(i) for wells less than two thousand five hundred feet in depth:
(a) twenty-five hundred dollars per well, provided that the operator
shall not be required to provide financial security under this item
exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars for up to twenty-five wells;
(b) for twenty-six to fifty wells, twenty-five thousand dollars, plus
twenty-five hundred dollars per well in excess of twenty-five wells,
provided that the operator shall not be required to provide financial
security under this item exceeding forty thousand dollars;
(c) for fifty-one to one hundred wells, forty thousand dollars, plus
twenty-five hundred dollars per well in excess of fifty wells, provided
that the operator shall not be required to provide financial security
under this item exceeding seventy thousand dollars;
(d) for over one hundred wells, seventy thousand dollars, plus
twenty-five hundred dollars per well in excess of one hundred wells,
provided that the operator shall not be required to provide financial
security under this item exceeding one hundred thousand dollars.
(ii) for wells between two thousand five hundred feet and six thousand
feet in depth:
(a) five thousand dollars per well, provided that the operator shall
not be required to provide financial security under this item exceeding
forty thousand dollars for up to twenty-five wells;
(b) for twenty-six to fifty wells, forty thousand dollars, plus five
thousand dollars per well in excess of twenty-five wells, provided that
the operator shall not be required to provide financial security under
this item exceeding sixty thousand dollars;
(c) for fifty-one to one hundred wells, sixty thousand dollars, plus
five thousand dollars per well in excess of fifty wells, provided that
the operator shall not be required to provide financial security under
this item exceeding one hundred thousand dollars;
(d) for over one hundred wells, one hundred thousand dollars, plus
five thousand dollars per well in excess of one hundred wells, provided
that the operator shall not be required to provide financial security
under this item exceeding one hundred fifty thousand dollars.
(2) In the event that an operator shall have wells described in
clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (1) of this paragraph, in lieu of
providing financial security under the provisions of each such clause,
such operator may file financial security as if all such wells were
between two thousand five hundred feet and six thousand feet in depth.
(3) For wells greater than six thousand feet in depth, the operator
may be required to provide additional financial security consistent with
criteria contained in rules and regulations to be adopted to implement
this subparagraph.
8-a. The department shall include consideration of future physical
climate risk due to sea level rise, and/or storm surges and/or flooding,
based on available data predicting the likelihood of extreme weather
events, including hazard risk analysis data if applicable, to permits
issued pursuant to title five of this article.
9. With respect to solution mining areas the department shall have the
power to:
a. Require identification of ownership of producing leases and
solution mining equipment such as structures, tanks, gathering systems
and facilities for the transportation of salt brine.
b. Require the drilling, casing, operation and plugging of wells in
accordance with rules and regulations of the department in such a manner
as to prevent the loss or escape of oil or gas reserves to the surface
or to other strata; the intrusion of brine or water into commercial oil
or gas reserves; the pollution of fresh water supplies by oil, gas or
salt water, and to facilitate the efficient use of ground and surface
waters in solution mining.
c. Give notice to persons engaging in underground mining operations of
the commencing of any phase of solution mining well operations which may
affect the safety of such underground mining operations or of the mining
properties involved. Rules and regulations of the department adopted
pursuant hereto shall specify the distance from such underground mining
operations within which such notice shall be given and shall contain
such other provisions as in the judgment of the department shall be
necessary in the interest of safety. The department shall not be
required to furnish any notice pursuant hereto unless the person or
persons engaged in underground mining operations or having rights in
mining properties have notified the department of the existence and
location of such underground mining operations or properties.
d. Require metering or other measuring of brine produced by solution
mining, and the maintenance of the records from each cavity or group of
interconnected cavities until the wells in a cavity have been plugged
and abandoned. These records shall be given to the department on
request.
e. Enter, take temporary possession of, plug or replug any abandoned
well as provided in the rules and regulations, whenever any operator
neglects or refuses to comply with such rules and regulations. Such
plugging or replugging by the department shall be at the expense of the
owner or operator whose duty it shall be to plug the well and who shall
hold harmless the state of New York for all accounts, damages, costs and
judgments arising for the plugging or replugging of the well and the
surface restoration of the affected land. Primary liability for the
expense of such plugging or replugging and first recourse for the
recovery thereof shall be to the operator unless a contract for the
production, development, exploration or other working of the well, to
which the lessor or other grantor of the solution salt rights is a
party, shall place such liability on the owner or on the owner of
another interest in the land on which the well is situated. When an
operator violates any provision of this article, any rule or regulation
promulgated thereunder, or any order issued pursuant thereto in
reference to plugging or replugging an abandoned well, the operator may
not transfer the operator's responsibility therefor by surrendering the
lease. Prior to the commencement of drilling of any well to which this
subdivision applies, the operator shall be required to furnish to the
department, and continuously maintain, a bond acceptable to it
conditioned upon the performance of said operator's plugging
responsibilities with respect to said well. Upon the approval of the
department, in lieu of such bond, the operator may deposit cash or
negotiable bonds of the United States Government of like amount in an
escrow account conditioned upon the performance of said operator's
plugging responsibilities with respect to said well. Any interest
accruing as a result of aforementioned escrow deposit shall be the
exclusive property of the operator. The aforementioned bonding
requirements shall remain the obligation of the original operator
regardless of changes in operators unless a subsequent operator has
furnished the appropriate bond or substitute as herein provided
acceptable to the department and approval for the transfer of the well
plugging responsibility to the subsequent operator has been granted by
the department. The failure of any operator to maintain a bond or other
financial security as prescribed herein shall be deemed a breach of
plugging responsibilities and entitle the department to claim the
proceeds of the bond or other financial security. Any order issued
pursuant to this paragraph may be reviewed upon application of an
aggrieved party by means of an order to show cause which order shall be
issued by any justice of the supreme court in the judicial district in
which any such order applies and shall be returnable on the third
succeeding business day following the issuance of such order. Service of
such show cause order shall be made upon the regional office of the
department for the region in which such order applies, and upon the
attorney general by delivery of such order to an assistant attorney
general at an office of the attorney general in the county in which
venue of the proceeding is designated, or if there is no office of the
attorney general within such county, at the office of the attorney
general nearest such county. Except as hereinabove specified, the
proceeding to review an order under this paragraph shall be governed by
article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.
f. (1) In order to satisfy the financial security requirements
contained in paragraph e of this subdivision for all wells for which the
department either shall have issued or shall issue permits to drill such
wells or, on or after June fifth, nineteen hundred seventy-three, shall
have issued acknowledgements of notices of intention to drill such
wells, without in any way affecting any obligation to plug such wells,
the operator shall provide a bond or other financial security acceptable
to the department in the following amount:
(i) for wells less than two thousand five hundred feet in depth:
(a) twenty-five hundred dollars per well, provided that the operator
shall not be required to provide financial security under this item
exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars for up to twenty-five wells;
(b) for twenty-six to fifty wells, twenty-five thousand dollars, plus
twenty-five hundred dollars per well in excess of twenty-five wells,
provided that the operator shall not be required to provide financial
security under this item exceeding forty thousand dollars;
(c) for fifty-one to one hundred wells, forty thousand dollars, plus
twenty-five hundred dollars per well in excess of fifty wells, provided
that the operator shall not be required to provide financial security
under this item exceeding seventy thousand dollars;
(d) for over one hundred wells, seventy thousand dollars, plus
twenty-five hundred dollars per well in excess of one hundred wells,
provided that the operator shall not be required to provide financial
security under this item exceeding one hundred thousand dollars.
(ii) for wells between two thousand five hundred feet and six thousand
feet in depth:
(a) five thousand dollars per well provided that the operator shall
not be required to provide financial security under this item exceeding
forty thousand dollars for up to twenty-five wells;
(b) for twenty-six to fifty wells, forty thousand dollars, plus five
thousand dollars per well in excess of twenty-five wells, provided that
the operator shall not be required to provide financial security under
this item exceeding sixty thousand dollars;
(c) for fifty-one to one hundred wells, sixty thousand dollars, plus
five thousand dollars per well in excess of fifty wells, provided that
the operator shall not be required to provide financial security under
this item exceeding one hundred fifty thousand dollars;
(d) for over one hundred wells, one hundred thousand dollars, plus
five thousand dollars per well in excess of one hundred wells, provided
that the operator shall not be required to provide financial security
under this item exceeding one hundred fifty thousand dollars.
(2) In the event that an operator shall have wells described in
clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (1) of this paragraph, in lieu of
providing financial security under the provisions of each such clause,
such operator may file financial security as if all such wells were
between two thousand five hundred feet and six thousand feet in depth.
(3) For wells greater than six thousand feet in depth, the operator
may be required to provide additional financial security consistent with
criteria contained in rules and regulation to be adopted to implement
this subparagraph.
10. In the case of any well legally plugged pursuant to subdivision
nine hereof, the responsibility for the cost of replugging or
reinforcing the plugging of any well, whenever such replugging or
reinforcing is made necessary by reason of the commencement or expansion
of storage operations, shall be borne by the operator of the storage
facility.
11. The department may use any of its powers for the purpose of
cooperating with any other state or jurisdiction in regulating or
otherwise affecting the development or production of oil, gas or salt at
any location where such development or production may have a physical
effect on development or production in such other state or jurisdiction.
12. With respect to the production of gas from lands under the waters
of Lake Erie:
a. This state shall indemnify all municipalities adjacent to Lake Erie
within the state of New York for expenses of restoration of fresh water
supplies, cleanup of beaches, piers and similar facilities, and for
liability claims arising from any discharge or spill occasioned by
exploration, drilling or production of operations.
b. If any oil or other hazardous substance is discharged in the course
of drilling for or piping natural gas so as to pollute the waters or
endanger other natural resources of the state, the department shall
immediately act to remove or arrange for the removal of such substance
and to terminate or arrange for the termination of such discharge,
unless the department determines that such removal or termination will
be done properly and expeditiously by the lessee, owner or operator of
the drilling or piping operation.
c. Whenever the department acts to remove or arrange for the removal
of any substance, or terminates or arranges for the termination of any
discharge, the department may draw upon moneys that may be set aside for
the department for such purposes from the governmental emergency fund,
under such terms and conditions as the governor and the legislature have
established for use of such moneys.
d. No action taken by any person to contain or remove a discharge
shall be construed as an admission of liability for said discharge.
Provided that any person who undertakes removal or cleanup operations
shall, at the request of the department or an appropriate federal
agency, coordinate his actions with ongoing state or federal operations.
No person who renders assistance in containing or removing a discharge
shall be liable for any civil damages to third parties resulting solely
from acts or omissions in rendering such assistance except for acts or
omissions of gross negligence or willful misconduct. In the course of
cleanup operations, no person shall discharge any detergent into the
waters of this state without prior authorization of the commissioner.
13. Every person granted a permit to drill pursuant to this section
shall give notice by certified mail to any local government affected of
the location of the drilling site prior to the commencement of drilling
operations. Such prior notice shall also be given by certified mail to
any landowner whose surface rights will be affected by drilling
operations.
14. With respect to wells drilled deeper than five hundred feet below
the earth's surface for the purpose of conducting stratigraphic tests,
for finding or producing hot water or steam, for injecting fluids to
recover heat from the surrounding geologic materials or for the disposal
of brines, the department shall have the power to:
a. Require all exploration, drilling and development operations to be
conducted in accordance with standards promulgated by the department in
rules and regulations.
b. Conduct investigations to determine the extent of compliance with
this section and all rules, regulations and orders issued pursuant
thereto.
c. Classify a well as one subject to this section and require its
identification as a geothermal, stratigraphic or brine disposal well.
d. Require the drilling, casing, operation, plugging and replugging of
wells subject to this section and reclamation of surrounding land in
accordance with rules and regulations of the department.
e. Enter, take temporary possession of, plug or replug any abandoned
well subject to this section as provided in the rules and regulations,
whenever the well's owner or operator neglects or refuses to comply with
such rules and regulations. Such plugging or replugging by the
department shall be at the expense of the owner or operator whose duty
it shall be to plug the well and who shall hold harmless the state of
New York for all accounts, damages, costs and judgments arising from the
plugging or replugging of the well and the surface restoration of the
affected land.
f. Require that the operator furnish to the department, and
continuously maintain, a bond or other financial security conditioned
upon the satisfactory performance of the operator's plugging
responsibilities with respect to said well. The failure of any operator
to maintain a bond or other financial security as prescribed herein
shall be deemed a breach of plugging responsibilities and entitle the
department to claim the proceeds of the bond or other financial
security. Such bond or other financial security shall be for an amount
as determined pursuant to the provisions of paragraph k of subdivision
eight of this section.
g. In addition to the powers provided for in titles one, three, five
and thirteen of article seventy-one of this chapter, order an immediate
suspension of operations carried on in violation of the oil, gas and
solution mining law or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder or
order issued pursuant thereto.
h. Require the immediate reporting of any non-routine incident,
including but not limited to casing and drill pipe failures, casing
cement failures, fishing jobs, fires, seepages, blowouts and other
incidents during drilling, completion, producing, plugging or replugging
operations that may affect the health, safety, welfare or property of
any person or which may be injurious to plants or animals. The
department may require the operator or any agent thereof to record and
provide any data which the department believes may be of use for
adequate evaluation of a non-routine incident.
i. Require the taking and making of logs, samples, directional surveys
and reports on locations, elevations, drilling and production, and
further require filing of such information pursuant to the provisions of
the oil, gas and solution mining law. Upon the request of the state
geologist, the department shall cause such samples or copies of records
and reports to be furnished to the state geologist.
j. Give notice to persons engaged in underground mining operations of
the commencement of any phase of geothermal, stratigraphic and brine
disposal well operations which may affect the safety of such underground
mining operations or of the mining properties involved. The department
shall not be required to furnish any notice required by this paragraph
unless the person or persons engaged in underground mining operations or
having rights in mining properties have notified the department of the
existence and location of such underground mining operations or
properties.