(a) A suspension of operations and production is a temporary relief from production obligations which you may request from BLM. Under this paragraph you must cease all operations on your lease.

(b) A suspension of operations is when BLM orders you, to stop production temporarily in the interest of conservation.

(a) If you are the operator, you may request in writing that BLM suspend your operations and production for a producing lease. Your request must fully describe why you need the suspension. BLM will determine if your suspension is justified and, if so, will approve it.

(b) BLM may suspend your operations on any lease in the interest of conservation.

(c) A suspension under this section may include leases committed to an approved unit agreement. If leases committed to a unit are suspended, the unit operator must continue to satisfy unit terms and obligations, unless BLM also suspends unit terms and obligations, in whole or in part, under subpart 3287.

(a) BLM will state in your suspension notice how long your suspension of operations or operations and production is effective.

(b) During a suspension, you may ask BLM in writing to terminate your suspension. You may not unilaterally terminate a suspension that BLM ordered. A suspension of operations and production that we approved upon your request will automatically terminate when you begin or resume authorized production or drilling operations.

(c) If we receive information showing that you must resume operations to protect the interests of the United States, we will terminate your suspension and order you to resume production.

(d) If a suspension terminates, you must resume paying rents and royalty (see § 3212.14).

(a) If BLM approves a suspension of operations and production:

(1) Your lease term is extended by the length of time the suspension is in effect; and

(2) You are not required to drill, produce geothermal resources, or pay rents or royalties during the suspension. We will suspend your obligation to pay lease rents or royalties beginning the first day of the month following the date the suspension is effective.

(b) If BLM orders you to suspend your operations;

(1) Your lease term is extended by the length of time the suspension is in effect; and

(2) Your lease rental or royalty obligations are not suspended, except that BLM may suspend your rental or royalty obligations if you will be denied all beneficial use of your lease during the period of the suspension.

When the suspension ends, you must resume rental and royalty payments that were suspended, beginning on the first day of the lease month after BLM terminates the suspension. You must pay the full rental amount due on or before the next lease anniversary date. If you do not make the rental payments on time, BLM will refund your balance and terminate the lease.

In the absence of a suspension issued under § 3212.11, if you cease production for more than one calendar month on a lease that is subject to royalties and that has achieved commercial production (through actual or allocated production), your lease will remain in effect only if the circumstances described in paragraphs (a), (b), or (c) of this section apply:

(a)(1) For leases issued on or after August 8, 2005 (other than leases issued in response to applications pending on that date for which no election is made under § 3200.8(b)(1)), and for leases issued before August 8, 2005, for which an election is made under § 3200.7(a)(2), your lease will remain in effect if, during the period in which there is no production, you continue to pay a monthly advanced royalty under MMS regulations at 30 CFR 218.305. This option is available only for an aggregate of 10 years (120 months, whether consecutive or not).

(2) For leases issued before August 8, 2005, for which no election is made under § 3200.7(a)(2), and for leases issued in response to applications pending on August 8, 2005, for which no election is made under § 3200.8(b)(1), your lease will remain in effect if, during the period in which there is no production you:

(i) Continue to make minimum royalty payments as specified in § 3211.21(b) of this part;

(ii) Maintain a well capable of production in commercial quantities;

(iii) Continue to make diligent efforts to utilize the geothermal resource; and

(iv) Satisfy any other applicable requirements.

(b) The Secretary:

(1) Requires or causes the cessation of production; or

(2) Determines that the cessation in production is required or otherwise caused by:

(i) The Secretary of the Air Force, Army, or Navy;

(ii) A state or a political subdivision of a state; or

(iii) Force majeure.

(c) The discontinuance of production is caused by the performance of maintenance necessary to maintain operations. Such maintenance is considered a production activity, not a cessation of production, and maintenance may include activities such as overhauling your power plant, re-drilling or re-working wells that are critical to plant operation, or repairing and improving gathering systems or transmission lines, that necessitate the discontinuation of production. You must obtain BLM approval by submitting a Geothermal Sundry Notice if the activity will require more than one calendar month, for it to be classified as maintenance under this paragraph. The BLM must receive the Geothermal Sundry Notice before the end of the first calendar month in which there will be no production.

(a) You may apply for a suspension, reduction, or waiver of your rent or royalty for any lease or portion thereof. BLM may grant your request in the interest of conservation and to encourage the greatest ultimate recovery of geothermal resources, if we determine that:

(1) Granting the request is necessary to promote development; or

(2) You cannot successfully operate the lease under its current terms.

(b) BLM will not approve a rental or royalty reduction, suspension, or waiver unless all rental or royalty interest owners other than the United States accept a similar reduction, suspension, or waiver.

(a) Your request for suspension, reduction, or waiver of the royalty or rental must include all information BLM needs to determine if the lease can be operated under its current terms, including:

(1) The type of reduction you seek;

(2) The serial number of your lease;

(3) The names and addresses of the lessee and operator;

(4) The location and status of wells;

(5) A summary of monthly production from your lease; and

(6) A detailed statement of expenses and costs.

(b) If you are applying for a royalty or rental reduction, suspension, or waiver, you must also provide to BLM a list of names of royalty and rental interest owners other than the United States, the amounts of royalties or payments out of production and rent paid to them, and every effort you have made to reduce these payments.

You will receive a production incentive in the form of a temporary 50 percent reduction in your royalties under MMS regulations at 30 CFR 218.307 if:

(a) Your lease was in effect prior to August 8, 2005;

(b) You do not convert the royalty rates of your lease under § 3212.25;

(c) By August 7, 2011, production from or allocated to your lease is utilized for commercial production in a:

(1) New facility (see § 3212.22); or

(2) Qualified expansion project (see § 3212.21); and

(d) The production from your lease is used for the commercial generation of electricity.

Submit to BLM a written request for a production incentive describing a project that may qualify as a new facility or qualified expansion project. Identify whether you are requesting that the project be considered as a new facility (see § 3212.22) or as a qualified expansion project (see § 3212.21) and explain why your project qualifies under these regulations. The request must be received no later than August 7, 2011.

(a) BLM will review your request on a case-by-case basis to determine whether your project meets the criteria for a qualified expansion project under § 3212.21 or a new facility under § 3212.22. If it does not meet the criteria for the type of project you requested, we will determine whether it meets the criteria for the other type of production incentive project.

(b) If BLM determines that you have a qualified expansion project, we will, as part of our approval, provide you with a schedule of monthly target net generation amounts that you must exceed to qualify for the production incentive. These amounts will quantify the required 10 percent increase in net generation over the projected net generation without the project. The schedule will be specific to the facility or facilities that are affected by the project and will cover the 48-month time period during which your production incentive may apply.

(c) If BLM determines that you have met the criteria for a new facility, we will provide you with written notification of this determination.

A qualified expansion project must meet the following criteria:

(a) It must involve substantial capital expenditure. Examples include the drilling of additional wells, retrofitting existing wells and collection systems to increase production rates, retrofitting turbines or power plant components to increase efficiency, adding additional generation capacity to existing plants, and enhanced recovery projects such as augmented injection. Projects that are not associated with substantial capital expenditure, such as opening production valves and operating existing equipment at higher rates, do not qualify as expansion projects.

(b) The project must have the potential to increase the net generation by more than 10 percent over the projected generation without the project, using data from the previous 5 years. If 5 years of data are not available, it is not a qualified expansion project.

(a) Criteria for determining whether a project is a new facility for the purpose of obtaining a production incentive include:

(1) The project requires a new site license or facility construction permit if it is on Federal lands;

(2) The project requires a new Commercial Use Permit;

(3) The project includes at least one new turbine-generator unit;

(4) The project involves a new sales contract;

(5) The project involves a new site or substantially larger footprint; and

(6) The project is not contiguous to an existing project.

(b) Generally, a new facility will not:

(1) Be permitted only with a Geothermal Drilling Permit;

(2) Be constructed entirely within the footprint of an existing facility; or

(3) Involve only well-field projects such as drilling new wells, increasing injection, and enhanced recovery projects.

(a) The production incentive will begin on the first day of the month following the commencement of commercial operation of the qualified expansion project. The incentive will be in effect for up to 48 consecutive months, applicable only to those months in which the actual generation from the facility or facilities affected by the project exceeds the target generation established by BLM. The amount of the production incentive is established in MMS regulations at 30 CFR 218.307.

(b) The production incentive will apply only to the increase in net generation. The increase in generation for any month in which the production incentive is in effect will be determined as follows:

(a) If BLM determines that your project qualifies as a new facility, the production incentive will begin on the first day of the month following the commencement of commercial operations at that facility, and will be in effect for 48 consecutive months. The incentive applies to the entire commercial generation of electricity from the new facility.

(b) The amount of the production incentive is established in MMS regulations at 30 CFR 218.307.

(a) If a lease was in effect before August 8, 2005, the lessee may submit to BLM a request to modify the royalty rate terms of your lease to the applicable royalty rate or direct use fee terms prescribed in the Geothermal Steam Act as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. You may withdraw your request before it is granted, but once you accept the new terms, you may not revert to the earlier royalty rates. If your request to modify is granted, the new royalty rate or direct use fees will apply to all geothermal resources produced from your lease for as long as your lease remains in effect. A modification under this section does not affect the royalty rate for byproducts.

(b)(1) The royalty rate for leases whose terms are modified and production from which is used for commercial generation of electricity is prescribed in § 3211.17(b).

(2) The direct use fees or royalty rate for leases whose terms are modified and production from which is used directly for purposes other than commercial generation of electricity is prescribed in § 3211.18(a) of this part and MMS regulations at 30 CFR 206.356.

(a) You must submit a written request to BLM that contains the serial numbers of the leases whose terms you wish to modify and:

(1) For direct use operations, any other information that BLM may require; or

(2) For commercial electrical generation operations, for each month during the 10-year period preceding the date of your request (or from when electrical generation operations began if less than 10 years before the date of your request):

(i) The gross proceeds received by you or your affiliate from the sale of electricity;

(ii) The amount of royalty paid;

(iii) The amount of generating and transmission deductions subtracted from the gross proceeds to derive the royalty value if you are using the geothermal netback procedure under MMS regulations to calculate royalty value; and

(iv) Any other information that BLM may require.

(b) BLM must receive your request no later than:

(1) For leases whose geothermal resource production is used directly for purposes other than commercial generation of electricity, 18 months after the effective date of the schedule of fees established by MMS under 30 CFR 206.356(b); or

(2) For leases whose geothermal resource production is used for commercial generation of electricity, December 1, 2008.

After you submit your request to modify the royalty rate terms under § 3212.25, BLM will:

(a) Review your application, and if BLM determines that:

(1) Your application is complete and contains all necessary information, we will notify you of the date on which your complete request was received; or

(2) Your request is not complete or does not contain all necessary information, we will notify you of the additional information that is required;

(b) Analyze the data you submitted to establish a royalty rate if the geothermal resources are used for commercial electrical generation;

(c) Consult with MMS and any state or local governments that may be affected by the change in royalty rate terms; and

(d)(1) No later than 140 days after the day on which we determine a complete request with all necessary information was received, BLM will send you written notification of the proposed royalty rate that BLM determines to be revenue neutral.

(2) If you reject the proposed rate, we must receive written notification from you no later than 30 days after the date of your receipt of our notification. BLM will accept a faxed notification received within the 30-day time limit. However, following the fax, you must submit to BLM written notification which BLM must receive no later than the 179th day following the day on which BLM determines we received your complete request.

(3) If you reject the proposed royalty rate on a timely basis:

(i) BLM will not issue a decision modifying the royalty rate terms of your lease;

(ii) The existing royalty rate terms in your lease continue to apply; and

(iii) You may not reapply for a royalty rate term conversion under § 3212.25.

(4) Unless timely written notification is received from you rejecting the proposed rate, BLM will issue a decision modifying the royalty rate terms of your lease no later than 180 days after the day on which we determine a complete request was received. The effective date of the new royalty rate is the first day of the month following the date on which the decision was issued. For example, a decision issued on July 21, will become effective on August 1.