Drilling & Mining Permits

Drilling/ Well Permits for Oil, Gas and Solution Salt Mining and Other Regulated Wells

The following permits apply to any oil, gas or solution salt mining well of any depth, as well as any brine disposal, geothermal or stratigraphic well deeper than 500 feet:

• Drill, deepen, plug-back or convert a well
• Shut-In or temporarily abandon a well
• Transfer well ownership
• Plug and abandon a well

Related oil and gas topics

• Store gas underground in a depleted reservoir or salt cavern
• Transfer an existing underground storage permit and pending storage application
• Lease State lands for oil & gas development or underground gas storage

Geothermal wells

• Drill or operate a geothermal well greater than 500 feet deep
• Drill or operate a geothermal well 500 feet deep or less

Mining Permits

A mining permit is required for any person who mines, or proposes to mine:

1. More than 750 cubic yards or 1,000 tons from the earth within 12 successive calendar months, or
2. More than 100 cubic yards of minerals from, or adjacent to, any body of water not subject to the Protection of Waters Permit

• Mined Land Reclamation Permit (Covers mining and reclamation activities)
• Bluestone Exploration Authorization (Authorizes the exploration of bluestone deposits)
• Small-scale mining of bluestone (Bluestone mining operations that do not exceed five acres)

Certain excavation activities associated with construction or agriculture may be exempt from the permitting requirement.

Related Mining Topics

• Application for Permit Transfer and Application for Transfer of Pending Application (PDF) (551 KB)
• Mining Termination Notice (PDF) (81 KB)

Questions?

Well-related questions? Contact the appropriate Oil and Gas Regional Minerals Manager.

Mining-related questions? Contact the appropriate Mined Land Supervisor.