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]. The commission may not
1-11 require a person to assume responsibility for a well as a condition
1-12 to being permitted to assume responsibility for another well. In
1-13 [However, in] the event of a sale or conveyance of an unplugged
1-14 well or the right to operate an unplugged well, a person ceases
1-15 being the operator for the purpose of Section 89.011 only if the
1-16 well [that has ceased operation, but that] was in compliance with
1-17 commission rules relating to safety or the prevention or control of
1-18 pollution [applicable to such wells that have ceased operation] at
1-19 the time of sale or conveyance and[, the term "operator" for the
1-20 purpose of determining plugging responsibility shall not mean the
1-21 person who sells or conveys the well or right to operate the well,]
1-22 once the person who acquires the well or right to operate the well:
1-23 (A) specifically identifies the well as a well
2-1 for which the person [it] assumes plugging responsibility on [such]
2-2 forms [as may be] required and [by the commission and such filings
2-3 are] approved by the commission;
2-4 (B) has a commission-approved organization
2-5 report as required by Section 91.142 [of this code];
2-6 (C) has a commission-approved bond or other form
2-7 of financial security under Sections 91.103-91.107 covering the
2-8 well [or is eligible for a nonrefundable annual fee of $100 as
2-9 provided by Sections 91.104(b)(1)-(3) and Section 91.107 of this
2-10 code]; and
2-11 (D) places the well in compliance with
2-12 commission rules.
2-13 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 89.011, Natural Resources
2-14 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-15 (b) The duty of a person to plug an unplugged well that has
2-16 ceased operation ends only if the person's interest in the well is
2-17 sold or conveyed while the well is in compliance with rules of the
2-18 commission relating to safety or the prevention or control of
2-19 pollution [applicable to wells that have ceased operation] and the
2-20 provisions of Sections 89.002(a)(2)(A)-(D) [of this code] have been
2-21 met. The person acquiring the seller's interest through such a
2-22 sale or conveyance succeeds the seller as the operator of the well
2-23 for the purpose of plugging responsibility once the provisions of
2-24 Sections 89.002(a)(2)(A)-(D) [of this code] have been met.
2-25 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
S.B. No. 638
3-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-6 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 638 passed the Senate on
March 13, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on April 27, 1997, by a
viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 638 passed the House, with
amendment, on April 25, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor