For the purpose of this article, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them:
Any tract of land subject to an oil, gas, and/or mineral
lease or other oil and gas development contract, or any unit composed
of several tracts and/or leases but operated as one lease, and any
tract of land in which the minerals are owned by an operator or someone
holding under its or his administrators, executors, heirs, successors,
and/or assigns, but which, due to the free royalty ownership, is developed
and operated as a separate tract.
The person to whom a permit is issued for the drilling and
operation of a well under this article and his or its administrators,
executors, heirs, successors, and assigns shall be designated as the
permittee.
All technical or oil and gas industry words or phrases used
herein and not specifically defined herein shall have that meaning
customarily attributable thereto by prudent operators in the oil and
gas industry.
Any hole or holes, bore or bores, to any sand, formation,
strata, or depth for the purpose of producing and recovering any oil,
gas, liquid hydrocarbons, or any combination of them shall be designated
as a well.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
The city council shall appoint an oil and gas inspector if,
and when, the council deems it advisable, and compensation for same
shall be set by the council. Said inspector may be removed at the
will of the said council. It shall be the duty of the oil and gas
inspector to enforce the provisions of this article.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
Any violation of state law or any rules, regulations, or requirements
of any state or federal regulatory body having jurisdiction in reference
to drilling, completing, equipping, operating, producing, maintaining,
or abandoning an oil or gas well or related appurtenances, equipment,
or facilities; or in reference to fire walls, fire protection, blowout
protection, safety protection, or convenience or persons or property
shall also be deemed a violation of this article.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
(a)
Streets and alleys.
No oil and/or gas wells shall be
drilled, and no permit shall be issued for any well to be drilled,
at any location which is within any of the streets, alleys, or public
squares of the city. No street or alley shall be blocked or encumbered
or closed by any drilling or production operation except by special
permit by order of the city council, and then only temporarily.
(b)
Distance from residences and commercial buildings.
No
oil and/or gas wells shall be drilled and no permit shall be issued
for any wells to be drilled at any location which is nearer than (amended
9/8/2014) three hundred (300) feet of any residence or commercial
building.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
(a)
Conduits on streets and alleys.
No permittee shall make
any excavation or construct any lines for the transportation of fuel,
water, oil, gas, or minerals on, under, or through the streets and
alleys of the city without express permission of the city council
in writing, and then only in strict compliance with the applicable
provisions of this article, state law, or other city ordinances, rules,
and regulations.
(b)
Deeper drilling.
(1)
Once any well has either been completed as a producer or abandoned
as a dry hole, it shall be unlawful and deemed an offense for any
person to drill such well to a deeper depth than that reached in prior
drilling operation without the permittee, as to such well, obtaining
a supplemental permit after filing a supplemental application with
the city administrator-secretary specifying the following:
(A)
The present condition of the well and the casing therein;
(B)
The depth to which such well is proposed to be deepened;
(C)
The proposed casing program to be used in connection with the proposed
deepening operation;
(D)
An evidence of adequate current tests showing that the casing strings
in said well meet the requirements of this article, as provided for
in the case of drilling of the original well.
(2)
In the event the city council is satisfied that said well may be
deepened with the same degree of safety as existed in the original
well, a supplemental permit may be issued without an additional filing
fee to the permittee, authorizing the deepening and operation of the
well to such specified depth as applied for. In any drilling or any
completion of any deeper production operations, the permittee shall
comply with all the provisions contained in this article, and applicable
to the drilling, completion, and operation of a well or wells.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
It shall be unlawful and deemed an offense for any person, acting
either for himself 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 such well without a permit for
the drilling and operation of such well having first been issued by
the authority of the city council.
(1)
Limitation.
A separate permit shall be issued for the
drilling of each oil and gas well.
(2)
Application and filing fee.
(A)
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 behalf, and shall be filed with the city administrator-secretary
and be accompanied by a filing fee in the amount established by the
city. The application shall include full information, including the
following:
(B)
However, the city council may, at its discretion, waive the filing
fee provided for herein.
(3)
Issuance of permit.
The city council, within twenty
(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
said application complies in all respects with the provisions of this
article 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 such determination, the council shall issue a permit for the
drilling and operation of the proposed well.
(4)
Contents of permit.
Each permit issued under this article
shall:
(A)
By inference have incorporated therein all the provisions of this
article with the same force and effect as if this article were copied
in said 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 such permit shall be for a period
of one (1) year from the date of such permit, and as long thereafter
as the permittee is engaged in drilling operations for more than ninety
(90) days; or oil or gas is produced in commercial quantities from
the well drilled pursuant to such 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 production of oil or gas within ninety (90) days thereafter, for
so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in commercial quantities
from said well;
(D)
Contain and specify such conditions as are authorized by this article;
(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 section 5.03.018 of this article;
(G)
Require that the permittee shall comply with all applicable state
railroad commission rules, orders and regulations as they pertain
to the protection of the water supply source from contamination. The
permit, in two originals, shall be signed by the city administrator-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 such permit and such bond and this article.
(5)
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 does not elect to accept the permit as
tendered and wishes to withdraw his application, or if the bond of
the applicant be not approved and the applicant shall notify the city
council that he wishes to withdraw his application, then, upon the
happening of said events, the cash deposit provided for and filed
with the application shall be returned to the applicant, except an
amount as established by the city which shall be retained therefrom
by the city as a processing fee.
(6)
Termination of permit.
When a permit shall have been
issued under the provisions of this article, 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 ninety
(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 article, and it shall be unlawful thereafter to continue the
operation or drilling of such well without the issuance of another
permit.
(7)
Revocation of permit.
The city council, at any regular
or special session or meeting thereof, may, providing ten (10) days'
notice has been given to the permittee that the revocation is to be
considered at such meeting, revoke or suspend any permit under this
article under which drilling or producing operations are being conducted
in the event that the permittee thereof has violated any provisions
of said permit, said bond, or applicable provision of this article,
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 such permit, and the action
of the city council thereon shall be final.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014; Ordinance adopting 2024 Code)
It shall be unlawful and an offense for any person to use or
operate in connection with the drilling or reworking of any well within
the city any wooden derrick or any steam-powered rig, and all engines
used shall be equipped with adequate mufflers approved by the oil
and gas inspector; or to permit any drilling rig or derrick to remain
on the premises or drilling site for a period longer that sixty (60)
days after completion or abandonment of the well. At all times from
the start of erection of a derrick, or a mast, or a gin-pole, until
the well is abandoned and plugged or completed as a producer and enclosed
with a fence as herein provided, the permittee shall keep a watchman
on duty on the premises at all times; however, it shall not be necessary
to keep an extra watchman on duty on the premises when other workmen
of the permittee are on said premises.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
Steel slush pits shall be used in connection with all drilling
and reworking operations unless the city council shall waive such
requirements. Such pits and contents shall be removed from the premises
and the drilling site within thirty (30) days after completion of
the well. No earthen slush pits shall be used.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
All drilling and operation of any well performed by a permittee
under this article shall be conducted in accordance with the best
practices of any reasonable prudent operator in the Permian Basin
area. All casing, valves, and blow-out preventers, drilling fluid,
tubing, bradenhead, Christmas tree, and well head connections shall
be of the type and quality consistent with the best practices of such
reasonable and prudent operators. 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 reasonable prudent operation.
Each permittee shall observe and follow the recommendations and/or
regulations of the American Petroleum Institute and the state railroad
commission.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
(a)
Sanitation and cleanliness.
Premises shall be kept in
a clean and sanitary condition, free from rubbish of every character,
to the satisfaction of the health officer at all times while drilling
operations or reworking operations are being conducted, and as long
thereafter as oil and/or gas is being produced therefrom. It shall
be unlawful for any permittee, his agents, or employees to permit
within the city limits any mud, water, waste oil, slush, or other
waste matter from any slush pit, storage tank, or oil and/or gas purposes,
in or on any alleys, streets, lots, land, or leases within the city.
(b)
Fencing.
Any person who completes any well as a producer
shall have the obligation to enclose said well, together with its
surface facilities, with a substantial concrete-block fence sufficiently
high and properly built so as to ordinarily keep persons and animals
out of the enclosure. It is provided, however, that in non-congested
areas, the oil and gas inspector, at his discretion, may waive the
requirements of any fence or many designate the type of fence to be
erected.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
Motive power for all operations after completion of drilling
operations shall be electricity or properly muffled gas, gasoline,
or diesel engines. Such mufflers are to be approved by the oil and
gas inspector prior to their use.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
It shall be unlawful and an offense for any person to use, construct,
or operate in connection with any producing well within the city any
crude oil storage tanks except to the extent of two (2) steel tanks
not exceeding five hundred (500) barrel capacity each and so constructed
and maintained as to be vapor-tight. 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 vapor-tight.
Each oil/gas separator shall be equipped with both a regulation pressure-relief
safety valve and a bursting head. Any oil or gas produced may be transported
outside the city limits by underground pipe lines.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
All oil operations, drilling, and production operations shall
be conducted in such a manner as to eliminate, as far as practical,
dust, noise, vibration, or noxious odors; and they 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 available from time to time
if capable of reducing factors of nuisance and annoyance.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
No permittee engaged in the drilling or operation of an oil
and/or gas well within the city shall permit gas to escape into the
air or flare or burn gas from a torch or any similar means within
the city, except that 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 re-completion 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.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
It shall hereafter be unlawful to operate a well for oil and/or
gas without a four (4) inch header being laid over the top of the
tanks and a two and one-half (2-1/2) inch line extending from the
tank battery to a point two hundred (200) feet from said tank battery.
The manner and method provided for connection at said point shall
be determined by the fire department so that foamite or other chemicals
may be pumped through such line and header to such tanks to extinguish
any fire in the tanks. Adequate firefighting apparatus and supplies,
approved by the fire department, shall be maintained on the drilling
site at all times during drilling and production operations. All machinery,
equipment, and installations on all drilling sites within the city
shall conform to such requirements as may from time to time be issued
by the fire department.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
Whenever any well is abandoned, it shall be the obligation of
the permittee and the operator of the well to set a two hundred (200)
foot cement plug in the bottom of the surface casing with the bottom
of the plug one hundred (100) feet above the surface-casing section;
and they shall set a fifty (50) foot cement plug in the top of the
surface casing. No surface or conductor string of casing may be pulled
or removed from the well. During the initial abandonment operation,
it will be the obligation of the permittee and operator of the well
to flood the well with mud-laden fluid weighing not less than ten
(10) pounds per gallon, and the well will be filled to the top with
said mud-laden fluid at all times. Mud-laden fluid of the above specifications
will be left in the well-bore below and between cement plugs. Any
additional provisions or precautionary measures prescribed by the
state or the state railroad commission in connection with the abandonment
and plugging of a well shall be complied with by the permittee.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
The permittee shall make adequate provision for the disposal
of all salt water or other impurities which he may bring to the surface,
such disposal to be made in such manner as to not contaminate the
water supply, present or prospective, or to injure surface vegetation
as the oil and gas inspector may direct.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
In the event a permit shall be issued by the city council under
the terms of this article for the drilling and operation of an oil
and/or gas well, no actual drilling operation shall be commenced until
the permittee shall file with the city administrator-secretary a bond
and certificate of insurance as follows:
(1)
Bond requirements.
A bond in the principal sum of such
number of dollars as has been determined by the city council, but
not to be less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00), shall be
executed by a reliable insurance company authorized to do business
in the state as surety, and with the applicant as principal, running
to the city for the benefit of the city and all persons concerned,
conditioned that the permittee will comply with terms of the bond
and of this article in the drilling and operation of the well. Said
bond shall become effective on or before the date the same is filed
with the city administrator-secretary and remain in force and effect
for at least a period of six (6) months subsequent to the expiration
of the term of the permit issued; and, in addition, the bond will
be conditioned that the permittee will promptly pay all fines, penalties,
and other assessments imposed upon the permittee by reason of his
breach of any of the terms, provisions, and conditions of this article;
and that the permittee will promptly restore the streets and sidewalks
and other public property of the city which may be disturbed or damaged
in the operation, to their former condition; and that the permittee
will promptly clear all premises of all litter, trash, waste, and
other substances used, allowed, or occurring in the drilling or production
operation; and will, after abandonment, grade, level, and restore
said property to the same surface condition, as nearly as possible,
as existed when operations for the drilling of the well or wells first
commenced; and that the permittee will indemnify and hold the city
harmless from any and all liability growing out of, or attributable
to, the granting of such permit. If at any time the city council shall
deem any permittee's bond to be insufficient for any reason, it may
require the permittee to file a new bond. If, after the completion
of a well, the permittee has complied with all the provisions of this
article, such as removing dirt, clearing premises, etc., he may apply
to the city council to have said bond reduced to the sum of not less
than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) for the remainder of the time
said well produces without reworking. During reworking operations,
the amount of the bond shall be increased to the original amount;
provided, however, that the city council may waive the requirement
of the bond provided for in this section.
(2)
Insurance.
(A)
In addition to the bond required in subsection (1) of this section,
the permittee shall carry a policy or policies of standard comprehensive
public liability insurance including contractual liability covering
bodily injuries and property damage, naming the permittee and the
city, with an insurance company authorized to do business within the
state; said policy or policies in the aggregate shall provide for
the following minimum coverages:
(B)
The permittee shall file with the city administrator-secretary certificates
of insurance as above stated and shall obtain the written approval
thereof from the city administrator-secretary, who shall act thereon
within ten (10) days from the date of such filing. Said insurance
policy or policies shall not be cancelled without written notice to
the city administrator-secretary at least ten (10) days prior to the
effective date of such cancellation. In the event said insurance policy
or policies are cancelled, the permit granted shall terminate, and
the permittee's right to operate under said permit shall cease until
the permittee files additional insurance as provided herein. If, after
completion of a well, the permittee has complied with all provisions
of this article, such as removing dirt, clearing premises, etc., he
may apply to the city council to have said insurance policies reduced
as follows:
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be
subject to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00).
Each transaction in violation of any of the provisions hereof shall
be deemed a separate offense.
(Ordinance adopted 9/8/2014)
