Montana Title 82. Minerals, Oil, and Gas § 82-10-402. Inventory of abandoned wells and seismic operations--reclamation procedures

(1) The board of oil and gas conservation shall maintain a record of the abandoned oil or gas wells, injection wells, sumps, and seismographic shot holes in the state that disturb land, water, or wildlife resources to a degree not in compliance with plugging, pollution prevention, and reclamation rules of the board. This record must be compiled from petitions or written statements from the owners of surface rights or lessees.

(2) The board shall check the record compiled under subsection (1) against its drilling records and shall determine and list the name of the person who abandoned the well, sump, or hole, whenever this information is available. When a listed person applies to the board for a new drilling permit, the board may issue the permit only after approving a plan by which the applicant will reclaim the land disturbed by the applicant's abandoned wells, sumps, or holes within 3 years.

(3) When the person who abandoned a well, sump, or hole cannot be identified or located or when the person does not have sufficient financial resources to pay for complete reclamation, the board may then reclaim the disturbed land with funds available from the oil and gas production damage mitigation account in a manner consistent with the requirements for the use of the account provided in 82-11-161 and 82-11-164.

(4) As used in subsection (3), “well” includes a class II injection well, as defined in 82-11-101, for which a drilling permit or a permit authorizing use of a well for that purpose was granted by the board after June 30, 1989, and water source wells used in connection with enhanced recovery projects.