Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 30 > Chapter 36 - Chesapeake Bay Commission

• Advisory Council: means the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program Advisory Council. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• 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
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Authority: means the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority established pursuant to Article 2 (§ Virginia Code 45.2-1800
• Authority: means the Southwest Virginia Energy Research and Development Authority established pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Base price: means the manufacturer's base price for the lowest price trim level of the model and shall not include charges for optional equipment, taxes, title, or registration fees. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Beneficial use: means both instream and offstream uses. See Virginia Code 62.1-10
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Board: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Bond with surety: includes the payment in cash of the full amount of the required bond and, in such case, no surety shall be required. See Virginia Code 1-205
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Coal claimant: means a person identified as possessing an interest in production royalties when a drilling unit is force-pooled or who asserts or possesses a claim to funds that are held in escrow, for a force-pooled coalbed methane gas well, or in suspense, for a voluntarily pooled coalbed methane gas well, by virtue of owning an interest in the coal estate contained within the drilling unit subject to the pooling order or agreement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal mine methane: means methane gas captured and produced from an underground gob area associated with a mined-out coal seam that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Coal operator: means any person who operates or has the right to operate a coal mine. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal owner: means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, or has the right to mine and produce a coal seam. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal seam: includes a stratum of less than 20 inches in thickness if it (i) is being commercially worked or (ii) in the judgment of the Department could foreseeably be commercially worked and will require protection if a well is drilled through it. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coalbed methane gas: means occluded natural gas produced from coalbeds and rock strata associated with it. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coalbed methane gas well: means a well capable of producing coalbed methane gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coalbed methane gas well operator: means any person who operates or has been designated to operate a coalbed methane gas well. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• coastal energy: includes wave or tidal action, currents, offshore winds, thermal differences, and methane hydrates. See Virginia Code 45.2-1715
• Committee membership: Legislators are assigned to specific committees by their party. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consortium: means the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium established pursuant to Article 5 (§ Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• Contracting entity: means any public body as defined in § Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dealer: means a motor vehicle dealer licensed pursuant to Chapter 15 of Title 46. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Department: means the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-100
• DEQ: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Developer: means any private developer of an energy development project. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Developer: means any private developer of an offshore wind energy project. See Virginia Code 45.2-1803
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-100
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• District director: means a member of the governing body of a district authorized to serve as a director. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Division: means the Division of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• Division: means the Division of Offshore Wind in the Department as established pursuant to § Virginia Code 45.2-1800
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Drilling unit: means the acreage on which one gas or oil well may be drilled. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Electric motor vehicle: includes fuel cell electric vehicles. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Energy conservation measures: means the use of methods and techniques, the application of knowledge, or the installation of devices, including an alteration or betterment of an existing facility, that reduces energy consumption or operating costs and includes:

  1. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702

• Energy cost savings: means a measured reduction in fuel, energy, or operation and maintenance costs created from the implementation of one or more energy conservation measures when compared with an established baseline for previous fuel, energy, or operation and maintenance costs. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Energy development project: means any activity that generates, produces, or stores energy, any energy efficiency system, and any supporting ancillary activities located within Southwest Virginia and includes interests in land, improvements, and ancillary facilities and research, development, commercialization, and deployment activities designated by the Authority to the nonprofit collaborative. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Energy performance-based contract: means a contract for the evaluation, recommendation, and implementation of energy conservation measures that includes, at a minimum:

  1. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702

• Enhanced recovery: means (i) any activity involving injection of any air, gas, water, or other fluid into the productive strata; (ii) the application of pressure, heat, or other means for the reduction of viscosity of the hydrocarbons; or (iii) the supplying of additional motive force other than normal pumping to increase the production of gas or oil from any well or pool. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence of a proceeding or agreement: means written evidence that the coal claimant has (i) filed and has pending a judicial or arbitration proceeding against the gas claimant to determine the ownership of the coalbed methane gas and the right to the funds held in escrow or suspense or (ii) reached an agreement with the gas claimant to apportion the funds between them. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Ex officio: means service by virtue of one's office and includes voting privileges for ex officio members unless otherwise provided. See Virginia Code 1-215
• Exploratory well: means any well drilled to (i) find and produce gas or oil in an unproven area, (ii) find a new reservoir in a field previously found to be productive of gas or oil in another reservoir, or (iii) extend the limits of a known gas or oil reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Field rules: means rules established by order of the Board that define a pool, drilling units, production allowables, or other requirements for gas or oil operations within an identifiable area. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• First point of sale: means , for oil, the point at which the oil is (i) sold, exchanged, or transferred for value from one person to another person or (ii) when used by the original owner of the oil, transported off the permitted site and delivered to another facility for use by the original owner. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fund: means the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program Fund. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Gas claimant: means a person who is identified as possessing an interest in production royalties when a drilling unit is forced-pooled or who asserts or possesses a claim to funds that are held in escrow, for a force-pooled coalbed methane gas well, or in suspense, for a voluntarily pooled coalbed methane gas well, by virtue of owning an interest in the gas estate contained within the drilling unit subject to the pooling order or agreement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil operations: means any (i) activity relating to drilling, redrilling, deepening, stimulating, production, enhanced recovery, converting from one type of a well to another, combining or physically changing to allow the migration of fluid from one formation to another, or plugging or replugging any well; (ii) ground-disturbing activity relating to the development, construction, operation, or abandonment of a gathering pipeline; (iii) development, operation, maintenance, or restoration of any site involved with gas or oil operations; or (iv) work undertaken at a facility used for gas or oil operations. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil operator: means any person who operates or has been designated to operate any gas or oil well or gathering pipeline. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil owner: means any person who owns, leases, has an interest in, or has the right to explore for, drill, or operate a gas or oil well as principal or lessee. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gathering pipeline: means a pipeline that is used or intended for use in the transportation of gas or oil from the well to (i) a transmission pipeline regulated by the U. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• geophysical operation: means any activity in search of gas or oil that breaks or disturbs the surface of the earth, including road construction or core drilling. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Geophysical operator: means a person who has the right to explore for gas or oil using ground-disturbing geophysical exploration. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Gob: means the de-stressed zone associated with any full-seam extraction of coal that extends above and below the mined-out coal seam. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• governmental: includes the government of this Commonwealth, the government of the United States, and any of their subdivisions, agencies or instrumentalities. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Ground-disturbing: means any changing of land that could result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters, including clearing, grading, excavating, drilling, and transporting and filling of land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Hampton Roads region: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 45.2-1800
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• inhabitants: means with reference to any county, city, town, political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any combination thereof, the natural persons in such county, city, town, political subdivision or combination as shown by the unadjusted United States decennial census last preceding the time at which any provision dependent upon population is being applied or the time as of which it is being construed. See Virginia Code 1-235
• Injection well: means any well used to inject or otherwise place any substance associated with gas or oil operations into the earth or underground strata for disposal, storage, or enhanced recovery. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Inspector: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector appointed by the Director pursuant to § Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Locality: means a county, city or town. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Maintenance savings: means the operating expenses eliminated and future capital replacement expenditures avoided as a result of new equipment installed or services performed by the performance contractor. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• map: means a map, drawing, or print showing the location of a well, mine, or quarry, or other information required under this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mine: includes all of the land or property of the mining plant, including both the surface and subsurface, that is used in or contributes directly or indirectly to the mining, concentration, or handling of the mineral resources, including all roads. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mineral: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mineral owner: means any person who owns minerals, leases minerals, mines and produces minerals, or has the right to mine and produce minerals and to appropriate such minerals that he produces from it, either for himself or for himself and others. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• natural gas: means all natural gas, whether hydrocarbon, nonhydrocarbon, or any combination or mixture thereof, including hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide, helium, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, casing head gas, and all other fluids not defined as oil pursuant to this section. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Nonlegislative citizen member: means any natural person who is not a member of the General Assembly of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-225
• Nonparticipating operator: means a gas or oil owner of a tract that is included in a drilling unit who elects to share in the operation of the well on a carried basis by agreeing to have his proportionate share of the costs allocable to his interest charged against his share of production from the well. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Nonprofit collaborative: means a multi-site nonprofit innovative energy technology testbed established as a collaborative effort of the Department of Energy, the Authority, and the Authority's business partners to support the Authority's purpose through energy technology research, development, commercialization, and deployment. See Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Offshore wind energy project: means a wind-powered electric energy facility, including tower, turbine, and associated equipment, located off the coast of the Commonwealth beyond the Commonwealth's three-mile jurisdictional limit, and includes interests in land, improvements, and ancillary facilities. See Virginia Code 45.2-1803
• Oil: means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Orphaned well: means any well abandoned prior to July 1, 1950, or for which no records exist concerning its drilling, plugging, or abandonment. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Participating dealer: means a dealer who is participating in the Program. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Participating operator: means a gas or oil owner who elects to (i) bear a share of the risks and costs of drilling, completing, equipping, operating, plugging, and abandoning a well on a drilling unit and (ii) receive a share of production from the well equal to the proportion that the acreage in the drilling unit he owns or holds under lease bears to the total acreage of the drilling unit. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Performance guarantee bond: means the performance bond provided by the energy performance contractor for each year of the energy program in an amount equal to, but no greater than, the guaranteed measured and verifiable annual savings set forth in the program. See Virginia Code 45.2-1702
• Permittee: means any gas, oil, or geophysical operator holding a permit for gas, oil, or geophysical operations issued under authority of this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Person under a disability: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Pipeline: means any pipe above or below the ground used or to be used to transport gas or oil. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Plan: means the Virginia Energy Plan prepared pursuant to Article 4 (§ Virginia Code 45.2-1700
• Pool: means an underground accumulation of gas or oil in a single and separate natural reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• Program: means the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program established pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Purchase: means the purchase or lease of a new or used electric motor vehicle. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Rappahannock River Basin: means that land area designated as the Rappahannock River Basin by the State Water Control Board pursuant to § Virginia Code 62.1-69.25
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Restoration: means all activity required to return a permitted site to other use after gas, oil, or geophysical operations have ended, as approved in the operations plan for the permitted site. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Royalty owner: means any owner of gas or oil in place, or owner of gas or oil rights, who is eligible to receive payment based on the production of gas or oil. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• soil and water conservation district: means a political subdivision of this Commonwealth organized in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Southwest Virginia: means the region of the Commonwealth designated as Southwest Virginia in § Virginia Code 45.2-1717
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 1-206
• State waters: means all water, on the surface and under the ground, that is wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction and that affects the public welfare. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Stimulation: means any action taken by a gas or oil operator to increase the inherent productivity of a gas or oil well, including fracturing, shooting, or acidizing, but excluding (i) cleaning out, bailing, or workover operations and (ii) the use of surface-tension reducing agents, emulsion breakers, paraffin solvents, or other agents that affect the gas or oil being produced, as distinguished from the producing formation. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Storage well: means any well used for the underground storage of gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Surface owner: means any person who is the owner of record of the surface of the land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Used electric motor vehicle: means a previously owned or leased electric motor vehicle that is more than two years old and not more than seven years old. See Virginia Code 45.2-1726
• Water: includes all waters, on the surface and under the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction and which affect the public welfare. See Virginia Code 62.1-10
• Water well: means any well drilled, bored, or dug into the earth for the sole purpose of extracting from it potable, fresh, or usable water for household, domestic, industrial, agricultural, or public use. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Well: means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored, or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction, injection, or placement of any gaseous or liquid substance or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction, injection, or placement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600