When a permit has been issued for the drilling of an oil or gas well or both, each well operator shall run and permanently cement a string of casing in the hole through the fresh water bearing strata in such a manner and to the extent provided for in rules promulgated by the director in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-6-21

  • Casing: means a string or strings of pipe commonly placed in wells drilled for natural gas or petroleum or both. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Cement: means hydraulic cement properly mixed with water. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Director: means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection as established in article one of this chapter or other person to whom the secretary has delegated authority or duties pursuant to sections six or eight, article one of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Gas: means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not defined as oil in this section. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Oil: means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoirs. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • operator: means any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation that proposes to or does locate, drill, operate or abandon any well as herein defined. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Owner: when used with reference to any well, shall include any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation that owns, manages, operates, controls or possesses such well as principal, or as lessee or contractor, employee or agent of such principal. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1
  • Well: means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction or injection or placement of any liquid or gas, or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction or injection or placement. See West Virginia Code 22-6-1

No oil or gas well shall be drilled nearer than two hundred feet from an existing water well or dwelling without first obtaining the written consent of the owner of such water well or dwelling.