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landownerPermalink Reply by intrepid on March 10, 2013 at 7:31

The Forced Unitization Bill, HB 100, has been set for a hearing at the House Energy Resources Committee this Wednesday, March 13.  This is an extraordinarily bad bill for landowners and mineral interest owners.  It is now time to let committee members know this legislation will take away our property rights and that they should vote NO on the HB 100.   The bill would take away landowner rights when negotiating oil and gas leases in several different ways; the main talking points and email addresses for committee members are below:

FIVE REASONS THAT HB 100 IS BAD FOR LAND AND MINERAL OWNERS:

1.      It only requires 70% approval of the total working interest, not working interest owners, which can eliminate any leverage small landowners may have to protect their interests.  Meaning if 1 person owns large acreage that makes up 70% of the land in the unit, he can agree to pool even though 30 guys who own small lots don't want to.

2.      It allows the Commission to issue a forced pooling order before the operator has ever asked the royalty interest owners for approval.

3.      It leaves no real choice.  If an owner makes the decision to not ratify the forced pooling order, the operator can withhold from the owner’s proceeds up to three times what the owner would have paid if he had ratified.

4.      It gives wide discretion in how proceeds are distributed between landowners, allowing the use of any factors “as are reasonably susceptible of determination” when deciding what a tract’s fair share of the proceeds should be.

5.      The current system of leasing oil and gas mineral interests has withstood the test of time for over 100 years.  Things are working in Texas.   Those who want this bill want to change the law so they can make more money and sacrifice private property rights at the same time.

landownerPermalink Reply by intrepid on March 10, 2013 at 9:11

This is a bad bill for land and mineral owners, especially small tract owners.

Protect your mineral rights. There IS something you can do. Take action NOW!