Oregon Code § 522.055·Enacted ·Last updated March 01, 2026
Statute Text
Permit; application; fees.
(1) A person may not engage in drilling a prospect well except in compliance
with a permit issued by the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries
under this section.
(2) An
application for a permit to drill prospect wells must include:
(a) A plugging
and decommissioning plan;
(b) Such other
information as the department by rule may require to assess the impacts of the
proposed prospect well; and
(c) A
nonrefundable fee as determined by the department based on the estimated cost
of review of the proposed prospect wells, not to exceed $5,000 per application
or permit modification.
(3) Each
application may include up to five prospect wells per project area. The project
area must be contiguous and include no more than 640 acres.
(4) A permit to
drill remains valid until it is revoked or modified by the department based on
new information or changed conditions.
(5) The permittee
shall pay the department an annual nonrefundable renewal fee of $4,000 on or
before the anniversary of each active permit.
(6) A permittee
that requests to transfer a permit issued under this section shall pay a
nonrefundable fee of $5,000 at the time of the request.
(7) All moneys
received by the department under this section shall be paid into the State
Treasury and deposited in the General Fund to the credit of the Geology and
Mineral Industries Account established by ORS 516.070. [1975 c.552 §4a; 1991
c.526 §2; 2009 c.794 §6; 2020 s.s.2 c.4 §8; 2025 c.601 §6]