All Roll Calls
Yes: 180 • No: 1
UtahH.B. 4782025 General SessionHouse
Brine Mining Amendments
Sponsored By: Bridger Bolinder (Republican)
Signed by Governor
Natural ResourcesMiningAdministrative Rulemaking and ProceduresWaterNew Rulemaking Authority
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
7 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 6 mixed.
Brine owners get payment deadlines and details
Beginning May 7, 2025, people legally owed brine proceeds must receive their first payment within 180 days after the first sale. Later payments are due monthly, within 60 days after the month the payor receives the proceeds. Payment statements must show the unit, sales month, brine and mineral volumes, ownership share, value, unit price, and itemized deductions. Unresolved ownership claims cannot delay others’ payments; disputed money must go into escrow at a federally insured institution. The escrow agent must release the money and interest within 30 days after a final legal decision establishes ownership.
Brine violations trigger shutdowns and penalties
The Division must promptly order inspections of suspected violations unless the information came from an earlier inspection. It must stop operations posing imminent public danger or significant imminent environmental harm; other violations get correction periods of at most 90 days. Uncorrected violations require shutdowns, and civil fines reach $5,000 per violation, with each continuing day potentially counted separately. Fines are mandatory for shutdown violations, and failure to correct covered violations triggers penalties of at least $750 per day. Qualifying Board or court orders can suspend correction requirements; enforcement is subject to judicial review and a five-year lawsuit limit. Specified knowing or intentional false statements, omissions, record destruction or falsification, and refusal to follow orders are class B misdemeanors. Each criminal violation carries up to $1,000, six months in jail, or both, alongside possible civil penalties.
Brine operators need permits and cleanup guarantees
Brine mining requires a state permit, and permit transfers need the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining’s permission. Applicants pay fees covering state permitting costs; the law sets no dollar amount. Owners and operators must post a financial guarantee, called surety, covering cleanup costs set by the Division. These guarantees secure cleanup, but missing surety, uncorrected mining violations, or significant violations of other state or federal laws can lead to closure. The Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining can also close facilities for substantial cause involving natural disasters or imminent property destruction.
Brine operators remain responsible for cleanup
Operators who fail required well plugging, impoundment closure, repairs, maintenance, or cleanup must forfeit surety or pay Utah’s work costs. Permit revocation requires an immediate stop and cleanup by the Board’s deadline; alternatively, the Board must declare the surety forfeited. After the Board determines a site is abandoned, the Division can sell equipment to pay unpaid costs and civil penalties. Remaining money goes to the operator or another rightful claimant, and buyers receive title free of claims. Collected civil penalties go to the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund for mined-land cleanup not covered by surety.
Brine owners face shared drilling rules
On an owner’s or operator’s request, the Board can create drilling units, generally allowing one production well per unit. Units must cover at least the area one well can efficiently drain, with uniform shapes and sizes unless conditions justify exceptions. Extra wells require engineering or geologic support and cannot cause waste or unreasonably interfere with other owners’ rights. The Board can order shared reservoir operations when reasonably needed and the value of expected extra recovery substantially exceeds extra costs. Written approval must come from owners bearing 70% of costs and owners holding 70% of production or proceeds credited to cost-free interests. Without approval within six months, the order becomes ineffective unless extended for good cause; plans allocate production, costs, and financing.
New oversight for deep brine mining
Beginning May 7, 2025, Utah replaces its prior brine mining statute with a new state oversight system. Covered production wells exceed 7,500 feet; brine generally exceeds 20,000 parts per million in dissolved solids and is unsuitable for household or farm use. Exclusions include Great Salt Lake surface extraction, specified solution mining and federally regulated wells, and geothermal operations without mineral extraction. Produced water is excluded unless saved, sold, or used to extract minerals or chemicals. State rules protect freshwater and neighboring mineral rights without changing Utah water rights or the State Engineer’s duties. Local governments can regulate related surface activities, but cannot effectively or unduly restrict mining or conflict with state or federal law. Operators must keep production, sales, processing, transport, and injection records for at least six years.
Pooled brine owners face cost deductions
Owners can pool brine interests by agreement; without a written agreement, the Board can order pooling on fair terms. Participating owners recover costs from a nonparticipating owner’s production share before that owner receives the remaining working interest. Deductions include 100% of that owner’s share of equipment beyond wellhead connections, estimated plugging costs, and operating costs during recovery. They also include 300% of specified drilling, completion, and wellhead equipment costs for the first well, and 150% for later wells. Reasonable interest can apply, but owners do not owe costs caused by the operator’s gross negligence or willful misconduct. Existing lease royalties remain payable during recovery. Unleased owners receive an acreage-weighted royalty based on other leased private tracts, or 7.5% when no comparison tracts exist, reduced by their ownership interest. That royalty is fixed when drilling starts and merges into the working interest after cost recovery. Operators must provide monthly cost, production, mineral-volume, and proceeds statements, and the Board resolves cost disputes.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Bridger Bolinder
Republican • House
Cosponsors
David P. Hinkins
Republican • Senate
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 3/7/2025
Senate/ passed 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension
Yes: 23 • No: 0
House vote • 3/7/2025
House/ concurs with Senate amendment
Yes: 68 • No: 1
Senate vote • 3/3/2025
Senate Comm - Substitute Recommendation
Yes: 4 • No: 0
Senate vote • 3/3/2025
Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation
Yes: 4 • No: 0
House vote • 2/25/2025
House/ passed 3rd reading
Yes: 69 • No: 0
House vote • 2/20/2025
House Comm - Favorable Recommendation
Yes: 12 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Governor Signed
3/24/2025House/ to Governor
3/17/2025HouseHouse/ received enrolled bill from Printing
3/17/2025HouseHouse/ enrolled bill to Printing
3/13/2025HouseEnrolled Bill Returned to House or Senate
3/13/2025Draft of Enrolled Bill Prepared
3/12/2025Bill Received from House for Enrolling
3/12/2025House/ signed by Speaker/ sent for enrolling
3/12/2025HouseHouse/ received from Senate
3/12/2025HouseSenate/ to House
3/12/2025SenateSenate/ signed by President/ returned to House
3/12/2025SenateSenate/ received from House
3/12/2025SenateHouse/ to Senate
3/7/2025HouseHouse/ concurs with Senate amendment
3/7/2025HouseHouse/ placed on Concurrence Calendar
3/7/2025HouseHouse/ received from Senate
3/7/2025HouseSenate/ to House with amendments
3/7/2025SenateSenate/ passed 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension
3/7/2025SenateSenate/ 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension
3/7/2025SenateSenate/ Rules to 2nd Reading Calendar
3/7/2025SenateSenate/ 2nd Reading Calendar to Rules
3/5/2025SenateSenate/ placed on 2nd Reading Calendar
3/3/2025SenateSenate/ comm rpt/ substituted
3/3/2025SenateSenate Comm - Favorable Recommendation
3/3/2025SenateSenate Comm - Substitute Recommendation
3/3/2025Senate
Bill Text
Enrolled
3/13/2025
Substitute #1
3/1/2025
Introduced
2/11/2025