All drilling and operation at any well performed by a permittee under this article shall be conducted in accordance with the best practices of the reasonably prudent operator. All casing, valves, and blowout preventers, drilling fluid, tubing, bradenhead, Christmas tree, and wellhead connections shall be of a type and quality consistent with the best practices of such reasonably prudent operator. Setting and cementing casing and running drill stem tests shall be performed in a manner and at a time consistent with the best practices of such reasonably prudent operation. Each permittee under this article shall observe and follow the recommendations and/or regulations of the American Petroleum Institute and the RRC.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-163; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-14), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
No construction activities involving excavation of, alteration to, or repair work on any access road or pad site shall occur except between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Truck deliveries of equipment and materials associated with drilling and/or production, Well servicing, site preparation and other related work conducted on the well site shall be limited to the hours between 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. except in cases of fires, blowouts, explosions and any other emergencies or where the delivery of equipment is necessary to prevent the cessation of drilling or production. Fracturing operations and flaring shall be limited to the hours between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm.
(Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
All engines on any drill site or production equipment shall have adequate mufflers and spark arrestors. No drilling rig or derrick shall remain at the drill site for a period longer than thirty (30) days after completion, abandonment, or reworking of the well. The permittee shall keep a watchman or workman on premises at all times from commencement of drilling until the well is abandoned and plugged or completed as a producer and enclosed with a fence.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-161; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-12), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
(a) 
Drilling mud, cuttings, liquid hydrocarbons and all other field waste derived or resulting from or connected with the drilling, reworking or deepening of any well shall be discharged into aboveground tanks (closed loop mud system) if the well bore is located within five hundred (500) feet of an occupied residential or commercial structure, or an existing church, public or private school, hospital, nursing home, college or university, daycare center or public athletic field, or domestic water well.
(b) 
Earthen pits may be used in connection with drilling and reworking operations located at a greater distance than five hundred (500) feet of an occupied residential or commercial structure, or an existing church, public or private school, hospital, nursing home, college or university, daycare center or public athletic field or domestic water well. Any earthen pits shall, as a minimum requirement, be lined with six (6) inches of bentonite clay and a plastic liner of eight (8) mil thickness. Such tanks or pits and contents shall be removed from the premises and the drilling site within thirty (30) days after completion of the well. Removal of the tanks or pits and contents shall be accomplished in such a manner as will preclude any possible contamination of underground and percolating water.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-162; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-13), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
The premises of the drill site and the storage facility for production from the well under this application/permit shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition free from rubbish of every character, to the satisfaction of the city manager, at all times drilling operations are being conducted, and as long thereafter as oil and/or gas is being produced therefrom. Any litter, trash, or waste shall be cleared from the premises immediately, and any spills shall also be cleared immediately. All production equipment, including, but not limited to, pumping units, storage units, storage tanks, buildings, and structures on the site, shall be painted a neutral color and shall be maintained for appearance at all times. The permittee shall provide a sign no larger than eighteen (18) inches square and attached to the fence surrounding the well site, posting the name, address, and telephone number of a party in the city responsible for maintaining the site. It shall be unlawful for any permittee, his agent or employee to permit within the corporate limits of the city any mud, water, waste oil, slush or other waste matter from any slush pit, storage tank, or oil and/or gas well located within the corporate limits of the city, or from any premises within the city, developed or being developed for oil and/or gas purposes, to escape into the alleys, streets, lots, land or leases within the corporate limits of the city.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-164; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-15), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
Motive power for all operations after completion of drilling operations shall be electricity, or properly muffled gas, gasoline or diesel engines.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-165; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-16), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
(a) 
It shall be unlawful and an offense for any person to use, construct or operate, in connection with any producing well within the city limits, any crude oil storage tanks or produced water tanks, except to the extent of two (2) low-type steel tanks for oil storage, not exceeding five hundred (500) barrels’ capacity each and so constructed and maintained as to be vaportight with appropriate safety or pressure release devices and level control devices. A permittee may use, construct and operate a steel conventional separator, and such other steel tanks and appurtenances as are necessary for treating oil with each of such facilities to be so constructed and maintained as to be vaportight. Each oil, gas separator shall be equipped with both a regulation pressure relief safety valve and a bursting head. All such tanks shall be placed upon a suitable earth or concrete pad and shall be equipped with lightning arrestor systems.
(b) 
The tank or tanks shall be enclosed with a conventional type fire wall constructed of compacted earth; sufficient water shall be used during the fire wall construction to assure adequate compaction.
(c) 
The fire wall enclosing the tanks shall have a minimum capacity equal to two (2) times the volume of the tanks enclosed. Drip pots shall be provided at the pump out connection to contain the liquids from the storage tanks.
(d) 
The top or crown of the fire wall shall have a minimum height of three (3) feet above normal ground elevation.
(e) 
The tanks shall be recessed within the fire wall enclosure to such depth that will assure them being practically “sight clear” when viewed from without the fenced enclosure.
(f) 
The separators shall be installed for operation in a horizontal or vertical position, height not to exceed ten (10) feet above tank level.
(g) 
Any oil or gas produced may be transported outside of the city limits by underground pipelines.
(h) 
Each storage tank and/or separator shall be enclosed by a substantial cyclone fence a minimum of eight (8) feet in height and properly built so as to ordinarily keep persons and animals out of the enclosure, with all the gates thereto to be kept locked when the permittee or his employees are not within the enclosure.
(i) 
Any site that produces more than one barrel of condensate per day shall install a vapor recovery unit on the site.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-166; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-17), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
Any person who completes any well as a producer shall have the obligation to enclose such well, together with its surface facilities, by a substantial cyclone fence sufficiently high and properly built so as to ordinarily keep persons and animals out of the enclosure, with all gates to be kept locked when the permittee or his employees are not within the enclosure.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-167; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-18), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
All oil operations, drilling and production operations shall be conducted in such a manner as to eliminate, as far as practicable, dust, noise, vibration or noxious odors and shall be in accordance with the best accepted practices incident to exploration for, drilling for and production of oil, gas and other hydrocarbon substances. Proven technological improvements in exploration, drilling and production methods shall be adopted as they become, from time to time, available, if capable of reducing factors of nuisance and annoyance.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-168; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-19), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
(a) 
No permittee engaged in the drilling or operation of an oil and/or gas well within the corporate limits of the city shall permit gas to escape into the air, or flare or burn gas from a torch or any similar means within the corporate limits of the city; provided, gas may be burned for a limited time when necessary to complete an oil and/or gas well upon the original completion or upon the recompletion of workover jobs upon oil and/or gas wells, so long as the same does not constitute a fire hazard to the property of others within the vicinity of such oil and/or gas well. Such vent or open flame shall be screened with a flare bonnet or other similar device in such a way as to minimize detrimental effects to adjacent property owners. Operator shall provide notice to the fire marshal prior to any open flaring. No gas may be flared between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., except in case of an emergency.
(b) 
All material safety data sheets (MSDS) for all hazardous materials that will be located, stored, transported, and/or temporarily used on the operations site shall be kept on site. All hazardous materials shall be safely stored according to any applicable federal, state, or local laws, rules, and regulations. Adequate firefighting apparatus and supplies, approved by the fire department of the city shall be maintained on the drilling site at all times during drilling and production operations at the operator’s cost. The operator shall be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of such equipment. Each well shall be equipped with an automated valve that closes the well in the event of an abnormal change in operating pressure. All well heads shall contain an emergency shut-off valve to the well distribution line. Emergency personnel must have access to the site. All machinery, equipment, and installations on all drilling sites within the city limits shall conform with such requirements as may from time to time be issued by the fire department of the city.
(c) 
The fire marshal shall receive written notice from the applicant a minimum of one (1) week prior to commencing active drilling, and notified again upon termination of drilling activities. The applicant shall provide a copy of such notice to the city manager a minimum of one (1) week prior to commencing active drilling, and upon termination of drilling activities.
(d) 
If required by the RRC, equipment for the monitoring of hydrogen sulfide (“H2S”) gas shall be used during drilling.
(e) 
Within sixty (60) days after completion, and annually thereafter, operator shall submit to the city manager results of testing to determine the concentration of H2S produced from the well. If the results of the H2S testing proves to be 100 PPM H2S or greater, the operator is responsible for determining the 100 PPM H2S radius of exposure for each well and production facility. Wells and facilities where the concentration of H2S is equal to or greater than 100 PPM will be considered “sour.” Safety systems described herein must be approved by the fire marshal.
(1) 
The following safety alarms and equipment are required at the well site of all wells that are capable of producing at an average rate sustained over a three-month period of at least 125 barrels of oil per day and/or 300 MCF of gas per day and for “sour” wells whose 100 PPM H2S radius of exposure is greater than fifty (50) feet:
(A) 
H2S monitors located along the fencing;
(B) 
Automated audible alarms to provide warnings for a substantial drop in pressure or for the presence of H2S in concentrations greater than 100 PPM; and
(C) 
Automated valve to shut-in production from the well if a substantial drop in pressure or if the presence of H2S in concentrations greater than 100 PPM is detected.
(2) 
The following safety alarms and equipment are required at sour tank battery facilities that are capable of producing at an average rate sustained over a three-month period of at least 125 barrels of oil per day and/or 300 MCF of gas per day and for sour wells whose 100 PPM H2S radius of exposure is greater than fifty (50) feet:
(A) 
H2S monitors located along the fencing;
(B) 
Automated audible alarm to provide warnings for the presence of H2S in concentrations greater 100 PPM; and
(C) 
An electrical device capable of shutting down power to all “sour” wells producing into the battery in the event H2S in concentrations great than 100 PPM is detected.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-169; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-20), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
(a) 
Unless otherwise permitted by law, salt water disposal wells shall not be allowed or permitted within the corporate limits of the city.
(b) 
Permittee shall make adequate provisions for the disposal of all salt water or other impurities which he may bring to the surface. Such disposal shall be made in such manner as to not contaminate the fresh water supply, present or prospective, or to injure surface vegetation. The permittee shall promptly restore or make restitution for any damage caused by the permittee, intentional or accidental, of the water supply or surface vegetation at and adjacent to the drill site or oil/gas storage site.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-170; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-22), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
(a) 
At the written request of a surface owner to the permittee, a third party contractor shall collect and analyze a pre-drilling, a post-drilling, and a post-fracturing water analysis from any existing fresh water wells within three hundred (300) feet of an oil and gas well. The cost of such analysis fees and charges assessed by the third party contractor shall be borne by the permittee.
(b) 
Well samples shall be collected and analyzed prior to any drilling activity to document baseline water quality data of the well. A post-drilling sample shall be collected and analyzed after the conclusion of drilling of each well. A post fracturing sample shall be collected and analyzed after the conclusion of each fracturing operation.
(Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)
Whenever any well is abandoned, it shall be the obligation of the permittee and the operator of the well to set a three hundred eighty-five (385) foot cement plug in the bottom of the surface casing with the bottom of the plug one hundred (100) feet below the surface casing section, and the top of the plug one hundred (100) feet above the surface casing section; and to set a fifty-foot cement plug in the top of the surface casing. No surface or conductor string of casing may be pulled or removed from a well. During initial abandonment operations it shall be the obligation of the permittee and the operator of the well to flood the well with mud-laden fluid weighing not less than ten (10) pounds per gallon, and the well shall be kept filled to the top with such mud-laden fluid at all times. Mud-laden fluid of the above specifications shall be left in the well bore below and between cement plugs. Any additional provisions or precautionary measures prescribed by the state, in connection with the abandonment and plugging of a well, shall be complied with by the permittee. The well site shall be restored to the original condition of the land, including any displaced landscaping and topsoil.
(1983 Code, sec. 14-171; Ordinance 8327, sec. 2 (19A-21), adopted 5/28/1982; Ordinance 2015-O0021 adopted 3/12/2015)