6829.4. (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Decommission” means any activities up to and including the safe dismantling and removal of a production facility or related infrastructure and restoration of the site on which it was located as directed by the commission and in full compliance with state and local law.
(2) “Operator” means a person who has the right to drill, operate, maintain, or control a well or production facility.
(3) “Plugging and abandoning all wells and decommissioning all production facilities and related infrastructure” includes all of the following:
(A) Staffing and maintenance of all wells and production facilities.
(B) All refurbishments necessary to meet those obligations.
(C) Any and all other actions necessary to meet those obligations.
(4) “Plugging and abandonment” means the plugging and abandonment of a well in accordance with the specifications of the commission and the State Oil and Gas Supervisor and in full compliance with state and local law.
(5) “Production facilities and related infrastructure” includes, but is not limited to, platforms, pipelines, and improvements under the jurisdiction of the commission.
(6) “Well” means an oil or gas well.
(b) (1) On and after January 1, 2020, from the date on which a lessee, an assignee, a transferee, or a sublessee of a lease, or an operator of leased lands under this chapter, engages in an activity that is specified in paragraph (2), the lessee, assignee, transferee, sublessee, or operator shall become responsible and liable, until each obligation under this subdivision is met, for plugging and abandoning all wells and decommissioning all production facilities and related infrastructure that have been or may be left on the leased lands by the lessee and any past, present, or future assignee, transferee, or sublessee of the lease or operator of the leased lands.
(2) Obligations under paragraph (1) shall accrue when a lessee, assignee, transferee, sublessee, or operator does any of the following:
(A) Acquires or is assigned, transferred, or sublet the lease, including a pipeline right-of-way lease, if the leased lands contain either of the following:
(i) A well that is not permanently plugged.
(ii) A production facility or related infrastructure.
(B) Becomes the operator of either of the following:
(i) A well that is not permanently plugged.
(ii) A production facility or related infrastructure.
(C) Drills, redrills, or deepens a well, or permanently alters the casing of a well, on the leased lands.
(D) Installs a production facility or related infrastructure on the leased lands.
(c) Persons subject to subdivision (b) shall be jointly and severally liable for all obligations under that subdivision.
(d) (1) (A) The lessee, assignee, transferee, sublessee, or operator shall submit to the commission, in writing, a notarized affidavit of liability for the decommissioning of production facilities and related infrastructure under the jurisdiction of the commission within six months after the date on which a lease terminates or expires. The lessee, assignee, transferee, sublessee, or operator shall also covenant, in the notarized affidavit, to commence the process of decommissioning the production facilities and related infrastructure within one year after the date on which the lease terminates or expires.
(B) The decommissioning of the production facilities and related infrastructure shall be completed without undue delay, unless the delay is caused by conditions beyond the control of the lessee, assignee, transferee, sublessee, or operator.
(2) A lessee, assignee, transferee, sublessee, or operator that fails to comply with the deadlines specified in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000), by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment, for each offense.
(e) If the commission or another state agency, due to failure of a lessee, assignee, transferee, sublessee, or operator to meet its obligations for the plugging and abandonment of a well or the decommissioning of a production facility or related infrastructure, conducts those activities to preserve public health or protect the environment, those activities shall be deemed an exercise of the police power of the state.
(f) The commission may adopt rules and regulations as necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.
(g) (1) This section does not supersede or limit plugging and abandonment or decommissioning obligations under any other law.
(2) This section does not alter or limit the authority of the commission to approve the manner of decommissioning otherwise permitted by law.
(Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 123, Sec. 2. (AB 585) Effective January 1, 2020.)