For the purpose of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them:
Lease.
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.
Permittee.
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.
Technical words or phrases.
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.
Well.
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:
(i) 
The date of said application;
(ii) 
The name of the applicant;
(iii) 
The address of the applicant;
(iv) 
Proposed site of well, including:
a. 
Name of mineral owner;
b. 
Name of lease owner;
c. 
Brief description of land;
(v) 
Type of derrick to be used;
(vi) 
The proposed depth of the well;
(vii) 
A drilling permit from the state railroad commission.
(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:
(i) 
Bodily injuries: $1,000,000, one person; $1,000,000, one accident.
(ii) 
Property damage: $1,000,000.
(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:
(i) 
Bodily injuries: $100,000, one person; $300,000, one accident.
(ii) 
Property damage: $250,000 for the remainder of the time said well produces without reworking. During reworking operations, the amount of the insurance policy or policies shall be increased to the original amount.
(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)