H. B. 4286


(By Delegate Burdiss, Brown, Eldridge, Moore, Guthrie, Wells and M., Poling)

[Introduced January 25, 2008; referred to the

Committee on Industry and Labor, Economic Development and Small Business then Finance.]




A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated §22-5A-1, §22-5A-2, §22-5A-3, §22-5A-4, §22-5A-5, §22-5A-6, §22-5A-7, §22-5A-8, §22-5A-9, §22-5A-10 and §22-5A-11; to amend and reenact §22-6-6, §22-6-9 of said code; to amend and reenact §22-7-3, §22-7-5, §22-7-7 of said code; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §22-7-9, all relating to rights, administration and enforcement of oil and gas wells; surface owner bill of rights.

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 §22-5A-1, §22-5A-2, §22-5A-3, §22-5A-4, §22-5A-5, §22-5A-6, §22-5A-7, §22-5A-8, §22-5A-9, §22-5A-10 and §22-5A-11; that §22-6-6, §22-6-9, §22-7-3,
§22-7-5 and §22-7-7 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §22-7-9, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5A. OIL AND GAS SURFACE OWNER'S BILL OF RIGHTS.


§22-5A-1. Findings and purpose.



(a) The Legislature finds that the owner of the surface of property where an oil or gas lease operator intends to drill a well in many cases does not own the minerals or any right to the royalty or any other benefit from the drilling of the well on, or the production of oil or gas from under, the surface owner's property.

(b) Under the common law, unless changed by the terms of a severance deed or a lease, the operator only has the right to do what is "fairly necessary" to produce the oil or gas but must give "due regard" to the interest of the surface owner.

(c) State code only requires that the operators to give the surface owner fifteen days' notice that the operator has applied to the state for a permit to drill an oil or gas well on the surface owner's land. And this notice already contains a well site location and access road location that the operator has already selected and surveyed to include in the operator's permit application. The operator may come on to the land and even send surveyors to mark well sites and road locations without notifying or talking to the surface owner first.

(d) The surface owner has a right to comment on the permit
application if he or she can get comments to the Office of Oil and Gas of the Department of Environmental Protection within fifteen days of filing the permit. However, the surface owner has no right to a hearing on the surface owner's comments on the permit application.
(e) The surface owner's comments on the operators drilling permit application cannot cause the state to change the permit on the grounds that the operator is doing more surface disturbance and so on to the surface owner's land than is fairly necessary. The state can only change the permit for the reasons set out in the next subsection.

(f) The state can only change an operator's permit to drill an oil or gas well based on the surface owner's comments if the drilling activity proposed in the permit would cause erosion or sedimentation, if the down hole casing and tubing program would endanger water sources, if the drilling would be a safety hazard, if the drilling would damage public lands, or if the state has issued an actual "violation" for improper activity relating to other wells.

(g) As a result, many operators take advantage of this surprise, plus the operator's advantages of more knowledge and years of experience compared to the surface owner who has never seen a well drilled before, plus the operator's vast advantages of resources and lawyers compared to a citizen landowner - as a result
of these advantages, many operators fail to give due regard to any preferences of the surface owners and they do more than is fairly necessary to the surface owner and his or her land.
(h) Although one statute provides that many surface owners are entitled to compensation for the use of their surface land, under that statute the surface owners are not entitled to their land's full market value or to the diminution in the value of lands adjacent to the well site, access road and pipeline caused by the well work, even though the surface owners are the ones who will continue to pay taxes on the disturbed land.

(i) Although the gas will be produced from under the surface owners, and although the gas will be produced out of a well placed on their land and piped to market across their land, surface owners have no right to connect to the well or gathering pipelines for their domestic use of the gas - at any price.

(j) The Legislature therefore exercises its police and other powers to regulate the exercise of the parties' common law rights by the enactment of this article.

§22-5A-2. Definitions.



For the purposes of this article the words or terms used in this article, and any variation of those words or terms required by the context, have the meanings ascribed to them in article six of this chapter unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context.

§22-5A-3. Notices.



The notices to the surface owner required by this article shall be given to the same persons or entities and in the same manner as set out for notice to surface owners of the drilling permit as provided in article six, section nine-a of this chapter.

§22-5A-4. Notice of initial entry upon surface lands.



(a) At least fourteen days before entering upon the surface land for inspection, measurements, surveying or other evaluation of proposed access routes and sites for either new well work or roads or other well work requiring disturbance of the surface that has not been disturbed before by the operator, an operator shall provide notice of the fact that the operator is entering the surface land and of the general purposes for such entry. The fourteen days begins to run from the surface owner's actual receipt of the notice.

(b) The notice shall include:

(1) The name, a physical address, a land line telephone number if one exists, and if in use, cell phone, e-mail or other electronic contact information of the operator, of any contractor for the operator, and the actual person or persons who may come onto the land and their supervisor;

(2) The anticipated, approximate dates and times of entry on to the surface land;

(3) A copy of the West Virginia Oil and Gas Production
Compensation Act;
(4) A copy of the soil erosion and sediment control manual of the Office of Oil and Gas of the State of West Virginia; and

(5) An offer to meet with the surface owner either on the land or, at the option of the surface owner, at another mutually agreed location. The offer to meet shall be to meet prior to or at the time of this first entry and in addition prior to the next required notice.

(c) At the meeting the operator shall point out and explain his or her preference for locations of well sites, shall consider the surface owner's suggestions for alternate locations, and if the surface owners suggestion be used, shall state the reasons it cannot be used. The surface owner shall state his or her preference for access roads to the proposed sites and consider the operator's suggestions for alternative road locations, and if the surface owners suggestion cannot be used, the operator shall state the reasons it cannot be used.

§22-5A-5. Notice of planned surface use.



(a) Before first entering upon the land of the surface owner to disturb the surface to conduct new well work or to disturb the surface using motorized equipment, the operator shall give the surface owner notice of the planned well work or other surface disturbance. The operator may not enter onto the land until sixty days after the notice has been given unless, prior to giving the
notice required by this section the operator has met with the surface owner and negotiated a proposed surface use and compensation agreement, or unless after giving the notice the operator has met with the surface owner and negotiated a proposed surface use and compensation agreement that includes a waiver as allowed by this section. If the operator has negotiated a proposed surface use and compensation agreement, the operator may not enter onto the land until ten days after the surface owner receives a signed copy or duplicate original of the surface use and compensation agreement, or ten days after the application for the well work permit is filed by the operator pursuant to article six, section six of this chapter, whichever is earlier.
(b) The notice of the planned well work shall include:

(1) The name, a physical address, land line telephone number, and if in use, cell phone, e-mail or other electronic contact information of the operator and of any contractor or other agent acting on behalf of the operator; and

(2) A proposed surface use and compensation agreement as set out in next section.

(c) The notice of planned well work shall include a copy of the West Virginia Oil and Gas Production Compensation Act and the soil erosion and sediment control manual of the West Virginia Office of Oil and Gas unless the surface owner has already received them.

(d) A statement that if the parties cannot agree, then they may contact a trained mediator to try to resolve their differences.

(e) The proposed surface use and compensation agreement may be one that has already been negotiated after giving the notice. However, any proposed agreement is not final until ten days after receipt of a signed copy or duplicate original.

§22-5A-6. Surface use and compensation agreement.



(a) A surface use agreement must be in writing or, if the surface owner agrees and has the ability to use it, in the form of an authenticated electronic record.

(b) A surface use agreement shall include:

(1) The name, physical address, telephone number of the operator, the surface owner(s) and the mineral owner(s);

(2) Locations and dimensions of well sites, access roads, pipeline rights-of-way and other uses given in sufficient detail and in a format for the surface owner to be able to locate them on his or her property, and determine what soil and timber or other vegetation will be disturbed;

(3) Specifications for construction of the well site, pits, disposal areas, access roads, pipelines, and other facilities or uses associated with the well work, including without limitation temporary soil erosion and sediment control, top soil banking and road steepness, side slope, and drainage structures and their frequency;

(4) Specifications for the life of the well reclamation of the well site, pits, disposal areas, access roads, pipelines, and other facilities or uses associated with the well work including without limitation erosion and sediment control for the life of the well;

(5) Specifications for the revegetation of the well site, pits, disposal areas, access roads, pipelines, and other facilities or uses associated with the well work, road surfaces, soil preparation, temporary seed species, and permanent seed species;

(6) Specifications for maintenance of well sites, pipelines and access roads, including frequency;

(7) Particular specifications for maintenance at all times of existing roads used by the surface owner that will also be utilized by the operator, including, without limitation, gating appliance specifications and gating practices; and

(8) Compensation to the surface owner pursuant to article seven of this chapter or the common law including without limitation compensation for occupation of the land disturbed and used by the well site, access road and pipeline, diminution in value of adjacent land, and lost timber and other crops and vegetation.

(c) A surface use and compensation agreement may also waive the surface owner's right to comment on the permit application
pursuant to article six of this chapter if the surface owner is given a copy of the permit application ten days before the waiver.
(d) A surface use and compensation agreement may not waive damages for breach of the agreement, for pollution of water sources or supplies not identified in the agreement, for negligence or failure to perform tasks in a workmanlike manner, or for unforeseen damages.

§22-5A-7. Effect of surface use and compensation agreement on bond.
If an agreed upon surface use and compensation agreement is not submitted with the permit application, the operator may not place the well under his or her blanket bond. Instead the operator shall furnish an individual well bond, and the bond shall also be conditioned upon payment of any damages or compensation to which a surface owner may become entitled; provided that the amount of such bond, notwithstanding the provision of other law, shall be ten thousand dollars.

§22-5A-8. Well head or gathering gas service access line.



(a) Where the owner of the surface that is disturbed for well work or a pipeline is not entitled to or is not given free gas and does not have access to gas from a regulated utility, the surface owner shall have the option of connecting to the well or to any gathering line to the well to obtain gas service for one residence or farm, or residence and associated farm, for every disturbed surface tract that is separately owned at the time of the initial disturbance on that surface tract.
(b) The surface owner is responsible for all of the reasonable actual costs of making the connection.
(c) The operator may set reasonable conditions to assure the safety and integrity of its system in the surface use and compensation agreement.
(d) The operator may require the surface owner to pay for the gas at a price no greater than that used to determine the royalty owner's payment.
(e) The operator has the duty to warn of known dangers relating to the surface owner's use of the gas, but is otherwise not liable for ordinary negligence.
(f) The Public Service Commission shall make information available to the public at cost on the limitations and risks of well head and gathering line gas. A copy of the information shall be provided to the surface owner by the operator before signing the surface use agreement.
(g) The commission shall propose a legislative rule setting out the subjects regarding gas service from a well head or gathering line which must be addressed in a surface use and compensation agreement which authorizes use of well head or gathering line gas.
(h) A person who receives well head or gathering line gas pursuant to this section is not a "residential customer" for the purpose of determining whether a natural gas producer is a public utility.

§22-5A-9. Right to hearing and appeal.



If a surface owner files comments pursuant to article six, section ten of this chapter, and if the Chief of the Office of Oil and Gas is not able to mediate an agreement between the surface owner and the operator compliant with the laws and regulations and permits of the state on the issues raised in the comments, then the chief shall hold a hearing as a contested case pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a, article five of this code before completing his or her review or issuing a permit pursuant to article six, section eleven of this chapter.

§22-5A-10. Options for surface use and revegetation.



(a) The office of oil and gas shall include in its soil erosion and sediment control manual alternatives for road construction, that include the interests of the surface owner for a permanent road intended for regular travel through his or her property or a road that has minimal impacts upon the property, and alternatives for revegetation with fast growing, wildlife, or native seed species or other individually negotiated seed species subject to approval by the chief.
(b) Any requirement of the soil erosion and sediment control manual that can be waived by the inspector of the office of oil and gas can only be waived if the surface owner also agrees in writing. If the surface owner is a natural person or persons, the waiver must be in writing and separately signed from other waivers.
(c) Day lighting, the practice of clearing woody material back from the roadway in an attempt to accelerate drying of the road surface may only be used with the written consent of the surface owners.
§22-5A-11. Effective dates.

Sections one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and nine shall apply to all permits issued more than ninety days from passage. Section eight shall take effect ninety days from passage. Subsections (b) and (c) of section ten take effect from passage. Subsection (a) of section ten takes effect the first day of September, two thousand eight.
ARTICLE 6. OFFICE OF OIL AND GAS; OIL AND GAS WELLS; ADMINISTRATION; ENFORCEMENT.

§22-6-6. Permit required for well work; permit fee; application; soil erosion control plan.

(a) It is unlawful for any person to commence any well work, including site preparation work which involves any disturbance of land, without first securing from the director a well work permit. An application may propose and a permit may approve two or more activities defined as well work.
(b) The application for a well work permit shall be accompanied by applicable bond as prescribed by section twelve, fourteen or twenty-three of this article, and the applicable plat required by section twelve or fourteen of this article.
(c) Every permit application filed under this section shall be verified and shall contain the following:
(1) The names and addresses of: (i) The well operator; (ii) the agent required to be designated under subsection (e) of this section; and (iii) every person whom the applicant must notify under any section of this article together with a certification and evidence that a copy of the application and all other required documentation has been delivered to all such persons;
(2) The name and address of every coal operator operating coal seams under the tract of land on which the well is or may be located, and the coal seam owner of record and lessee of record required to be given notice by section twelve, if any, if said owner or lessee is not yet operating said coal seams;
(3) The number of the well or such other identification as the director may require;
(4) The type of well;
(5) The well work for which a permit is requested;
(6) The approximate depth to which the well is to be drilled or deepened, or the actual depth if the well has been drilled;
(7) Any permit application fee required by law;
(8) If the proposed well work will require casing or tubing to be set, the entire casing program for the well, including the size of each string of pipe, the starting point and depth to which each string is to be set, and the extent to which each such string is to be cemented;
(9) If the proposed well work is to convert an oil well or a combination well or to drill a new well for the purpose of introducing pressure for the recovery of oil as provided in section twenty-five of this article, specifications in accordance with the data requirements of section fourteen of this article;
(10) If the proposed well work is to plug or replug the well: (i) Specifications in accordance with the data requirements of section twenty-three of this article; (ii) a copy of all logs in the operator's possession as the director may require; and (iii) a work order showing in detail the proposed manner of plugging or unplugging the well, in order that a representative of the director and any interested persons may be present when the work is done. In the event of an application to drill, redrill or deepen a well, if the well work is unsuccessful so that the well must be plugged and abandoned, and if the well is one on which the well work has been continuously progressing pursuant to a permit, the operator may proceed to plug the well as soon as the operator has obtained the verbal permission of the director or the director's designated representative to plug and abandon the well, except that the operator shall make reasonable effort to notify as soon as practicable the surface owner and the coal owner, if any, of the land at the well location, and shall also timely file the plugging affidavit required by section twenty-three of this article;
(11) If the proposed well work is to stimulate an oil or gas well, specifications in accordance with the data requirements of section thirteen of this article;
(12) The erosion and sediment control plan required under subsection (d) of this section for applications for permits to drill; and
(13) Any other relevant information which the director may require by rule.
(d) An erosion and sediment control plan shall accompany each application for a well work permit. except for a well work permit to plug or replug any well Such plan shall contain methods of stabilization and drainage, including a map of the project area indicating the amount of acreage disturbed, including without limitation acreage disturbed for pipelines and the type and spacing of access road drainage structures. The erosion and sediment control plan shall meet the minimum requirements of the West Virginia erosion and sediment control manual as adopted and from time to time amended by the division, in consultation with the several soil conservation districts pursuant to the control program established in this state through section 208 of the federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (33 U.S.C. §1288). The erosion and sediment control plan shall become part of the terms and conditions of a well work permit, except for a well work permit to plug or replug any well, which is issued and the provisions of the plan shall be carried out where applicable in the operation. The erosion and sediment control plan shall set out the proposed method of reclamation which shall comply with the requirements of section thirty of this article.
(e) The well operator named in such application shall designate the name and address of an agent for such operator who shall be the attorney-in-fact for the operator and who shall be a resident of the State of West Virginia upon whom notices, orders or other communications issued pursuant to this article or article eleven, chapter twenty-two, may be served, and upon whom process may be served. Every well operator required to designate an agent under this section shall within five days after the termination of such designation notify the director of such termination and designate a new agent.
(f) The well owner or operator shall install the permit number as issued by the director in a legible and permanent manner to the well upon completion of any permitted work. The dimensions, specifications and manner of installation shall be in accordance with the rules of the director.
(g) The director may waive the requirements of this section and sections nine, ten and eleven of this article in any emergency situation, if the director deems such action necessary. In such case the director may issue an emergency permit which would be effective for not more than thirty days, but which would be subject to reinsurance by the director.
(h) The director shall deny the issuance of a permit if the director determines that the applicant has committed a substantial violation of a previously issued permit, including the erosion and sediment control plan, or a substantial violation of one or more of the rules promulgated hereunder, and whether or not a finding or order has been made pursuant to sections three and four of this article, or if a finding or order has been made pursuant to sections three and four of this article, the applicant has failed to abate or seek review of the violation within the time prescribed by the director pursuant to the provisions of sections three and four of this article and the rules promulgated hereunder, which time may not be unreasonable: Provided, That in the event that the director does find that a substantial violation has occurred and that the operator has failed to abate or seek review of the violation in the time prescribed, the director may suspend the permit on which said violation exists, after which suspension the operator shall forthwith cease all well work being conducted under the permit: Provided, however, That the director may reinstate the permit without further notice, at which time the well work may be continued. The director shall make written findings of any such determination and may enforce the same in the circuit courts of this state and the operator may appeal such suspension pursuant to the provisions of section forty of this article. The director shall make a written finding of any such determination.
(i) Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not more than twelve months, or both fined and imprisoned.
§22-6-9. Notice to property owners.
(a) No later than the filing date of the application, the applicant for a permit for any well work shall deliver by personal service or by certified mail, return receipt requested, copies of the application, well plat and erosion and sediment control plan required by section six of this article to each of the following persons:
(1) The owners of record of the surface of the tract on which the well is, or is to be located; and
(2) The owners of record of the surface tract or tracts overlying the oil and gas leasehold being developed by the proposed well work, if such surface tract is to be utilized for roads, pipelines or other land disturbance as described in the erosion and sediment control plan submitted pursuant to section six of this article.
(b) If more than three tenants in common or other coowners of interests described in subsection (a) of this section hold interests in such lands, the applicant may serve the documents required upon the person described in the records of the sheriff required to be maintained pursuant to section eight, article one, chapter eleven-a of this code or plus any other owner who has requested a copy in a record and any owner occupying the land: Provided, That the operator must check the grantor records of deeds from the date from which the sheriff's records were taken to the present, and if there is a new owner or owners, then service must be made on those new owners. If there is no owner occupying the surface and neither a current location for personal service nor a mailing address for registered or certified mail notice of the person described in the tax records can be obtained after reasonable diligence and, no other owner has requested a copy, the applicant may instead publish in the county in which the well is located or to be located a Class II legal advertisement as described in section two, article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, containing such notice and information as the director shall prescribe by rule, with the first publication date being at least ten days prior to the filing of the permit application: Provided, That all owners occupying the tracts where the well work is, or is proposed to be located at the filing date of the permit application shall receive actual service of the documents required by subsection (a) of this section.
(c) Materials served upon persons described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall contain a statement of the methods and time limits for filing comments, who may file comments and the name and address of the director for the purpose of filing comments and obtaining additional information and a statement that such persons may request, at the time of submitting comments, notice of the permit decision and materials served shall also include a list of persons qualified to test water as provided in this section. Materials served shall also include a notice that the surface owner may be entitled to compensation pursuant to the West Virginia Oil and Gas Production Compensation Act.
(d) Any person entitled to submit comments shall also be entitled to receive a copy of the permit as issued or a copy of the order denying the permit if such person requests the receipt thereof as a part of the comments concerning said permit application.
(e) Persons entitled to notice may contact the district office of the division to ascertain the names and location of water testing laboratories in the area capable and qualified to test water supplies in accordance with standard accepted methods. In compiling such list of names the division shall consult with the state bureau of public health and local health departments.

ARTICLE 7. OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION DAMAGE COMPENSATION.

§22-7-3. Compensation of surface owners for drilling operations.



(a) The oil and gas developer shall be obligated to pay the surface owner compensation for:
(1) Lost income or expenses incurred as a result of being unable to dedicate land actually occupied by the driller's operation or to which access is prevented by such drilling operation to the uses to which it was dedicated prior to commencement of the activity for which a permit was obtained measured from the date the operator enters upon the land until the date reclamation is completed;
(2) The market value of crops destroyed, damaged or prevented from reaching market;
(3) Any damage to a water supply in use prior to the commencement of the permitted activity;
(4) The cost of repair of personal property up to the value of replacement by personal property of like age, wear and quality; and
(5) The diminution in value, if any, of the surface lands and other property after completion of the surface disturbance done pursuant to the activity for which the permit was issued determined according to the actual use made market value thereof by the surface owner immediately prior to the commencement of the permitted activity, including the surface lands actually disturbed, and any adjacent surface lands the market value of which is diminished by the presence of the well and the surface disturbance and other appurtenances.
The amount of damages may be determined by any formula mutually agreeable between the surface owner and the oil and gas developer.
(b) Any reservation or assignment of the compensation provided in this section apart from the surface estate except to a tenant of the surface estate is prohibited.
(c) In the case of surface lands owned by more than one person as tenants in common, joint tenants or other coownership, any claim for compensation under this article shall be for the benefit of all such coowners. The resolution of a claim for compensation provided in this article shall operate as a bar to the assertion of additional claims under this section arising out of the same drilling operations.

§22-7-5. Notification of claim.



Any surface owner, to receive compensation under section three of this article, shall notify the oil and gas developer of the damages sustained by the person within at any time after ninety days after the drilling rig is removed from the site, but no later than two years after the date that the oil and gas developer files notice that reclamation is commencing under section thirty, article six of this chapter. Such notice shall be given to surface owners, by delivering it in person, by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, and shall be complete upon mailing. If more than three tenants in common or other coowners hold interests in such lands, the developer may give such notice to the person described in the records of the sheriff required to be maintained pursuant to section eight, article one, chapter eleven-a of this code, or and to any other owner requesting a copy or if neither a current location for personal service nor a mailing address for registered or certified mail notice can be obtained after reasonable diligence, and no other owner has requested a copy publish in the county in which the well is located or to be located a Class II legal advertisement as described in section two, article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, containing such notice and information as the director shall prescribe by rule.

§22-7-7. Rejection; legal action; arbitration; fees and costs.



(a) Unless the oil and gas developer has paid the surface owner a negotiated settlement of compensation within sixty days after the date the notification of claim was mailed under section five of this article, the surface owner may within eighty days after the notification mail date, either: (i) Bring an action for compensation pursuant to this article in the circuit court of the county in which the well is located within the statute of limitations for a common law damages action; or (ii) within one hundred twenty days after the notification mail date, elect instead, by written notice delivered by personal service or by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the designated agent named by the oil and gas developer under the provisions of section six, article six of this chapter, to have his or her compensation finally determined by binding arbitration pursuant to article ten, chapter fifty-five of this code. A surface owner may not proceed in circuit court after receiving an arbitration award pursuant to this article.
Settlement negotiations, offers and counter-offers between the surface owner and the oil and gas developer shall not be admissible as evidence in any arbitration or judicial proceeding authorized under this article, or in any proceeding resulting from the assertion of common law remedies.
(b) The compensation to be awarded to the surface owner shall be determined by a panel of three disinterested arbitrators. The first arbitrator shall be chosen by the surface owner in such party's notice of election under this section to the oil and gas developer; the second arbitrator shall be chosen by the oil and gas developer within ten days after receipt of the notice of election; and the third arbitrator shall be chosen jointly by the first two arbitrators within twenty days thereafter. If they are unable to agree upon the third arbitrator within twenty days, then the two arbitrators are hereby empowered to and shall forthwith submit the matter to the court under the provisions of section one, article ten, chapter fifty-five of this code, so that, among other things, the third arbitrator can be chosen by the judge of the circuit court of the county wherein the surface estate lies.
(c) The following persons shall be deemed interested and not be appointed as arbitrators: Any person who is personally interested in the land on which rotary drilling is being performed or has been performed, or in any interest or right therein, or in the compensation and any damages to be awarded therefor, or who is related by blood or marriage to any person having such personal interest, or who stands in the relation of guardian and ward, master and servant, principal and agent, or partner, real estate broker, or surety to any person having such personal interest, or who has enmity against or bias in favor of any person who has such personal interest or who is the owner of, or interested in, such land or the oil and gas development thereof. No person shall be deemed interested or incompetent to act as arbitrator by reason of being an inhabitant of the county, district or municipal corporation wherein the land is located, or holding an interest in any other land therein.
(d) The panel of arbitrators shall hold hearings and take such testimony and receive such exhibits as shall be necessary to determine the amount of compensation to be paid to the surface owner. However, no award of compensation shall be made to the surface owner unless the panel of arbitrators has first viewed the surface estate in question. A transcript of the evidence may be made but shall not be required.
(e) Each party shall pay the compensation of such party's arbitrator and one half of the compensation of the third arbitrator, or such party's own court costs as the case may be.

§22-7-9. Effective date of amendments.



The amendments to this article made by the regular session of the 2008 Legislature take effect for all well work for which a notice that the operator is commencing reclamation pursuant to section five of this article.



 NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand rights for owners of the surface property where oil and gas wells are drilled.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.