A. No person shall commence any ground-disturbing activity for a well, gathering pipeline, geophysical exploration, or associated activity, facility, or structure without first having obtained from the Director a permit to conduct such activity. Every permit application or permit modification application filed with the Director shall be verified by the permit applicant and shall contain all data, maps, plats, plans, and other information as required by regulation or the Director.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 45.2-1631

  • Board: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Coal operator: means any person who operates or has the right to operate a coal mine. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Coal seam: includes a stratum of less than 20 inches in thickness if it (i) is being commercially worked or (ii) in the judgment of the Department could foreseeably be commercially worked and will require protection if a well is drilled through it. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Coalbed methane gas: means occluded natural gas produced from coalbeds and rock strata associated with it. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Coalbed methane gas well: means a well capable of producing coalbed methane gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Coalbed methane gas well operator: means any person who operates or has been designated to operate a coalbed methane gas well. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Gathering pipeline: means a pipeline that is used or intended for use in the transportation of gas or oil from the well to (i) a transmission pipeline regulated by the U. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Ground-disturbing: means any changing of land that could result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters, including clearing, grading, excavating, drilling, and transporting and filling of land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • map: means a map, drawing, or print showing the location of a well, mine, or quarry, or other information required under this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Mine: includes all of the land or property of the mining plant, including both the surface and subsurface, that is used in or contributes directly or indirectly to the mining, concentration, or handling of the mineral resources, including all roads. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Oil: means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Permittee: means any gas, oil, or geophysical operator holding a permit for gas, oil, or geophysical operations issued under authority of this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
  • Pipeline: means any pipe above or below the ground used or to be used to transport gas or oil. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
  • United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
  • Well: means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored, or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction, injection, or placement of any gaseous or liquid substance or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction, injection, or placement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600

B. For each permit issued on or after July 1, 1996, a new permit issued by the Director shall be issued only for the following activities: geophysical operations, drilling, casing, equipping, stimulating, producing, reworking an initially productive zone, plugging a well, or construction and operation of a gathering pipeline. An application for a new permit to conduct geophysical operations shall be accompanied by an application fee of $130. An application for a new permit for any other activity shall be accompanied by an application fee of $600.

C. For a permit issued prior to July 1, 1996, prior to commencing any reworking, deepening, or plugging of a well, or other activity not previously approved on the permitted site, a permittee shall first obtain a permit modification from the Director. Each application for a permit modification shall be accompanied by a permit modification fee of $300. For a permit issued on or after July 1, 1996, prior to commencing any new zone completion, a permittee shall first obtain a permit modification from the Director.

D. Every permit and all operations provided for under this section shall conform to the regulations and orders of the Director and the Board. If permit terms or conditions required or provided for under this article are in conflict with any provision of a conservation order issued pursuant to the provisions of Article 2 (§ 45.2-1613 et seq.), the terms or conditions of the permit shall control. In such event, the operator shall return to the Board for reconsideration of the conservation order in light of the conflicting permit. Every permittee shall be responsible for all operations, activities, or disturbances associated with the permitted site.

E. No permit or permit modification shall be issued by the Director until he has received from the applicant a written certification that (i) all notice requirements of this article have been complied with, together with proof thereof, and (ii) the applicant has the right to conduct the operations as set forth in the application and operations plan.

F. A permit is required to drill any coalbed methane gas well or to convert any methane drainage borehole into a coalbed methane gas well. In addition to the other requirements of this section, every permit application for a coalbed methane gas well shall include:

1. The method that the coalbed methane gas well operator will use to stimulate the well.

2. a. A signed consent from the coal operator of each coal seam that is located within (i) 750 horizontal feet of the proposed well location that the applicant proposes to stimulate or (ii) 100 vertical feet above or below a coal-bearing stratum that the applicant proposes to stimulate.

b. The consent required by this subsection may be (i) contained in a lease or other such agreement; (ii) contained in an instrument of title; or (iii) in any case where a coal operator cannot be located or identified and the operator has complied with § 45.2-1618, provided by a pooling order entered pursuant to § 45.2-1620 or 45.2-1622 if such order contains a finding that the operator has exercised due diligence in attempting to identify and locate the coal operator, contained in such order. The consent required by this subsection shall be deemed to be granted for any tract where title to the coal is held by multiple owners if the applicant has obtained consent to stimulate from the cotenants holding a majority interest in the tract and none of the coal cotenants has leased the tract for coal development. The requirement of signed consent contained in this subsection shall in no way be considered to impair, abridge, or affect any contractual rights or objections arising out of a coalbed methane gas contract or coalbed methane gas lease entered into prior to January 1, 1990, between the applicant and any coal operator or any extension or renewal thereto, and the existence of such lease or contractual arrangement and any extension or renewal thereto shall constitute a waiver of the requirement for the applicant to file an additional signed consent.

3. The unit map, if any, approved by the Board.

G. No permit that is required by this chapter for an activity to be conducted within an area of Tidewater Virginia where drilling is authorized under subsection B of § 45.2-1646 shall be granted until the environmental impact assessment required by § 45.2-1646 has been conducted and the assessment has been reviewed by the Department.

H. The applicant for a permit for a gathering pipeline, oil or gas well, or coalbed methane well shall identify in the permit application any cemetery, as identified on a United States Geological Survey topographic map or located by routine field review, within 100 feet of the permitted activity.

I. The operator of any coalbed methane well drilled within 250 feet of a cemetery shall comply with a written request of any person owning an interest in a private cemetery or the authorized agent of a public cemetery that the operator of such well suspend operations for a period from two hours before to two hours after any burial service that takes place on the surface area of such cemetery. However, if the well operator or a mine operator determines that such suspension of operations will have an adverse effect on the safety of the well operations or mining operations, the operator shall be under no obligation to comply with the request, and operation of the well shall continue.

1982, c. 347, § 45.1-311; 1985, c. 601; 1987, c. 452; 1988, c. 160, § 45.1-311.1; 1990, cc. 92, 967, § 45.1-361.29; 1994, c. 957; 1995, c. 269; 1996, c. 854; 1997, cc. 759, 765; 1998, c. 229; 2003, cc. 542, 550; 2008, c. 227; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.

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