For the purpose of this article, all technical or oil and gas industry words or phrases used herein and not specifically defined herein shall have that meaning customarily attributed to them by the oil and gas industry. The following words and terms, wherever and whenever used or appearing in this article, shall have the scope and meaning hereinafter defined and set out in connection with each:
Applicant.
Any person who applies for a drilling permit hereunder.
Approved, approved type or approved design.
Improvements, equipment or facilities of a type or design approved by the code enforcement administrator.
Building code.
The ordinance of the city known by that title and all amendments thereto.
Building permit.
The permit of the city known by that title and all amendments thereto.
Code enforcement administrator.
The public works director for the city or his successor.
Completion of drilling.
Means that work at the well site for drilling or completing the well is permanently suspended.
Derrick.
Any structure, improvement, equipment, machinery or facility, and each and every part thereof, whether completed or not, and which is required or used or useful for or in connection with drilling, operating, or maintaining a well for the production of oil, gas, or other hydrocarbons from the earth, together with all parts of and appurtenances to such structure, improvement, equipment, or facility, including but not limited to foundations and sills therefor, pump houses, engine houses, or housing, pipe-racks, postings, walkways, mud-ditches, and crown block.
Designated agent.
The designated agent of the applicant or permittee.
Diligence.
Means that the drilling derrick is in its operating position over the well, and that an operating crew is on duty at the drill site at all reasonable times.
Drill site.
The premises used during the drilling and subsequent life of a well or wells, which is necessary for the safe operation thereof.
Drilling.
Entry onto the site with equipment and/or personnel for the specific purpose of actually opening a well hole intended to produce oil or gas.
Erect.
To build, construct, install, assemble, put together, improve, alter, move, reconstruct, restore, renovate, renew or repair any building, structure, improvement or facility, or any part or portion thereof or foundations therefor, or appurtenance thereto, whether or not such building, structure, improvement or facility is completed, or to work upon or in any way assist in such erection.
Flammable liquids.
Oil and other fluid hydrocarbons, including liquefied gases or other flammable liquids, having a flash point below two hundred (200) degrees Fahrenheit. The flash point of all commodities shall be determined by standards established by the United States Bureau of Standards. All tests shall be in accordance with the methods adopted by the American Society for Testing Materials, and approved by the American Standards Association, or their successors.
Gas.
The gaseous components or vapors occurring in or derived from petroleum or natural gas.
Lessee.
The possessor of the right to explore and recover minerals from the premises.
Lessor.
The owner of mineral rights.
Maintain.
To repair, or otherwise keep or place in working condition, and also to permit, or authorize to exist, regardless of whether any actual maintenance work is done. For the purposes of this article, an oil well, well-hole, derrick and production equipment shall be deemed to be “maintained” upon the premises in and upon which the same were or are being drilled, erected or installed until the following tasks are accomplished:
(1) 
Every part of such derrick shall be removed from the drill site.
(2) 
All requirements for abandonment established by the state and any other regulatory authority having jurisdiction must be met.
(3) 
All sumps, cellars, rotary mud, concrete, oil and rubbish must be removed and the drill site cleaned and all ditches must be defleveled.
(4) 
All property of the city which may have been disturbed or damaged by the operations at the drill site shall be repaired and cleaned as needed and restored to substantially the same condition as existed at the time of issuance of the permit.
(5) 
Reworking an existing well.
Maintenance.
The reworking, repair and replacement of parts of a structure when the repair or replacement does not alter or lessen the strength or stability of the structure.
Occupied structure.
Includes only those structures that are regularly occupied by persons at least twenty (20) hours per week.
Oil.
Petroleum and other fluid hydrocarbons obtained from the earth.
Operate.
To work or act upon, or to cause or permit natural or artificial forces to function in connection with, any structure, plant, equipment, machinery, or facility with the purpose of utilizing the same for the purpose for which it was or is erected or maintained, or for any other purpose, and when used with reference to a well, well-hole, derrick or production equipment means and includes any acts or functions performed or permitted to occur in connection with such well, well-hole, derrick or production equipment from and after the completion of the drilling of the well, for the purpose of producing or obtaining oil, gas, or other hydrocarbons from the ground, and for the purpose of collecting and handling the same and making deliveries thereof at the well or from the shipping tanks or lease tanks in the vicinity of the well. “Operate” includes all functions performed or permitted to occur in connection with such production, collection, handling and delivery, including the repair, reconditioning, restoration, perforating, redrilling or deepening of said well or well-hole, and the dehydration or cleaning of said oil prior to making such deliveries as aforesaid.
Operator.
The person, whether owner, lessee, or independent contractor, actually in charge and in control of the drilling, maintenance, operation or pumping of a well or lease.
Owner.
A person who has legal or equitable title to the surface of the drill site.
Permit or drilling permit.
The written, typed or printed permission issued to an applicant by the code enforcement administrator under the authority of this article.
Permittee.
Any person to whom a permit has been granted and issued under and pursuant to the terms of this article by the code enforcement administrator.
Person.
An individual; a receiver; a trustee; a partnership; a joint venture; a firm; an unincorporated association; a syndicate; a club; a society; a trust; a private corporation; a public corporation; a municipal corporation; a county, state, or national government; a commission; a water district; a utility district; a political subdivision; and a drainage, irrigation, levee, reclamation, flood control, or water conservation district, whether acting for himself or itself or in any representative capacity.
Production equipment.
Pumping equipment, tubing, pipes, gauges, meters, valves, oil and gas separators, sumps, flow tanks, production tanks, shipping tanks, lease tanks, shipping pumps, loading racks and all other structures, machinery, equipment and facilities used for production.
Redrilling.
The deepening of an existing well or otherwise drilling beyond the extremities (to the side) of the existing well casing. The provisions of this article relating to drilling shall be equally applicable to redrilling.
Structure.
That which is built or constructed; a tank, edifice, or building of any kind.
Suspended operations.
The approved temporary suspension of drilling or redrilling operations pending a resumption of operations or abandonment.
Tank.
A container, covered, used in conjunction with the drilling or production of a well, for holding or storing liquids at or near atmospheric pressure.
Well head.
Is composed of the bradenhead, Christmas tree and all well connections.
(1999 Code, sec. 4.201)
Any person as herein defined violating any provision of this article shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine as provided for in the general penalty provision found in section 1.01.009 of this code. Each separate day or any portion thereof during which any violation of this article occurs or continues shall be deemed to constitute a separate offense, and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable as herein provided. The issuance or granting of a permit or approval of plans and specifications shall not be deemed or construed to be a permit for, or an approval of, any violation of any of the provisions of this article. The penalties provided for herein shall not limit the right of the city to seek injunctive relief to enforce the terms of this article.
(1999 Code, sec. 4.238)
(a) 
(1) 
Any person, lessor, or lessee owning mineral rights beneath any property outside the city limits, but within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city, may enter into a drill site designation agreement or surface use agreement with the surface owner designating the location of drill sites and routes for ingress and egress if such designation meets the criteria for drill sites contained within this article and is approved by the code enforcement administrator and placed of record in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the site is located. Thereafter, the person, lessor, or lessee may apply for a drilling permit at such site without further regard for drill site location.
(2) 
Any person, lessor, or lessee owning mineral rights beneath any undeveloped property within the city limits may enter into a drill site designation agreement or surface use agreement with the surface owner designating the location of drill sites of no less than five (5) acres each, and routes for ingress and egress, if such designation meets the criteria for drill sites contained within this article and is approved by the code enforcement administrator and placed of record in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the site is located. Thereafter, the person, lessor, or lessee may apply for a drilling permit at such site without further regard for drill site location setbacks as set out in this article provided drilling and other operations are carried on within the designated sites and locations set out in the agreement of surface use agreement.
(b) 
The surface owner, or the surface owner's heirs and assigns, shall show the location of such drill sites and access routes on any plat or subdivision of the surface as notice to the public of such site or sites. Copies of such agreements and plats shall be filed with the city.
(c) 
The person, lessor, or lessee owning mineral rights beneath any undeveloped property within the city limits who has entered into a drill site designation agreement or surface use agreement with the surface owner of an undeveloped tract may, with the agreement of the surface owner, amend such agreement or agreements by relocating such drill sites and other designations provided the size of the drill sites are never smaller than five (5) acres and the amended site continues to meet the setback requirements of this article. Such amendment shall be recorded and any plat showing the original drill sites shall be amended to reflect the relocated drill sites and routes for ingress and egress and pipelines. A copy of the recorded amendment and/or plat shall be furnished the city.
(1999 Code, sec. 4.235)
No drill site or production site shall ever be smaller than a square the sides of which shall each be at least three hundred sixty feet (360’). No permits for construction of any structure will be granted within such 360-foot square unless such construction is related to the drilling or production activity of a permittee.
(1999 Code, sec. 4.236)
(a) 
Location.
All pipelines and related facilities erected or maintained by the permittee within the city shall be located as to cause minimum interference with the proper and intended use of the streets, easements, and alleys and to cause minimum interference with the rights or reasonable convenience of the owners or occupiers of property which adjoins any of said streets, easements, and alleys. Such pipelines shall not be laid parallel to any street, easement, or alley.
(b) 
Cutting of street surface.
No surface of any paved street shall be cut or disturbed by a permittee in laying, constructing, maintaining, operating, using, extending, removing, replacing, or repairing any flowline, gathering line or other pipeline without prior notice to the code enforcement administrator. If the code enforcement administrator is of the opinion that such proposed cut or disturbance of a paved street surface could not be timely and satisfactorily repaired or restored, the city may require the permittee's proposed work to be performed by tunneling under such paved surface rather than by cutting same.
(c) 
Restoration of street.
The surface of any street, easement, or alley disturbed by the permittee in laying, constructing, maintaining, operating, using, extending, removing, replacing, or repairing shall be restored by the permittee immediately after the completion of the work, at its cost and expense, to as good a condition as before the commencement of the work and maintained by the permittee to the satisfaction of the city for one (1) year from the date of completion of such restoration work. No street shall be encumbered by construction, maintenance, removal, restoration, or repair work by permittee for a longer period than shall be necessary to execute such work. If, in the opinion of the city council, there is an unreasonable delay by the permittee in restoring and maintaining streets after such excavations or repairs have been made, the city shall have the right without further notice to restore or repair the same and to require the permittee to pay the reasonable cost of such restoration or repair.
(d) 
Relocation.
Whenever, by reason of the construction, repair, maintenance, relocation, widening, raising, or lowering of the grade of any street by the city or by the location or manner of construction, reconstruction, maintenance, or repair of any public property, structure, or facility by the city, it shall be deemed necessary by the city for the permittee to move, relocate, change, alter or modify any of its facilities or structures, such change, relocation, alteration, or modification shall be promptly made by the permittee, at its cost and expense, when directed in writing to do so by the city, without claim for or right of reimbursement of cost or damages against the city. In the event the permittee, after such notice, fails or refuses to commence, pursue, or complete such relocation work within a reasonable time, the city shall have the authority, but not the obligation, to remove or abate such structures or facilities and to require the permittee to pay to the city the reasonable cost of such removal or abatement, all without compensation or liability for damages to the permittee.
(e) 
Approval of plans and specifications.
The permittee shall provide plans and specifications for all pipeline construction within streets, easements, and alleys to the code enforcement administrator for review and approval at least thirty (30) days prior to the start of construction. This provision shall apply to each construction sequence if the construction is accomplished in phases. Such plans shall not include any above-ground structures, except vent pipes if required by the railroad commission.
(1999 Code, sec. 4.237)