2011 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 349 COALBED METHANE DEVELOPMENT 349.065 Authority of Coalbed Methane Well Review Board to hear and rule upon appeals of actions of the Department of Natural Resources -- Hearings.
KY Rev Stat § 349.065 (1996 through Reg Sess) What's This?
349.065 Authority of Coalbed Methane Well Review Board to hear and rule upon
appeals of actions of the Department of Natural Resources -- Hearings.
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The department shall notify the review board of the objection, request, or appeal as
set forth in KRS 349.060(1) and schedule a time and place for a hearing.
Notice of the hearing shall be given not less than fifteen (15) days in advance of the
hearing to the applicant, surface owners, and all other parties as required under KRS
349.020, 349.070, or 349.085, as applicable. The hearing of the review board shall
be held within thirty (30) days after the filing of the objection, request, or appeal or
as soon thereafter as the review board can be assembled.
All proceedings before the review board shall be conducted in accordance with
KRS Chapter 13B.
With respect to any objection filed pursuant to KRS 349.015 concerning the
proposed coalbed methane well, or its location, stimulation or completion, appeals
arising under KRS 349.020(5), or requests for a hearing arising under this chapter,
the review board shall make a determination as to whether a permit shall be issued
by the department and any conditions to be included within the permit, which
determination and order shall be consistent with the intent and purposes of KRS
Chapters 350 and 352 and this chapter, taking into consideration the following
factors that it considers applicable in the particular proceeding:
(a) The declaration of public policy and legislative findings as set forth in this
chapter;
(b) Whether the proposed coalbed methane well can be drilled safely, taking into
consideration the dangers from creeps, squeezes, or other disturbances due to
the extraction of coal;
(c) The feasibility of moving the proposed drilling location to another location;
(d) Whether any stimulation of the workable coalbed will have a significant
adverse affect on the mineability of that workable coalbed or any other
workable coalbeds within five hundred (500) feet of the proposed coalbed
methane well to be stimulated or within the five hundred (500) foot horizontal
radius and fifty (50) vertical feet above or below the workable coalbed
proposed to be stimulated or impair mine safety;
(e) Whether the drilling location is above or in close proximity to any mine
opening, shaft, entry, travelway, airway, haulageway, drainageway or
passageway, or to any proposed extension thereof, any abandoned, operating
coal mine or any coal mine already surveyed and platted but not yet being
operated;
(f) Whether the proposed drilling can reasonably be done through an existing or
planned pillar of coal, or in close proximity to an existing or planned pillar of
coal, taking into consideration the surface topography;
(g) The extent to which the proposed drilling location interferes with the safe
recovery of coal or coalbed methane;
(h) The extent to which the proposed drilling location will unreasonably interfere
with present or future coal mining operations;
(i)
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The technology and methods proposed for the safe and efficient recovery of
coal and coalbed methane;
(j) The practicality of locating the coalbed methane well out of a uniform pattern
with other wells;
(k) The surface topography and use; and
(l) Any other factor the review board determines would be considered consistent
with KRS Chapters 350 and 352 and this chapter.
Upon consideration of the matters raised at the hearing, the review board shall
render a decision based upon the ability to mine any affected workable coalbed
safely and the protection of any workable coalbed for safe future mining, shall enter
a written order containing findings of fact and conclusions which address any
relevant considerations in subsection (4) of this section, and based thereon shall
issue and file with the department a written order directing it to:
(a) Refuse to issue a coalbed methane well permit;
(b) Issue a permit for the proposed coalbed methane well location and any
conditions to be included within the permit;
(c) Issue a coalbed methane well permit and any conditions to be included within
the permit for an alternate drilling location different from that requested by the
applicant; or
(d) Issue a permit authorizing the applicant to stimulate the coalbed methane well
in the absence of an agreement of the affected coal interest holders as
described in KRS 349.045(1), as proposed or as modified by the order of the
review board.
With respect to any request for a hearing pursuant to KRS 349.025 by a coalbed
interest holder, or any record oil or gas lessor or lessee of any tract being penetrated
by a coalbed methane well, to determine whether the well has been abandoned and
should be plugged in accordance with this chapter, the review board shall make a
determination as to whether the coalbed methane well should be plugged, which
determination and order shall be consistent with the intent and purposes of KRS
Chapters 350 and 352 and this chapter, taking into consideration the following
factors that it considers applicable in the particular proceeding:
(a) Whether the coalbed methane well has ceased to produce in paying quantities,
and no dewatering operations are being conducted, for a period of fifteen (15)
consecutive months;
(b) Whether the coalbed methane well is being temporarily shut in by the coalbed
methane well operator; and
(c) Any other factor the review board determines should be considered consistent
with this section.
Upon consideration of the matters raised at the hearing, the review board shall
render a decision based upon whether the coalbed methane well has been
abandoned and should be plugged in accordance with this chapter; shall enter a
written order containing findings of fact and conclusions which address any relevant
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consideration in subsection (6) of this section based thereon; and shall issue and file
with the department a written order directing the department to:
(a) Require the coalbed methane well operator to plug and abandon the well;
(b) Allow the coalbed methane well operator to continue to operate and produce
the well; or
(c) Allow the coalbed methane well operator to continue to shut in the coalbed
methane well on a temporary basis.
Upon receipt of the review board order, the department shall promptly undertake the
action directed by the review board, provided that all other provisions of this
chapter have been complied with.
Effective: July 13, 2004
History: Created 2004 Ky. Acts ch. 65, sec. 13, effective July 13, 2004.
Legislative Research Commission Note (7/13/2004). When this statute was enacted
(2004 Ky. Acts ch. 65, sec. 15), the word "feet" should have been included after the
phrase "five hundred (500)" in subsection (4)(d) of this section. This manifest
clerical or typographical error has been corrected by the Reviser of Statutes pursuant
to KRS 7.136.
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