By: Brown S.B. No. 638
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the responsibility for the plugging of an oil or gas
1-2 well.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subdivision (2), Subsection (a), Section 89.002,
1-5 Natural Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (2) "Operator" means a person who assumes
1-7 responsibility [is responsible] for the physical operation and
1-8 control of a well as shown by a form the person files with the
1-9 commission and the commission approves [at the time the well is
1-10 about to be abandoned or ceases operation]. In [However, in] the
1-11 event of a sale or conveyance of an unplugged well or the right to
1-12 operate an unplugged well, a person ceases being the operator for
1-13 the purpose of Section 89.011 only if the well [that has ceased
1-14 operation, but that] was in compliance with commission rules
1-15 [applicable to such wells that have ceased operation] at the time
1-16 of sale or conveyance and[, the term "operator" for the purpose of
1-17 determining plugging responsibility shall not mean the person who
1-18 sells or conveys the well or right to operate the well, once] the
1-19 person who acquires the well or right to operate the well:
1-20 (A) specifically identifies the well as a well
1-21 for which the person [it] assumes plugging responsibility on [such]
1-22 forms [as may be] required and approved by the commission [and such
1-23 filings are approved by the commission];
2-1 (B) has a commission-approved organization
2-2 report as required by Section 91.142 of this code;
2-3 (C) has a commission-approved bond or other form
2-4 of financial security under Sections 91.103-91.107 covering the
2-5 well [or is eligible for a nonrefundable annual fee of $100 as
2-6 provided by Sections 91.104(b)(1)-(3) and Section 91.107 of this
2-7 code]; and
2-8 (D) places the well in compliance with
2-9 commission rules.
2-10 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 89.011, Natural Resources
2-11 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-12 (b) The duty of a person to plug an unplugged well that has
2-13 ceased operation ends only if the person's interest in the well is
2-14 sold or conveyed while the well is in compliance with rules of the
2-15 commission applicable to wells that have ceased operation and the
2-16 provisions of Sections 89.002(a)(2)(A)-(D) [of this code] have been
2-17 met. The person acquiring the seller's interest through such a
2-18 sale or conveyance succeeds the seller as the operator of the well
2-19 for the purpose of plugging responsibility only if [once] the
2-20 provisions of Sections 89.002(a)(2)(A)-(D) [of this code] have been
2-21 met.
2-22 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-2 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-3 passage, and it is so enacted.