SECOND REGULAR SESSION
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES MOORE (Sponsor), MYERS, QUINN, RUESTMAN, RECTOR, DIXON, COOPER (120), SANDER, CRAWFORD, MUNZLINGER, SMITH (118), PEARCE,
WILSON (119), LUETKEMEYER, HOBBS AND MAYER (Co-sponsors).Read 1st time February 23, 2004, and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 256.603, 256.605, 256.607, 256.614, 256.615, and 256.628, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof seven new sections relating to the department of natural resources, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 256.603, 256.605, 256.607, 256.614, 256.615, and 256.628, RSMo, are repealed and seven new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 256.603, 256.605, 256.607, 256.614, 256.615, 256.627, and 256.628, to read as follows:
256.603. As used in sections 256.600 to 256.640, the following terms mean:
(1) "Abandoned well", a well shall be deemed abandoned which is in such a state of disrepair that continued use for the purpose of thermal recovery or obtaining groundwater is impractical and which has not been in use for a period of two years or more. The term "abandoned well" includes a test hole or a monitoring well which was drilled in the exploration for minerals, or for geological, water quality or hydrologic data from the time that it is no longer used for exploratory purposes and that has not been plugged in accordance with rules and regulations pursuant to sections 256.600 to 256.640;
(2) "Board", the body created in section 256.605;
(3) "Certification report", a form to be sent to the division upon completion of any well which shows the location, static water level, total depth, initial [pumpage] yield, hole size, casing size and length, and name of well owner;
(4) "Division", the division of geology and land survey;
(5) "Driller's log", a record accurately kept at the time of drilling showing the depth, thickness, character of the different strata penetrated, location of water-bearing strata, depth, size and character of casing installed, together with any other data or information required on the certification report forms;
(6) "Examination", an assessment of professional competency administered to applicants;
(7) "Heat pump installation contractor", any person, including owner, operator or drilling supervisor who engages for compensation in the drilling, boring, coring, or construction of any well in the state for extracting thermal energy;
(8) "High-yield pump", any water well pump system capable of producing in excess of seventy gallons of water per minute;
(9) "Monitoring well installation contractor", any person, including owner, operator, or drilling supervisor who engages for compensation in the drilling, boring, coring, or construction of any well in this state which is drilled for geologic data, water quality, or hydrologic data;
[(9)] (10) "Permitted well driller", any person who holds a permit issued pursuant to the provisions of sections 256.600 to 256.640;
[(10)] (11) "Person", any individual, whether or not connected with a firm, partnership, association, corporation, or any other group or combination acting as a unit;
[(11)] (12) "Pump installation contractor", any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of installing or repairing pumps and pumping equipment;
[(12)] (13) "Registration report", a form to be sent to the division upon completion of plugging of an abandoned well, raising casings, lining wells, deepening of wells, major repairs and alterations, and jetted wells;
[(13)] (14) "Well", an excavation that is drilled, cored, bored, washed, driven, dug, jetted, trenched, or otherwise constructed when the intended use of such excavation is for the acquisition of groundwater supply, for monitoring, thermal exchange or for exploration for minerals or geologic or hydrologic data; but such term does not include a cistern, an excavation made for the purpose of obtaining or for prospecting for oil or natural gas, or for construction foundation data, dewatering of construction sites or dewatering of existing structures, observation wells used as a part of an underground storage tank leak detection system of a minimal depth, as determined by the board by rule, or for inserting media to repressure oil or natural-gas-bearing formations;
[(14)] (15) "Well installation contractor", any person, including owner, operator, and drilling supervisor who engages for compensation in the drilling, boring, coring, or construction of any well in this state. The term, however, shall not include any person who drills, bores, cores, or constructs a water well on [his] the person's own property for his or her own use or a person who assists in the construction of a water well under the direct supervision of a permitted well installation contractor and is not primarily responsible for drilling operations;
[(15)] (16) "Well owner", any person or corporation who is the party responsible for having a well drilled and whose name appears on the well registration or certification form.
256.605. 1. The "Well Installation Board" is hereby established which shall be composed of nine members. Appointment to the board shall be made without regard to race, creed, sex, religion, or national origin of the appointees. Each member shall be a resident of the state and be conversant in well drilling, completion, and plugging methods and techniques.
2. Four members of the board shall hold valid permits under sections 256.600 to 256.640. Two of these shall hold permits as well installation contractors, one shall hold a permit as a heat pump installation contractor and as a well installation contractor and one shall hold a permit as a monitoring well installation contractor and as a well installation contractor. Four shall be public members none of which are currently employed by the state, one of these shall be a public water supply district user and one shall be a private well user. The director of the department or his designee shall serve as a member of the board. Board members shall serve four-year terms except that two of the first appointed public members and two of the first appointed members holding valid permits shall be appointed to two-year terms. Members shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate and each shall serve until his successor is duly appointed and qualified. Vacancies shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired term. Any member who fails to attend at least seventy-five percent of the regular board meetings in any one year, at the discretion of the board, shall be deemed to have resigned. Members shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties while in attendance at board meetings out of appropriations made for that purpose.
3. A member shall not be employed by or own an interest in a company, firm, or business association which employs another member of the board or in which another member owns an interest, if the company, firm, or business association is engaged in any phase of the well drilling, pump installation, heat pump or monitoring well business.
4. Except for industry members, no member shall receive, or shall have received during the previous two years, income derived directly or indirectly from any permittee or applicant under sections 256.600 to 256.640.
5. The board shall meet on a quarterly basis, and special meetings may be called when deemed necessary by the division. A majority of the board is a quorum for conducting business. The board shall elect a chairman by a majority vote at the first meeting each year.
256.607. 1. No person may engage in business in this state as a well installation contractor or pump installation contractor unless he or she has obtained from the division a permit to conduct such business or businesses. The division shall refer all violations of this subsection to the office of the prosecuting attorney for the county where the alleged violator resides for injunctive and other such appropriate relief. Violations of this section are subject to the provisions of section 256.637.
2. Nothing in sections 256.600 to 256.640 shall prevent a person who has not obtained a permit pursuant to sections 256.600 to 256.640 from constructing a well on his or her own or leased property intended for use only in a single-family house which is his or her permanent residence, or intended for use only for farming purposes on his or her farm, and where the waters to be produced are not intended for use by the public or in any residence other than his or her own. Such person shall comply with all rules and regulations as to construction of wells adopted under sections 256.600 to 256.640.
3. Any well installation contractor or pump installation contractor acting as the primary contractor in the construction, alteration, major repair or abandonment of any well shall be required to obtain a permit from the division and comply with all rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to sections 256.600 to 256.640.
4. Any heat pump installation contractor or monitoring well installation contractor shall obtain a permit from the division and comply with all rules and regulations pursuant to sections 256.600 to 256.640.
256.614. 1. The division shall be notified, on certification or registration forms to be provided by the division, of the activities specified in this section within sixty days:
(1) Certification forms shall be used to report:
(a) New well construction;
(b) New high-yield pump installations;
(c) Drilling of monitoring wells;
(d) Drilling of heat pump wells;
(2) Registration forms shall be used to report:
(a) Plugging of wells;
(b) Raising of casing;
(c) Lining of wells;
(d) Deepening of wells;
(e) Major repairs and alteration to wells;
(f) Jetted well construction;
(3) The certification form shall be accompanied by the certification fee and the registration form shall be accompanied by the registration fee, however, on new well construction and new high-yield pump installation, only one fee shall be required.
2. Any well driller who encounters oil or gas during drilling operations or a well owner who converts a well from a water well to an oil or gas well shall notify the division and file for a permit from the Missouri oil and gas council, and the well shall be completed in accordance with the regulations of the council.
256.615. 1. Wells abandoned by the landowner after August 28, 1991, shall be plugged or caused to be plugged by the landowner according to the regulations developed pursuant to sections 256.600 to 256.640. If the department makes a finding that certain unusual conditions exist at a well, the department may require that the same be plugged by a permitted well driller or pump installer.
2. Any test hole which is drilled for underground exploration shall be plugged in accordance with rules and regulations developed pursuant to sections 256.600 to 256.640.
3. Any information obtained by the department which identifies a test hole or a monitoring well which was drilled in the exploration for minerals shall remain confidential and shall not be released by the division for a period of ten years following the receipt of the information which initially identified the test hole or monitoring well. The person submitting the report or the person for whom the well was drilled may request that such information remain confidential for an additional five years and the division shall grant such request. Any persons providing information to the department of natural resources identifying violators of the water well drillers act or locations of abandoned wells that may pose a threat to groundwater shall remain anonymous and all information associated with such persons shall be treated as confidential information by the department and not disclosed to third parties absent a proper subpoena compelling the production of such information. Any employee of the division who discloses confidential information shall be subject to disciplinary action by the division and is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
256.627. 1. While in communication with the public concerning work performed by department of natural resources permitted contractors or work that may be required of a permitted contractor, all division personnel shall restrict distribution of information to the following:
(1) Work qualification status and limitations of any permitted contractor;
(2) General information concerning rules adopted under sections 256.600 to 256.640.
2. At no time during consultation with any person outside of division personnel shall a division employee offer specific technical advice or opinions concerning the activities or technical advice of a permitted contractor without a prior consultation with such permitted contractor.
256.628. 1. A public water supplier subject to the provisions of chapter 640, RSMo, which connects to any structure or location previously served by any well which is not that of another public water supplier shall notify the well owner of his or her obligation to plug any abandoned well pursuant to the requirements of sections 256.600 to 256.640. The public water supplier shall not connect any person to the public water system until the person submits information which identifies the location of wells and attests that:
(1) Known abandoned wells on the property have been plugged; or
(2) There are no known abandoned wells on the property; or
(3) Existing wells will remain in use and will be properly plugged when no longer used; or
(4) Any abandoned wells will be plugged within ninety days.
2. The public water supplier shall submit a copy of information so received to the division on forms provided by the division, along with sufficient information to enable the division to locate existing and abandoned wells. The failure of any public water supplier to submit the information provided for in this subsection shall subject the public water supplier to a fine not to exceed one-thousand dollars for each violation. There is hereby created in the state treasury the "Ground Water Protection Fund", which shall consist of moneys collected under this subsection. The department of natural resources shall administer the fund and moneys in the fund shall be used for the sole purpose of field enforcement regarding abandoned wells. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 33.080, RSMo, to the contrary, any moneys remaining in the fund at the end of the biennium shall not revert to the credit of the general revenue fund. The division shall, within a reasonable time, inspect any well identified in subdivision (4) of subsection 1 of this section. If the division determines that an abandoned well has not been plugged, it shall order the owner to have it plugged by a permitted water well installation contractor within thirty days. The division shall immediately seek injunctive relief through the office of the prosecuting attorney of the county wherein the alleged violation occurred to enforce its order and shall notify the appropriate public water supplier who shall terminate water service to the property thirty days after receipt of notice if the well has not been plugged. Any person who fails to plug an abandoned well pursuant to the provisions of this subsection shall, upon conviction, be subject to the penalties specified in section 256.637.