Ohio Code 1509.12 – Defective wells and well plugging
(A)(1) No person shall construct or operate a well, that causes damage to other permeable strata, underground sources of drinking water, or the surface of the land or that threatens the public health and safety or the environment.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 1509.12
- Bond: includes an undertaking. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Gas: means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons that are not oil, including condensate. See Ohio Code 1509.01
- Oil: means crude petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced in liquid form by ordinary production methods, but does not include hydrocarbons that were originally in a gaseous phase in the reservoir. See Ohio Code 1509.01
- Person: includes any political subdivision, department, agency, or instrumentality of this state; the United States and any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof; any legal entity defined as a person under section 1. See Ohio Code 1509.01
- Well: means any borehole, whether drilled or bored, within the state for production, extraction, or injection of any gas or liquid mineral, excluding potable water to be used as such, but including natural or artificial brines and oil field waters. See Ohio Code 1509.01
(2) No owner of a well shall permit a well to leak fluids or gases.
(3) Upon the discovery that the casing in a well is defective or that a well was not adequately constructed, the person that owns the well or that is responsible for the well shall notify the chief of the division of oil and gas resources management within twenty-four hours of the discovery, and shall immediately repair the casing, correct the construction inadequacies, or plug and abandon the well.
(B) When the chief finds that a well should be plugged, the chief shall issue an order to the person that owns the well or that is responsible for the well to plug the well and shall specify in the order a reasonable time within which to comply. No person shall fail or refuse to plug a well within the time specified in the order. Each day on which such a well remains unplugged thereafter constitutes a separate offense.
Where the plugging method prescribed by rules adopted pursuant to section 1509.15 of the Revised Code cannot be applied or if applied would be ineffective in carrying out the protection that the law is meant to give, the chief may designate a different method of plugging. The abandonment report shall show the manner in which the well was plugged.
(C) In case of oil or gas wells abandoned prior to September 1, 1978, the board of county commissioners of the county in which the wells are located may submit to the electors of the county the question of establishing a special fund, by general levy, by general bond issue, or out of current funds, which shall be approved by a majority of the electors voting upon that question for the purpose of plugging the wells. The fund shall be administered by the board and the plugging of oil and gas wells shall be under the supervision of the chief, and the board shall let contracts for that purpose, provided that the fund shall not be used for the purpose of plugging oil and gas wells that were abandoned subsequent to September 1, 1978.
Last updated September 10, 2021 at 5:28 PM