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SB710 SUB1 Senate Bill 710 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 710

(By Senators Fanning and Foster)

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[Originating in the Committee on Energy, Industry and Mining;

reported February 20, 2008.]

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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; clarifying spacing orders; 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 other order issued by the review board.

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(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.)

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