or lessees, if any, to whom notice of intention to fracture shall have been mailed as herein required, and upon presentation of such written consent to the director. The notice above provided for may be given to the coal operator by delivering or mailing it by registered or certified mail as above to any agent or superintendent in actual charge of mines.