West Virginia Code 22-6-32 – Right of adjacent owner or operator to prevent waste of gas; recovery of cost
If the owner or operator of any such well shall neglect or refuse to drill, case and equip, or plug and abandon, or shut in and conserve from waste the gas produced therefrom, as required to be done and performed by the preceding sections of this article, for a period of twenty days after a written notice so to do, which notice may be served personally upon the owner or operator, or may be posted in a conspicuous place at or near the well, it shall be lawful for the owner or operator of any adjacent or neighboring lands or the director to enter upon the premises where such well is situated and properly case and equip such well, or, in case the well is to be abandoned, to properly plug and abandon it, or in case the well is wasting gas, to properly shut it in and make such needed repairs to the well to prevent the waste of gas, in the manner required to be done by the preceding sections of this article; and the reasonable cost and expense incurred by an owner or operator or the director in so doing shall be paid by the owner or operator of such well and may be recovered as debts of like amount are by law recoverable.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-6-32
- 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
- Gas: means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not defined as oil in this section. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- Oil: means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoirs. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- 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
- Waste: means (i) physical waste, as the term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry. 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 director may utilize funds and procedures established pursuant to section twenty-nine of this article for the purposes set out in the section. Amounts recovered by the director pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the oil and gas reclamation fund established pursuant to section twenty-nine of this article.