Page 150 - MFB State Annual Meeting 2018 -- RESOLUTIONS BOOK

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NRCS programs at industry meetings of farmers and woodland owners across the state.
Creation of county farmer oversight committees for local NRCS offices.
Increasing farmer representation on the State Technical Committee.
#85 OIL, GAS, AND MINERAL RIGHTS
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We support the extraction of oil, gas, potash and other minerals from both state-owned and private property in Michigan. We encourage the Weights and Measures Division of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) to study the feasibility of regulating the oil, gas and mineral industries as to the accuracy of the volume of oil, gas and minerals being extracted from private property. MDARD needs to become involved in the certification of all metering and measuring.
Oil, gas and mineral rights without activity revert to the owner of the property unless they are reregistered every 20 years by the owner of the specific petroleum rights at the register of deeds office. We believe this law should be changed to every 10 years and the property owner be notified, and not object, at the time of re- registration.
We oppose attempts to ban exploration for oil, gas and mineral deposits. We support legislation requiring the lessee of oil, gas and mineral rights (prior to beginning any operations on leased land) to notify the landowner and royalty owner by certified mail of their intent to explore for, or develop, oil, gas and minerals and that such proof be submitted prior to granting any permit. We further support legislation to prevent surface waste by requiring an escrow account or bond be filed before commencing operations (the approval of such shall provide an administrative appeal by the landowner who may file an objection within 10 days of the proposed release). The escrow account or bond should be reviewed annually and adjusted accordingly, with a post closure monitoring period of 40 years.
We support the continued use of hydraulic fracturing with the appropriate scientifically verified environmental safeguards.
We recommend an agricultural environmental and economic impact statement be required before the supervisor of wells issues a permit.
When an injection well damages the value of the oil, gas and mineral rights of adjacent landowners, the affected landowners should be compensated for these losses.
State Policies – Page
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