(1)

lawyer at desk

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

Terms Used In Utah Code 65A-17-303

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Common source of supply: means the mineral or element estate contained within the Great Salt Lake meander line. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Division: means the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands. See Utah Code 65A-1-1
  • Emergency trigger: means the salinity levels of the Gilbert Bay of the Great Salt Lake do not satisfy the ecological conditions required for healthy brine shrimp and brine fly reproduction. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Great Salt Lake meander line: means the official meander line, completed in 1966, of the Great Salt Lake unless otherwise established by court order or negotiated boundary settlement. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Mineral or element: means :
         (10)(a) a rare earth element;
         (10)(b) a trace element or mineral;
         (10)(c) a chemical compound that includes a rare earth element or trace element or mineral; or
         (10)(d) a mineral or element that is attached, embedded to, or is a by-product of another mineral or element. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
  • Mitigation plan: means an agreement entered into on or after May 1, 2024, among the operators and the division for resolving issues arising from concurrent operations. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
  • Multiple mineral development area: means an area involving the management of various surface and sub-surface resources so that they are used in the combination that will best meet present and future needs. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Operator: means a person qualified to do business in the state pursuing the extraction of minerals or elements from the Great Salt Lake. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
  • Person: means :
         (24)(a) an individual;
         (24)(b) an association;
         (24)(c) an institution;
         (24)(d) a corporation;
         (24)(e) a company;
         (24)(f) a trust;
         (24)(g) a limited liability company;
         (24)(h) a partnership;
         (24)(i) a political subdivision;
         (24)(j) a government office, department, division, bureau, or other body of government; and
         (24)(k) any other organization or entity. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Public trust assets: means the same as that term is defined in Section 65A-1-1. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • waste: means :
              (18)(a)(i) the failure of an operation to provide the state with a full and fair return on each separately identified mineral or element;
              (18)(a)(ii) an unnecessary depletion, diminishment, or reduction of the quantity or quality of a mineral or element; or
              (18)(a)(iii) imprudent and uneconomical operations. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
     (1)(a) The division shall manage the Great Salt Lake below the Great Salt Lake meander line as a multiple mineral development area to:

          (1)(a)(i) prevent waste;
          (1)(a)(ii) ensure the greatest ultimate recovery of minerals or elements;
          (1)(a)(iii) protect correlative rights of owners having rights to a common source of supply and the division’s duty to manage public trust assets; and
          (1)(a)(iv) encourage new and emergent technologies to protect the Great Salt Lake’s overall ecological integrity while ensuring the greatest possible recovery for operators and the state.
     (1)(b) The division may make rules, in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Administrative Rulemaking Act, to implement Subsection (1)(a) and any related defined terms in Section 65A-17-101.
     (1)(c) An operator shall conduct operations to comply with the rules made under Subsection (1)(b) and other rules made in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act:

          (1)(c)(i) governing individual operations; and
          (1)(c)(ii) made for the multiple mineral development area.
(2)

     (2)(a) As a condition of the division issuing a lease or royalty agreement on or after May 1, 2024, and of continued operations, the division shall require an operator to enter into and maintain a cooperative agreement with the persons with correlative rights in a common source of supply for a mineral or element in the Great Salt Lake.
     (2)(b) After submitting an application with the division to obtain a lease or royalty agreement, a person shall:

          (2)(b)(i) obtain a list from the division of all operators existing at the time of application; and
          (2)(b)(ii) notify each operator on the list of the person’s intention to enter into a cooperative agreement.
     (2)(c) A cooperative agreement shall meet the requirements of Subsection 65A-17-304(1), shall provide that the rights and obligations contained in the cooperative agreement are subject to the division’s duty to manage public trust assets, and shall address:

          (2)(c)(i) how the operators may conduct concurrent or simultaneous operations without unreasonably interfering with existing and separate operations while also preventing undue waste;
          (2)(c)(ii) recognition of other operator’s vested mineral or element interests so that operations may be conducted in a manner that will result in the maximum recovery of minerals or elements with the minimum adverse effect on the ultimate maximum recovery of other minerals or elements;
          (2)(c)(iii) terms and conditions for establishing a mitigation plan for when one operator, either intentionally or unintentionally, interferes with or damages the mineral or element rights or mineral or element interests of another operator;
          (2)(c)(iv) terms and conditions for establishing a mitigation plan with the division that would limit unreasonable mineral estate interference, waste, or negative impacts to natural resources of the Great Salt Lake;
          (2)(c)(v) the protection of natural resources of the Great Salt Lake without unnecessary cost to the operations of another operator, unless there is compensation for increased operational costs;
          (2)(c)(vi) the coordination and locations of access to operations;
          (2)(c)(vii) any assessment of costs resulting from concurrent operations within the Great Salt Lake;
          (2)(c)(viii) the mitigation of surface impacts, including:

               (2)(c)(viii)(A) the location of a mineral or element extraction intake or discharge facility;
               (2)(c)(viii)(B) phased or coordinated surface occupancy to each operator to access and develop the operator’s respective mineral or element estate or mineral or element interest with the least disruption of operations and damage to Great Salt Lake elements or minerals, as defined in Section 65A-6-4, or natural resources directly, indirectly, or through waste; and
               (2)(c)(viii)(C) limitations of mineral or element operations in areas where impacts to correlative rights or to natural resources of the Great Salt Lake are significant or most acute, as determined by the operators or the division;
          (2)(c)(ix) the scope and extent of how geological, engineering, product, and water use data is disclosed or exchanged;
          (2)(c)(x) how any joint reclamation obligation or plan is to be achieved or coordinated;
          (2)(c)(xi) how bonding will be obtained and coordinated on any lands impacted, disturbed, or developed in relation to mineral or element extraction and processing activities;
          (2)(c)(xii) terms and conditions indemnifying the state, the division, and any of the state’s or division’s directors, officers, agents, or employees from any and all damage or liability of any kind resulting from any stage or mineral or element extraction operations or any stage of mineral or element processing;
          (2)(c)(xiii) terms and conditions for the full compliance with a royalty rate reduction to which an operator is entitled;
          (2)(c)(xiv) a schedule of how the operators plan to collectively curtail production if the emergency trigger is reached and a curtailment of production is required; and
          (2)(c)(xv) any other term or condition outlining cooperative efforts consistent with the multiple mineral development area and plans or rules of the division, made in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
     (2)(d) The parties to a cooperative agreement described in Subsection (2)(a) shall present the cooperative agreement to the division and the director may approve the agreement if the cooperative agreement:

          (2)(d)(i) is in the public interest;
          (2)(d)(ii) prevents waste of minerals or elements;
          (2)(d)(iii) protects the correlative rights of each owner; and
          (2)(d)(iv) meets the requirements of Subsection 65A-17-304(1).
     (2)(e) On the director’s approval of the cooperative agreement, the division becomes a signator to the cooperative agreement.
     (2)(f) A cooperative agreement described in this Subsection (2) may not be held or construed to violate a statute relating to trusts, monopolies, or contracts and combinations in restraint of trade, if the agreement is approved by the director.
     (2)(g) The failure to submit an agreement to the division for approval may not for that reason imply or constitute evidence that the agreement or operations conducted pursuant to the agreement are in violation of laws relating to trusts, monopolies, or restraint of trade.
     (2)(h)

          (2)(h)(i) An operator may not unreasonably delay, condition, or decline to enter into a cooperative agreement.
          (2)(h)(ii) A negotiation period of 60 days from the date notice is given under Subsection (2)(b)(ii) is presumed to be reasonable.
     (2)(i) A mitigation plan with the division shall be implemented in conjunction with the Division of Water Rights.
(3) The division may at any time determine that certain areas within the multiple mineral development area are withdrawn from mineral development or incapable of mineral development.

  Previous section
Next section  
 Part 3 Contents