You must keep exploration operations under control at all times by:

(a) Conducting training during your operation to ensure that your personnel are capable of performing emergency procedures quickly and effectively;

(b) Using properly maintained equipment; and

(c) Using operational practices that allow for quick and effective emergency response.

(a) You must conduct your exploration operations in a manner that:

(1) Protects the quality of surface and subsurface waters, air, and other natural resources, including wildlife, soil, vegetation, and natural history;

(2) Protects the quality of cultural, scenic, and recreational resources;

(3) Accommodates other land uses, as BLM deems necessary; and

(4) Minimizes noise.

(b) You must remove or, with our permission, properly store all equipment and materials not in use.

(c) You must provide and use pits, tanks, and sumps of adequate capacity. They must be designed to retain all materials and fluids resulting from drilling temperature gradient wells or other operations, unless we have specified otherwise in writing. When they are no longer needed, you must properly abandon pits and sumps in accordance with your exploration permit.

(d) BLM may require you to submit a contingency plan describing procedures to protect public health, safety, property, and the environment.

(a) You may drill a temperature gradient well to any depth that we approve in your exploration permit or sundry notice. In all cases, you may not flow test the well or perform injection tests of the well unless you follow the procedures for geothermal drilling operations in subparts 3260 through 3267.

(b) BLM may modify your permitted depth at any time before or during drilling, if we determine that the bottom hole temperature or other information indicates that drilling to the original permitted depth could directly encounter the geothermal resource or create risks to public health, safety, property, the environment, or other resources.

You may collect information from your temperature gradient well for as long as your permit allows.

Complete temperature gradient wells to allow for proper abandonment, and to prevent interzonal migration of fluids. Cap all tubing when not in use.

When you no longer need it, or when BLM requires you to.

(a) Before abandoning your well, submit a complete and signed Sundry Notice, Form 3260-3, describing how you plan to abandon wells and reclaim the surface. Do not begin abandoning wells or reclaiming the surface until BLM approves your Sundry Notice.

(b) You must plug and abandon your well for permanent prevention of interzonal migration of fluids and migration of fluids to the surface. You must reclaim your well location according to the terms of BLM approvals and orders.