58 Pa. Stat. § 601.103
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Abandoned well." Any well that has not been used to produce, extract or inject any gas, petroleum or other liquid within the preceding 12 months, or any well for which the equipment necessary for production, extraction or injection has been removed, or any well, considered dry, not equipped for production within 60 days after drilling, redrilling or deepening, except that it shall not include any well granted inactive status.
"Alteration." Any operation which changes the physical characteristics of the well bore, including stimulation or removing, repairing or changing the casing. For the purpose of this act only, the term shall not include:
"Board." The Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board.
"Bridge." An obstruction placed in a well at any specified depth.
"Building." An occupied structure with walls and roof within which persons live or customarily work.
"Casing." A string or strings of pipe commonly placed in wells drilled for natural gas or petroleum.
"Cement" or "cement grout." Hydraulic cement properly mixed with water only or any mixture of materials adequate for bonding or sealing of well bores as approved by regulations promulgated hereunder.
"Coal mine." Those operations in a coal seam which include the excavated and abandoned portions as well as the placed actually being worked, also all underground workings and shafts, slopes, tunnels and other ways and openings and all such shafts, slopes, tunnels and other openings in the course of being sunk or driven, together with all roads and facilities connected with them below the surface.
"Coal operator." Any person as herein defined who proposes to or does operate a coal mine either as owner or lessee.
"Completion of a well." The date after treatment, if any, that the well is properly equipped for production of oil or gas, or, if the well is dry, the date the well is abandoned.
"Department." The Department of Environmental Resources of the Commonwealth.
"Drilling." The drilling or redrilling of any well or the deepening of any existing well.
"Fresh groundwater." Water in that portion of the generally recognized hydrologic cycle which occupies the pore spaces and fractures of saturated subsurface materials.
"Gas." Any fluid, either combustible or noncombustible, which is produced in a natural state from the earth and which maintains a gaseous or rarified state at standard temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and pressure 14.7 PSIA, any manufactured gas, any byproduct gas or any mixture of gases.
"Inactivate." To shut off the vertical movement of gas in a gas storage well by means of a temporary plug or other suitable device or by injecting bentonitic mud or other such equally nonporous material into the well.
"Linear foot." A unit or measurement in a straight line on a horizontal plane.
"Oil" or "petroleum." Hydrocarbons in liquid form at standard temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and pressure 14.7 PSIA.
"Operating coal mine."
"Operating well." Any well not plugged and abandoned.
"Orphan well." Any well abandoned prior to the effective date of this act that has not been affected or operated by the present owner or operator and from which the present owner, operator or lessee has received no economic benefit, except only as a landowner or recipient of a royalty interest from the well.
"Outside coal boundaries". When used in conjunction with the term "operating coal mine," means the boundaries of the coal acreage assigned to such coal mine under an underground mine permit issued by the department.
"Owner." Any person who owns, manages, leases, controls or possesses any well or coal property; except that for purposes of sections 203(a)(4) and (5) and 210, the term"owner" shall not include those owners or possessors of surface real property on which the abandoned well is located who did not participate or incur costs in the drilling or extraction operation of the abandoned well and had no right of control over the drilling or extraction operation of the abandoned well. This term shall not apply to orphan wells except where the department determines a prior owner or operator benefited from the well as provided in section 210(a) .
"Pillar." A solid block of coal surrounded by either active mine workings or a mined-out area.
"Plat." A map, drawing or print accurately drawn to scale showing the proposed or existing location of a well or wells as herein defined.
"Person." Any individual, association, partnership, corporation, political subdivision or agency of the State or Federal Government or other legal entity.
"Reservoir protective area." All of that area outside of and surrounding the storage reservoir boundary but within 2,000 linear feet thereof, unless an alternate area shall have been designated by the department, deemed reasonable necessary to afford protection to the reservoir, pursuant to a conference held in accordance with section 501 .
"Retreat mining." The removal of such coal pillars, ribs and stumps as remain after the development mining has been completed in that section of a coal mine.
"Storage operator." Any person who proposes to or does operate a storage reservoir either as owner or lessee.
"Storage reservoir." That portion of any subsurface geological stratum or strata into which gas is or may be injected for the purposes of storage or of testing the suitability of such strata or stratum for storage.
"Well." A bore hole drilled or being drilled for the purpose of or to be used for producing, extracting or injecting any gas, petroleum or other liquid related to oil or gas production or storage, including brine disposal, but excluding bore holes drilled to produce potable water to be used as such. The term "well" does not include a bore hole drilled or being drilled for the purpose of or to be used for systems of monitoring, producing or extracting gas from solid waste disposal facilities, as long as the wells are subject to the act of July 7, 1980 (P.L. 380, No. 97) , known as the Solid Waste Management Act, and do not penetrate a workable coal seam. The term also does not include a bore hole drilled or being drilled for the purpose of or to be used for degasifying coal seams if the following conditions are satisfied:
"Well operator" or "operator." The person designated as the well operator or operator on the permit application or well registration. Where a permit or registration was not issued, the term shall mean any person who locates, drills, operates, alters or plugs any well or reconditions any well with the purpose of production therefrom. In cases where a well is used in connection with the underground storage of gas, the term also means a "storage operator."
"Wetland." Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support and that under normal circumstances do support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.
"Workable coal seams."
58 P.S. § 601.103