All persons, firms, corporations, and associations are prohibited from wilfully permitting natural gas wastefully to escape into the atmosphere.

Any person, firm, corporation, or association who digs, drills, excavates, constructs, or owns, or controls a well from which natural gas flows shall, upon the abandonment of the well, cap or otherwise close the mouth of or entrance to the well in such a manner as to prevent the unnecessary or wasteful escape of natural gas into the atmosphere.

No person, firm, corporation, or association who owns or controls land in which such a well is situated shall wilfully permit natural gas flowing from the well wastefully or unnecessarily to escape into the atmosphere.

Any person, firm, corporation, or association who wilfully violates any of the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Each day during which natural gas is wilfully allowed wastefully or unnecessarily to escape into the atmosphere is a separate and distinct violation of this chapter.