Oregon Code § 522.045·Enacted ·Last updated March 01, 2026
Statute Text
Decommissioned well; jurisdiction.
Any well drilled under authority of this chapter from which usable geothermal
resources cannot be derived, or the owner or operator has no intention of
deriving usable geothermal resources, and that is not expected to provide
information useful to the development of geothermal resources shall be plugged
and decommissioned as provided in this chapter or, upon the operators written
application to the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries and with
the concurrence and approval of the Water Resources Director, jurisdiction over
the well may be transferred to the Water Resources Director and, in such case,
the well shall no longer be subject to the provisions of this chapter but shall
be subject to any applicable laws and rules relating to wells drilled for
appropriation and use of ground waters. If an application is made to transfer
jurisdiction, a copy of all logs, records, histories and descriptions shall be
provided to the Water Resources Director by the applicant. [1975 c.552 §4e;
2009 c.794 §5]