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15-71-115. Abandoned and Orphaned Well Plugging Fund.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
15-71-115. Abandoned and Orphaned Well Plugging Fund.
(a) There is created on the books of the Treasurer of State, the Auditor of State, and the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State a special revenue fund to be known as the “Abandoned and Orphaned Well Plugging Fund”.
(b)(1) The fund shall receive funds from:
(A) Fees assessed by the Oil and Gas Commission;
(B) Forfeited bonds;
(C) Proceeds from the sale of hydrocarbons and production equipment located at the site of abandoned and orphaned wells;
(D) Grants and gifts from private and public sources; and
(E) Any other revenue as may be authorized by law.
(2) All moneys collected under the fund shall be deposited into the State Treasury to the credit of the fund as special revenues.
(c)(1) The fund shall be used by the commission to:
(A) Make expenditures through contracts to plug abandoned and orphaned wells and to remediate associated production facilities;
(B) Award grants to landowners to plug abandoned and orphaned wells and to remediate associated production facilities; and
(C) Make expenditures for emergency repairs to wells or production facilities endangering the public health and safety.
(2) Expenditures from the fund may be authorized by the commission through contracts or grants for the payment of plugging costs or the cost of performing corrective work as follows:
(A) If after the commission gives the well operator notice and hearing and finds that an abandoned well must be plugged, that a leaking well must be plugged, replugged, or repaired, or that a well site must be restored and the well operator fails to perform the required plugging, replugging, repair, or restoration work within the time frame prescribed in the commission order, the commission may authorize fund expenditures to
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 15-71-115
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Record provenance
Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:15-71-115
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.15.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 9a55233c1da5faca6f240042742399c6cd7fb442459c51701f28d7d50c298864
Source location: content.xml paragraph 23430
Stored source content
15-71-115. Abandoned and Orphaned Well Plugging Fund.
(a) There is created on the books of the Treasurer of State, the Auditor of State, and the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State a special revenue fund to be known as the “Abandoned and Orphaned Well Plugging Fund”.
(b)(1) The fund shall receive funds from:
(A) Fees assessed by the Oil and Gas Commission;
(B) Forfeited bonds;
(C) Proceeds from the sale of hydrocarbons and production equipment located at the site of abandoned and orphaned wells;
(D) Grants and gifts from private and public sources; and
(E) Any other revenue as may be authorized by law.
(2) All moneys collected under the fund shall be deposited into the State Treasury to the credit of the fund as special revenues.
(c)(1) The fund shall be used by the commission to:
(A) Make expenditures through contracts to plug abandoned and orphaned wells and to remediate associated production facilities;
(B) Award grants to landowners to plug abandoned and orphaned wells and to remediate associated production facilities; and
(C) Make expenditures for emergency repairs to wells or production facilities endangering the public health and safety.
(2) Expenditures from the fund may be authorized by the commission through contracts or grants for the payment of plugging costs or the cost of performing corrective work as follows:
(A) If after the commission gives the well operator notice and hearing and finds that an abandoned well must be plugged, that a leaking well must be plugged, replugged, or repaired, or that a well site must be restored and the well operator fails to perform the required plugging, replugging, repair, or restoration work within the time frame prescribed in the commission order, the commission may authorize fund expenditures to plug, replug, or repair the well or wells and to restore the well site in accordance with commission rules; and
(B) If the abandoned well or well site operator cannot be identified or located for purposes of notice and hearing, the commission may administratively determine the well or well site to be orphaned, as defined by commission rules, and may authorize expenditures from the fund to plug the orphaned well and restore the orphaned well site.
(d) The fund may be used by the commission to provide security in the event an oil or gas well operator fails to perform plugging responsibilities under the provisions of § 15-72-217 or fails to correct well conditions that create an imminent danger to the health or safety of the public or threaten significant environmental harm or damage to property.
Cross-references
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
15-72-217. Plugging dry or abandoned well by lessee or operator.
(a) All lessees or operators drilling or operating for crude oil or natural gas within the State of Arkansas shall immediately, in a practical and workmanlike manner under the supervision of the oil or gas inspector, as provided in this section, plug all dry holes or abandoned oil or gas wells in accordance with Oil and Gas Commission plugging rules.
(b)(1) If after notice and a hearing the commission finds that a well drilled for the exploration, development, storage, or production of oil or gas, or as injection, salt water disposal, salt water source, brine injection or disposal has been abandoned, as defined by the commission, or is leaking salt water, oil, gas, or other deleterious substances into any fresh water formation or onto the surface of the land in the vicinity of the well, or creates an imminent danger to the health or safety of the public, the commission shall issue an order that the well be properly plugged, replugged, or repaired to remedy the situation.
(2)(A) If the well operator fails to obey the order within the time set by the order, the commission may:
(i) Authorize a person to enter upon the land on which the well is located and plug, replug, or repair the well, as may be reasonably required to remedy the condition; or
(ii)(a) Transfer the well, the well-site equipment, or any hydrocarbons from the well that are stored on the well site.
(b) “Well-site equipment” includes without limitation an associated tank battery and production facility equipment.
(B) Any proceeds received from the transfer of a well, well-site equipment, or hydrocarbons from the well under subdivision (b)(2)(A) of this section shall be deposited in the Abandoned and Orphaned Well Plugging Fund.
(3
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 15-72-217
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 15-72-217. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.