The following terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

1. (1) Affected person--A person who, as a result of actions proposed by an application for a geologic storage facility permit or an amendment or modification of an existing geologic storage facility permit, has suffered or may suffer actual injury or economic damage other than as a member of the general public.

2. (2) Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂)--

   1. (A) CO₂ that would otherwise have been released into the atmosphere that has been:

      1. (i) separated from any other fluid stream; or

      2. (ii) captured from an emissions source, including:

         1. (I) an advanced clean energy project as defined by Health and Safety Code, §382.003, or another type of electric generation facility; or
         2. (II) an industrial source of emissions; and
      3. (iii) any incidental associated substance derived from the source material for, or from the process of capturing, CO₂ described by clause (i) of this subparagraph; and
      4. (iv) any substance added to CO₂ described by clause (i) of this subparagraph to enable or improve the process of injecting the CO₂; and
   2. (B) does not include naturally occurring CO₂ that is produced, acquired, recaptured, recycled, and reinjected as part of enhanced recovery operations.
3. (3) Anthropogenic CO₂ injection well--An injection well used to inject or transmit anthropogenic CO₂ into a reservoir.
4. (4) Aquifer--A geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of yielding a significant amount of water to a well or spring.
5. (5) Area of review--The subsurface three-dimensional extent of the CO₂ stream plume and the associated pressure front, as well as the overlying formations, any underground sources of drinking water overlying an injection zone along with any intervening formations, and the surface area above that delineated region.
6. (6) Carbon dioxide (CO₂) plume--The underground extent, in three dimensions, of an injected CO₂ stream.
7. (7) Carbon dioxide (CO₂) stream--CO₂ that has been captured from an emission source, incidental associated substances derived from the source materials and the capture process, and any substances added to the stream to enable or improve the injection process. The term does not include any CO₂ stream that meets the definition of a hazardous waste under 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 261.
8. (8) Commission--A quorum of the members of the Railroad Commission of Texas convening as a body in open meeting.
9. (9) Confining zone--A geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of limiting fluid movement from an injection zone.
10. (10) Corrective action--Methods to assure that wells within the area of review do not serve as conduits for the movement of fluids into or between underground sources of drinking water, including the use of corrosion resistant materials, where appropriate.
11. (11) Delegate--The person authorized by the director to take action on behalf of the Railroad Commission of Texas under this chapter.
12. (12) Director--The director of the Oil and Gas Division of the Railroad Commission of Texas or the director's delegate.
13. (13) Division--The Oil and Gas Division of the Railroad Commission of Texas.
14. (14) Enhanced recovery operation--Using any process to displace hydrocarbons from a reservoir other than by primary recovery, including using any physical, chemical, thermal, or biological process and any co-production project. This term does not include pressure maintenance or disposal projects.
15. (15) Facility closure--The point at which the operator of a geologic storage facility is released from post-injection storage facility care responsibilities.
16. (16) Formation fluid--Fluid present in a formation under natural conditions.
17. (17) Fracture pressure--The pressure that, if applied to a subsurface formation, would cause that formation to physically fracture.
18. (18) Geologic storage--The long-term containment of anthropogenic CO₂ in a reservoir.
19. (19) Geologic storage facility or storage facility--The underground reservoir, underground equipment, injection wells, and surface buildings and equipment used or to be used for the geologic storage of anthropogenic CO₂ and all surface and subsurface rights and appurtenances necessary to the operation of a facility for the geologic storage of anthropogenic CO₂. The term includes any reasonable and necessary areal buffer, subsurface monitoring zones, and pressure fronts. The term does not include a pipeline used to transport CO₂ from the facility at which the CO₂ is captured to the geologic storage facility. The storage of CO₂ incidental to or as part of enhanced recovery operations does not in itself automatically render a facility a geologic storage facility.
20. (20) Injection zone--A geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is of sufficient areal extent, thickness, porosity, and permeability to receive CO₂ through a well or wells associated with a geologic storage facility.

21. (21) Mechanical integrity--

    1. (A) An anthropogenic CO₂ injection well has mechanical integrity if:

       1. (i) there is no significant leak in the casing, tubing, or packer; and
       2. (ii) there is no significant fluid movement into a stratum containing an underground source of drinking water through channels adjacent to the injection well bore as a result of operation of the injection well.
    2. (B) The Commission will consider any deviations during testing that cannot be explained by the margin of error for the test used to determine mechanical integrity, or other factors, such as temperature fluctuations, to be an indication of the possibility of a significant leak and/or the possibility of significant fluid movement into a stratum containing an underground source of drinking water through channels adjacent to the injection wellbore.
22. (22) Monitoring well--A well either completed or re-completed to observe subsurface phenomena, including the presence of anthropogenic CO₂, pressure fluctuations, fluid levels and flow, temperature, and/or in situ water chemistry.
23. (23) Operator--A person, acting for himself or as an agent for others, designated to the Railroad Commission of Texas as the person with responsibility for complying with the rules and regulations regarding the permitting, physical operation, closure, and post-closure care of a geologic storage facility, or such person's authorized representative.
24. (24) Person--A natural person, corporation, organization, government, governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, or any other legal entity.
25. (25) Post-injection facility care--Monitoring and other actions (including corrective action) needed following cessation of injection to assure that underground sources of drinking water are not endangered and that the anthropogenic CO₂ remains confined to the permitted injection interval.
26. (26) Pressure front--The zone of elevated pressure that is created by the injection of the CO₂ stream into the subsurface where there is a pressure differential sufficient to cause movement of the CO₂ stream or formation fluids from the injection zone into an underground source of drinking water.
27. (27) Reservoir--A natural or artificially created subsurface sedimentary stratum, formation, aquifer, cavity, void, or coal seam.
28. (28) Transmissive fault or fracture--A fault or fracture that has sufficient permeability and vertical extent to allow fluids to move beyond the confining zone.

29. (29) Underground source of drinking water--An aquifer or its portion which is not an exempt aquifer as defined in 40 Code of Federal Regulations §146.4 and which:

    1. (A) supplies any public water system; or

    2. (B) contains a sufficient quantity of ground water to supply a public water system; and

       1. (i) currently supplies drinking water for human consumption; or
       2. (ii) contains fewer than 10,000 mg/l total dissolved solids.
30. (30) Well stimulation--Any of several processes used to clean the well bore, enlarge channels, and increase pore space in the interval to be injected thus making it possible for fluid to move more readily into the formation including, but not limited to, surging, jetting, blasting, acidizing, and hydraulic fracturing.
31. (31) Workover--An operation in which a down-hole component of a well is repaired or the engineering design of the well is changed. Workovers include operations such as sidetracking, the addition of perforations within the permitted injection interval, and the addition of liners or patches. For the purposes of this chapter, workovers do not include well stimulation operations.

Source Note:The provisions of this §5.102 adopted to be effective December 20, 2010, 35 TexReg 11202.