Montana Code 82-11-180. Preservation of property rights
82-11-180. Preservation of property rights. (1) Title 82, chapter 11, parts 1 and 2, and the issuance of a permit for a carbon dioxide injection well pursuant to Title 82, chapter 11, parts 1 and 2, do not:
Terms Used In Montana Code 82-11-180
- Board: means the board of oil and gas conservation provided for in 2-15-3303. See Montana Code 82-11-101
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- Enhanced recovery: means the increased recovery from a pool achieved by artificial means or by the application of energy extrinsic to the pool; such artificial means or application includes pressuring, cycling, pressure maintenance, or injection into the pool of any substance or form of energy as is contemplated in secondary recovery and tertiary programs but does not include the injection in a well of a substance or form of energy for the sole purpose of aiding in the lifting of fluids in the well or stimulating of the reservoir at or near the well by mechanical, chemical, thermal, or explosive means. See Montana Code 82-11-101
- Gas: means all natural gases and all other fluid hydrocarbons, including methane gas or any other natural gas found in any coal formation, as produced at the wellhead and not defined as oil in subsection (3). See Montana Code 82-1-111
- Oil: means crude petroleum oil and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the wellhead in liquid form by ordinary production methods and that are not the result of condensation of gas before or after it leaves the reservoir. See Montana Code 82-1-111
- Owner: means the person who has the right to drill into and produce from a pool and to appropriate the oil or gas the person produces from a pool either for the person or others or for the person and others, and the term includes all persons holding that authority by or through the person with the right to drill. See Montana Code 82-11-101
- Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(a)prejudice the rights of property owners within a geologic storage reservoir to exercise rights that have not been committed to a storage reservoir; or
(b)prevent a mineral owner or mineral lessee from drilling through or near a storage reservoir to explore for and develop minerals, provided that the drilling, production, and related activities comply with board requirements that preserve the storage reservoir’s integrity and implement Title 82, chapter 11, parts 1 and 2.
(2)Title 82, chapter 11, parts 1 and 2, may not be construed to:
(a)change or alter common law in accordance with 1-1-108 as it relates to the rights belonging to or the dominance of the mineral estate, including but not limited to the right to mine, drill, or recomplete a well, to inject substances to facilitate production, or to implement enhanced recovery for the purposes of recovery of oil, gas, or other minerals;
(b)impede or impair the ability of an oil and gas operator to inject carbon dioxide for enhanced recovery or to establish, verify, register, and sell emission reduction credits or attributes associated with the project;
(c)change or alter common law or statutory provisions regarding the ownership of surface or subsurface rights;
(d)diminish, impair, or in any way affect the rights of a natural gas public utility, as defined in 82-10-301, to own, operate, or control a gas storage reservoir in use prior to May 6, 2009; or
(e)apply within the exterior boundaries of any federally recognized Indian reservation within the state of Montana unless the governing body of the tribe adopts a carbon sequestration law and enters into a cooperative agreement with the state.
(3)If the ownership of the geologic storage reservoir cannot be determined from the deeds or severance documents related to the property by reviewing statutory or common law, it is presumed that the surface owner owns the geologic storage reservoir.