Terms used in chapters 5-1 to 5-10, inclusive, unless the context otherwise plainly requires, mean:

1. (1) "Commissioner," the commissioner of school and public lands.
2. (2) "Geothermal resources," the use of the natural heat of the earth or the energy, in whatever form, below the surface of the earth for commercial or industrial heating or electrical generating purposes.

Source: SL 1911, ch 224 , § 87; RC 1919, § 5728; SDC 1939, §§ 15.0101, 15.0201; SL 1976, ch 20 , § 14; SL 1980, ch 40 , § 11.