{"data":{"id":"us/43-cfr-3200.1","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"43 CFR 3200.1","heading":"Definitions.","body":"For purposes of this part and part 3280:\nAcquired lands means lands or mineral estates that the United States obtained by deed through purchase, gift, condemnation or other legal process.\nAct means the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970, as amended (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.).\nAdditional extension means the period of years added to the primary term of a lease beyond the first 10 years and subsequent 5-year initial extension of a geothermal lease. The additional extension may not exceed 5 years.\nByproducts are minerals (exclusive of oil, hydrocarbon gas, and helium), found in solution or in association with geothermal steam, that no person would extract and produce by themselves because they are worth less than 75 percent of the value of the geothermal steam or because extraction and production would be too difficult.\nCasual use means activities that ordinarily lead to no significant disturbance of Federal lands, resources, or improvements.\nCommercial operation means delivering Federal geothermal resources, or electricity or other benefits derived from those resources, for sale. This term also includes delivering resources to the utilization point, if you are utilizing Federal geothermal resources for your own benefit and not selling energy to another entity.\nCommercial production means production of geothermal resources when the economic benefits from the production are greater than the cost of production.\nCommercial production or generation of electricity means generation of electricity that is sold or is subject to sale, including the electricity or energy that is reasonably required to produce the resource used in production of electricity for sale or to convert the resource into electrical energy for sale.\nCommercial quantities means either:\n(1) For production from a lease, a sufficient volume (in terms of flow and temperature) of the resource to provide a reasonable return after you meet all costs of production; or\n(2) For production from a unit, a sufficient volume (in terms of flow and temperature) of the resource to provide a reasonable return after you meet all costs of drilling and production.\nCommercial use permit means BLM authorization for commercially operating a utilization facility and/or utilizing Federal geothermal resources.\nDevelopment or drilling contract means a BLM-approved agreement between one or more lessees and one or more entities that makes resource exploration more efficient and protects the public interest.\nDirect use means utilization of geothermal resources for commercial, residential, agricultural, public facilities, or other energy needs other than the commercial production or generation of electricity. Direct use may occur under either a regular geothermal lease or a direct use lease.\nDirect use lease means a lease issued noncompetitively in an area BLM designates as available exclusively for:\n(1) Direct use of geothermal resources, without sale; and\n(2) Purposes other than commercial generation of electricity.\nExploration operations means any activity relating to the search for evidence of geothermal resources, where you are physically present on the land and your activities may cause damage to those lands. Exploration operations include, but are not limited to, geophysical operations, drilling temperature gradient wells, drilling holes used for explosive charges for seismic exploration, core drilling or any other drilling method, provided the well is not used for geothermal resource production. It also includes related construction of roads and trails, and cross-country transit by vehicles over public land. Exploration operations do not include the direct testing of geothermal resources or the production or utilization of geothermal resources.\nFacility construction permit means BLM permission to build and test a utilization facility.\nFacility operator means the person receiving BLM authorization to site, construct, test, and/or operate a utilization facility. A facility operator may be a lessee, a unit operator, or a third party.\nGeothermal drilling permit means BLM written permission to drill for and test Federal geothermal resources.\nGeothermal exploration permit means BLM written permission to conduct only geothermal exploration operations and associated surface disturbance activities under an approved Notice of Intent to Conduct Geothermal Resource Exploration Operations, and includes any necessary conditions BLM imposes.\nGeothermal resources operational order means a formal, numbered order, issued by BLM, that implements or enforces the regulations in this part.\nGeothermal steam and associated geothermal resources means:\n(1) All products of geothermal processes, including indigenous steam, hot water, and hot brines;\n(2) Steam and other gases, hot water, and hot brines resulting from water, gas, or other fluids artificially introduced into geothermal formations;\n(3) Heat or other associated energy found in geothermal formations; and\n(4) Any byproducts.\nGross proceeds means gross proceeds as defined by the Minerals Management Service at 30 CFR 206.351.\nInitial extension means a period of years, no longer than 5 years, added to the primary term of a geothermal lease beyond the first 10 years of the lease, provided certain lease obligations are met.\nInterest means ownership in a lease of all or a portion of the record title or operating rights.\nKnown geothermal resource area (KGRA) means an area where BLM determines that persons knowledgeable in geothermal development would spend money to develop geothermal resources.\nLessee means a person holding record title interest in a geothermal lease issued by BLM.\nMMS means the Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior.\nNotice to Lessees (NTL) means a written notice issued by BLM that implements the regulations in this part, part 3280, or geothermal resource operational orders, and provides more specific instructions on geothermal issues within a state, district, or field office. Notices to Lessees may be obtained by contacting the BLM State Office that issued the NTL.\nOperating rights (working interest) means any interest held in a lease with the right to explore for, develop, and produce leased substances.\nOperating rights owner means a person who holds operating rights in a lease. A lessee is an operating rights owner if the lessee did not transfer all of its operating rights. An operator may or may not own operating rights.\nOperations plan, or plan of operations means a plan which fully describes the location of proposed drill pad, access roads and other facilities related to the drilling and testing of Federal geothermal resources, and includes measures for environmental and other resources protection and mitigation.\nOperator means any person who has taken responsibility in writing for the operations conducted on leased lands.\nPerson means an individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, trust, municipality, consortium, or joint venture.\nPrimary term means the first 10 years of a lease, not including any periods of suspension.\nProduced or utilized in commercial quantities means the completion of a well that:\n(1) Produces geothermal resources in commercial quantities; or\n(2) Is capable of producing geothermal resources in commercial quantities so long as BLM determines that diligent efforts are being made toward the utilization of the geothermal resource.\nPublic lands means the same as defined in 43 U.S.C. 1702(e).\nRecord title means legal ownership of a geothermal lease established in BLM's records.\nRelinquishment means the lessee's voluntary action to end the lease in whole or in part.\nSecretary means the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary's delegate.\nSite license means BLM's written authorization to site a utilization facility on leased Federal lands.\nStipulation means additional conditions BLM attaches to a lease or permit.\nSublease means the lessee's conveyance of its interests in a lease to an operating rights owner. A sublessee is responsible for complying with all terms, conditions, and stipulations of the lease.\nSubsequent well operations are those operations done to a well after it has been drilled. Examples of subsequent well operations include: cleaning the well out, surveying it, performing well tests, chemical stimulation, running a liner or another casing string, repairing existing casing, or converting the well from a producer to an injector or vice versa.\nSundry notice is your written request to perform work not covered by another type of permit, or to change operations in your previously approved permit.\nSurface management agency means any Federal agency, other than BLM, that is responsible for managing the surface overlying Federally-owned minerals.\nTemperature gradient well means a well authorized under a geothermal exploration permit drilled in order to obtain information on the change in temperature over the depth of the well.\nTransfer means any conveyance of an interest in a lease by assignment, sublease, or otherwise.\nUnit agreement means an agreement to explore for, produce and utilize separately-owned interests in geothermal resources as a single consolidated unit. A unit agreement defines how costs and benefits will be allocated among the holders of interest in the unit area.\nUnit area means all tracts committed to an approved unit agreement.\nUnit operator means the person who has stated in writing to BLM that the interest owners of the committed leases have designated it as operator of the unit area.\nUnitized substances means geothermal resources recovered from lands committed to a unit agreement.\nUtilization Plan or plan of utilization means a plan which fully describes the utilization facility, including measures for environmental protection and mitigation.\nWaste means:\n(1) Physical waste, including refuse; or\n(2) Improper use or unnecessary dissipation of geothermal resources through inefficient drilling, production, transmission, or utilization.","path":["Title 43—Public Lands: Interior","Subtitle B—Regulations Relating to Public Lands","CHAPTER II—BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR","SUBCHAPTER C—MINERALS MANAGEMENT (3000)","PART 3200—GEOTHERMAL RESOURCE LEASING","Subpart 3200—Geothermal Resource Leasing"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-43.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:26:15Z","sha256":"34d4bfc551a70a19348ef1ef17b68028f4376bed3353a5930c264a901b0fa1fd","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/43-cfr-3192.18","next":"us/43-cfr-3200.3"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}