Oregon Statutes 522.019 – Injection of geothermal fluids; rules; water quality permit
(1)(a) In order to accomplish the policy of ORS § 522.015 all geothermal fluids derived from geothermal resources shall be reinjected into the same reservoir from which withdrawn unless it is determined by the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries that these policies and the public interest require other disposal of the fluids.
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 522.019
- By-product: means any mineral or minerals, exclusive of helium or of oil, hydrocarbon gas or other hydrocarbon substances, that are found in solution or in association with geothermal resources and that have a value of less than 75 percent of the value of the geothermal resource or are not, because of quantity, quality, or technical difficulties in extraction and production, of sufficient value to warrant extraction and production by themselves. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
- Department: means the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
- Drilling: includes drilling, redrilling and deepening of a geothermal well. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
- Geothermal resources: means the natural heat of the earth, the energy, in whatever form, below the surface of the earth present in, resulting from, or created by, or that may be extracted from, the natural heat, and all minerals in solution or other products obtained from naturally heated fluids, brines, associated gases, and steam, in whatever form, found below the surface of the earth, exclusive of helium or of oil, hydrocarbon gas or other hydrocarbon substances, but including, specifically:
(a) All products of geothermal processes, including indigenous steam, hot water and hot brines;
(b) Steam and other gases, hot water and hot brines resulting from water, gas, or other fluids artificially introduced into geothermal formations;
(c) Heat or other associated energy found in geothermal formations; and
(d) Any by-product derived from them. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
- Geothermal well: includes any excavation made for producing geothermal resources and any geothermal reinjection well. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
- Operator: means the person:
(a) Who possesses the legal right to drill a geothermal well;
(b) Who has obtained a drilling permit pursuant to ORS § 522. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
- Reservoir: means an aquifer or combination of aquifers or zones containing a common geothermal or ground water resource. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
(b) Subject to the determination in paragraph (a) of this subsection, injection into other reservoirs or disposal by other means may be allowed by the department in specific instances where it is shown that such action is consistent with the policies cited in this section. Disposal by other means may include any secondary use of geothermal fluid after the primary use of such fluid for electrical power generation or for other direct application of the heat or other associated energy contained in such fluids or for by-product extraction. Secondary uses may include, but shall not be limited to, use of condensate resulting from electrical power plant operations for plant-cooling purposes, or use of such geothermal fluid for agricultural, commercial or industrial purposes.
(2) The State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries shall adopt rules governing the disposal by reinjection or other means of geothermal fluids derived from geothermal resources from wells of 250 or more degrees Fahrenheit bottom hole temperature or wells 2,000 or more feet deep. The rules shall include standards whereby contamination may be determined, construction standards for reinjection wells, testing procedures for identifying aquifers, standards and procedures for determining whether adjacent aquifers are being degraded by the reinjection process, guidelines for conservation of the resource, criteria for evaluating reservoirs or zones for geothermal fluid disposal and requirements for prior approval of all geothermal fluid reinjection proposals.
(3) In addition to the permit required by ORS § 522.115, an operator of a geothermal well must obtain a water quality permit from the Department of Environmental Quality under ORS § 468B.050 or under rules authorized by ORS § 468B.195 before injection of any fluid, except well drilling fluids. Nothing in this chapter limits the authority of the Department of Environmental Quality to regulate the subsurface injection of fluids pursuant to ORS § 468B.195 and 468B.197. [1979 c.163 § 4; 1979 c.547 § 1; 2009 c.794 § 3; 2023 c.258 § 2]
[1971 c.776 § 32; repealed by 1975 c.552 § 55]