West Virginia Code 22-6-9 – Notice to property owners
(a) No later than the filing date of the application, the applicant for a permit for any well work shall deliver by personal service or by certified mail, return receipt requested, copies of the application, well plat and erosion and sediment control plan required by section six of this article to each of the following persons:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-6-9
- 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
- Gas: means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not defined as oil in this section. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Plat: means a map, drawing or print showing the location of a well or wells as herein defined. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- 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
- Well work: means the drilling, redrilling, deepening, stimulating, pressuring by injection of any fluid, converting from one type of well to another, combining or physically changing to allow the migration of fluid from one formation to another or plugging or replugging of any well. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
(1) The owners of record of the surface of the tract on which the well is, or is to be located; and
(2) The owners of record of the surface tract or tracts overlying the oil and gas leasehold being developed by the proposed well work, if such surface tract is to be utilized for roads or other land disturbance as described in the erosion and sediment control plan submitted pursuant to section six of this article.
(b) If more than three tenants in common or other coowners of interests described in subsection (a) of this section hold interests in such lands, the applicant may serve the documents required upon the person described in the records of the sheriff required to be maintained pursuant to section eight, article one, chapter eleven-a of this code, or publish in the county in which the well is located or to be located a Class II legal advertisement as described in section two, article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, containing such notice and information as the director shall prescribe by rule, with the first publication date being at least ten days prior to the filing of the permit application: Provided, That all owners occupying the tracts where the well work is, or is proposed to be located at the filing date of the permit application shall receive actual service of the documents required by subsection (a) of this section.
(c) Materials served upon persons described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall contain a statement of the methods and time limits for filing comments, who may file comments and the name and address of the director for the purpose of filing comments and obtaining additional information and a statement that such persons may request, at the time of submitting comments, notice of the permit decision and a list of persons qualified to test water as provided in this section.
(d) Any person entitled to submit comments shall also be entitled to receive a copy of the permit as issued or a copy of the order denying the permit if such person requests the receipt thereof as a part of the comments concerning said permit application.
(e) Persons entitled to notice may contact the district office of the division to ascertain the names and location of water testing laboratories in the area capable and qualified to test water supplies in accordance with standard accepted methods. In compiling such list of names the division shall consult with the state bureau of public health and local health departments.