Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Well Construction topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee adopts updated well-construction standards and eases rules for low‑temperature geothermal wells
Summary
The committee approved revisions to well-construction rules, clarifying construction and decommissioning standards and allowing certain low‑temperature geothermal wells to be built to cold‑water standards, a change supporters said will lower costs.
The Idaho Senate Resources and Environment Committee approved revised well-construction standards that clarify minimum construction, modification and decommissioning requirements and include changes supporters say will ease costs for some low‑temperature geothermal wells.
Eric Boe, Water Compliance Bureau Chief and rules review officer for the Department of Water Resources, presented the pending well-construction rules (docket 3703092401). Boe told the committee the chapter updates definitions, aligns terms with other IDAPA rules, clarifies well-seal requirements, and provides an allowance that low-temperature geothermal wells with bottom-hole temperatures below a specified threshold and that do not flow at land surface may be constructed to cold-water standards.
Roger Batt, representing the Idaho Groundwater Association, which represents private well drillers, testified in support. Batt told the committee the change will reduce construction burdens; he said the new approach would avoid requiring two strings of casing in many wells and estimated that current construction costs for wells subject to the stricter geothermal standard can be about $50,000 and could be reduced to about $30,000 under the revised standard.
Sen. Harris asked whether new language allows the director to request comments from the Department of Environmental Quality or local health districts when considering waivers that affect separation between wells and septic systems; Boe said the waiver language was newly added to the chapter. Sen. Guthrie moved to approve the docket; Sen. Harris seconded. The committee approved the pending well-construction rules by voice vote.
The department said it published the proposed rule Oct. 2, 2024, held two public negotiation meetings, incorporated comments from the drilling community, and published the pending rule Dec. 4, 2024. The department reported the pending rule reduced word count by 777 words (a 6% reduction) and decreased restrictive word count by 24 words (10% reduction).
