A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; May territory be annexed to the WCJC, a county-wide junior college district organized under Subchapter C of Chapter 130 of the Texas Education Code, by utilizing Section 130.065 of the Texas Education Code, entitled 'Annexation by Election'?

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification.

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification.

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification.

This letter report describes the technical activities of the waste element solubility study during Fiscal Year (FY88, October 1, 1987 to September 30, 1988). This experimental waste element solubility study provides experimentally determined limits on radionuclide concentrations in groundwater from Yucca Mountain. Furthermore, the results of this study are essential for verifying the validity of radionuclide transport calculations, and for providing the maximum concentrations for the radionuclide sorption tests. Solubility is the source term for radionuclide transport calculations. The solubility in this study is controlled by fewer variables than are used in the multiparameter transport model. Therefore, modeling must be capable of predicting the results of this waste element solubility study. Agreement between the experimental result and the modeling predictions will validate the geochemical module of the transport model. 3 refs., 8 figs.

The U.S. Interagency Geothermal Coordinating Council was a multi-agency group charged with identifying and reducing barriers to geothermal energy development in the U.S. Many of the issues covered related to regulations for and progress in the leasing of Federal lands in the West for power development. The IGCC reports are important sources of historical information. (DJE 2005)

In the 1970's, the nation's attention was focused on Energy. This focus shifted to the Economy in the 80's with the concerns about the federal deficit. Emphasis has now moved to the Environment for the 1990's with the other two ''E's'' remaining as lingering concerns. Obviously geothermal resources have positive impacts on the three E's since they provide energy with limited environmental impact. However, they all are aware of the environmental concerns and must address them for the industry. Two current global environmental concerns discussed in this paper are the ''greenhouse effect'' and acid rain. Both of these areas have been emphasized by President Bush, and legislation is pending in both state and federal legislatures to address these problems. They need to understand the impact of geothermal energy production in these areas, and from a DOE viewpoint, identify R and D that is critical to meeting existing and pending regulations and laws.

In order to assure the continued development of geothermal resources, many advances in materials technology are required so that high costs resulting from the severe environments encountered during drilling, well completion and energy extraction can be reduced. These needs will become more acute as higher temperature and chemically aggressive fluids are encountered. High priority needs are for lost circulation control and lightweight well completion materials, and tools such as drill pipe protectors, rotating head seals, blow-out preventers, and downhole drill motors. The lack of suitable hydrolytically stable chemical systems that can bond previously developed elastomers to metal reinforcement is a critical but as yet unaddressed impediment to the development of these tools. In addition, the availability of low cost corrosion and scale-resistant tubular lining materials would greatly enhance transport and energy extraction processes utilizing hypersaline brines. Work to address these materials needs is underway at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and recent accomplishments are summarized in the paper.

Geopressured reservoirs exhibit pressure gradients in excess of the normal hydrostatic gradient. In the Gulf Coast area the normal gradient is 0.465 psi/ft. Pressures may approach lithostatic pressure and have been measured as high as 1.05 psi/ft in the Gulf Coast area. Geopressured basins exist worldwide and in a number of U.S. locations, east, west, north and south. The Gulf Coast area has been studied extensively and is the subject of the DOE geopressured-geothermal research at present. The assumed ranges in resource characteristics include: depth from -12,000 to > -20,000 feet, brine flow rate from 20,000 to 40,000 bpd, temperature from 300 to 400 F, bottomhole pressure from 12,000 to 18,500 psi; salinity from 20,000 to 200,000 mg/L, gas-water ratio from 40 to 80 scf/bbl., and condensate from a trace to production. Energy in the geopressured resource includes gas, thermal, and hydraulic energy. It has been estimated that there are 6,000 quads of methane and 11,000 quads of thermal energy in the Gulf Coast area geopressured-geothermal reservoirs. Estimates run as high as 50,000 quad for the thermal energy (Wallace et al, 1978). Present industrial interest in the Pleasant Bayou and Hulin wells includes: desalination plants, an economic study by a …

Logging research at The University of Texas has been carried out in several areas. We have studied how rock resistivity varies with water saturation when other variables, such as rock wettability, stress, saturation history, and shale content are varied. Both experimental and theoretical work have been done. Rock wettability (oil or water wet) has by far the largest effect. Shale content and saturation history are also important. Rock stress is the least important, at least in the Berea sandstones and glass bed packs we have studied. We have published several papers and theses which describe this work in detail. We have also studied the effect of certain trace elements (boron, mainly) on the neutron log. Boron has a very high thermal neutron capture cross Section. Analyses of a number of Frio formation cores from the Texas Gulf Coast area show that boron occurs frequently in these rocks in amounts (up to 100 ppm or more) that would seriously affect several procedures in neutron log interpretation. It could, for example, reduce or even eliminate the neutron log--density log porosity reversal that is commonly used as a gas indicator. A recent paper reports details of our work in the Frio. We are …

None

Up to 500,000 Quads of thermal energy are believed to be contained in crustal magma bodies within the U.S. at temperatures in excess of 600 C and at depths less than 10 km. Scientific feasibility of utilizing this energy resource was concluded after a seven-year study that culminated in successful energy extraction experiments in molten rock at Kilauea Iki lava lake. The current DOE program is developing technology to experimentally extract energy from a silicic magma body so that engineering feasibility of the magma energy concept can be evaluated. At this point, significant progress has been achieved in three areas: Geophysics and site selection. Energy Extraction Processes, and Geochemistry/Materials. Future activities will be focused by drilling and evaluating a deep exploratory well in Long Valley caldera where active magma is expected.

Extensive laboratory studies have indicated that the application of biochemical processes in the development of biotechnology suitable for conversion of geothermal wastes from hazardous to non-hazardous materials is technically and economically feasible. These studies have also shown that such biotechnology may require bioreactors capable of handling different amounts and types of residual sludges. Particular attention has to be paid to the duration of treatment, efficiency of cycling, and maintenance of biomass. Laboratory studies addressing these parameters are described.

My assignment is to give feedback on the Reservoir Technology Task portion of the DOE-sponsored work we've been hearing about. Briefly, you've done well in adapting to an increasingly tough budgetary and political environment. More specifically, I'd like to highlight some of the encouraging developments in the context of overall research strategy. Ted Mock on Tuesday and Ken Nemzer at yesterday's luncheon made several useful observations and I'd like to refer to just two in relation to Reservoir Technology. Ted observed that product development can proceed along two paths. We might call these the Big Bang or the Evolutionary lines. He correctly pointed out the difficulty American industry has had with commercializing incremental (Evolutionary) product improvements. In this context Reservoir Technology development is more like manufacturing engineering because we aren't developing new products, for the most part. We are simply working to produce electricity or process heat cheaper. The DOE has listened to industry on this point and their statement of objectives sounds excellent. Let me quote one example from Page 10 of the December 20, 1988 report. For ''Reservoir Evaluation'' we read ''Decrease uncertainties...20% by 1993''. I confess that I don't know what the uncertainty is in 1989, but …

As a response to the America's need for alternate energy sources, the US Department of Energy has a Geothermal Program. Within this program is a category to study Geopressured Energy. Today many activities are taking place under the Geopressured Program. These activities for the most part fall under one of the following categories: Well Operations, Geoscience and Engineering Support and Energy Conversion. To date this program has had many successes. However, there is still more information needed concerning the Geopressured Resource. it is thought that continued research will give the developer a better understanding of the Geopressured resource and in turn increase the likelihood of it's development.

This audience is well aware that the major goal of all geothermal R&D is the successful application of advanced technology in the marketplace. In support of that goal, the Geothermal Technology Division has forged a close link between its research objectives and potentially competitive market applications. Our technical objectives are all expressed in quantified reductions in the cost of geothermal power; these cost reductions are the force that will drive the geothermal industry for the foreseeable future. I agree with the recent statement of Stephen Fye of Unocal that without a legislated incentive for geothermal or disincentive for competing fuels-such as mandated carbon dioxide reductions--any premium the public is willing to pay for the use of this premium fuel will be too small to greatly impact geothermal economics. His conclusion is that the geothermal industry must be fully competitive in the marketplace at current prices. His further conclusion--with which I fully concur--is that the avenue to competitiveness is through research, by both industry and government.

The stated goal of Geothermal Technology Division (GTD's) research program is to provide technical solutions required to establish all forms of this resource as long-term competitive energy alternatives. Especially at a time when the research budget is relatively small and competitive energy alternatives are relatively cheap, the emphasis on achieving tangible economic benefits through research is appropriate. In the case of a new technology such as tapping magma energy, it is too early to fine-tune the economics, but the research is well-justified by the magnitude of the potential resource. For projects aimed at incremental improvements in processes that are already commercial, economic potential is more easily defined. Fluid production research generally falls in the latter category. In keeping with the foregoing, it would be desirable for the research program participants to place greater emphasis on the potential applications and economic impact of their respective projects. Specifically, with regard to research projects aimed at improving the economics of existing commercial operations, the following points should be addressed: (1) in what resources, or types of resources, would the research results be applicable; (2) what are the best commercially available materials or techniques available, and how will the results of research improve operations …

As a response to America's need for Alternate Energy sources, the U.S. Department of Energy has a Geothermal Program. Within this program is a Hydrothermal category. Currently, a wide range of tasks are being addressed as part of the Hydrothermal Program. The tasks include Industrialization, Reservoir Technology, Hard Rock Penetration and Conversion Technology. It is thought that successes already made in this program combined with upcoming successes will increase the likelihood of geothermal energy becoming a contributor to our nations future energy needs.

The geothermal industry has shown significant interest in case histories that document field production histories and demonstrate the techniques which work best in the characterization and evaluation of geothermal systems. In response to this interest, LBL has devoted a significant part of its geothermal program to the compilation and analysis of data from US and foreign fields (e.g., East Mesa, The Geysers, Susanville, and Long Valley in California; Klamath Fall in Oregon; Valles Caldera, New Mexico; Cerro Prieto and Los Azufres in Mexico; Krafla and Nesjavellir in Iceland; Larderello in Italy; Olkaria in Kenya). In each of these case studies we have been able to test and validate in the field, or against field data, the methodology and instrumentation developed under the Reservoir Technology Task of the DOE Geothermal Program, and to add to the understanding of the characteristics and processes occurring in geothermal reservoirs. Case study results of the producing Cerro Prieto and Olkaria geothermal fields are discussed in this paper. These examples were chosen because they illustrate the value of conceptual and numerical models to predict changes in reservoir conditions, reservoir processes, and well performance that accompany field exploitation, as well as to reduce the costs associated with …

It is my pleasure this morning to address a topic that is much talked about in passing but rarely examined from a first person point of view. That topic is Technology Transfer. Over the next 30 minutes I'd like to approach Technology Transfer within the context of the Product Development Process looking at it from the perspectives of the federal government researcher and the industry manufacturer/user. Fist let us recognize that we are living in an ''Information Age'', where global economic and military competition is determined as much by technology as it is by natural resource assets. It is estimated that technical/scientific information is presently growing at a rate of l3 percent per year; this is expected to increase to 30 percent per year by the turn of the century. In fact, something like 90 percent of all scientific knowledge has been generated in the last 30 years; this pool will double again in the next 10-15 years (Exhibit 1). Of all the scientists and engineers throughout history, 90% live and work in the present time. Successfully managing this technical information/knowledge--i.e., transforming the results of R&D to practical applications--will be an important measure of national strength. A little over a …

This study discusses the application of algorithms developed in Operations Research to the optimization of brine reinjection in geothermal fields. The injection optimization problem is broken into two sub-problems: (1) choosing a configuration of injectors from an existing set of wells, and (2) allocating a total specified injection rate among chosen injectors. The allocation problem is solved first. The reservoir is idealized as a network of channels or arcs directly connecting each pair of wells in the field. Each arc in the network is considered to have some potential for thermal breakthrough. This potential is quantified by an arc-specific breakthrough index, b{sub ij}, based on user-specified parameters from tracer tests, field geometry, and operating considerations. The sum of b{sub ij}-values for all arcs is defined as the fieldwide breakthrough index, B. Injection is optimized by choosing injection wells and rates so as to minimize B subject to constraints on the number of injectors and the total amount of fluid to be produced and reinjected. The use of the various methods is demonstrated with reference both to hypothetical data and an actual data set from the Wairakei Geothermal Field in New Zealand.

Discrete fracture and continuum models are being developed to simulate Hot Dry Rock (HDR) geothermal reservoirs. The discrete fracture model is a two-dimensional steady state simulator of fluid flow and tracer transport in a fracture network which is generated from assumed statistical properties of the fractures. The model's strength lies in its ability to compute the steady state pressure drop and tracer response in a realistic network of interconnected fractures. The continuum approach models fracture behavior by treating permeability and porosity as functions of temperature and effective stress. With this model it is practical to model transient behavior as well as the coupled processes of fluid flow, heat transfer, and stress effects in a three-dimensional system. The model capabilities being developed will also have applications in conventional geothermal systems undergoing reinjection and in fractured geothermal reservoirs in general.

The western power surplus is finite and electric load growth is persistent. Concerns about availability and environmental effects will overshadow life-cycle cost in selection of tomorrow's sources. Geothermal's growth and achievements qualify it as a preferred resource for the 1990s and beyond but its merits remain largely unknown in political and financial circles. Near-term needs include power sales contracts after 1990, improved comfort for banks and utilities with reservoir assessment techniques and mitigation of financial risks at pilot plants on new fields. Institutional, not technical, issues will dominate geothermal energy's growth, performance, image and utility relationships in the 1990s.