[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 18, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 18CFR270.101]

[Page 709-710]
 
           TITLE 18--CONSERVATION OF POWER AND WATER RESOURCES
 
  CHAPTER I--FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
 
PART 270_DETERMINATION PROCEDURES--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart A_General Definitions
 
Sec. 270.101  General definitions.




                      Subpart A_General Definitions

Sec.
270.101 General definitions.

           Subpart B_Determinations by Jurisdictional Agencies

270.201 Applicability.
270.202 Definition of determination.
270.203 Determinations by jurisdictional agencies.
270.204 Notice to the Commission.

     Subpart C_Requirements for Filing with Jurisdictional Agencies

270.301 General requirements.
270.302 Occluded natural gas produced from coal seams.
270.303 Natural gas produced from Devonian shale.
270.304 Tight formation gas.
270.305 Determination of tight formation areas.
270.306 Devonian shale wells in Michigan.

  Subpart D_Identification of State and Federal Jurisdictional Agencies

270.401 Jurisdictional agency.

   Subpart E_Commission Review of Jurisdictional Agency Determinations

270.501 Publication of notice from jurisdictional agency.
270.502 Commission review of final determinations.
270.503 Protests to the Commission.
270.504 Contents of protests to the Commission.
270.505 Procedure for reopening determinations.
270.506 Confidentiality.

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 717-717w, 3301 et. seq.;42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.; 
EO 12009, 3 CFR 1978 Comp., p. 142.

    Source: Order 616, 65 FR 45865, July 26, 2000, unless otherwise 
noted.



    (a) NGPA definitions. Terms defined in the Natural Gas Policy Act of 
1978 (NGPA) will have the same meaning for purposes of this subchapter 
as they have under the NGPA, unless further defined in this subchapter.
    (b) Subchapter H definitions. For purposes of this part:
    (1) NGPA means the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978.
    (2) Surface location means the point on the Earth's surface from 
which drilling of a well is commenced except that in the case of a well 
drilled in permanent surface waters, ``the Earth's surface'' means the 
mean elevation of the surface of the water.
    (3) Jurisdictional agency means the state or federal agency 
identified in Sec. 270.401.
    (4) Tight formation gas means natural gas that a jurisdictional 
agency has determined to be produced from a designated tight formation.
    (5) Designated tight formation means the portion of a natural gas 
bearing formation that was:
    (i) Designated as a tight formation by the Commission, pursuant to 
section 501 of the NGPA, or
    (ii) Determined to be a tight formation pursuant to section 503 of 
the NGPA.
    (6) Occluded natural gas produced from coal seams means naturally 
occurring natural gas released from entrapment from the fractures, pores 
and bedding planes of coal seams.
    (7) Natural gas produced from Devonian shale means natural gas 
produced from fractures, micropores and bedding planes of shales 
deposited during the Paleozoic Devonian Period.
    (8) Shales deposited during the Paleozoic Devonian Period can be 
defined as either:
    (i) The gross Devonian age stratigraphic interval encountered by a 
well bore, at least 95 percent of which has a gamma ray index of 0.7 or 
greater; or
    (ii) One continuous interval within the gross Devonian age 
stratigraphic interval, encountered by a well bore, as long as at least 
95 percent of the selected Devonian shale interval has a gamma ray index 
of 0.7 or greater (but if the interval selected is more than 200

[[Page 710]]

feet thick, the bottom and top 100 foot portions must meet the five 
percent test independently).
    (9) Gamma ray index means when measuring the Devonian age 
stratigraphic interval, the gamma ray index at any point is to be 
calculated by dividing the gamma ray log value at that point by the 
gamma log value at the shale base line established over the entire 
Devonian age interval penetrated by the well bore.
    (10) Mcf means one thousand cubic feet of natural gas at 60 degrees 
Fahrenheit under a pressure equivalent to that of 30.00 inches of 
mercury at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, under standard gravitational force 
(980.665 centimeters per second squared).
    (11) Data well means a well for which permeability and/or pre-
stimulation production rate data are available for a pay section in the 
formation for which a tight formation designation is being sought.