Section 312 IAC 29-20-2 - Access roads, lease roads, well locations, and other construction activitiesAuthority: IC 14-10-2-4; IC 14-37-3
Affected: IC 14-37
Sec. 2.
(a) The owner or operator shall construct and maintain access roads, lease roads, and well locations to:(1) avoid springs, seeps, and wet areas, where practicable;(2) prevent runoff from flowing across the road surface or well location unless the road or location is elevated with clean fill or the runoff is diverted around the road or location or otherwise conveyed under the road through the use of culverts or similar conveyances;(3) prevent the construction of roadways in or across streams and other drainage ways unless a crossing is constructed with culverts, bridges, or a temporary clean rock fill for low-flow drainage ways, using commonly accepted design standards that take into consideration the size of the drainage area above the stream crossing;(4) protect the road and well location surface, ditches, and culvert outlets from erosion that results in the deposition of visible sediment into any stream or off-site drainage ditch; and(5) prevent mud from being tracked onto a public road.(b) The owner or operator shall promptly remove mud and deposits of sediment resulting from access roads, lease roads, well sites, pipelines, or other utility rights-of-ways and other areas affected by oil and gas production operations from any public road, drainage ditch, stream, or waterway and shall take appropriate measures to stabilize and protect against further off site deposition of sediment or the continued erosion of unstabilized areas.(c) Examples of appropriate measures that may be considered for compliance with subsection (a) include the use of one (1) or more of the following: (1) Stabilizing roads and well location surfaces with crushed stone.(2) Where practical, when wet or muddy conditions are likely during construction, drilling, completion, or workover operations, the use of a temporary stone pad constructed adjacent to a public road should be considered in order to provide an area where trucks, bulldozers, rigs, and other heavy equipment may be loaded and unloaded.(3) Establishing temporary or permanent vegetation.(4) Use of mulch to stabilize areas in conjunction with the seeding of temporary or permanent vegetative cover.(5) Stabilization of culvert outlets and ditches with rip-rap.(6) The use of silt fences, straw bale barriers, sediment traps, vegetative filter strips, or other commonly used sediment control measures that remove sediment from runoff prior to discharge onto adjoining lands or streams.(d) The owner or operator shall obtain any additional federal, state, and local permit required for the construction and maintenance of lease roads, access roads, and well location.Natural Resources Commission; 312 IAC 29-20-2; filed 12/1/2017, 10:35 a.m.: 20171227-IR-312160230FRAReadopted filed 1/17/2023, 1:53 p.m.: 20230215-IR-312220328RFA