I've been kicking something around and thought I would put it out for the rest of you to kick around. We've been talking about many of the problems with O & G production and leasing and obviously some changes in the law should be made. So short of the government taking over the O & G business which none of us (or at least most of us) do not want, what are some good, common sense changes that would help the situation? I have two:

1. Oil and Gas leases should "sunset" every 20 years and have to be renegotiated by the company, regardless of production.
The reasoning behind this is that people should not be bound by something that was created 30, 40, 50 years ago or longer. My family has mineral interests in Panola County that has been HBP since 1946 by a lease my great-grandparents made with Skelly Oil Company. Think about all that has changed since 1946, but that lease is still there, still in place. Leases should be up-dated periodically to reflect the changes that take place both in the industry and in the surface area.

2. No more than 75% of mineral rights may be reserved if land is sold. 25% of the mineral interest remains attached to the land--always, no exceptions. Of the 75% that is reserved, it can only be reserved for 100 years, regardless of production. After 100 years the minerals revert back to the surface owner.
After that long a period of time and that many generations, the mineral rights are scattered over hundreds of heirs, and unless it is a very large tract each one owns a very small, insignificant amount and in many cases they don't even know they own them.

These are just two ideas. What do you think? Would this help or hurt? Do they needed tweaking a bit? Anyone other changes you can think of?