A. All water shall be confined to its
respective strata and shall be adequately protected in any exploration or
production operations.
B. All
drillers, owners, operators, and individuals having control of the operation of
any oil or gas well, or well used for the disposal of saltwater and/or oil or
gas field waste products, or pipeline through which oil, gas, saltwater, or oil
or gas field waste products are piped or transported, or receiving tank,
storage tank, or receiving tank, storage tank or receiving and storage
receptacle into which crude oil, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products
are produced, received or stored, or through which oil, saltwater, or oil or
gas field waste products are transported, shall immediately notify the
Commission giving full details concerning any fires that occur at oil or gas
wells or tanks or receptacles owned, operated, or controlled by them or on
property controlled or leased by them, and all such persons shall immediately
report to the Commission any and all tanks or receptacles struck by lighting
and any fire that destroys oil or gas, and shall immediately report any breaks
or leaks in or from tanks, pits, or other receptacles and pipelines from which
oil, gas, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products are escaping or have
escaped. In all such reports of fire, breaks, leaks, blow-outs, escapes, or
other accidents of such nature, the location of the well, tanks, pits,
receptacles, and line breaks shall be given. Such reports shall specify what
steps have been taken or are in progress to remedy the situation reported and
shall detail the quantity (estimated, if no accurate measurement can be
obtained, in which the report shall show the same is an estimate) of oil, gas,
saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products lost, destroyed, or allowed to
escape. In case any tank, pit or receptacle is allowed to run over, the escape
thus occurring shall be reported as in the case of a leak. Following the
initial notice required herein, a written report must be filed with the
Commission within fifteen (15) days documenting the circumstances of all fires,
breaks, leaks, or blow-outs. Such report hereby required as to oil, saltwater,
or oil or gas field waste products losses shall be necessary only in the case
such losses exceed two (2) barrels in the aggregate. Furthermore, if other
agencies, federal or state, require notification of spills in accordance with
standards other than those set forth herein, then duplicates of notification
given to such other agencies shall immediately be given to the Commission, to
be followed within fifteen (15) days by a written report documenting the
initial report.
C. Before
commencing to drill, the operator shall inform the Commission of the intended
construction for pits and tanks for drilling mud or deleterious substances used
in the drilling, completion, and recompletion of wells. Said pits and tanks
shall be constructed and maintained so as to prevent pollution of surface and
subsurface freshwater and shall be in accordance with applicable South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control Regulations. Under no
circumstances shall said pits be used for the disposal, dumping or storage of
fluids, wastes and other debris not used in drilling operations.
After a well is completed or plugged and abandoned, all drilling
mud remaining in such pits shall be safely returned to the well on location or
an acceptable adjacent well, or removed to a lawfully approved landfill, or
disposed of as directed by the Commission, within ninety (90) days of
completion of the well, except as otherwise approved by the Commission. Pits
shall be backfilled with earth and leveled in such a manner as to be returned
to a near natural state. The construction and operation of such tanks and pits
shall be in complete compliance with all relevant rules, regulations, and
requirements of other local, state, and federal agencies.
D. Within ninety (90) days, except as
otherwise approved by the Commission, after a well is completed or plugged and
abandoned, all pits and sumps shall be properly filled, compacted, and leveled,
in such a manner so as to be returned to a near natural state.