Wash. Admin. Code § 332-22-230 - Geothermal resources lease-Unit plans
(1)
The holder(s) of any geothermal resources lease may apply to the department to
consolidate their leaseholding for geothermal resources with other entities,
including lands not owned by the state, to collectively adopt and operate as a
unit under a unit plan. Such consolidation will not serve to extend the term of
the lease and all participants must agree to continue payment of royalties
provided in the lease through the life of the unit and any extensions of the
plan.
(2) When separate geothermal
resource rights under lease cannot be developed and operated independently in
accordance with an approved well-spacing or well-development program, the
commissioner or the commissioner's delegate may require lessees to enter into a
unit plan or drilling agreement with other entities when it is in the best
interest of the state.
(3) As a
condition for authorization to be part of a unit plan, the commissioner or the
commissioner's delegate may alter the terms and conditions of the lease(s) so
involved when it is in the best interest of the state to do so, and such
authorization may be further conditioned upon, but not limited to the
following:
(a) Department access to reports
and documents it deems necessary, at the sole discretion of the department, to
determine if consolidation of the proposed unit plan is in the best interest of
the state.
(b) Leaseholds which are
only partially included in the unit shall be segregated into separate leases as
to the lands committed and not committed as of the effective date of the
unitization. The annual rental or minimum annual royalty shall be paid on the
leased acreage in the unit independently from other segregated lease
areas.
(c) Any apportionment of
production or royalties among the separate tracts of land comprising the unit
shall include an accounting system, and the department shall have the right to
audit such system to protect the interests of the state.
(d) None of the rights of the state as
landholder shall be limited or subordinated.
(4) If an application for consolidation
includes plans for adding production facilities to state lands, except for
transmission infrastructure, that acreage shall require a commercial lease and
shall be removed from the original lease for geothermal resources.
Notes
Statutory Authority: Chapter 79.12 RCW, as amended by ESB [EHB] 1277 and RCW 79.01.242. 92-06-003, § 332-22-230, filed 2/20/92, effective 3/22/92.
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.