Section 3206.

(a) The operator of any idle well not covered by an indemnity bond provided under Section 3204, subdivision (c) of Section 3205, or subdivision (a) of Section 3205.2 shall do one of the following:

(1) File with the supervisor an annual fee for each idle well equal to the sum of the following amounts:

(A) One hundred dollars ($100) for each idle well that has been idle for less than 10 years.

(B) Two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for each idle well that has been idle for 10 years or longer, but less than 15 years.

(C) Five hundred dollars ($500) for each idle well that has been idle for 15 years or longer.

(2) Provide an escrow account in a federally insured bank that does business in, and has an office in, the State of California, by depositing the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each idle well, in the following manner:

(A) The escrow account shall be accessible only by the supervisor and the money shall be retained in the escrow account exclusively for use by the supervisor for plugging and abandoning the operator's idle wells that become deserted pursuant to Section 3237.

(B) The money in the escrow account may be released only by the supervisor and only in amounts covering any idle well that has properly been plugged and abandoned, returned to production or injection or converted to an active observation well, if that money remaining in the escrow account is sufficient to fully fund the required deposits for all of the operator's remaining idle wells.

(C) The required deposit for each idle well shall be funded completely within 10 years of the date the well becomes idle, or 10 years from January 1, 1999, for any well that is idle as of January 1, 1999.

(D) The operator shall fund the escrow account at the rate of at least five hundred dollars ($500) per well per year.

(E) Failure of an operator in any year to provide the minimum funding for any idle well shall result in the institution of the annual fees required by paragraph (1) for that idle well, and all money already on deposit for that idle well shall be treated as previously paid annual fees and shall be deposited into the Hazardous and Idle-Deserted Well Abatement Fund specified in subdivision (b) for expenditure pursuant to that subdivision.

(3) File with the supervisor an indemnity bond that provides the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each idle well. The bond shall be subject to the conditions provided in Section 3204.

(4) On or before July 1, 1999, file a plan with the supervisor to provide for the management and elimination of all long-term idle wells not covered under paragraph (1), (2), or (3).

(A) For the purposes of the plan required by this paragraph, elimination of an idle well shall be accomplished when the well meets the requirements of Section 3208.

(B) A plan filed pursuant to this paragraph shall meet all of the following requirements and conditions:

(i) The plan shall cover a time period of no more than 10 years and may be renewed annually thereafter, subject to approval by the supervisor.

(ii) The plan shall be reviewed for performance annually by the supervisor, and be subject to amendment with the approval of the supervisor.

(iii) The required rate of long-term idle well elimination shall be based upon the number of idle wells under the control of an operator on January 1 of each year, as specified in clause IV. The supervisor may require additional well testing requirements as part of the plan.

(iv) The plan shall require that operators with 10 or fewer idle wells eliminate at least one long-term idle well every two years; operators with 11 to 20, inclusive, idle wells eliminate at least one long-term idle well each year; operators with 21 to 50, inclusive, idle wells eliminate at least two long-term idle wells each year; operators with 51 to 100, inclusive, idle wells eliminate at least five long-term idle wells each year; operators with 101 to 250, inclusive, idle wells eliminate at least 10 long-term wells each year; and operators with more than 250 idle wells eliminate at least 4 percent of their long-term idle wells each year.

(v) An operator who complies with the plan is exempt from any increased idle well bond or fee requirements.

(vi) An operator who fails to comply with the plan, as determined by the supervisor after the annual performance review, is not eligible to use the requirements of this paragraph, for purposes of compliance with this section, for any of its idle wells. That operator shall immediately provide one of the alternatives in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) for its idle wells and may not propose a new idle well plan for the next five years. An operator may appeal to the director pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 3350) regarding the supervisor's rejection of a plan and plan amendments and the supervisor's determinations of the operator's failure to comply with a plan.

(b) All fees received under this section shall be deposited in the Hazardous and Idle-Deserted Well Abatement Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, the moneys in the Hazardous and Idle-Deserted Well Abatement Fund are hereby continuously appropriated to the department for expenditure without regard to fiscal year, to mitigate a hazardous or potentially hazardous condition by well plugging and abandonment.

(c) Failure to file, for any well, the bond or fee required under this section shall be conclusive evidence of desertion of the well, permitting the supervisor to order the well abandoned.

(d) Nothing in this section prohibits a local agency from collecting a fee for regulation of wells.

(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 737, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2001.)