22-6-1 Definitions
22-6-2 Secretary – powers and duties generally; department records open to public; inspectors
22-6-3 Findings and orders of inspectors concerning violations; determination of reasonable time for abatement; extensions of time for abatement; special inspections; notice of findings and orders
22-6-4 Review of findings and orders by director; special inspection; annulment, revision, etc., of order; notice
22-6-5 Requirements for findings, orders and notices; posting of findings and orders; judicial review of final orders of director
22-6-6 Permit required for well work; permit fee; application; soil erosion control plan
22-6-7 Water pollution control permits; powers and duties of the director; penalties
22-6-8 Permits not to be on flat well royalty leases; legislative findings and declarations; permit requirements
22-6-9 Notice to property owners
22-6-10 Procedure for filing comments; certification of notice
22-6-11 Review of application; issuance of permit in the absence of objections; copy of permits to county assessor
22-6-12 Plats prerequisite to drilling or fracturing wells; preparation and contents; notice and information furnished to coal operators, owners or lessees; issuance of permits; performance bonds or securities in lieu thereof; bond forfeiture
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
22-6-14 Plats prerequisite to introducing liquids or waste into wells; preparation and contents; notice and information furnished to coal operators, owners or lessees and director; issuance of permits; performance bonds or security in lieu thereof
22-6-15 Objections to proposed drilling of deep wells and oil wells; objections to fracturing; notices and hearings; agreed locations or conditions; indication of changes on plats, etc.; issuance of permits
22-6-16 Objections to proposed drilling or converting for introducing liquids or waste into wells; notices and hearings; agreed location or conditions; indication of changes on plats, etc.; issuance of permits; docket of proceeding
22-6-17 Objections to proposed drilling of shallow gas wells; notice to chair of review board; indication of changes on plats; issuance of permits
22-6-18 Protective devices — When well penetrates workable coal bed; when gas is found beneath or between workable coal beds
22-6-19 Same — Continuance during life of well; dry or abandoned wells
22-6-2a Oil and gas inspectors qualifications and salary
22-6-20 Same — When well is drilled through horizon of coalbed from which coal has been removed
22-6-21 Same — Installation of fresh water casings
22-6-22 Well report, logs, core samples, and cuttings to be filed; confidentiality and permitted use; authority to promulgate rules; reporting of production data for horizontal wells
22-6-23 Plugging, abandonment and reclamation of well; notice of intention; bonds; affidavit showing time and manner
22-6-24 Methods of plugging well
22-6-25 Introducing liquid pressure into producing strata to recover oil contained therein
22-6-26 Performance bonds; corporate surety or other security
22-6-27 Cause of action for damages caused by explosions
22-6-28 Supervision by director over drilling and reclamation operations; complaints; hearings; appeals
22-6-29 Operating permit and processing fund; special reclamation fund; fees
22-6-30 Reclamation requirements
22-6-31 Preventing waste of gas; plan of operation required for wasting gas in process of producing oil; rejection thereof
22-6-32 Right of adjacent owner or operator to prevent waste of gas; recovery of cost
22-6-33 Restraining waste
22-6-34 Offenses; penalties
22-6-35 Civil action for contamination or deprivation of fresh water source or supply; presumption
22-6-36 Declaration of oil and gas notice by owners and lessees of coal seams
22-6-37 Rules, orders and permits remain in effect
22-6-38 Application of article; exclusions
22-6-39 Injunctive relief
22-6-40 Appeal from order of issuance or refusal of permit to drill or fracture; procedure
22-6-41 Appeal from order of issuance or refusal of permit for drilling location for introduction of liquids or waste or from conditions of converting procedure
22-6-29a Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund
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Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 22 > Article 6 - Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement

  • 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.
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
  • Casing: means a string or strings of pipe commonly placed in wells drilled for natural gas or petroleum or both. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Cement: means hydraulic cement properly mixed with water. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Chair: means the chair of the West Virginia shallow gas well review board as provided for in section four, article eight, chapter . See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Chief: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, or his or her designee, who is also the chief executive officer of an office, division or section within the department. See West Virginia Code 22-1-2
  • 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
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • 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.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Deep well: means any well other than a shallow well or coalbed methane well, drilled to a formation below the top of the uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group". See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • 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
  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
  • 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.
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Expanding cement: means any cement approved by the office of oil and gas which expands during the hardening process, including, but not limited to, regular oil field cements with the proper additives. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Facility: means any facility utilized in the oil and gas industry in this state and specifically named or referred to in this article or in article eight or nine of this chapter, other than a well or well site. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • 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 in this section. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. 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
  • 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
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • 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
  • 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: 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
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • 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
  • Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Review board: means the West Virginia Shallow Gas Well Review Board as provided for in section four, article eight, chapter . See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Secretary: 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
  • Shallow well: means any gas well, other than a coalbed methane well, drilled no deeper than one hundred feet below the top of the "Onondaga Group": Provided, That in no event may the "Onondaga Group" formation or any formation below the "Onondaga Group" be produced, perforated or stimulated in any manner. 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
  • Stimulate: means any action taken by a well operator to increase the inherent productivity of an oil or gas well, including, but not limited to, fracturing, shooting or acidizing, but excluding cleaning out, bailing or workover operations. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • 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
  • 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