West Virginia Code 22-6B-2 – Definitions
In this article:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 22-6B-2
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(1) "Drilling operations" means the actual drilling or redrilling of a horizontal well commenced subsequent to the effective date of this article, and the related preparation of the drilling site and access road, which requires entry, upon the surface estate;
(2) "Horizontal drilling" means a method of drilling a well for the production of natural gas that is intended to maximize the length of wellbore that is exposed to the formation and in which the wellbore is initially vertical but is eventually curved to become horizontal, or nearly horizontal, to parallel a particular geologic formation;
(3) "Horizontal well" means any well site, other than a coalbed methane well, drilled using a horizontal drilling method, and which disturbs three acres or more of surface, excluding pipelines, gathering lines and roads, or uses more than two hundred ten thousand gallons of water in any thirty-day period;
(4) "Oil and gas developer" means the person who secures the drilling permit required by article six-a of this chapter;
(5) "Person" means any natural person, corporation, firm, partnership, partnership association, venture, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary or other representative of any kind, and includes any government or any political subdivision or agency thereof;
(6) "Surface estate" means an estate in or ownership of the surface of a particular tract of land overlying the oil or gas leasehold being developed; and
(7) "Surface owner" means a person who owns an estate in fee in the surface of land, either solely or as a co-owner.