2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 34 - MINERAL RESOURCES (§§ 34-1-100.5 — 34-70-101) › OIL AND NATURAL GAS (§§ 34-60-101 — 34-70-101) › CONSERVATION AND REGULATION (§§ 34-60-101 — 34-64-108) › Article 60 - OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION (§§ 34-60-101 — 34-60-143) › Section 34-60-103 - Definitions - rules

As used in this article 60, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
"And" includes the word "or" and the use of the word "or" includes the word "and". The use of the plural includes the singular and the use of the singular includes the plural.
(2)
(a)
"Carbon dioxide flow line" means a segment of pipe transferring injection carbon dioxide between the wellhead of a class VI injection well and a pipeline regulated by the pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration of the United States department of transportation or the public utilities commission.
(b)
"Carbon dioxide flow line" does not include pipelines regulated by the pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration of the United States department of transportation or the public utilities commission.
(3)
"Class VI injection well" means a well drilled pursuant to a permit for a class VI injection well issued under the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act", 42 U.S.C. sec. 300f et seq., as amended.
(4)
"Commission" means the energy and carbon management commission created in section
34-60-104.3 (1)
.
(5)
"Common source of supply" is synonymous with "pool" as defined in this section.
(6)
(a)
"Correlative rights" means that each owner and producer in a common pool or source of supply of oil and gas must have an equal opportunity to obtain and produce the owner's or producer's just and equitable share of the oil and gas underlying the pool or source of supply.
(b)
As used in section 34-60-141, "correlative rights" means that each owner of a sequestration estate must have an equal opportunity to utilize the owner's just and equitable share of the underlying geologic storage resource.
(7)
(a)
"Cumulative impacts" means the effects on public health and the environment, including the impacts to air quality, water quality, climate, noise, odor, wildlife, and biological resources, caused by the incremental impacts that a proposed new or amended operation regulated by the commission pursuant to this article 60 would have when added to the impacts from other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future development of any type on the impact area or on a disproportionately impacted community.
(b)
"Cumulative impacts" may include both adverse and beneficial environmental impacts.
(c)
This subsection (7) is effective on the effective date of the rules adopted pursuant to section 34-60-106 (11)(d)(I).
(8)
"Disproportionately impacted community" has the meaning set forth in section 24-4-109 (2)(b)(II).
(9)
"Division of parks and wildlife" means the division of parks and wildlife identified in article
9
of title
33
.
(10)
"Energy and carbon management operations" means all operations regulated by the commission.
(11)
"Energy and carbon management operator" means any person that exercises the right to control the conduct of energy and carbon management operations.
(12)
"Exploration and production waste" means those wastes that are generated during the drilling of and production from oil and gas wells; during the drilling of and production from wells for deep geothermal operations, as defined in section
37-90.5-103 (3)
, regulated by the commission pursuant to article
90.5
of title
37
; or during primary field operations and that are exempt from regulation as hazardous wastes under Subtitle C of the federal "Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976",
42 U.S.C. secs. 6901
to
6934
, as amended.
(13)
"Gas" means all natural gases and all hydrocarbons not defined in this section as oil.
(14)
"Geologic storage" means the injection and underground sequestration of injection carbon dioxide in a geologic storage resource pursuant to a valid class VI permit issued pursuant to the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act", 42 U.S.C. sec. 300f et seq., as amended.
(15)
(a)
"Geologic storage facility" means the specific part of a geologic storage resource that is utilized for geologic storage, together with the well or wells and all surface equipment and disturbances associated with the geologic storage operations at the geologic storage location.
(b)
"Geologic storage facility" does not include pipelines regulated by the pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration of the United States department of transportation or the public utilities commission.
(16)
"Geologic storage location" means a definable area where a geologic storage operator uses or intends to use the surface of the land in order to operate a geologic storage facility.
(17)
"Geologic storage operations" means activities performed for the purpose of engaging in geologic storage in the state, including:
(a)
The following activities related to the operation of a geologic storage facility:
(I)
Drilling test bores and monitoring wells;
(II)
Siting;
(III)
Installing and operating carbon dioxide flow lines;
(IV)
Drilling;
(V)
Deepening;
(VI)
Recompleting;
(VII)
Reworking; and
(VIII)
Abandoning;
(b)
Injecting injection carbon dioxide for the purpose of geologic storage;
(c)
Any constructing, site preparing, or reclaiming activities associated with the activities described in subsection (17)(a) or (17)(b) of this section; and
(d)
Any other activities determined by the commission to be necessary to protect and minimize adverse impacts associated with geologic storage to public health, safety, welfare, the environment, and natural resources.
(18)
"Geologic storage operator" means any person that exercises the right to control the conduct of geologic storage operations.
(19)
(a)
"Geologic storage resource" means pore space necessary for Geologic storage.
(b)
"Geologic storage resource" does not include an underground source of drinking water, as defined in
40 CFR 144.3
.
(20)
"Geologic storage unit" means a unit of one or more geologic storage resources or parts of a geologic storage resource established by the commission pursuant to section 34-60-141.
(21)
"Geologic storage unit area" means any geologic storage resource, or part of a geologic storage resource, included in a geologic storage unit.
(22)
"Impact area" means a defined geographic area or areas in which operations regulated by the commission have the potential to contribute to cumulative impacts. The commission shall determine the impact area for a particular proposed operation based on the nature, intensity, and scope of the operation in its proposed location and the geographic extent of potential impacts.
(23)
"Impacts to climate" means the quantification of emissions of greenhouse gases, as defined in section 25-7-140 (6), that occur from sources that are controlled or owned by the energy and carbon management operator and from reasonably foreseeable truck traffic, as well as reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, associated with the proposed operation.
(24)
"Injection carbon dioxide" means carbon dioxide, including its derivatives and all mixtures, combinations, and phases, whether liquid, gaseous, super-critical, or solid, and whether stripped, segregated, or divided from any other fluid stream, including all incidental associated substances derived from the source materials.
(25)
"Local government" means a:
(a)
Municipality or city and county within whose boundaries a surface location for energy and carbon management operations is sited or proposed to be sited; or
(b)
County, if a surface location for energy and carbon management operations is sited or proposed to be sited within the boundaries of the county but is not located within a municipality or city and county.
(26)
"Minimize adverse impacts" means, to the extent necessary and reasonable to protect public health, safety, and welfare; the environment; and wildlife resources, to:
(a)
Avoid adverse impacts from energy and carbon management operations; and
(b)
Minimize and mitigate the extent and severity of those impacts that cannot be avoided.
(27)
"Oil" means crude petroleum oil and any other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravities, that are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and that are not the result of condensation of gas before or after it leaves the reservoir.
(28)
"Oil and gas facility" means equipment or improvements used or installed at an oil and gas location for the exploration, production, withdrawal, treatment, or processing of crude oil, condensate, exploration and production waste, or gas.
(29)
"Oil and gas location" means a definable area where an oil and gas operator has disturbed or intends to disturb the land surface in order to locate an oil and gas facility.
(30)
"Oil and gas operations" means exploration for oil and gas, including:
(a)
The conduct of seismic operations and the drilling of test bores;
(b)
The siting, drilling, deepening, recompletion, reworking, or abandonment of an oil and gas well, underground injection well, or gas storage well;
(c)
Production operations related to any well described in subsection (30)(b) of this section, including the installation of flow lines and gathering systems;
(d)
The generation, transportation, storage, treatment, or disposal of exploration and production wastes; and
(e)
Any construction, site preparation, or reclamation activities associated with the operations described in this subsection (30).
(31)
"Operator" means any person that exercises the right to control the conduct of oil and gas operations.
(32)
"Owner" means the person that has the right to drill into and produce from a pool and to appropriate the oil or gas the person produces from the pool either for the person or others or for the person and others, including the owner of a well capable of producing oil or gas, or both.
(33)
"Parks and wildlife commission" means the parks and wildlife commission created in section
33-9-101
.
(34)
"Permit" means any permit, sundry notice, notice of intention, or other approval, including any conditions of approval, that is granted, issued, or approved by the commission.
(35)
"Person" means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representative of any kind and includes any department, agency, or instrumentality of the state or any governmental subdivision of the department, agency, or instrumentality of the state.
(36)
"Pool" means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of oil or gas, or both. Each zone of a general structure, which zone is completely separated from any other zone in the structure, is covered by the word "pool" as used in this article 60.
(37)
"Pore space" means a cavity or void, whether natural or artificially created, in a subsurface stratum.
(38)
"Producer" means the owner of a well capable of producing oil or gas, or both.
(39)
"Reasonably foreseeable future development" means development that has not yet been undertaken for which an applicable local, state, or federal agency has received an application or issued a permit. Future development is reasonably foreseeable only if information related to the permit is publicly available.
(40)
"Sequestration estate" means a portion of a geologic storage resource.
(41)
"Surface owner" means any person owning all or part of the surface of land upon which energy and carbon management operations are conducted, as shown by the tax records of the county in which the tract of land is situated, or any person with such rights under a recorded contract to purchase.
(42)
"Underground natural gas storage cavern" means a facility that stored natural gas in an underground cavern or abandoned mine on or before January 1, 2000. An underground natural gas storage cavern includes all surface or subsurface rights and appurtenances associated with the underground injection, storage, and withdrawal of natural gas, but does not include any compressor stations or pipeline facilities subject to regulation by the public utilities commission or the United States department of transportation.
(43)
"Waste", as applied to gas:
(a)
Includes the escape, blowing, or releasing, directly or indirectly into the open air, of gas from wells productive of gas only, or gas in an excessive or unreasonable amount from wells producing oil or both oil and gas; and the production of gas in quantities or in such manner as unreasonably reduces reservoir pressure or, subject to subsection (43)(b) of this section, unreasonably diminishes the quantity of oil or gas that ultimately may be produced; excepting gas that is reasonably necessary in the drilling, completing, testing, and in furnishing power for the production of wells; and
(b)
Does not include the nonproduction of gas from a formation if necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare; the environment; or wildlife resources as determined by the commission.
(44)
"Waste", as applied to oil:
(a)
Includes underground waste; inefficient, excessive, or improper use or dissipation of reservoir energy, including gas energy and water drive; surface waste; open-pit storage; and waste incident to the production of oil in excess of the producer's aboveground storage facilities and lease and contractual requirements, but excluding storage, other than open-pit storage, reasonably necessary for building up or maintaining crude stocks and products of crude stocks for consumption, use, and sale; and
(b)
Does not include the nonproduction of oil from a formation if necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare; the environment; or wildlife resources as determined by the commission.
(45)
"Waste", in addition to the meanings as set forth in subsections (43) and (44) of this section:
(a)
Means, subject to subsection (45)(b) of this section:
(I)
Physical waste, as that term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry;
(II)
The locating, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil or gas well or wells in a manner that causes or tends to cause reduction in quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable from a pool under prudent and proper operations or that causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas; and
(III)
Abuse of the correlative rights of any owner in a pool due to nonuniform, disproportionate, unratable, or excessive withdrawals of oil or gas from the pool, causing reasonably avoidable drainage between tracts of land or resulting in one or more producers or owners in the pool producing more than an equitable share of the oil or gas from the pool; and
(b)
Does not include the nonproduction of oil or gas from a formation if necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare; the environment; or wildlife resources as determined by the commission.
(46)
"Wildlife resources" means fish, wildlife, and their aquatic and terrestrial habitats.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 216,§ 2, eff. 5/21/2024.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 183,§ 8, eff. 5/16/2024, app. to enforcement actions commenced by the division of administration in the department of public health and environment and the energy and carbon management commission on or after 5/16/2024.
Amended by 2023 Ch. 235,§ 17, eff. 7/1/2023.
Amended by 2019 Ch. 120, §7, eff. 4/16/2019.
L. 51: pp. 652, 653, §§ 3, 4, 5. CSA: C. 118, §§ 68(3), 68(4), 68(5). L. 52: p. 132, § 1. CRS 53: § 100-6-3. L. 55: p. 649, § 2. C.R.S. 1963: § 100-6-3. L. 94: (4.5), (6.5), (6.8), (7.5), and (10.5) added, p. 1979, § 3, effective June 2. L. 2001: (10.7) added, p. 1303, § 1, effective June 5. L. 2007: (4.3), (5.5), (14), and (15) added, p. 1329, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2011: (4.3) and (14) amended and (7.1) added, (SB 11-208), ch. 293, p. 1394, § 27, effective July 1. L. 2012: (7.1) amended and (14) repealed, (HB 12-1317), ch. 1235, p. 1235, § 89, effective June 4. L. 2019: IP, (5.5), (11), (12), and (13) amended and (5.3), (6.2), and (6.4) added, (SB 19-181), ch. 506, p. 506, § 7, effective April 16.
Subsection (7.1) was numbered as (1.5) in Senate Bill 11-208 but has been renumbered on revision for ease of location.
For the legislative declaration contained in the 1994 act enacting subsections (4.5), (6.5), (6.8), (7.5), and (10.5), see section 1 of chapter 317, Session Laws of Colorado 1994.