California Code of Regulations
Title 14 - Natural Resources
Division 2 - Department of Conservation
Chapter 4 - Development, Regulation, and Conservation of Oil and Gas Resources
Subchapter 4 - State-Wide Geothermal Regulations
Article 3 - Drilling
Section 1933.1 - Establishment of Annual Well Fees

Universal Citation: 14 CA Code of Regs 1933.1

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024

To establish the annual fee that must be charged to each geothermal well operator, the department, on or before the statewide fee-assessment date shall:

(a) Make an estimate of the sum of the well drilling fees that will be filed by operators during the fiscal year following the fee assessment date.

(b) Establish the appropriation for the supervision of geothermal resource wells from the amount proposed in the Governor's Budget. The appropriation shall be adjusted by any changes that have occurred during the legislative review process.

(c) Establish the estimated surplus or deficit from the current and prior fiscal year by calculating the cost of the supervision of geothermal resource wells and the actual revenues therefrom.

(d) Estimate the amount assessable to geothermal operators by taking the appropriation amount (paragraph b), deducting the well drilling fees (paragraph a), and adding or deducting the current year and prior year adjustments (paragraph c).

(e) Determine the total number of chargeable wells by identifying the total number of producing, service, and idle wells that existed at any time during the preceding calendar year in the state. A well that has changed ownership one or more times during the preceding calendar year shall be counted only once, and assignment of charges shall be made to the operator of record on December 31 of that year. "Chargeable wells" shall not include:

(1) Any well used for observation purposes.

(2) Any well for which the Supervisor has approved a suspension. However, a well must be suspended for the entire calendar year to be nonchargeable.

(3) Any low-temperature well.

(f) Determine the annual well fee by dividing the amount assessable by the total number of chargeable wells.

(g) Determine the amount to be charged to each operator by multiplying the total number of chargeable wells of record on the previous December 31 by the annual well fee.

1. New section filed 1-14-85; effective upon filing pursuant to Government Code Section 11346.2(d) (Register 85, No. 3).
2. Change without regulatory effect amending subsection (e)(2) filed 12-26-2006 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2006, No. 52).

Note: Authority cited: Section 3724.5, Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 3724, 3724.1 and 3724.5, Public Resources Code.

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