A. Permit Required; Transfer Of Permit:
1. No person shall engage in or authorize any work or erect any structures, tanks, machinery, pipelines, or other appurtenances incident to the drilling of a well or drilling for or production of petroleum, natural gas, or their products; nor operate, maintain, or permit any equipment, structures or appurtenances incident to such production to exist or be maintained; nor allow any flow therefrom, without a permit having first been issued by the City in accordance with this chapter.
2. A permit is transferable to the person who acquires the legal right to produce oil or gas from the well in question, but notices served upon the record permittee shall be binding upon the transferee until such time as the transferee designates a new service agent. The transferee shall notify the City in writing of the name and address of transferee and his service agent within ten (10) days of the effective date of the transfer.
B. Application And Filing Fee:
1. Every application for a permit to drill and operate a well, including a reentry to an abandoned well, shall be verified under oath and in writing, and signed by the applicant or some duly authorized person who may sign on the applicant's behalf.
2. The application shall be filed with the building official and be accompanied with a filing fee in the amount provided for in subsection 2-6B-17A of this Code in cash, money order, credit card or certified check.
3. A separate application shall be required for each well.
4. The application shall include the following:
a. Name and address of applicant.
b. Name and address of operator.
c. Date of application.
d. Legal description of the land.
e. Block map of the forty (40) acres surrounding the drill site, showing thereon the location of the proposed well in the center of the forty (40) acres and the location of all abandoned wells, all structures designed for the occupancy of human beings or animals, all easements of record, property boundaries, private roads to the well, all publicly owned fresh water wells within the forty (40) acres, and all facilities and equipment proposed to be used with the well. The map shall show the distances between the drill site and these items, and show a north arrow.
f. Name and address of the surface owners as shown by the tax rolls maintained in the county where the land is located, and of the mineral owners if different from the applicant.
g. Copy of the approved drilling permit from the State Corporation Commission and a copy of the staking plat.
h. Name and address of the service agent within the state upon whom service of process on behalf of the applicant may be made. In the case of a nonresident person, there shall be attached to the application a designation of a service agent who is a resident of the County, and a consent that service of summons may be made upon such person in any action to enforce any of the obligations hereunder.
i. A site plan with a specified scale showing the location of all structures, equipment, and appurtenances on the drilling site.
j. Location of mud pits, pollution prevention equipment, and fire equipment, together with a list of this equipment.
k. A written plan for disposal of deleterious substances produced during the drilling operations and any deleterious substances produced as a result of production from the well. This plan shall include the method of transportation for the deleterious substances and the name and location of the permitted disposal site, including a copy of the permit for the disposal site and a contract with the owner of the permitted site for the disposal of said deleterious substances; or in the alternative, provide proof of ownership of the permitted disposal site. The permittee shall provide monthly reports to the City of the amount of saltwater and other deleterious substances produced along with receipts for disposal of same.
C. Issuance; Conditions: The building official, within thirty (30) days after the filing of application for a permit to drill and operate a well, shall determine whether or not said application complies in all respects with the provisions of this chapter. Each permit issued under this chapter shall:
1. Comply with all provisions of this chapter.
2. Specify that the term of such permit shall be for a period of one year from the date of the permit, and for as long thereafter as the permittee is engaged in drilling operations with no ceasing of such drilling operations for more than thirty (30) days, or oil and gas is produced in commercial quantities from the well drilled pursuant to such permit; provided, that if at any time after discovery of oil or gas and the production thereof in commercial quantities, such production shall cease, the term shall not terminate if the permittee commences additional reworking operations within ninety (90) days thereafter. If the reworking operations result in the production of oil and gas, the permit shall continue so long thereafter as oil and gas is produced in commercial quantities from said well. In any event, continuation beyond one year from the date of issuance is contingent on renewal of the permit as set forth hereafter.
D. Termination: When a permit has been issued pursuant to this chapter, the same shall terminate and become inoperative without any action on the part of the City, unless, within ninety (90) days of the date of issuance, actual drilling of the well commences. If drilling operations or production cease for a period sufficient to make the well an "abandoned well" as defined in section 9-13-3 of this chapter, this abandonment shall operate to terminate and cancel the permit without any action on the part of the City, and it shall be unlawful thereafter to continue the operation of, or drilling of, such a well without the issuance of a new permit.
E. Renewal; Filing Of Application:
1. At least thirty (30) days prior to the anniversary of the issuance of the permit pursuant to this chapter, the City Clerk shall mail by certified mail a ratification to permittee that such permit must be renewed in accordance with the provisions of this subsection.
2. On or before the anniversary of the issuance of the permit each year, the permittee shall file an application for renewal of the base permit previously granted. Such application shall include the following:
a. Cash, money order, credit card, or certified check as a renewal fee in the amount specified in subsection 2-6B-17B of this Code.
b. A statement of amendments as to any factual issues which have changed from the facts set forth in the initial application.
c. Evidence that all bonds and insurance remain in force, or have been replaced with equivalent new bonds and insurance.
3. The application for renewal may be submitted through the mail or in person. Failure to make the required application for renewal shall suspend all rights to drill, produce, or inject, but shall not be construed to terminate the base permit until after the time required to make the well an abandoned well, and all such operations are offenses and forbidden until the renewal is issued.
4. The City shall notify the permittee by letter within thirty (30) days thereafter that the base permit has been extended, or that the base permit has not been extended, for a period of one year. This notice of extension shall be maintained by the permittee with the permit and used as a supplement thereto for all purposes. In the event the permit is not renewed, the permittee shall immediately cease all drilling and production operations and diligently proceed to plug the well. (Ord. 2018-04, 1-4-2018)