Terms Used In Oregon Statutes > Chapter 522 > General Provisions

• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Board: means the governing board of the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• 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
• Completed geothermal well: means a well producing geothermal resources for which the operator has received the department's written assurance that the manner of drilling of and producing geothermal resources from the well are satisfactory. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Cooperative agreement: means an agreement or plan of development and operation for the production or utilization of geothermal resources in which separate ownership units independently operate without allocation of production. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Correlative rights: means the right of each owner in a geothermal area to obtain that owner's just and equitable share of the underlying geothermal resource, or an economic equivalent of that share of the resource, produced in a manner and in an amount that does not injure the reservoir to the detriment of others. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Department: means the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Drilling: includes drilling, redrilling and deepening of a geothermal well. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Geothermal area: means any parcel of land that is, or reasonably appears to be, underlaid by geothermal resources. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Geothermal reinjection well: means any well or converted well constructed to dispose of geothermal fluids derived from geothermal resources into an underground reservoir. 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
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Land: means both surface and mineral rights. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• 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

• Person: includes individuals, corporations, associations, firms, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint stock companies. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Reservoir: means an aquifer or combination of aquifers or zones containing a common geothermal or ground water resource. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Unit agreement: means an agreement or plan of development and operation developed under the provisions of ORS § 273. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Unit area: means the area described in a unit agreement that constitutes the land subject to development under the agreement. See Oregon Statutes 522.005
• Unit operator: means the person designated in the unit agreement to manage and conduct the operation involving unitized land. See Oregon Statutes 522.005