§ 30:28 — Drilling permits; issuance; fees; location plat; notice and hearing; funds from drilling

§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 secretary, and the secretary shall collect for each such well or test well a
drilling permit fee. The secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary until
after the conclusion of the public hearing and after consideration by the secretary of the
comments and information presented at that hearing.
(7) If the secretary, 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 secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary 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
department into the state treasury and shall be credited to the Bond Security and Redemption
Fund.
I.(1) The secretary, 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 secretary. 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 secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary 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 secretary shall require that the operator identify on a form approved
by the secretary 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.

Legislative History

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; Acts 2025, No. 458, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 2025.