H. B. 4566
(By Delegates Ireland, C. Miller, Longstreth,
Manypenny, Romine and Hamilton)
[Introduced February 19, 2010; referred to the
Committee on Energy, Industry and Labor, Economic Development and
Small Business then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §37-16-1, §37-16-2,
§37-16-3, §37-16-4, §37-16-5 and §37-16-6, all relating to
providing guidelines for an appropriate relationship between
oil and gas extractors and the owners of surface rights and
mineral interests.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §37-16-1, §37-16-2,
§37-16-3, §37-16-4, §37-16-5 and §37-16-6, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 16. LANDOWNER'S RIGHTS.
§37-16-1. Deeds to reflect mineral ownership.
All deeds prepared for the purpose of conveying any tract of
real estate in the State of West Virginia shall note whether or not
oil, gas and other mineral interests underlying the surface tract
are conveyed with the said tract or whether they are owned or retained by other parties.
§37-16-2. Landowner notification.
Surface owners of tracts wherein oil gas or mineral extraction
is to occur must be notified by the entity seeking to extract such
minerals. The notice must be made by actual notice to the resident
landowner, but may be made by a mailing via certified mail to an
absentee landowner. For purposes of this section, a telephonic
conversation with the landowner shall suffice to satisfy the
requirement of actual notice, but a telephone message shall not be
sufficient. There shall be at least fifteen calendar days notice
given of an initial entry onto the land. The period of comment and
response for the surface landowner and/or mineral interest owner to
the notices required in the Department of Environmental Protection,
Forms WW-2A and WW-2B, shall be increased from fifteen to thirty
calendar days.
§37-16-3. Landowner's right of redemption.
The surface owner shall have the right to redeem provided in
article three, chapter eleven of this code, generally, for all of
those oil, gas or mineral interests underlying the surface tract.
This right to redeem shall continue for the same time period and
shall be fixed at the same costs as that of the interest owner.
However, it may not be exercised if the interest owner exercises
the interest owner's right to redeem.
§37-16-4. Valuation of timber.
Timber which must be cleared from a surface site in order to make that site useable for the development or extraction of oil,
gas or mineral interests, including that cleared for access roads,
shall be appraised by a certified appraiser of timber who shall be
compensated by the extractor, and, the timber shall be valued at a
minimum of two times the value of the present appraised value,
which value shall be paid by the extractor, for the purpose of
adequately compensating the surface landowner for losing the future
use of this resource. Additionally, the surface owner shall retain
all of the cleared timber.
§37-16-5. Secondary road examination.
Secondary roads leading to the site where oil, gas or minerals
are to be extracted must be examined by the Department of Highways
prior to the extraction and again after the extraction to determine
if any damage has occurred to the road. If any damage is found to
have occurred, the company responsible for the extraction shall be
liable for the appropriate share of the amount of repairs.
§37-16-6. Supervision of contractors.
It shall be the responsibility of the entity which has the
authority to extract oil, gas or minerals from a tract, to oversee
the conduct of any contractors whom it employs to perform any
duties relating to that process of extraction. The entity which
has the authority to extract oil, gas or minerals shall have the
primary liability to the surface landowner, and to the state, for
any damages to the surface interests, or to the environment. No
provision of this section shall act to inhibit any contractual terms between a contractor and subcontractor. The entity which has
the authority to extract oil, gas or minerals from a tract shall
provide the surface owner and mineral interest owner the name,
address, telephone number and email address of a person who shall
serve as a point of contact between the surface and mineral
interest owners and the entity.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide guidelines for an
appropriate relationship between oil and gas extractors and the
owners of surface rights and mineral interests.
§37-16-1, §37-16-2, §37-16-3, §37-16-4, §37-16-5 and §37-16-6
are new; therefore, it has been completely underscored.