353.180 Requirements for plugging abandoned well -- Bids -- Remedy for possessor
429 words·~2 min read·
/ky/353-180A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
of adjacent land or for department.
(1)No person shall abandon or remove casings from any oil or gas well, either dry or
producing, without first plugging the well in a secure manner approved by the
department and consistent with its administrative regulations. Upon the
department's plugging of an abandoned well in accordance with the requirements of
this subsection, the department may sell, by sealed bid, or include as part of
compensation in the contract for the plugging of the well, all equipment removed
from that well and deposit the proceeds of the sale into the oil and gas well plugging
fund, established in KRS 353.590(27).
(2)Not less than thirty
(30)days before advertising for bids for the plugging of wells,
the department shall publish, in a newspaper of general circulation, and in locally
published newspapers serving the areas in which the wells proposed for plugging
are located, notices of all wells on which there is salvageable equipment, described
as to farm name and Carter Coordinate location, for which the department intends to
seek bids for plugging. If a person other than the operator claims an interest in the
equipment of a well proposed for plugging, he shall provide documentation of that
interest to the department within thirty
(30)days of the date of publication of the
notice of the department's intent to plug a well. Prior to the department's advertising
of bids for the plugging of a well, the department shall release the well's equipment
to the person deemed to have an interest in that equipment and it shall be the duty of
the interest holder to remove the equipment before the well is plugged. If
documentation as to an asserted interest is not provided to the department in the
manner described in this subsection or a person deemed to be an interest holder fails
to remove the equipment before a well is plugged, the department may sell or
otherwise dispose of the equipment in accordance with this subsection.
(3)If a person fails to comply with subsection
(1)of this section, any person lawfully in
possession of land adjacent to the well or the department may enter on the land
upon which the well is located and plug the well in the manner provided in
subsection
(1)of this section, and may maintain a civil action against the owner or
person abandoning the well, jointly or severally, to recover the cost of plugging the
well. This subsection shall not apply to persons owning the land on which the well
is situated, and drilled by other persons.