§ 1511. — Loans for geothermal reservoir confirmation.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 30USC1511]
TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
CHAPTER 27--GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
SUBCHAPTER I--PROJECT LOANS
Sec. 1511. Loans for geothermal reservoir confirmation
(a) Authorization; purposes
The Secretary of Energy (hereafter in this chapter referred to as
the ``Secretary'') is authorized to make a loan to any person, from
funds appropriated (pursuant to this subchapter) to the Geothermal
Resources Development Fund established under section 1144 of this title,
to assist such person in undertaking and carrying out a project which
(1) is designed to explore for or determine the economic viability of a
geothermal reservoir and (2) consists of surface exploration and the
drilling of one or more exploratory wells.
(b) Repayment rates
Subject to subsection (c) of this section and to section 1513(b) of
this title, any loan under subsection (a) of this section shall be
repayable out of revenue from production of the geothermal energy
reservoir with respect to which the loan was made, at a rate, in any
year, not to exceed 20 per centum of the gross revenue from the
reservoir in that year; except that if any disposition of the geothermal
rights to the reservoir is made to one or more other persons by the
borrower, the full amount of the loan balance outstanding, or so much of
the loan balance outstanding as is equal to the full amount of the
compensation realized by the borrower upon such disposition, whichever
is less, shall be repaid immediately. In any case where the reservoir is
confirmed (as determined by the Secretary), the Secretary may impute a
reasonable revenue for purposes of determining repayment if--
(1) reasonable efforts are not made to put such reservoir in
commercial operation,
(2) the borrower (or any such other person) utilizes the
resources of the reservoir without a sale of the energy or
geothermal energy resources therefrom, or
(3) a sale of energy or geothermal energy resources from the
reservoir is made for an unreasonably low price;
except that no such imputation of revenue shall be made during the
three-year period immediately following such reservoir confirmation. In
the event of failure to begin production of revenue (or, where no sale
of energy or geothermal energy resources is made, to begin production of
energy for commercial use) within five years after the date of such
reservoir confirmation, the Secretary may take action to recover the
value, not to exceed the amount of the unpaid balance of the loan plus
any accrued interest thereon, of any assets of the project in question,
including resource rights.
(c) Cancellation of unpaid balance and accrued interest
The Secretary may at any time cancel the unpaid balance and any
accrued interest on any loan made under this section if he determines,
on the basis of evidence presented by the loan recipient or otherwise,
that the geothermal energy reservoir with respect to which the loan was
made has characteristics which make that reservoir economically or
technically unacceptable for commercial development.
(d) ``Person'' defined
As used in this subchapter, the term ``person'' includes
municipalities, electric cooperatives, industrial development agencies,
nonprofit organizations, and Indian tribes, as well as the entities
included within such term under section 1 of title 1.
(Pub. L. 96-294, title VI, Sec. 611, June 30, 1980, 94 Stat. 763.)
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a), was in the original ``this
title'', meaning title VI of Pub. L. 96-294, June 30, 1980, 94 Stat.
763, known as the Geothermal Energy Act of 1980. For complete
classification of title VI to the Code, see Short Title note set out
under section 1501 of this title and Tables.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 1512, 1513, 1514 of this
title.
