Senate Bill No. 710
(By Senators Fanning and Foster)
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[Introduced February 18, 2008; referred to the Committee on
Energy, Industry and Mining.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §22-21-20 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the elimination of the
requirement for spacing consent from coal entities along
horizontal sections of coalbed methane wells; and requiring
the coalbed methane well permit applicant to plug the well, at
the necessary time, in a manner that will meet all state and
federal requirements for mine-through of the targeted coal
seam.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-21-20 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 21. COALBED METHANE WELLS AND UNITS.
§22-21-20. Spacing.
No coalbed methane well may be drilled closer than one hundred
feet of the outermost boundary of the coalbed methane tract, leased premises, or unit from which coalbed methane is or will be produced
or within one thousand six hundred linear feet of the
surface
location of an existing well or a proposed well for which a permit
application is on file, unless all owners and operators of any
affected workable coal seams agree in writing:
Provided, That for
horizontal wells, agreement from the affected workable coal seam
owners and operators of the nonvertical sections of the well is not
required, but the well operator is required as a condition of the
permit to plug or otherwise condition the well, at any time in the
future as may be necessary, in a manner that meets all applicable
federal and state requirements for mine-through of the targeted
seam. Affected workable coal seams for purposes of this section
shall be are those which will be penetrated or those seams more
than twenty-eight inches in thickness from which production is
targeted. Spacing shall otherwise be as provided in a pooling order
issued by the chief, an order establishing special field rules or
an order issued by the review board.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the requirement
for spacing consent from coal entities along horizontal sections of
coalbed methane wells while requiring the coalbed methane well
permit applicant to plug the well, in a manner that meets state and
federal requirements for mine-through of the targeted coal seam.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.