A. The following drilling practice requirements shall apply:
1. Storage and circulation of all drilling fluids shall be confined to steel tanks or lined mud pits. All sump pits and reserve pits shall also be lined pits or tanks in order to protect the groundwater.
2. All cuttings and fluids removed from circulating pits shall be confined to lined pits or tanks at the discretion of the authority and be removed from the location upon completion of the well.
3. The location shall be constructed with an adequate concrete lined cellar. Provisions shall be made to permit "jetting" the cellar during drilling operations.
4. Sufficient mud weight to obtain a hydrostatic pressure of at least five hundred pounds psi or greater than expected pressure must be acquired prior to drilling below twelve thousand feet or below the strawn formation.
5. No well shall be drilled below the base of the strawn or twelve thousand feet until the oil and gas inspector authorizes further drilling, unless the original permit was granted for a depth greater than the base of the strawn or twelve thousand feet.
6. Sufficient weight material, lost circulation material and all other necessary chemicals shall be stored on the location as to permit rebuilding the mud system in case of lost circulation or other unanticipated mud losses.
7. After reaching a depth below the base of the strawn formation or twelve thousand feet, all well drilling permittees shall have two tool pushers employed and assigned to the rig in order that one tool pusher shall be on duty at all times during drilling operations.
B. Internal combustion engines or electrical equipment may be used in the drilling operations of the well, and if an internal combustion engine is used mufflers shall be installed on engines so as to reduce noise to a minimum, all of such installations to be done in a manner satisfactory to the oil and gas inspector. For production purposes, only electric power may be used, except that whenever electric power is unavailable, impractical or it becomes economically more feasible for an internal combustion engine to be used, then such an engine may be used for production purposes upon the issuance of a permit therefor by the oil and gas inspector. Drilling operations must be conducted in such a manner that percolating of groundwater will not be adversely affected including the prevention of vertical movement of percolating water.
C. All oil and gas drilling and production operation shall be conducted in such a manner as to minimize, so far as practicable, dust, noise, vibration or noxious odors, and shall be in accordance with the best accepted practices incident to drilling for and the production of oil, gas and other hydrocarbon substances. Proven technological improvements in drilling and production methods shall be adopted as they may become, from time to time, available, if capable of reducing factors of nuisance and annoyance. There shall be no venting of gas into the open air except in cases of emergency. In such cases, the permittee shall immediately notify the police department.
D. Except in cases of emergency, no materials, equipment, tools or pipe used for production operations shall be delivered to or removed from the site except between the hours of seven a.m. and eight p.m. on any day.
E. Adequate firefighting apparatus and supplies as approved by the fire department shall be maintained on the drilling site at all times during drilling and production operations. No refining process or any process for the extractions of products from natural gas shall be carried on at the drill site for the separation of liquids from natural gas. Any such separator shall serve only one well.
F. The well site shall not be used for the storage of pipe, equipment or materials except during the drilling or servicing of the well or the production facilities allowed on the site.
G. No refinery, dehydrating or absorption plant of any kind shall be constructed, established or maintained on the premises at any time. This shall not be deemed to exclude a simple gas separation process.
H. All operations relative to the design, installation, maintenance and operation of pipelines shall conform to the requirements of this chapter, the applicable codes and the standards of performance of the reasonable and prudent operators of the trades involved.
I. Pipeline location markers shall be approved, as to type and location, by the oil and gas inspector and the removal of any pipeline marker without the express permission of the oil and gas inspector shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
J. Pipelines crossing certain thoroughfares, designated by the oil and gas inspector, shall be eased and vented in accordance with accepted practice of the pipeline industry. (Ord. 415 Exh. A (part), 1998)