Are there any provisions when an operator chooses to post a certificate of deposit as a blanket bond?
The new law does require that if an operator chooses to post a certificate of deposit as its blanket bond, the first $5,000 of the bond shall be in the form of cash. Under the tiered structure, operators will be posting $10,000, $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000 in some form of bond. If the operator chooses to use certificates of deposit (CD), whereby the operator draws the interest, then the operator must post the first $5,000 in cash with the department, whereby the department draws the interest into the abandoned well plugging fund. Therefore, under the first tier of $10,000, the bond would be $5,000 in cash and $5,000 in a CD, the second tier would be $5,000 in cash and $20,000 in a CD and so on so forth.
