[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5759 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5759

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to require an operator to compensate a 
surface owner for damages resulting from the oil and gas operations of 
            the operator on land affected by the operations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 15, 2010

 Mr. Heinrich introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to require an operator to compensate a 
surface owner for damages resulting from the oil and gas operations of 
            the operator on land affected by the operations.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Rural Landscapes Act of 
2010''.

SEC. 2. SPLIT ESTATE.

    (a) In General.--Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 
226) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(q) Split Estates.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Covered land.--The term `covered land' means 
                land with respect to which--
                            ``(i) title to oil and gas resources is 
                        held by the United States; but
                            ``(ii) title to the surface estate is not 
                        held by the United States.
                    ``(B) Lease.--The term `lease' means a lease issued 
                by the Secretary under this Act that provides for the 
                development of oil and gas resources (including coalbed 
                methane) on covered land.
                    ``(C) Lessee.--The term `lessee' means the holder 
                of a lease for the development of oil and gas resources 
                on covered land.
                    ``(D) Oil and gas operations.--The term `oil and 
                gas operations' means all activities affecting the 
                interest of a surface owner in covered land that are 
                associated with exploration, drilling, or production of 
                oil and gas, through final reclamation of the affected 
                surface.
                    ``(E) Operator.--The term `operator' means a person 
                with the legal right to conduct oil and gas operations 
                on covered land.
                    ``(F) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the 
                Secretary of the Interior.
                    ``(G) Surface owner.--The term `surface owner' 
                means a person who holds legal or equitable title, as 
                demonstrated in the records of the applicable county 
                clerk or other local government official, to the 
                surface of the covered land on which the operator has 
                the right to conduct oil and gas operations.
            ``(2) Compensation and reclamation.--
                    ``(A) In general.--An operator shall compensate the 
                surface owner for damages resulting from the oil and 
                gas operations of the operator on land affected by the 
                operations from--
                            ``(i) loss of agricultural production and 
                        income;
                            ``(ii) lost land value;
                            ``(iii) lost use of and lost access to the 
                        land of the surface owner; and
                            ``(iv) the lost value of improvements.
                    ``(B) Reclamation.--An operator shall reclaim the 
                surface affected by the oil and gas operations of the 
                operator.
            ``(3) Notice of operations.--
                    ``(A) Prior to initial entry.--Prior to initial 
                entry for activities that do not disturb the surface, 
                the operator shall provide at least five days notice by 
                certified mail or hand delivery to the surface owner.
                    ``(B) Operations.--Prior to commencing oil and gas 
                operations, the operator shall provide not less than 30 
                days notice by certified mail or hand delivery to the 
                surface owner with sufficient disclosure of the planned 
                operations to enable the surface owner to evaluate the 
                effect of the operations.
                    ``(C) Place of notice delivery.--The notices 
                required by this section shall be given to the surface 
                owner at the address shown by the records of the county 
                clerk at the time the notice is given.
                    ``(D) Notice deemed received.--Notices required by 
                this section shall be deemed to have been received five 
                days after mailing by certified mail or immediately 
                upon hand delivery.
            ``(4) Surface use agreement.--
                    ``(A) Surface use agreement.--At the time of 
                providing notice of operations under paragraph (3)(B), 
                the operator shall provide to the surface owner a 
                proposed surface use agreement that--
                            ``(i) to the extent known, specifies 
                        sufficient disclosure of the planned oil and 
                        gas operations to enable the surface owner to 
                        evaluate the effect of the operations on the 
                        property, including--
                                    ``(I) placement, specifications, 
                                maintenance and design of facilities, 
                                equipment and roads;
                                    ``(II) terms of ingress and egress;
                                    ``(III) water protection (quality 
                                and quantity);
                                    ``(IV) proposed reclamation; and
                                    ``(V) actions to minimize surface 
                                damages to the land including runoff 
                                and erosion; and
                            ``(ii) includes an offer of compensation 
                        for damages to the surface affected by oil and 
                        gas operations.
                    ``(B) Procedure.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Not later than 30 days 
                        after the date of receipt of the proposed 
                        surface use agreement, the surface owner may 
                        accept or reject the agreement.
                            ``(ii) Failure to accept.--Failure to 
                        accept the agreement during the 30-day period 
                        described in clause (i) may be considered a 
                        rejection of the agreement.
                    ``(C) Negotiations.--The surface owner and operator 
                may enter into negotiations regarding the surface use 
                agreement.
                    ``(D) Agreement.--The operator and the surface 
                owner may enter into a mutually acceptable agreement 
                that specifies the rights and obligations of the 
                parties with respect to the surface activities 
                conducted by the operator.
            ``(5) Entry without agreement; bond.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In lieu of executing a surface 
                use agreement under paragraph (4)(A), the operator may 
                enter the property of the surface owner and conduct oil 
                and gas operations as provided in this section.
                    ``(B) Financial assurance.--The operator shall 
                provide an appropriate financial assurance for the 
                benefit of the surface owner, as determined by the 
                Secretary, prior to commencing operations under this 
                paragraph.
                    ``(C) Release of financial assurance.--The 
                Secretary shall provide for the appropriate release of 
                the financial assurance on a determination that--
                            ``(i) the reclamation is complete; and
                            ``(ii) the surface owner has been 
                        compensated for any damages.
            ``(6) Notice of secretarial action with respect to federal 
        leases.--The Secretary shall make reasonable efforts to provide 
        to each surface owner of affected covered land, and to each 
        permittee or right-of-way holder with the right to use the 
        surface of affected Federal land, written notice of--
                    ``(A) any lease sale for an oil or gas lease under 
                this Act by not later than 30 days before the date of 
                the lease sale; and
                    ``(B) the issuance of a drilling permit by not 
                later than 5 days before the date of issuance.
            ``(7) Relationship to state law.--Nothing in this 
        subsection preempts any applicable State law.''.
    (b) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall promulgate 
such regulations as are necessary to carry out the amendment made by 
subsection (a).
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