Nebraska Administrative Code
Topic - OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Title 267 - NEBRASKA OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Chapter 7 - GEOLOGIC STORAGE OF CARBON DIOXIDE

1. Commission means the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission;

2. For propose of this "Abandoned well" means a well whose use has been permanently discontinued or which is in a state of disrepair such that it cannot be used for its intended purpose or for observation purposes.

3. "Activity" means any activity related to the geologic storage of carbon dioxide subject to regulation under this and Neb Rev Stat 57-1601 et seq.

4. "Applicable underground injection control program" for each class of storage facility injection well means the program, or most recent amendment thereof, for that class of well in Nebraska as provided by federal law;

5. "Aquifer" means a geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of yielding a significant amount of water to a well, spring, or other point of discharge.

6. "Area of review" means the region surrounding the geologic storage project where underground sources of drinking water may be endangered by the injection activity.

7. "Bond rating" means a rating assigned to any long-term senior secured indebtedness issued by or on behalf of the storage operator, including any indebtedness issued by any governmental authority with respect to which the storage operator is obligor.

8. "Carbon dioxide plume" means the extent underground, in three dimensions, of an injected carbon dioxide stream.

9. "Carbon dioxide stream" means carbon dioxide from anthropogenic sources, plus incidental associated substances derived from the source materials and the production or capture process, and any substances added to the stream to enable or improve the injection process if such substances will not compromise the safety of geologic storage and will not compromise those properties of a storage reservoir which allow the reservoir to effectively enclose and contain the stored carbon dioxide stream; This does not apply to any carbon dioxide stream that meets the definition of a hazardous waste.

10. "Casing" means a pipe or tubing of varying diameter and weight, which is installed into a well to maintain the structural integrity of that well.

11. "Closure period" means that period from permanent cessation of carbon dioxide injection until the commission issues a certificate of project completion.

12. "Confining zone" means a geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation stratigraphically overlying the injection zone that acts as a barrier to fluid movement. For injection wells operating under an injection depth waiver, confining zone means a geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation stratigraphically overlying and underlying the injection zone.

13. "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.

14. "Corrective action" means the use of commission-approved methods to ensure that wells within the area of review do not serve as conduits for the movement of fluids into underground sources of drinking water.

15. "Director" shall mean Director or authorized agent of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission of the State of Nebraska.

16. "Exempted aquifer" means an "aquifer" or its portion that meets the criteria in the definition of "underground sources of drinking water" but which has been exempted by the Director.

17. "Facility area" means the ground surface areal extent of the storage reservoir.

18. "Fault" means a surface or zone of rock fracture along which there has been displacement.

19. "Flow lines" means pipelines transporting carbon dioxide from the carbon dioxide injection facilities to the wellhead.

20. "Fluid" means any material or substance which flows or moves, whether in a semisolid, liquid, sludge, gas, or any other form or state.

21. "Formation" means a body of rock characterized by a degree of lithologic homogeneity which is prevailingly, but not necessarily, tabular and is mappable on the earth's surface or traceable in the subsurface.

22. "Formation fluid" means fluid present in a formation under natural conditions as opposed to introduced fluids.

23. "Formation fracture pressure" means the pressure, measured in pounds per square inch, which, if applied to a subsurface formation, will propagate fractures in that formation.

24. "Geologic sequestration or storage" means the emplacement of a gaseous, liquid, or supercritical carbon dioxide stream in a geologic storage reservoir. This term does not apply to carbon dioxide capture or transport.

25. "Geologic storage project" means an injection well or wells used to emplace a carbon dioxide stream beneath the lowermost formation containing underground sources of drinking water; or, wells used for geologic storage that have been granted a waiver of the injection depth requirements; or, wells used for geologic storage that have received an expansion to the areal extent of an existing enhanced oil or gas recovery exempted aquifer. It includes the subsurface three-dimensional extent of the carbon dioxide plume, as well as the associated pressure front.

26. "Geologic storage" means the permanent or short-term underground storage of carbon dioxide streams in a storage reservoir;

27. "Ground water" means water occurring beneath the surface of the ground that fills available openings in rock or soil materials such that they may be considered saturated.

28. "Injection well" means a nonexperimental well used to inject carbon dioxide into or withdraw carbon dioxide from a reservoir.

29. "Injection zone" means a geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is of sufficient areal extent, thickness, porosity, and permeability to receive carbon dioxide through a well or wells associated with a geologic storage project.

30. "Mechanical integrity" means the absence of significant leakage within an injection well's tubing, casing, or packer (internal mechanical integrity), or outside of the casing (external mechanical integrity).

31. "Minerals" means coal, oil, and natural gas.

32. "Model" means a representation or simulation of a phenomenon or process that is difficult to observe directly or that occurs over long timeframes. Models that support geologic storage can predict the flow of carbon dioxide within the subsurface, accounting for the properties and fluid content of the subsurface formations and the effects of injection parameters.

33. "Operational period" means the period during which injection occurs.

34. "Packer" means a device lowered into a well, which can be expanded or compressed to produce a fluid-tight seal.

35. "Permit" means a permit issued by the commission under the Nebraska G S Act allowing a person to operate a storage facility;

36. "Person" means an individual, association, partnership, corporation, municipality, state, federal, or tribal agency, or an agency or employee thereof.

37. "Plug or plugging" means the act or process of sealing the flow of fluid into or out of a formation through a borehole or "well" penetrating that formation.

38. "Postclosure period" means that period after the commission has issued a certificate of project completion.

39. "Postinjection site care" means appropriate monitoring and other actions, including corrective action, needed following cessation of injection to ensure that underground sources of drinking water are not endangered. Postinjection site care may occur in the closure or postclosure periods.

40. "Pressure" means the total load or force per unit area acting on a surface.

41. "Pressure front" means the zone of elevated pressure and displaced fluids created by the injection of carbon dioxide into the subsurface. The pressure front of a carbon dioxide plume refers to a zone where there is a pressure differential sufficient to cause the movement of injected fluids or formation fluids from the injection zone.

42. "Project completion" means the point in time, as determined by the commission at which the certificate of project completion is issued and the storage operator is released from all regulatory requirements associated with the storage facility.

43. "Reservoir" means a subsurface stratum, formation, cavity, or void, whether natural or artificially created, suitable for or capable of receiving through a well and geologically storing a carbon dioxide stream;

45. "Reservoir estate" means ownership of any portion of a storage reservoir;

46. "Schedule of compliance" means a schedule of remedial measures included in a "permit,'' including an enforceable sequence of interim requirements (for example, actions, operations, or milestone events) leading to compliance with the "appropriate Act and regulations.''

47. "Site" means the land or water area where any facility or activity'' is physically located or conducted, including adjacent land used in connection with the facility or activity.

48. "Site closure" means the point/time, as determined by the Director following the requirements, under the applicable underground injection program at which the owner or operator of a geologic storage site is released from post-injection site care

49. "Stratum" (strata plural) means a single sedimentary bed or layer, regardless of thickness, that consists of generally the same kind of rock material.

50. "Storage facility" means the storage reservoir, underground equipment, and surface facilities and equipment used or proposed to be used in a geologic storage operation. The term includes the injection well and equipment used to connect the surface facility and equipment to the storage reservoir and underground equipment. The term does not include pipelines used to transport carbon dioxide to the storage facility.

51. "Storage operator" means a person holding or applying for a permit under the GS Act.

52. "Storage reservoir" means the reservoir proposed, authorized, or used for storing one or more carbon dioxide streams pursuant to a permit. The term does not include reservoirs used for purposes other than storage of carbon dioxide streams.

53. "Subsurface observation well" means a well used to observe subsurface phenomena, including the presence of carbon dioxide, pressure fluctuations, fluid levels and flow, temperature, and in situ water chemistry.

54. "Transmissive fault or fracture" means a fault or fracture that has sufficient permeability and vertical extent to allow fluids to move between formations.

55. "Trapping" means the physical and geochemical processes by which injected carbon dioxide is sequestered in the subsurface. Physical trapping occurs when buoyant carbon dioxide rises in the formation until it reaches impermeable strata that inhibits further upward and lateral migration or is immobilized in pore spaces due to capillary forces. Geochemical trapping occurs when chemical reactions between the injected carbon dioxide and natural occurring minerals in the formation lead to the precipitation of solid carbonate natural occurring mineral compounds or dissolution in formation fluids.

56. "Underground source of drinking water" means an aquifer or any portion of an aquifer that supplies drinking water for human consumption, or in which the ground water contains fewer than ten thousand milligrams per liter total dissolved solids and is capable of supplying drinking water for human consumption and is not an exempted aquifer as determined by the Director.

57. "Well" means a bored, drilled or driven shaft, or a dug hole, whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension; or an improved sinkhole; or a subsurface fluid distribution system.

ALL OTHER WORDS used herein shall be given their usual customary and accepted meaning; and all words of a technical nature, or particular to the oil and gas industry, shall be given that meaning which is generally accepted in said oil and gas industry.