§22-21-8. Performance bonds; corporate surety or other security.

(a) No permit shall be issued pursuant to this article unless a bond is or has been furnished as provided in this section.

(b) A separate bond may be furnished for a particular coalbed methane well in the sum of $5,000, payable to the State of West Virginia, conditioned on full compliance with all laws and rules relating to the drilling, operation and stimulation of such wells, to the plugging, abandonment and reclamation thereof, and for furnishing such reports and information as may be required by the chief.

(c) When an operator makes or has made application for permits to drill, operate or stimulate more than one coalbed methane well or a combination of coalbed methane wells and wells regulated under article one, chapter twenty-two-b of this code, the operator may in lieu of furnishing a separate bond furnish a blanket bond in the sum of $5,000, payable to the State of West Virginia, and conditioned as stated in subsection (b) of this section.

(d) All bonds submitted hereunder shall have a corporate bonding or surety company authorized to do business in the State of West Virginia as surety thereon, or in lieu of a corporate surety, the operator may elect to deposit with the chief cash, collateral securities or any combination thereof as provided in subsection (d), section twenty-six, article six of this chapter.

(e) For purposes of bonding requirements, a coalbed methane well shall be treated as a well, as defined and regulated in article one, chapter twenty-two-b of this code, and the provisions of subsections (e), (g), (h), (i) and (j) of section twenty-six thereof shall apply.