Sec. 41.06.060. - Definitions. - Alaska Statutes

In this chapter

(1) "correlative rights" means the right of each geothermal owner in a geothermal system to produce without waste a just and equitable share of the geothermal resources in the geothermal system;

(2) "geothermal fluid" means liquids and steam at temperatures greater than 120 degrees Celsius naturally present in a geothermal system;

(3) "geothermal resources" means the natural heat of the earth at temperatures greater than 120 degrees Celsius, measured at the point where the highest-temperature resources encountered enter or contact a well or other resource extraction device, and includes

(A) the energy, including pressure, in whatever form present in, resulting from, created by, or that may be extracted from that natural heat;

(B) the material medium, including the geothermal fluid naturally present, as well as substances artificially introduced to serve as a heat transfer medium; and

(C) all dissolved or entrained minerals and gases that may be obtained from the material medium, but excluding hydrocarbon substances and helium;

(4) "geothermal system" means a stratum, pool, reservoir, or other geologic formation containing geothermal resources;

(5) "operator" means a person drilling, maintaining, operating, producing, or in control of a well;

(6) "owner" means a person who, by reason of an interest in real property, has the right to drill into, produce, and make use of geothermal resources;

(7) "waste" means an inefficient, excessive, or improper production, use, or dissipation of geothermal resources, including, but not limited to,

(A) drilling, transporting, or storage methods that cause or tend to cause unnecessary surface loss of geothermal resources;

(B) locating, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, producing, or venting of a well in a manner that results or tends to result in reducing the ultimate economic recovery of geothermal resources;

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