(a) Any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation who willfully violates any provision of this article or any rule or order promulgated hereunder shall be subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $2,500. Each day a violation continues after notice by the division constitutes a separate offense. The penalty shall be recovered by a civil action brought by the division, in the name of the state, before the circuit court of the county in which the subject well or facility is located. All such civil penalties collected shall be credited to the General Fund of the state.
(b) Any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation willfully violating any of the provisions of this article which prescribe the manner of drilling and casing or plugging and filling any well, or which prescribe the methods of conserving gas from waste, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment in jail for not exceeding twelve months, or both, in the discretion of the court, and prosecutions under this section may be brought in the name of the State of West Virginia in the court exercising criminal jurisdiction in the county in which the violation of such provisions of the article or terms of such order was committed, and at the instance and upon the relation of any citizens of this state.
Structure West Virginia Code
Chapter 22. Environmental Resources
Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement
§22-6-2. Secretary -- Powers and Duties Generally; Department Records Open to Public; Inspectors
§22-6-2a. Oil and Gas Inspectors Qualifications and Salary
§22-6-6. Permit Required for Well Work; Permit Fee; Application; Soil Erosion Control Plan
§22-6-7. Water Pollution Control Permits; Powers and Duties of the Director; Penalties
§22-6-9. Notice to Property Owners
§22-6-10. Procedure for Filing Comments; Certification of Notice
§22-6-19. Same -- Continuance During Life of Well; Dry or Abandoned Wells
§22-6-20. Same -- When Well Is Drilled Through Horizon of Coalbed From Which Coal Has Been Removed
§22-6-21. Same -- Installation of Fresh Water Casings
§22-6-24. Methods of Plugging Well
§22-6-25. Introducing Liquid Pressure Into Producing Strata to Recover Oil Contained Therein
§22-6-26. Performance Bonds; Corporate Surety or Other Security
§22-6-27. Cause of Action for Damages Caused by Explosions
§22-6-29. Operating Permit and Processing Fund; Special Reclamation Fund; Fees
§22-6-29a. Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund
§22-6-30. Reclamation Requirements
§22-6-32. Right of Adjacent Owner or Operator to Prevent Waste of Gas; Recovery of Cost
§22-6-35. Civil Action for Contamination or Deprivation of Fresh Water Source or Supply; Presumption
§22-6-36. Declaration of Oil and Gas Notice by Owners and Lessees of Coal Seams
§22-6-37. Rules, Orders and Permits Remain in Effect
§22-6-38. Application of Article; Exclusions
§22-6-40. Appeal From Order of Issuance or Refusal of Permit to Drill or Fracture; Procedure