Michigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 324. Natural Resources and Environmental Protection § 324.62501

(a) “Artificial brine” means mineralized water formed by dissolving rock salt or other readily soluble rocks or minerals.

(b) “Brine well” means a well drilled or converted for the purpose of producing natural or artificial brine.

(c) “Department” means the department of environmental quality.

(d) “Disposal well” means a well drilled or converted for subsurface disposal of waste products or processed brine and its related surface facilities.

(e) “Exploratory purposes” means test well drilling for the specific purpose of discovering or outlining an orebody or mineable mineral resource.

(f) “Fund” means the mineral well regulatory fund created in section 62509b.  1

(g) “Mineral well” means any well subject to this part.

(h) “Natural brine” means naturally occurring mineralized water other than potable or fresh water.

(i) “Operator” means the person, whether owner or not, supervising or responsible for the drilling, operating, repairing, abandoning, or plugging of wells subject to this part.

(j) “Owner” means the person who has the right to drill, convert, or operate any well subject to this part.

(k) “Pollution” means damage or injury from the loss, escape, or unapproved disposal of any substance at any well subject to this part.

(l) “Storage well” means a well drilled into a subsurface formation to develop an underground storage cavity for subsequent use in storage operations.Storage well does not include a storage well drilled pursuant to part 615.  2

(m) “Supervisor of mineral wells” means the state geologist.

(n) “Surface waste” means damage to, injury to, or destruction of surface waters, soils, animal, fish, and aquatic life, or surface property from unnecessary seepage or loss incidental to or resulting from drilling, equipping, or operating a well or wells subject to this part.

(o) “Test well” means a well, core hole, core test, observation well, or other well drilled from the surface to determine the presence of a mineral, mineral resource, ore, or rock unit, or to obtain geological or geophysical information or other subsurface data related to mineral exploration and extraction. Test well does not include holes drilled in the operation of a quarry, open pit, or underground mine, or any wells not related to mineral exploration or extraction.

(p) “Underground storage cavity” means a cavity formed by dissolving rock salt or other readily soluble rock or mineral, by nuclear explosion, or by any other method for the purpose of storage or disposal.

(q) “Underground waste” means damage or injury to potable water, mineralized water, or other subsurface resources.

(r) “Waste product” means waste or by-product resulting from municipal or industrial operations or waste from any trade, manufacture, business, or private pursuit that could cause pollution and for which underground disposal may be feasible or practical.