Tennessee § 60-1-101 - Chapter definitions. [See contingent amendment to subdivision (1) and the Compiler’s Notes.]

§ 60-1-101. Chapter definitions. [See contingent amendment to subdivision (1) and the Compiler’s Notes.]

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: [Current version. See second version for contingent amendment and Compiler's Notes.] “Board” means the Tennessee board of water quality, oil and gas created by § 69-3-104; [Contingent amendment. See the Compiler's Notes.] “Casinghead gas” means any gas or vapor, or both, indigenous to an oil stratum and produced from such stratum with oil. It shall be treated as gas, if sold, for the purpose of paying privilege tax; “Condensate” means liquid hydrocarbons that were in the gaseous phase in the reservoir in initial reservoir conditions. It shall be treated as oil for the purpose of paying privilege tax; “Field” means the general area which is underlain or appears to be underlain by at least one pool and including the pool or pools beneath the area; “Gas” means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not defined as oil, including condensate because it originally was in a gaseous phase in the reservoir; “Oil” means crude petroleum that was originally in an oil phase in the reservoir; “Operator” means any person who owns or is directly responsible for a business involved in some phase of the production, manufacture, refining or distribution of petroleum oil or natural gas; “Owner” means the person who has the right to drill into and to produce from any pool, and to appropriate the production for such person or others; “Person” means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary or representative of any kind; “Pool” means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of crude petroleum oil or natural gas or both. Each zone of the general structure which is completely separated from any other zone in the structure is covered by the term “pool” as used in this chapter; “Producer” means the owner of a well or wells capable of producing oil or gas, or both, in paying quantities; “Supervisor” means the commissioner of environment and conservation or the commissioner's designee; and “Waste,” in addition to its ordinary meaning, means “physical waste” as that term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry. It includes: Underground waste and inefficient, excessive, or improper use or dissipation of reservoir energy, including gas energy and water drive, of any pool; and the locating, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil well or gas ultimately recoverable from any pool; and Surface waste and the inefficient storing of oil and the locating, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating or producing of oil wells or gas wells in a manner causing or tending to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas. “Board” means the Tennessee board of energy and natural resources, created by § 69-3-104 ; Acts 1943, ch. 64, § 3; C. Supp. 1950, § 5240.3; Acts 1971, ch. 280, § 1; 1978, ch. 791, § 5; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 60-101; Acts 1992, ch. 693, § 21; 2012, ch. 986, § 29; 2018, ch. 839, § 14. Compiler's Notes. Acts 2012, ch. 986, § 48 provided that all rules, regulations, orders, and decisions heretofore issued or promulgated by any of the boards or commissions, which the act terminates or merges into another board or commission, shall remain in full force and effect. In the case of the boards or commissions that are merged with another board or commission by the act, all final rules, regulations, orders, and decisions together with any matters that are pending on October 1, 2012, shall hereafter be administered, enforced, modified, or rescinded in accordance with the law applicable to the continuing board or commission. Acts 2018, ch. 839, § 44 provided that the governor shall take all action necessary to prepare and submit for approval all necessary requests for federal grant funding and applications for authorization to the appropriate federal authority to obtain exclusive jurisdiction over surface coal mining and reclamation operations and the maximum federal money available for those purposes in an expeditious manner. Acts 2018, ch. 839, § 45 provided that the commissioner of environment and conservation shall notify the secretary of state and the executive secretary of the Tennessee code commission of the date this state has been approved to exercise primacy over the regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation operations within its territorial boundaries. Acts 2018, ch. 839, § 47 provided that the act, which amended this section, shall take effect, including for purposes of rulemaking, upon the deposit of federal funds in the Coal Mining Protection Fund. Amendments. The 2018 amendment rewrote the definition of “board” by substituting “board of energy and natural resources” for “board of water quality, oil, and gas”. Effective Dates. Acts 2018, ch. 839, § 47. [See Compiler's Notes.] Cross-References. Municipal corporations, oil and natural gas drilling authorized, § 6-54-110 . Natural resources trust fund, title 11, ch. 14, part 3. Petroleum Trade Practices Act, §§ 47-25-601 — 47-25-607 , 47-25-611 . Printed contract forms for products extracted from or beneath the earth, § 47-50-110 . Law Reviews. Conservation of Oil and Gas in Tennessee (Phillip J. Sheehe), 41 Tenn. L. Rev. 323. Into the Fracking Fray: A Balanced Approach to Regulating Hydraulic Fracturing in Tennessee, 44 U. Mem. L. Rev. 667 (2014). Attorney General Opinions. Providing natural gas within city limits. OAG 14-42, 2014 Tenn. AG LEXIS 43 (4/1/14).