State of South Dakota  
EIGHTY-EIGHTH SESSION
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, 2013  

753U0046   HOUSE AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES ENGROSSED    NO.  SB 1 -  02/21/2013  

Introduced by:    Senators Maher, Rampelberg, Rhoden, Sutton, and Tieszen and Representatives Magstadt, Hawley, Hoffman, Olson (Betty), Rozum, Schrempp, and Solum at the request of the Interim Oil and Gas Study Committee
 

        FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to revise the provisions regarding plugging and performance bonds for oil and gas wells and to repeal the supplemental restoration bond requirement.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
    Section 1. That § 45-9-15 be amended to read as follows:
    45-9-15. Without limiting its general authority, the Board of Minerals and Environment may require, or may delegate to the secretary of environment and natural resources, specific authority to require the furnishing of a plugging and performance bond in the amount of five as follows:
            (1)    For wells at or less than fifty-five hundred feet in depth, an individual bond of ten thousand dollars per well drilled or a thirty thousand dollar blanket; or
            (2)    For wells more than fifty-five hundred feet in depth, an individual bond of fifty thousand dollars per well drilled, or twenty one hundred thousand dollars blanket,
with good and sufficient surety, conditioned for the performance of the duty to plug each dry

or abandoned well, to restore the premises, insofar as possible, to the condition that existed before the filing of the application to drill; and conditioned on the proper performance of all of the requirements of §§ 45-9-5 to 45-9-18, inclusive. The condition of the bond insofar as it relates to restoration of the surface is deemed to have been complied with if the landowner or lessee and the producer or driller adopt a different plan as approved by the board. The board may require additional bond if the circumstances require.
    Section 2. That § 45-9-15.1 be repealed.
    45-9-15.1. The Board of Minerals and Environment shall require the furnishing of a surface restoration bond if the landowner or lessee is not a party to the oil or gas leasing agreement in the amount of two thousand dollars per well drilled, or ten thousand dollars blanket, with good and sufficient surety, conditioned for the performance of the duty to restore the premises, insofar as possible, to the condition which existed before the filing of the application to drill. The term, premises, as used in this section, includes the surface property of the landowner or lessee, both real and personal, and the ingress to and the egress from the real property.
    Section 3. The bond requirements in section 1 of this Act do not apply to any wells permitted or drilled prior to July 1, 2013, unless the well is sold or transferred after July 1, 2013.