2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 37 - WATER AND IRRIGATION (§§ 37-1-101 — 37-99-103) › WATER RIGHTS AND IRRIGATION (§§ 37-80-101 — 37-93-101) › UNDERGROUND WATER (§§ 37-90-101 — 37-91-113) › Article 90.5 - GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES (§§ 37-90.5-101 — 37-90.5-111) › Section 37-90.5-103 - Definitions

As used in this article 90.5, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
(a)
"Allocated geothermal resource" means any geothermal resource that is associated with nontributary groundwater.
(b)
"Allocated geothermal resource" does not include groundwater in the Denver basin aquifers.
(2)
"Commission" means the energy and carbon management commission created in section
34-60-104.3 (1)
.
(3)
(a)
"Deep geothermal operation" means any exploration for or production of:
(I)
Allocated geothermal resources; or
(II)
Geothermal resources that are deeper than two thousand five hundred feet below the surface.
(b)
(I)
"Deep geothermal operation" includes the following activities related to the operation of a well:
(A)
Conducting geophysical operations;
(B)
Drilling test bores and monitoring wells;
(C)
Siting;
(D)
Installing and operating flowlines;
(E)
Drilling;
(F)
Deepening;
(G)
Recompleting;
(H)
Reworking;
(I)
Repurposing; and
(J)
Abandoning.
(II)
"Deep geothermal operation" also includes any constructing, site preparing, disposing of geothermal wastes, or reclaiming activities associated with the activities described in subsection (3)(b)(I) of this section.
(c)
"Deep geothermal operation" does not include:
(I)
Any exploration or production activities associated with the groundwater in the Denver basin aquifers; or
(II)
The use of any heat extracted with produced fluids in an oil and gas operation if the heat is only utilized to reduce emissions from the operation in the same location as the well from which it was produced and would otherwise not be economically feasible as a standalone geothermal resource project.
(4)
"Denver basin aquifers" means the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers, as described in the rules adopted by the state engineer pursuant to section
37-90-137 (9)(a) and (9)(b)
.
(5)
"Disproportionately impacted community" has the meaning set forth in section
24-4-109 (2)(b)(II)
.
(6)
"Distributed geothermal resource" means any geothermal resource that is not an allocated geothermal resource.
(7)
"Geothermal by-products" means dissolved or entrained minerals and gases that may be obtained from the material medium, excluding hydrocarbon substances and carbon dioxide.
(8)
"Geothermal fluid" means naturally occurring groundwater, brines, vapor, and steam associated with a geothermal resource.
(9)
"Geothermal resource" means the natural heat of the earth and includes:
(a)
The energy that may be extracted from that natural heat;
(b)
The material medium used to extract the energy from a geothermal resource; and
(c)
Geothermal by-products.
(10)
"Hot dry rock" means a geothermal resource that lacks sufficient geothermal fluid to transport commercial amounts of energy to the surface and that is not associated with an economically useful groundwater resource.
(11)
"Local government" means a home rule or statutory county, municipality, or city and county.
(12)
"Material medium" means geothermal fluid as well as any other substance used to transfer energy from a geothermal resource.
(13)
"Nonconsumptive geothermal operation" means an operation using geothermal resources in which the volume of geothermal fluid extracted from an aquifer or formation is no more than the volume of the geothermal fluid reinjected in the same aquifer or formation over a reasonable time frame and distance.
(14)
"Nontributary groundwater" has the meaning set forth in section
37-90-103
(10.5).
(15)
"Shallow geothermal operation" means any geothermal operation that is not a deep geothermal operation.
(16)
"Water right" has the meaning set forth in section
37-92-103 (12)
.
Amended by 2023 Ch. 235,§ 6, eff. 7/1/2023.
L. 83: Entire article added, p. 1419, § 1, effective June 10. L. 2010: (1) amended and (1.5) added, (SB 10 -174), ch. 189, p. 811, § 5, effective August 11.