Evidence Standard
Method and primary sources.
Our research and land due diligence follow a strict ground-truth doctrine: assert facts only from recorded instruments, enacted statutes, and verified public agency records.
The evidence standard
In renewable and geothermal project development, unverified assumptions about title ownership or regulatory jurisdiction can halt projects after substantial capital expenditure. Our practice adheres to four operational rules:
- Recorded Instrument Ground Truth: Ownership claims must be corroborated by recorded deeds, probate dockets, oil and gas leases, and official public conveyances in the county clerk records.
- Enacted Statutory Citations: Regulatory rules must cite enacted legislative acts and active administrative codes, not superseded statutes or trade press summaries.
- Zero Hallucinated Metrics: We do not invent project counts, flow rates, subsurface temperatures, or financial returns. Where data is unknown, it remains documented as an open diligence question.
- Explicit Boundaries of Professional Scope: Landwork establishes the factual chain of title, counterparty identity, and recorded covenants. Formal legal title opinions are provided separately by retained examining attorneys; reservoir engineering is provided by professional reservoir engineers.
Primary sources repository
The following primary sources govern the technical definitions and legal citations presented on hotrock.land:
| Authority / Citation | Subject Matter | Governing Passage / Statutory Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Texas Natural Resources Code Section 141.011 | Texas RRC Jurisdiction | Directs the Railroad Commission of Texas to regulate the exploration, development, and production of geothermal energy on public and private land for conservation and correlative rights protection. |
| Texas Natural Resources Code Section 141.003(4) | Geothermal Definition | Defines geothermal energy and associated resources including indigenous steam, hot water, hot brines, geopressured water, artificially introduced fluids, and heat energy. |
| Texas Natural Resources Code Section 141.004(a) | Split Estate Ownership | Establishes that unless expressly provided by conveyance or deed reservation, severed geothermal resources are owned as real property by the owner of the surface estate. |
| New Mexico NMSA 1978 Section 71-9-1 et seq. | New Mexico ECMD Oversight | The Geothermal Resources Development Act (effective 2016) placed regulatory jurisdiction for high-temperature (>250 degrees F) geothermal wells under the Energy Conservation and Management Division (ECMD). |
| Bureau of Land Management 43 CFR Section 3201.10 | Federal Geothermal Leasing | Establishes BLM competitive leasing authority on Department of the Interior public lands, concurring USDA lands, and patented lands where geothermal rights were reserved to the United States. |
| U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office | EGS & Closed-Loop Definitions | Defines hydrothermal systems (heat, fluid, permeability) and enhanced geothermal systems (human-made fluid stimulation creating permeability in hot basement rock). |
| National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR / NREL) | Geothermal Permitting Roadmap | Evaluates deployment impacts of federal, state, and environmental regulatory and permitting requirements on geothermal power installations. |
| U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Glossary | Thermodynamic Quantities | Defines Megawatt electric (MWe) as one million watts of electric capacity, distinct from Megawatts thermal (MWt) heat transfer rate. |
| Texas Railroad Commission Geothermal Rules | Injection & Well Construction | Oil and Gas Division rules regarding well construction, operations, and injection (16 TAC Sections 3.1, 3.13, 3.14, and 3.46) apply to geothermal injection wells; requires active Form P-5 and P-4 leaseholder status. |
Audit and claim verification ledger
Every statutory and technical quote on hotrock.land is mechanically cross-referenced against primary source endpoints and maintained in our central research claim ledger.