A. When it appears that a person is violating or threatening to violate any provision of this article, or a rule, regulation or order made pursuant to this article, and such person fails or refuses, on notice by the commissioner, to desist from such violation or threat of violation, the commissioner may bring an action in the superior court where the offending person resides, or in the county in which violation is alleged to have occurred or is threatened, to restrain the person from continuing the violation or from carrying out a threat of violation.

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 27-524

  • Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • commissioner: means the oil and gas conservation commission. See Arizona Laws 27-501
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Gas: means natural gas, casinghead gas, all other hydrocarbons not defined as oil, carbon dioxide and helium or other substances of a gaseous nature. See Arizona Laws 27-501
  • Illegal product: means any product derived, in whole or in part, from illegal oil or gas. See Arizona Laws 27-501
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Oil: means crude petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at a well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the result of condensation of gas. See Arizona Laws 27-501
  • Owner: means the person having the right to drill into, produce and appropriate production of oil or gas, or both, from a pool. See Arizona Laws 27-501
  • Person: includes a corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary or representative or any group acting as a unit and includes any department, agency or instrumentality of the state or any of its governmental subdivisions. See Arizona Laws 27-501
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
  • Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
  • Well: includes any hole drilled or spudded in for the purpose, with the intention or under the representation of penetrating oil or gas bearing strata or of penetrating any strata in search of stratigraphic data pertinent to the location of oil or gas bearing strata, whether or not in either case oil or gas is actually discovered, any hole used in connection with the underground storage of hydrocarbon substances, whether liquid or gaseous, any hole used in connection with a process to inject any substance for purposes of disposal or to increase recovery, any hole used for the purpose of secondary or tertiary recovery and any hole used for the purpose of pressure maintenance. See Arizona Laws 27-501
  • Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215

B. The commissioner may without bond obtain a prohibitory or mandatory injunction, including a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, and, where appropriate, an injunction restraining defendant from moving or disposing of illegal oil or gas or illegal product. Upon filing the action, summons directed to such person may be delivered to the sheriff of any county in this state for service.

C. If the commissioner fails to bring action within ten days to enjoin a threatened or actual violation of any statute relating to conservation of oil and gas, or of any provision of this article, or a rule, regulation or order made pursuant to this article, any person or party in interest adversely affected by the threatened or actual violation who has notified the commissioner in writing thereof and requested the commissioner to file the action may bring the action in the superior court of any county in which the commissioner might have brought the action to prevent the threatened or actual violation. The commissioner shall be made a party to the action.

D. If the court orders that injunctive relief be granted, then the commissioner shall be substituted for the person who brought the action, and the injunction shall issue as if the commissioner had at all times been plaintiff.

E. The owner or operator is responsible for the full cost of plugging each dry or abandoned well. If the owner or operator fails to properly plug and abandon the well, the commission may:

1. Forfeit the bond and use the money for that purpose.

2. Sue the owner or operator for costs in excess of the amount of the bond and the owner or operator is liable for that amount.

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