1-1 By: Brown S.B. No. 638
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 18, 1997; February 20, 1997,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
1-4 February 27, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0;
1-6 February 27, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 638 By: Brown
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the responsibility for the plugging of an oil or gas
1-11 well.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Subdivision (2), Subsection (a), Section 89.002,
1-14 Natural Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-15 (2) "Operator" means a person who assumes
1-16 responsibility [is responsible] for the physical operation and
1-17 control of a well as shown by a form the person files with the
1-18 commission and the commission approves [at the time the well is
1-19 about to be abandoned or ceases operation]. In [However, in] the
1-20 event of a sale or conveyance of an unplugged well or the right to
1-21 operate an unplugged well, a person ceases being the operator for
1-22 the purpose of Section 89.011 only if the well [that has ceased
1-23 operation, but that] was in compliance with commission rules
1-24 [applicable to such wells that have ceased operation] at the time
1-25 of sale or conveyance and[, the term "operator" for the purpose of
1-26 determining plugging responsibility shall not mean the person who
1-27 sells or conveys the well or right to operate the well, once] the
1-28 person who acquires the well or right to operate the well:
1-29 (A) specifically identifies the well as a well
1-30 for which the person [it] assumes plugging responsibility on [such]
1-31 forms [as may be] required and approved by the commission [and such
1-32 filings are approved by the commission];
1-33 (B) has a commission-approved organization
1-34 report as required by Section 91.142 of this code;
1-35 (C) has a commission-approved bond or other form
1-36 of financial security under Sections 91.103-91.107 covering the
1-37 well [or is eligible for a nonrefundable annual fee of $100 as
1-38 provided by Sections 91.104(b)(1)-(3) and Section 91.107 of this
1-39 code]; and
1-40 (D) places the well in compliance with
1-41 commission rules.
1-42 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 89.011, Natural Resources
1-43 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-44 (b) The duty of a person to plug an unplugged well that has
1-45 ceased operation ends only if the person's interest in the well is
1-46 sold or conveyed while the well is in compliance with rules of the
1-47 commission applicable to wells that have ceased operation and the
1-48 provisions of Sections 89.002(a)(2)(A)-(D) [of this code] have been
1-49 met. The person acquiring the seller's interest through such a
1-50 sale or conveyance succeeds the seller as the operator of the well
1-51 for the purpose of plugging responsibility only if [once] the
1-52 provisions of Sections 89.002(a)(2)(A)-(D) [of this code] have been
1-53 met.
1-54 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-55 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-56 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-57 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-58 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-59 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-60 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-61 * * * * *