55-306. Pipeline inspection duties; notice of leakage or waste; cost of repairs and attorney's fees; penalty for permitting leakage or waste.
55-306
55-306. Pipeline inspection duties; notice of leakage or waste; costof repairs and attorney's fees; penalty for permitting leakage or waste.Such inspector shall also inspect all natural gas pipelines in his or hercounty at least once in every period of six months during his or her term ofoffice, and as much oftener as may be necessary or as may be directed bythe board of county commissioners, and shall test and record the pressureof the gas therein and the volume of the flow through the same, as nearlyas is practicable.
If the inspector shall discover any leakage or waste of gas from anysuch well or pipeline the inspector shall notify the owner thereof or hisor her agents or servants, or some one of them, of that fact, and if suchleakage or waste be not stopped within two days after such notice, it shallbe and it is hereby made the duty of such inspector to take such steps andmake such changes and repairs as may in the inspector's judgment be necessaryto stop said waste or leakage; and the inspectorshall have a lien upon said well or pipeline and all wells with which thesame may be connected for the material, labor and cost of making suchrepair, for the enforcement of which, with all costs of suit, and areasonable attorney's fee, an action may be maintained by said inspector inany court of competent jurisdiction; and if gas shall be taken from anywell at a rate such as to consume more than fifty percent of its dailyproduction, it shall be deemed a waste within the meaning of this clause tothe extent of such excess.
If any owner of any such well or pipeline, or any agent or servant ofsuch owner in charge and control of such well or pipeline, shall for morethan two days after the service of the notice last aforesaid fail to stopthe leakage or waste by this clause prohibited, such owner, agent orservant shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shallbe fined a sum of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than fivehundred dollars for each offense, and each day that such failure continuesafter the expiration of the said period of two days shall constitute aseparate offense.
History: L. 1905, ch. 313, § 6; March 24; R.S. 1923, 55-306.