West Virginia Code § 22-6A-4

Definitions
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(a) All definitions set forth in article six of this chapter apply when those defined terms are
used in this article, unless the context in which the term is used clearly requires a different
meaning.
(b) Unless the context in which the term used clearly requires a different meaning, as used
in this article:
(1) "Best management practices" means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices,
maintenance procedures and other management practices estabulished by the department to
prevent or reduce pollution of waters of this state. For purposes of this article, best
management practices also includes those practices and procedures set out in the Erosion
and Sediment Control Manual of the Office of Oil and Gas;
(2) "Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection;
(3) "Flowback Recycle Pit" means a pit used for the retention of flowback and freshwater and
into which no other wastes of any kind are placed;
(4) "Freshwater Impoundment" means an impoundment used for the retention of fresh water
and into which no wastes of any kind are placed;
(5) "Horizontal drilling" means a method of drilling a well for the production of natural gas
or the injection or placement of any fluid or gas, not otherwise prohibited by law or rule,
including carbon dioxide, to enhance recovery of oil and natural gas that is intended to
maximize the length of wellbore that is exposed to the formation and in which the wellbore is
initially vertical but i s eventually curved to become horizontal, or nearly horizontal, to
parallel a partVicular geologic formation;
(6) "Horizontal well" means any well site, other than a coalbed methane well, drilled using a
horizontal drilling method, and which disturbs three acres or more of surface, excluding
pipelines, gathering lines and roads, or utilizes more than two hundred ten thousand gallons
of water in any thirty day period for the production of natural gas, including injection or
placement of any fluid or gas, not otherwise prohibited by law or rule, including carbon
dioxide, to enhance recovery of oil and natural gas;
(7) "Impoundment" means a man-made excavation or diked area for the retention of fluids;
(8) "Karst terrain" means a terrain, generally underlain by limestone or dolomite, in which
the topography is formed chiefly by the dissolving of rock, and which may be characterized
by sinkholes, sinking streams, closed depressions, subterranean drainage and caves;
(9) "Perennial stream" means a stream or portion of a stream that flows year-round, is
considered a permanent stream and for which base flow is maintained by ground-water
discharge to the streambed due to the ground-water elevation adjacent to the stream being
higher than the elevation of the streambed;
(10) "Pit" means a man-made excavation or diked area that contains or is intended to contain
an accumulation of process waste fluids, drill cuttings or any other liquid substance
generated in the development of a horizontal well and which could impact surface or
groundwater;
(11) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection as
established in article one of this chapter or other person to whom the secretary has
delegated authority or duties pursuant to sections six or eight, article one of this chapter;
(12) "Water purveyor" means any person engaged in the business of selling water to another
and who is regulated by the Bureau for Public Health pursuant to title sixty-four, series three
of the West Virginia Code of State Rules; and
(13) "Well work" means the drilling, redrilling, deepening, stimulating, pressuring by
injection or placement of any fluid or gas, not otherlwise prohibited by law or rule, including
carbon dioxide, converting from one type of wsell to another, combining or physically
changing to allow the migration of fluid from one formation to another or plugging or
replugging of any well. i

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