(a) Subject to the limitations specified in this article, the supervisor shall have the power to issue a compulsory unit order upon the petition of a city, county, city and county, any part of which is in a subsidence area, or any contractor or lessee for the production of oil or gas therefor, or any person or persons owning working interests in the area affected by such order. The supervisor shall, prior to the issuance of each compulsory unit order, schedule a public hearing thereon. Such hearing may embrace all or a portion of those land areas, and the pool or pools, or portions thereof, underlying such areas, which have been theretofore included in one of the repressuring plans referred to in Section 3319 or 3319.1, except those areas, and the pool or pools, or portions lying thereunder, which are currently devoted to repressuring operations pursuant to an approved repressuring plan in accordance with the procedure prescribed in subdivision (a) of Section 3320. Such hearing shall be set not later than 60 days from the date of the filing of such petition.

(b) If, after such public hearing and from the evidence adduced therefrom, and from such engineering studies as he may have ordered made and which have been presented and considered at such hearing, or at any prior hearing held for the purpose of considering a repressuring plan, the supervisor finds:

1. That repressuring operations of such pool or pools, or portions thereof, will tend to arrest or ameliorate subsidence; and

2. That compulsory repressuring operations are required by reason of the failure, refusal or inability of the respective parties within the affected area to agree upon and initiate approved repressuring operations; and

3. That subsidence of land overlying or immediately adjacent to such pool or pools is injuring or imperiling valuable buildings, or other improvements, or harbor installations or is interfering with commerce, navigation and fishery, or substantial portions of such lands may be inundated if subsidence continues, thereby endangering life, health, safety, peace, welfare and property; and

4. That unit operation of such pool or pools, or portions thereof, is reasonably necessary to carry out repressuring operations in accordance with the theretofore adopted pressuring plan; and

5. That the creation of the unit is feasible, necessary and justifiable under all conditions affecting the unit at the time of its creation or which can be reasonably anticipated by the supervisor at such time;

then the supervisor shall issue an order requiring unit operation of such pool or pools, or portions thereof, on such terms and conditions as may be determined from the evidence to be fair, reasonable, equitable and in conformance with said repressuring plan.

(Added by Stats. 1958, 1st Ex. Sess., Ch. 73.)