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OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION LAW
Act 1961-359
LAWS OF
PENNSYLVANIA
No. 1961-359
An
Act defining and prohibiting waste in the production of oil and gas; defining
the powers and duties of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and the Oil
and Gas Division of the Department of Mines and Mineral Industries with respect
to the prevention of waste in the production of oil and gas from certain
geological horizons; the protection of correlative rights; the spacing of well
drilling operations; the unitization of lands and horizons for the purpose of
regulating well spacing; providing for the enforcement of this act; and the
issuance of rules, regulations and orders prescribing the rights, obligations
and duties of owners and operators of interests in lands and leasehold
interests therein with respect to the drilling of oil and gas wells thereon;
providing for hearings and the procedures to be followed therein; imposing
duties upon the courts; providing methods for the enforcement of the provisions
of this act, limiting all the provisions hereof to certain geological horizons;
imposing penalties and making an appropriation. 1961, July 25, P.L. 825.
DECLARATION OF POLICY
It
is hereby declared as an expression of policy to be in the public interest to
foster, encourage, and promote the development, production, and utilization of
the natural oil and gas resources in this Commonwealth, and especially those
which may exist in the Lower Devonian Series and the Silurian and
Cambro-Ordovician Geological Systems or from any formation below the Onondaga
horizon, in such manner as will encourage discovery, exploration, and
development without waste; and to provide for the drilling, equipping,
locating, spacing and operating of oil and gas wells so as to protect
correlative rights and prevent waste of oil or gas or loss in the ultimate
recovery thereof, and to regulate such operations so as to protect fully the
rights of royalty owners and producers of oil and gas to the end that the
people of the Commonwealth shall realize and enjoy the maximum benefit of these
natural resources, it being recognized, however, that the uninterrupted
exploration and development of Pennsylvania and Mississippian Systems and the
Upper and Middle Devonian Geological Series, being sands and strata above the
Onondaga Horizon, both of a primary and subsequent methods have been carried on
exhaustively since the discovery of oil in the Drake Well in 1850 without regulatory
restriction or control to such an extent that at the present stage of
development it would be impractical and detrimental to the operation of such
shallow horizons to impose regulations under this act, particularly in view of
the facts that the production therefrom, whether of primary or secondary nature
is carried on without appreciable waste and that the methods of exploration,
discovery, development and production above the Onondaga Horizon and in shallow
horizons at a depth of less than three thousand eight hundred feet differ from
methods of exploration, discovery, development and production below the
Onondaga Horizon or below three thousand eight hundred feet in cost, methods,
operating problems, and other important characteristics.
Section 1. Short title.
Section 2. Definitions.
Section 3. Applicability; exclusions; construction.
Section 4. Waste prohibited.
Section 5. Powers and duties of the commission.
Section 6. Drilling permits.
Section 7. Well spacing.
Section 8. Integration of interests in spacing units.
Section 9. Validity of unit agreements.
Section 10. Rules,
regulations, notices, orders and hearings.
Section 11. Procedure
before the commission.
Section 12.
Penalties.
Section
13. Court review. Repealed
Section 14.
Enforcement.
Section 15.
Commission personnel.
Section 16. Constitutionality.
Section 17.
Appropriation.
Section 18. Repeals.
Section 19. Effective
date.
Section 1. Short title.
This
act shall be known and may be cited as the "Oil and Gas Conservation
Law." 1961, July 25, P.L. 825, Act
No. 359, § 1, et seq. (58
P.S. §401 et seq.)
Section 2. Definitions.
As
used in this act--
(1) "Commission" means the Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission. [Editors
Comment: The powers and duties of the
Oil and Gas Conservation Commission were transferred to the Department of
Environmental Resources by the Act of Dec. 3, 1970, P.L. 834, No. 275, § 20, 71
P.S. § 510-1 (Adm. Code § 1901-A)]
(2) "Correlative rights" means the
rights of each owner of oil and gas interests in a common pool or source of
supply of oil or gas, to have a fair and reasonable opportunity to obtain and
produce his just and equitable share of the oil and gas in such pool or sources
of supply, without being required to drill unnecessary wells or incur other
unnecessary expense to recover or receive such oil or gas or its equivalent.
(3) "Gas" means all natural gas and
all other volatile hydrocarbons not herein defined as oil, including condensate
because it originally was in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.
(4) "Oil" means crude petroleum oil
and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, produced at a well in liquid
form by ordinary methods, but does not include liquid hydrocarbons that were
originally in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.
(5) "Division" means the Oil and Gas
Division of the Department of Mines and Mineral Industries of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania. [Editors Comment: The powers and duties of the Department of
Mines and Mineral Industries were transferred to the Department of
Environmental Resources by Act 275 (cited in comment above). The Division of Oil and Gas has been
reorganized and is now the Bureau of Oil and Gas Management.]
(6) “Onondaga horizon" means the top of the
Onondaga formation, except in those areas in which the Onondaga formation is
not present, and in such areas the term shall be understood to mean either the
top of the stratigraphic horizon first appearing in the interval of the missing
Onondaga formation, or where strata older than the top of the Onondaga are
exposed at the surface, then the term "Onondaga Horizon" shall mean
the surface.
(7) "Operator" shall mean any owner of
the right to develop, operate, and produce oil and gas from the pool. In the event that there is no oil and gas
lease in existence the owner of the oil and gas rights shall be considered as
"operator" to the extent of seven-eighths of the oil and gas in that
portion of the pool underlying the tract owned by such owner, and a royalty
owner as to a one-eighth interest in such oil and gas. In the event that the oil is owned
separately from the gas, the owner of the substance being produced or sought to
be produced from the pool shall be considered as "operator" as to
such pool.
(8) "Royalty owner" means any owner of
oil or gas in place or oil or gas rights, subject to a lease covering such oil
or gas in place or oil or gas rights.
"Royalty owner" also means any owner of an interest in an oil
or gas lease which entitles him to share in the production of the oil or gas
under such lease. "Royalty
owner" also means the owner of any interest in the oil or gas in place, or
oil or gas rights, who has not executed an oil and gas lease, to the extent
that such owner is not designated an "operator" under the preceding
clause.
(9) "Person" means any natural person,
corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor,
administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representative of any kind and
includes any department, agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth, or any
governmental subdivision thereof.
(10) "Pool" means an underground
reservoir containing a common accumulation or oil and gas, or both, not in
communication laterally or vertically with any other accumulation of oil or
gas.
(11) "Producer" means the owner of the
well or wells capable of producing oil or gas, or both.
(12) "Waste" means the following:
(i) Physical waste, as the term is generally understood in the oil and
gas industry, which includes-
(A) Permitting the migration of oil, gas or
water from the stratum in which it is found to other strata, if such migration
would result in the loss of recoverable oil or gas, or both;
(B) The drowning with water of any stratum or
part thereof capable of producing oil or gas in paying quantities, except for
secondary recovery purposes, or in hydraulic fracturing or other completion
practices;
(C) The unnecessary or excessive surface loss or
destruction of oil or gas, and
(D)
The
inefficient or improper use, or unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy.
(ii) The drilling of more wells than are reasonable required to recover,
efficiently and economically, the maximum amount of oil and gas from a pool.
(13) "Well" means a bore hole or
excavation for the purpose of producing oil or gas, or both.
Section 3. Applicability; exclusions;
construction.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, this act shall
apply to all lands in the Commonwealth, including any lands owned or
administered by the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof, except
the excluded horizons. The commission
shall have jurisdiction over all persons and property necessary to enforce
effectively the provision of the act.
(b) This act shall not apply to or effect-
(1) Any well or wells which do not penetrate the Onondaga horizon, or
in those areas in which the Onondaga horizon is nearer to the surface than
thirty-eight hundred feet, any well or wells which do not exceed a depth of
thirty-eight hundred feet beneath the surface.
For the purposes of this act, the question whether a pool is covered by
the act shall be determined by the depth of the producing interval in the discovery
well in such pool, and if such producing interval is covered by this act, even
though some of the wells in the pool, if considered alone, would not be covered
by the act.
(2) Any well or wells of whatever depth commenced prior to the
effective date of this act, except such wells previously completed in strata
above the Onondaga horizon, but subsequent to the effective date of this act
drilled deeper than the Onondaga horizon, or three thousand eight hundred feet,
whichever is deeper, provided that such wells may be considered in spacing and
pooling orders entered by the commission.
(3) Any well or wells drilled to inject gas into or withdraw gas from
gas storage reservoir.
(c) This act shall not be construed to grant to
the commission authority or power to--
(1) Limit production or output, or prorate production of any oil or gas
well, except as provided in clause (6) of section 7; or
(2) Fix prices of oil or gas.
Section 4. Waste prohibited.
Waste of oil and gas is prohibited.
Section 5. Powers and duties of the commission.
(a) The commission shall have the power and duty to execute and carry
out the provisions of this act in the manner provided herein.
(b) The commission is authorized to make such investigations and
inspections of records and facilities as it deems necessary and proper to
discharge its duties and perform its functions under this act.
(c) Without limiting its general authority, the commission is hereby
granted specific authority--
(1) To require:
(i) identification on the premises of ownership
of oil or gas wells;
(ii) the making and filing of drillers' logs and
filing of such other well logs as are actually made, and the furnishing of
duplicate copies to the Department of Internal Affairs: Provided, however, That
no logs of an exploratory or wildcat well other than driller's logs now
required under the "Gas Operations Well-Drilling Petroleum and Coal Mining
Act", need be filed under this act before twelve months after completion
of the well; [Editors Comment: the act of November 30, 1955 (P.L. 756, No.
225), known as the "Gas Operations Well-Drilling Petroleum and Coal Mining
Act," (52 P.S. § 2101 et seq.) was repealed by the act of December 19,
1984 (P.L. 1140, No. 223), known as the "Oil and Gas Act" (58 P.S. §
601 et seq.)]
(iii) the drilling, casing, operation, and
plugging of wells in such manner as to prevent (a) the escape of oil or gas,
(b) the detrimental intrusion of water into any oil or gas pool that is
avoidable by efficient operations, and (c) blowouts, cavings, seepages, and
fires; and
(iv) upon proper application to enter spacing and
pooling orders and provide for the integration or communitization of interests
within a drilling unit.
(2) To classify pools as oil or gas pools, or
wells as oil or gas wells, for the purposes material to the interpretation or
administration of this act under the definitions set out above.
(3) To promulgate and to enforce rules,
regulations, and orders to effectuate the purposes and the intent of this act,
and to fix appropriate fees for services rendered, which fees are hereby
appropriated to the commission for its operations. [Editors Comment: The
powers and duties of the commission were transferred to the Department of
Environmental Resources by the Act of Dec. 3, 1970, P.L. 834, No. 275 § 20, 71
P.S. § 510-1 (adm. Code § 1901-A). Act
275 also vested the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) with the power to adopt
rules and regulations for the Department and transferred the rulemaking
authority of the commission to the EQB 71 P.S. § 510-20 (Adm. Code § 1920-A).]
(d) The commission shall have the power and the
duty to protect correlative rights.
Section 6. Drilling permits.
(a) Before drilling any well which is to penetrate the Onondaga or
deeper horizons or a depth of three thousand eight hundred feet, whichever is
deeper, the well operator shall obtain a permit. The well operator shall have a plat prepared on the same form required
by the division under the "Gas Operations Well-Drilling Petroleum and Coal
Mining Act" and shall file said plat with the division, together with an
application on a form to be furnished by the division for a permit to drill a
well at said location. The division
shall, consistent with the "Gas Operations Well-Drilling Petroleum and
Coal Mining Act," within ten days of the receipt of such application,
issue a drilling permit to the well operator unless the requested location of
the well will conflict with a spacing or pooling order previously entered or
unless an application for such an order has been filed and is then
pending. In areas in which no spacing
order has been entered and no application is pending, no permit shall be issued
for the drilling of a well unless the location of the well is at least three
hundred thirty feet from the nearest outside boundary line of the lease on
which it is located: Provided, however,
That if the lease is included in a voluntary unit, a well may be located
without regard to lease lines if it is not within three hundred thirty feet of
the nearest unit line: And provided
further, That the commission after notice and hearing may waive this
requirement. Any applicant or other
person aggrieved by any order granting or refusing a permit shall have the same
right to appeal therefrom as is provided in section 13 of this act.
(b) The drilling or operation of any well in violation of any spacing or
pooling order is hereby prohibited.
Where a well is to be drilled on a unit created pursuant to a spacing or
pooling order under this act, there shall be included in the plat required to
be filed under subsection (a) of section 6, a survey of the entire spacing
unit, showing the location and acreage content of all tracts or portions of
tracts included within the spacing unit:
Provided, however, That if all of the operators any royalty owners
included in the unit agree on the amount of acreage contained in each tract
included in the unit, and file a stipulation to that effect, a survey shall not
be necessary. Where accurate surveys of
the spacing unit or tracts included therein are available, they may be used,
and a new survey shall not be required.
Section 7. Well spacing.
The
commission shall, to carry out the purpose of this act, and upon proper
application and notice given as hereinafter provided, and after a hearing as
provided in said notice, enter an order establishing well spacing and drilling
units of a specified and an approximate uniform size and shape for each
pool. The procedure for obtaining such
an order shall be as follows:
(1) After one well has been drilled establishing a pool horizon covered
by this act, an application may be filed by the operator of the discovery well
or the operator of any lands directly and immediately affected by the drilling
of the discovery well, or subsequent wells in said pool, and the commission
shall promptly schedule a hearing on said application. Each application shall be accompanied by a plat
indicating latitude and longitude of the pool and such information as the
commission may request. No more than
ten square miles shall be included in any single application for a spacing
order.
(2) Upon the filing of an application as above set out, notice of the
hearing shall be given by the commission by publication for two successive
weeks in a newspaper in general circulation in each county where any land which
may be affected by such order is located, and by the commission mailing a copy
of such notice to all persons who have specified to the commission an address
to which all such notices may be mailed.
The first publication and the mailing of such notice shall be at least
fifteen days before the date fixed for hearing.
(3) On the date specified in the notice, the commission shall hold a
public hearing to determine the area to be included in the order and the
acreage to be embraced within each unit and the shape thereof and the area
within which wells may be drilled on such units. Evidence of the following facts may be considered by the
commission in entering its orders:
(i) The surface topography and property lines of the lands underlaid
by the pool.
(ii) The plan of well spacing then being employed or proposed in such
pool.
(iii) The depth at which production from said pool has been found.
(iv) The nature and character of the producing formation or formations,
and whether the substances produced or sought to be produced are gas or oil.
(v) The maximum area which may be drained efficiently and economically
by one well.
(vi) Any other available geological or scientific data pertaining to
said pool, which may be of probative value to said commission in determining
the proper spacing and well drilling unit therefor, with due and relative
allowance for the correlative rights and obligations of the producers and
royalty owners' interest therein.
(4) The commission shall,
within forty five days after the application for spacing is filed, either enter
an order establishing spacing units and specifying the size and shape of the
units, which shall be such as will, in the opinion of the commission, result in
the efficient and economic development of the pool as a whole or shall enter an
order dismissing the application. The
uniform size of the spacing units shall not be smaller than the maximum area
that can efficiently and economically be drained by one well: Provided, however, That if at the time of a
hearing to establish spacing units, there is not sufficient evidence from which
to determine the area that cam be efficiently and economically drained by one
well, the commission may enter an order establishing temporary spacing units
for the orderly development of the pool pending the obtaining of the information
required to determine what the ultimate spacing should be.
(5) Except where the
circumstances reasonable require otherwise, spacing units shall be
approximately uniform size and shape for the entire pool: Provided, however, That the commission shall
have the power to vary the size and shape of any individual unit in order (i)
to take account of wells already completed at the time the application is filed
hereunder, or (ii) to make a unit conform to oil and gas property lines: Provided, however, That the units formed by
the commission shall conform to the area which will be drained by the well
located within the area permitted by the order, and the acreage included in
each unit shall be contiguous. In the event
that both oil and gas wells are found producing from the same pool, the
commission shall have the power to create units of one size for oil wells and
of a different size for gas wells.
(6) An order establishing
spacing units shall specify the minimum distance from the nearest boundary of
the spacing unit at which a well may be drilled. The minimum distance provided shall be the same in all spacing
units established under said order with necessary exceptions for wells drilled
or drilling at the time of the filing of the application. If the commission finds that a well to be
drilled at or more than the specified minimum distance from the boundary of the
spacing unit would not be likely to produce in paying quantities or will
encounter surface conditions which would substantially add to the burden or
hazard of drilling such well, or because of objection by coal operators the
division has prohibited a location within the area permitted by the order, the
commission is authorized after notice and hearing to make an order permitting
the well to be drilled at a location within the minimum distance prescribed by
the spacing order. In granting
exceptions to the spacing order, the commission may restrict the production
from such well so that each person entitled thereto in such spacing unit shall
not produce or receive more than his just and equitable share of the
production.
(7) An order establishing
spacing units for a pool shall, subject to the limitation set by clause (1) of
this section, cover all lands determined or believed to be underlaid by such
pool, and may be modified by the commission, from time to time, to include
additional lands determined to be underlaid by such pool. An order establishing spacing units may be
modified by the commission to permit the drilling of additional wells on a reasonable
uniform pattern at a uniform minimum distance from the nearest unit boundary as
provided by an interested operator and notice and hearing as prescribed above
for the original order.
(8) After the date of the
notice of hearing called to establish spacing units, no additional well shall
be commenced for production from the pool until the order establishing spacing
units has been made, unless the commencement of the well is authorized by order
of the commission.
(9) In the event a permit to
drill is refused because of a pending application for a spacing order, as
provided in subsection (a) of section 6, and the lease containing the location
on which the permit has been refused is being drained of oil or gas be a well
or wells on adjoining lands, the commission shall have the power, after notice
to the operator of the well or wells affected, and hearing, to shut in such
well or wells on adjoining lands if necessary to protect correlative rights,
until, and only until, such time as applicant has had the opportunity to obtain
a spacing order under section 7.
Section 8. Integration of interest in
spacing units.
(a) When two or more
separately owned tracts are embraced within a spacing unit, or when there are
separately owned interests in all or a part of a spacing unit, the interested
persons may integrate their tracts or interests for the development and
operation of the spacing unit. In the
absence of voluntary integration, the commission, upon the application of any
operator having an interest in the spacing unit, shall make an order
integrating all tracts or interests in the spacing unit for the development and
operation thereof and for the sharing of production therefrom. The commission as part of the order establishing
a spacing unit or units shall prescribe the terms and conditions upon which the
royalty interests in the unit or units shall, in the absence of voluntary
agreement, be deemed to be integrated without the necessity of a subsequent
separate order integrating the royalty interests. Each such integration order shall be upon terms and conditions
that are just and reasonable, and shall be made only after a public hearing
after notice by certified mail to all other operators and royalty owners within
the unit whose interests are of record, at least fifteen days prior to the day
of the hearing, or in the alternative by personal service in the manner set out
in subsection (d) of section 10. If
such persons or their addresses are unknown to the applicant, notice may be
given by the commission by publication for two successive weeks in a newspaper
of general circulation in the county, or in each county if there be more than
one, in which the lands embraced within the unit are situated. The first publication shall be at least
fifteen days prior to the date of the hearing.
Should the aforesaid notice fail to be given to any operator of record
or royalty owner or should an attempt to give notice be held to be invalid,
such defect shall not invalidate the proceedings at the hearing or any orders
issued: Provided, however, That any
such order shall not be effective as to the interest of the person whose
interest is of record who was not notified or to whom notice is held to be
invalid.
(b) All operations, including,
but not limited to, the commencement, drilling, or operation of a well upon any
portion of a spacing unit for which an integration order has been entered,
shall be deemed for all purposes the conduct of such operations upon each
separately owned tract in the spacing unit by the several owners thereof. That portion of the production allocated to
a separately owned tract included in a spacing unit shall, when produced, be
deemed, for all purposes, to have been actually produced from such tract by a well
drilled thereon.
(c) Each such integration
order shall authorize the drilling, equipping, and operation, or operation, of
a well on the spacing unit; shall provide who may drill and operate the well;
shall prescribe the time and manner in which all the operators in the spacing
unit may elect to participate therein; and shall make provision for the payment
by all those who elect to participate therein of the reasonable actual cost
thereof, plus a reasonable charge for supervision and for interest on past due
accounts. If requested, each such
integration order shall provide just and equitable alternatives whereby an
operator who does not elect to participate in the risk and cost of the
leasehold interest to the participating operators on some reasonable basis and
for a reasonable consideration which, if not agreed upon, shall be determined
by the commission, or may elect to participate in the drilling and operation,
or operation, of the well on a limited or carried basis upon terms and
conditions determined by the commission to be just and reasonable. If one or more of the operators shall drill,
equip, and operate, or pay the costs of drilling, equipping or operating a well
for the benefit of a nonparticipating operator as provided for in an order to
integration, then such operator or operators shall be entitled to the share of
production from the spacing unit accruing to the interest of such
nonparticipating operator, exclusive of one-eighth of the production, until the
market value of such nonparticipating operator's share of the production,
exclusive of such one-eighth of production equals double the share of such
costs payable by or charged to the interest of such nonparticipating
operator. If there is a dispute as to
the costs of drilling, equipping or operating a well, the commission shall
determine such costs. In instances
where a well is completed prior to the integration of interests in a spacing
unit, the sharing of production shall be from the effective date of the
integration, except that, in calculating costs, credit shall be given for the
value of each operator's share of any prior production from the well.
Section 9. Validity of unit agreements.
No
agreement between or among lessees or other owners of oil and gas rights in oil
and gas properties, entered into pursuant hereto or with a view or for the
purpose of bringing about the unitized development or operation of such
properties, shall be held to violate any statute of this Commonwealth
prohibiting monopolies or acts, arrangements, agreements, contracts,
combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade or commerce.
Section 10. Rules, regulations, notices,
orders and hearings.
(a) The commission shall prescribe
rules and regulations governing the practice and procedure before the
commission. [Editors Comment: The powers and duties of the Commission were
transferred to the Department of Environmental Resources by the Act of Dec. 3,
1970, P.L. 834, No. 275, § 20, 71 P.S. § 510-1 (Adm. Code § 1901-A). Act 275 also vested the Environmental
Quality Board (EQB) with the power to adopt rules and regulations for the
Department and transferred the rulemaking authority of the Commission to the
EQB 71 P.S. § 510-20 (Adm. Code § 1920-A).]
(b) No rule, regulation, or
order, or amendment thereof, except in an emergency, shall be made by the
commission without a public hearing upon at least fifteen days' notice. The public hearing shall be held at such
time and place as may be prescribed by the commission, and any interested
person shall be entitled to be heard.
No spacing or integration order shall be entered except upon application
of an operator of land affected by the order, and notice and hearing as
specifically provided under clause (2) of section 7 and subsection (a) of
section 8. [Editors Comment: The powers and duties of the Commission were
transferred to the Department of Environmental Resources by the Act of Dec. 3,
1970, P.L. 834, No. 275, § 20, 71 P.S. § 510-1 (Adm. Code § 1901-A). Act 275 also vested the Environmental
Quality Board (EQB) with the power to adopt rules and regulations for the
Department and transferred the rulemaking authority of the Commission to the
EQB 71 P.S. § 510-20 (Adm. Code § 1920-A).]
(c) When an emergency
requiring immediate action is found to exist, the commission is authorized to
issue an emergency order without notice or hearing which shall be effective
upon promulgation. No emergency order shall
remain effective for more than twenty-five days.
(d) Any notice required by
this act, except that required under clause (2) of section 7 and subsection (a)
of section 8, shall be given at the election of the commission, either by
personal service or by one publication in a newspaper of general circulation in
Harrisburg and in the county where the land affected or some part thereof is
situated or by United States mail addressed, postage prepaid, to the last known
mailing address of the operator or royalty owner affected. The notice shall issue in the name of the
Commonwealth, shall be signed by the chairman or secretary of the commission,
shall specify the style and number of the proceeding, the time and place of the
hearing, and shall briefly state the purpose of the proceeding. Should the commission elect to give notice by
personal service, such service may be made by an officer authorized to serve
process or by any agent of the commission in the same manner as is provided by
law for the service of process in civil actions in the court of the
Commonwealth. Proof of the service by
such agent shall be made by the affidavit of the persons making personal
service.
(e) All rules, regulations,
and orders issued by the commission shall be in writing, shall be entered in
full and indexed in books to be kept by the commission for that purpose, and
shall be public records open for inspection at all times during reasonable
office hours. A copy of any rule,
regulation, and order certified by any member of the commission or its
secretary under its seal shall be received in evidence in all courts of this
Commonwealth with the same effect as the original. No spacing or pooling order entered pursuant to sections 7 and 8
shall be effective until it is recorded in the office for the recording of
deeds in each county containing land affected by the order.
(f) The commission may act
upon its own motion or upon the application of any interested person, except
that spacing and pooling orders may be entered only on the application of an
interested operator. On the filing of
an application concerning any matter within the jurisdiction of the commission,
the commission shall promptly fix a date for a hearing thereon and shall cause
notice of the hearing to be given. The
hearing shall be held without undue delay after the filing of the petition.
Section 11. Procedure before the
commission.
(a) The commission shall have the power to
summon witnesses, to administer oaths, and to require the production of records,
books, and documents for examination relevant or pertinent to any hearing or
investigation conducted by it. All
proceedings and appeals shall be in accordance with the "Administrative
Agency Act" and other appropriate law.
[Editors Comment: As explained
in the previous comment to § 410, the EQB has the powers described in this
section.]
(b) Upon failure or refusal on the part of any
person to comply with the subpoena issued by the commission, or upon the
refusal of any witness to testify as to any matter regarding which he may be
interrogated and which is pertinent to the hearing or investigation, any court
of common pleas in the Commonwealth, upon the application of the commission,
may compel him to comply with such subpoena and to attend before the commission
and produce such records, books, and documents for examination and to give his
testimony. Such court shall have the
power to punish for contempt as in the case of disobedience to a like subpoena
issued by the court, or for refusal to testify therein. [Editors Comment: As explained in the previous comment to § 410, the EQB has the
powers described in this section.]
Section 12. Penalties.
(a) It shall be unlawful and
subject to a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than
five thousand dollars ($5,000) or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six
months, or both, for any person:
(1) To violate any provision of this act or any
rule, regulation, or order of the commission.
(2) To commence operations for the drilling or deepening
of a well for oil or gas without first obtaining a permit from the division
under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the commission.
(3) To make or cause to be made for the purpose
of evading this act, or any rule, regulation or order of the commission, any
false entry or statement in a report required by this act, or by any rule,
regulation, or order of the commission; or to make or cause to be made any
false entry into any record, account, or memorandum required by this act or by
any such rule, regulation, or order; to remove from this Commonwealth or
destroy, mutilate, alter, or falsify any such record, account, or memorandum.
(b) Any person knowingly
aiding or abetting any other person in the violation of any provision of this
act, or any rule, regulation, or order of the commission, shall be subject to
the same punishment and penalty as that prescribed in this section 12 for the
violation by such other person.
(c) Each day of violation
after notification thereof by the commission shall constitute a separate
offense.
Section 13. Court review.
Repealed. 1978, April 28, P.L. 202, No. 53, § 2(a),
effective June 27, 1978.
For disposition of repealed subject matter, see
Disposition Table preceding new Title 42, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, of
the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated.
Section 14. Enforcement.
Whenever
it appears that any person is violating or threatening to violate any provision
of this act, or any rule, regulation, or order of the commission, the
commission shall bring suit against such person to restrain such person from
continuing such violation or from carrying out the threat of violation. Upon the filing of any such suit, summons
issued to such person may be directed to the sheriff of any county in this
Commonwealth, for service by such sheriff or his deputies. In any such suit, the court shall have
jurisdiction to grant to the commission, without bond or other undertaking,
such prohibitory and mandatory injunctions as the facts may warrant, including
temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions.
As affected 1978, April 28, P.L. 202, No. 53, § 2(a)[1348],
effective June
27, 1978.
(b) If the commission shall fail to bring suit to enjoin a violation or threatened violation of any provision of this act, or any rule, regulation, or order of the commission, within ten days after receipt of written request to do so by any person who is or will be adversely affected by such violation, the person making such request may bring suit in his own behalf to restrain such violation or threatened violation in any court in which the commission might have brought suit. The commission shall be made a party defendant in such suit in addition to the person violating or threatening to violate a provision of this act, or a rule, regulation, or order of the commission, and the action shall proceed and injunctive relief may be granted without bond, or other understanding, in the same manner as if the suit had been brought by the commission.
Section 15. Commission personnel.
(a) The commission, or its designated
representatives, shall appoint and fix the compensation of such additional experts,
engineers, geologists, inspectors, investigators, hearing officers, attorneys,
clerks, reporters and other employes as may be necessary for the proper conduct
of the work of the commission.
(b) Except as otherwise specifically provided in
this act, the commission and its employes shall be subject to all the
provisions of "The Administrative Code of 1929," which apply
generally to administrative departments and offices.
Section 16. Constitutionality.
If
any section, subsection, sentence, or clause of this act is adjudged to be
unconstitutional or invalid, such adjudication shall not affect the validity of
the remaining portion of this act. The
General Assemble hereby declares that it would have passed this act and each
division, section, subsection, sentence or clause thereof, irrespective of the
fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences or clauses might be
adjudged to be unconstitutional, or for any other reason invalid.
Section 17. Appropriation.
The
sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or as much thereof as may be
necessary, is hereby appropriated to the Department of Mines and Mineral
Industries to carry out the provisions of this act.
Section 18. Repeals.
The
act of July 2, 1937 (P.L. 2772), entitled "An act to require certain
records of oil and gas wells drilled in the Commonwealth showing the location
of the same and the geologic formations encountered therein, and to make copies
of such records available upon payment of prescribed fees, and providing fees
and penalties", is hereby repealed.
Section 19. Effective date.
This
act shall take affect sixty days after final enactment.