Chap. 112.—An ACT requiring certain dry or abandoned oil wells in the State
of Virginia to be plugged, sealed or filled; and to provide equitable relief
and penalties for violations. {S 137]

Approved March 5, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. Section 1. All lessees or operators for crude oil or natural
gas within the Commonwealth of Virginia, shall immediately and in
a practical and workmanlike manner plug all dry or abandoned oil
and gas wells in which oil or gas bearing stratum has been found,
in the following manner:

Where the well does not penetrate workable coal beds, it shall
either be filled with mud, clay or other non-porous material from
the bottom of the well to a point twenty feet above the top level
of the oil, gas, or water bearing stratum; at that point there shall
be placed a plug of cement or other suitable material which will
completely seal the hole, Between this ceiling plug and a point
twenty feet above the next higher oil, gas or water bearing stratum,
the hole shall be filled in the manner just prescribed; and at such
point there shall be placed another plug of cement or other suitable
material which will completely seal the hole. In like manner the
hole shall be filled and plugged with reference to each of its oil,
gas or water bearing strata. However, whenever such strata are
not widely separated and are free from water they may be grouped
and treated as a single sand, oil or gas horizon, and the aforesaid
filling and plugging be performed as though there was but one
horizon. After the plugging of all oil, gas or water bearing strata
as aforesaid, a final plug shall be anchored approximately ten feet
below the bottom of the largest casing in the well; from this point
to the surface the well shall be filled with sand, clay or other
non-porous material. In case any of the oil or gas bearing strata
in a well shall have been shot, thereby creating cavities which can-
not be readily filled in the manner above described, the well
operator shall follow the following method:

Should the stratum which has been shot be the lowest one in
the well, there shall be placed at the nearest suitable point, but not
less than twenty feet above the stratum, a plug of cement or other
suitable material which shall completely seal the hole. In the event,
however, that the shooting has been done above one or more oil
x gas bearing strata in the well, plugging in the manner specified
herein shall be done at the nearest suitable point but not less than
twenty feet below the stratum shot. And it is further provided that
such lessee or operator for crude oil or natural gas, where such
operation has not reached the oil bearing stratum and such oper-
ation or well is abandoned by such operator or lessee, such aban-
doned well shall immediately be closed and marked, and that when
such operator or lessee removes the derrick from around such well
or wells he shall plug such well or wells in some good and substan-
tial manner at least ten feet below the surface with such material
as will prevent the well from caving before final abandonment.

Where the well has penetrated one or more workable coal beds
it shall be filled and securely plugged in the manner aforesaid, to
a point forty feet below the lowest workable coal bed.

Section 2. Any person, partnership, association or corporation,
which shall violate any of the provisions of this act shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished
accordingly. The courts of record of the Commonwealth having
general equity jurisdiction are hereby vested with jurisdiction and
power to enjoin actual or threatened violations of the provisions
of this act in a proceeding brought by any landowner or lessor in
the county or city in which the alleged violation occurred or in
which the defendant resides, such equitable relief to be in addition
to and not in lieu of the criminal prosecution and punishment
provided for herein.