§ 73-22-3. Definitions.

     As used in this chapter:

(1) "Correlative rights" mean the rights of each geothermal owner in a geothermal area to produce without waste his just and equitable share of the geothermal resource underlying the geothermal area.

(2) "Division" means the Division of Water Rights, Department of Natural Resources.

(3) "Geothermal area" means the general land area which is underlain or reasonably appears to be underlain by geothermal resources.

(4) "Geothermal fluid" means water and steam at temperatures greater than 120 degrees centigrade naturally present in a geothermal system.

(5) "Geothermal resource" means: (a) the natural heat of the earth at temperatures greater than 120 degrees centigrade; and (b) the energy, in whatever form, including pressure, present in, resulting from, created by, or which may be extracted from that natural heat, directly or through a material medium. Geothermal resource does not include geothermal fluids.

(6) "Geothermal system" means any strata, pool, reservoir, or other geologic formation containing geothermal resources.

(7) "Material medium" means geothermal fluids, or water and other substances artificially introduced into a geothermal system to serve as a heat transfer medium.

(8) "Operator" means any person drilling, maintaining, operating, producing, or in control of any well.

(9) "Owner" means a person who has the right to drill into, produce, and make use of the geothermal resource.

(10) "Person" means any individual, business entity (corporate or otherwise), or political subdivision of this or any other state.

(11) "Waste" means any inefficient, excessive, or improper production, use, or dissipation of geothermal resources. Wasteful practices include, but are not limited to: (a) transporting or storage methods that cause or tend to cause unnecessary surface loss of geothermal resources; or (b) locating, spacing, constructing, equipping, operating, producing, or venting of any well in a manner that results or tends to result in unnecessary surface loss or in reducing the ultimate economic recovery of geothermal resources.

(12) "Well" means any well drilled, converted, or reactivated for the discovery, testing, production, or subsurface injection of geothermal resources.

Enacted by Chapter 188, 1981 General Session