§28. Drilling permits; issuance; fees; location plat; notice and hearing; funds from drilling permit fees

            A. No well or test well may be drilled in search of minerals without first obtaining a permit from the commissioner of conservation, and the commissioner shall collect for each such well or test well a drilling permit fee. The commissioner shall periodically review the fees collected by his office for drilling permits and may revise such fees pursuant to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act.

            B.(1) A six-month permit shall be valid for one hundred eighty days from the date of issuance and if the well or test well is not drilled within one hundred eighty days after the permit is issued, it shall be void and a new permit must be obtained upon the payment of an additional drilling permit fee.

            (2) A one-year permit shall be valid for one year from the date of issuance and if the well or test well is not drilled within one year after the permit is issued, it shall be void and a new permit must be obtained upon the payment of an additional drilling permit fee. The fee for a one-year permit shall be twice the fee for a six-month permit.

            C. For each drilling permit that must be altered, amended, or changed after its initial issuance, the commissioner shall collect an amendment fee which shall be set pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, except for unit well nomenclature. An assignment or contract of sale that reflects an assumption of liability for oil and gas wells requires an amended permit. Any person who assumes such liability shall apply for an amended permit within thirty days of the assumption of liability.

            D. The commissioner of conservation shall not issue a permit to drill a well or a test well pursuant to Subsection A, B, or C of this Section until the provisions of this Subsection have been satisfied:

            (1) An applicant for a permit to drill an oil or gas well or test well shall submit with his application therefor a location plat, certified by a professional land surveyor, indicating the site of the proposed well in relation to the surrounding property within a radius of five hundred feet from the proposed drilling site.

            (2) The commissioner of conservation shall review the location plat and make a determination as to whether any residential or commercial structure or area of review for a carbon dioxide storage facility not owned by the applicant, his lessor, or other predecessor in interest is situated within a five-hundred-foot radius of the proposed drilling site. For purposes of this Section, "carbon dioxide storage facility" shall include any current or proposed project for which a Class VI permit has been applied or issued, and "area of review" shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in administrative rules regarding Class VI injection wells.

            (3) Upon a determination by the commissioner that a residential or commercial structure or area of review for a carbon dioxide storage facility is located within five hundred feet of the proposed drilling site, the commissioner shall convey that information, together with written notice of a public hearing thereon, by means of an official notice delivered by first class mail to any person owning a residential or commercial structure within a five-hundred-foot radius of the proposed site, to the operator of a carbon dioxide storage facility whose area of review is within a five-hundred-foot radius of the proposed site, and to the local governing authority in whose jurisdiction the property is located.

            (4) Any property owner, carbon dioxide storage facility operator, or local governing authority so notified shall have the right within ten days of the mailing of such notice to request a public hearing concerning the issuance of such permit.

            (5) The commissioner shall hold a public hearing, if one is requested, on the issues concerning the proposed drilling, affording residential and commercial property owners and local government representatives the opportunity to be heard in regard thereto.

            (6) No permit for drilling a well or test well shall be issued by the commissioner until after the conclusion of the public hearing and after consideration by the commissioner of the comments and information presented at that hearing.

            (7) If the commissioner, in his review of the location plat required by Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, determines that no residential or commercial structure or area of review for a carbon dioxide storage facility not owned by the applicant, his lessor, or other predecessor in interest falls within five hundred feet of the proposed well site, the commissioner shall issue the permit required for such drilling in accordance with the provisions of Subsections A, B, C, and F of this Section and any rules and regulations issued thereunder.

            (8) The provisions of this Subsection shall not apply to workover rigs.

            E. Any permit issued to drill an oil or gas well or test well to a depth of less than ten thousand feet shall not be subject to the provisions of Subsection D of this Section other than those requirements regarding carbon dioxide storage facilities.

            F. The issuance of the permit by the commissioner of conservation shall be sufficient authorization to the holder of the permit to enter upon the property covered by the permit and to drill in search of minerals thereon. No other agency or political subdivision of the state shall have the authority, and they are hereby expressly forbidden, to prohibit or in any way interfere with the drilling of a well or test well in search of minerals by the holder of such a permit.

            G. The commissioner shall promulgate rules, regulations, and orders necessary to require certification of water quality by the operator for surface water used in conjunction with oil and gas drilling operations before drilling begins which ensure ground water aquifer safety.

            H. Subject to the provisions contained in Article VII, Section 9 of the Constitution of Louisiana, all funds collected under the provisions of this Section shall be paid by the office of conservation into the state treasury and shall be credited to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund.

            I.(1) The commissioner, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, shall promulgate rules, regulations, and orders necessary to require an operator, agent, or assigns, to provide a single notice to the surface owner of lands on which drilling operations are to be conducted. For the purposes of this Subsection, such notice shall be referred to as the "pre-entry notice". The rules, regulations, and orders to be promulgated pursuant to this Subsection shall include the following:

            (a) The pre-entry notice shall be sent to the surface owner no less than thirty days prior to construction operations of a drilling location on the property by the operator for the purpose of commencing drilling operations on the well described in the pre-entry notice. Such notice shall be provided in the form required by the commissioner. No subsequent notice to the surface owner shall be required.

            (b) The pre-entry notice shall include the following:

            (i) The contact name, email address, and phone number for the operator.

            (ii) The proposed well name and pad location including section, township, range, and surface plat of the pad location, if available.

            (iii) A statement that operations will commence sometime later than thirty days after the date of the notice.

            (c) No pre-entry notice shall be required to be given to a surface owner who has a contractual relationship with the operator.

            (d) Upon application, the commissioner may, without notice or hearing, waive the pre-entry notice or reduce the thirty-day requirement for such notice in the event the thirty-day delay would result in the loss or termination of a mineral lease, or in the event of such other emergency circumstances as the commissioner may deem appropriate for such waiver.

            (e) No pre-entry notice shall be required for preparatory activities such as inspection, surveying, or staking, provided that nothing herein and nothing in the rules promulgated under the provisions of this Subsection shall be construed as altering or reducing the doctrine of correlative rights or altering or reducing the operator's obligation to conduct his operations with due regard for the rights of the surface owner.

            (f) No pre-entry notice shall be required to drill additional wells on an existing drilling pad on the property so long as the operator does not expand the drilling pad or access road.

            (g) Such other matters as the commissioner may deem necessary or appropriate to implement the one time pre-entry notice required by this Subsection.

            (2) A surface owner, for the purpose of this Subsection, shall mean the person or persons shown in the assessor's rolls of the parish as the owner of the surface rights for the land for which a pre-entry notification would be required.

            (3) After receipt of the pre-entry notice, the surface owner shall make no alterations to a completed drilling location with the malicious intent to interfere with the drilling operations for which the owner received the pre-entry notice.

            J. No later than thirty days after the issuance of an amended permit to transfer a well to another operator, the commissioner shall require that the operator identify on a form approved by the commissioner the surface owner of lands on which the well site is located. "Surface owner" shall mean the person shown in the assessor's rolls of the parish as the current owner of the surface rights for the land on which the well site is located.

            Acts 1997, No. 294, §1; Acts 2009, No. 126, §1; Acts 2012, No. 795, §1; Acts 2016, No. 342, §1; Acts 2024, No. 645, §1.