It shall be unlawful and deemed an offense for any person, acting either for himself or herself or as agent, employee, independent contractor or servant of any other person, to commence to drill, drill or operate any well within the city, or to work upon or assist in any way in the prosecution or operation of any well without a permit for the drilling and operation of the well having first been issued by the authority of the City Council.
(A) Limitation. A separate permit shall be issued for the drilling of each oil and gas well.
(B) Application and filing fee.
(1) Every application for a permit to drill and operate a well shall be in writing, signed by the applicant or by some person duly authorized to sign same on his or her behalf, and shall be filed with the City Secretary and be accompanied by a filing fee of $1,500 in cash. Application shall include full information, including the following:
(a) The date of the application;
(b) The name of the applicant;
(c) The address of the applicant;
(d) Proposed site of well, including:
1. Name of mineral owner;
2. Name of lease owner; and
3. Brief description of land.
(e) Type of derrick to be used;
(f) The proposed depth of the well; and
(g) A drilling permit from the State Railroad Commission.
(2) However, the City Council may, at its discretion, waive the filing fee of $1,500 provided for herein. In addition to the permit fee, the applicant shall reimburse the city for professional fees the city incurs from its engineer or attorney reviewing the application.
(C) Issuance of permit. The City Council, within 20 days after the filing of the application for a permit to drill and operate an oil and/or gas well, shall determine whether or not the application complies in all respects with the provisions of this subchapter and state law, and if it does, the City Council shall then fix the amount of the principal of the required bond and insurance. After the determination, the Council shall issue a permit for the drilling and operation of the proposed well.
(D) Content of permit.
(1) Each permit issued under this subchapter shall:
(a) By inference have incorporated therein all the provisions of this subchapter with the same force and effect as if this subchapter were copied in the permit verbatim;
(b) Specify the well location with particularity to lot number, block number, name of addition or subdivision or other available direct legal descriptions;
(c) Contain and specify that terms of the permit shall be for a period of one year from the date of the permit, and as long thereafter as the permittee is engaged in drilling operations with no cessation of the operations for more than 90 days; or oil or gas is produced in commercial quantities from the well drilled pursuant to the permit; provided that, if at any time after the discovery of oil or gas, the production thereof in commercial quantities shall cease, the permit shall not terminate if the permittee shall commence additional reworking operations resulting in the production of oil or gas within 90 days thereafter, for so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in commercial quantities from the well;
(d) Contain and specify the conditions as are authorized by this subchapter;
(e) Specify the total depth to which the well may be drilled, not exceeding the projected depth;
(f) Contain and specify that no actual operation shall be commenced until the permittee shall file and have approved an indemnity bond in the designated principal amount as so determined by the City Council and conditioned as specified by § 53.37; and
(g) Require that permittee be compelled to set surface casing at not less than 750 feet depth and cement by circulation from top to bottom, and exercise other necessary precautions to protect the city water supply source from contamination.
(2) The permit, in two originals, shall be signed by the City Secretary and, prior to delivery to the permittee, shall be signed by the permittee (with one original to be retained by the city and one by the permittee); and when so signed shall constitute the permittee’s drilling and operation license and the contractual obligation of the permittee to comply with the terms of the permit and the bond and this subchapter.
(E) Refusal or withdrawal of permit. If the permit for an oil and/or gas well be refused, or if the applicant notifies the City Council in writing that he or she does not elect to accept the permit as tendered and wishes to withdraw his or her application, or if the bond of the applicant be not approved and the applicant shall notify the City Council that he or she wishes to withdraw his or her application, then, upon the happening of these events, the cash deposit provided for and filed with the application shall be returned to the applicant, except for $300 which shall be retained therefrom by the city as a processing fee.
(F) Termination of permit. When a permit shall have been issued under the provisions of this subchapter, the same shall terminate and become inoperative without any action on the part of the city unless actual drilling of the well shall have commenced within 90 days. The cessation of the drilling operation or the cessation of the production of oil or gas from the well after production shall have commenced for a like period shall operate to terminate and cancel the permit. The well shall be considered as abandoned for all purposes of this subchapter, and it shall be unlawful thereafter to continue the operation or drilling of the well without the issuance of another permit.
(G) Revocation of permit. The City Council, at any regular or special session or meeting thereof, may, providing ten-days’ notice has been given to the permittee that the revocation is to be considered at the meeting, revoke or suspend any permit under this subchapter under which drilling or producing operations are being conducted in the event that the permittee thereof has violated any provisions of the permit, the bond or applicable provision of this subchapter, state law or city ordinances, rules or regulations. In the event that the permit be revoked, the permittee may make application to the City Council for a re-issuance of the permit, and the action of the City Council thereon shall be final.
(Ord. 106, passed 2-19-1980; Am. Ord. 2010-007, passed 7-20-2010) Penalty, see § 10.99