30 U.S.C. § 4b — Cooperation with individuals, municipalities, etc.; contracts with owners; agreements as to prices

submitted 100 years ago by ch. 674 to r/title-30-MINERAL-LANDS-AND-MINING · 380 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

The Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce can jointly team up with private parties, states, and institutions to explore for potash minerals and oil. Before drilling on privately owned mineral land, they must sign a contract that pays the owner or lessee a royalty of at least 2.5% once minerals are found and sold, until the government's exploration costs are covered, and federal reimbursement claims expire after 20 years.

The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce, acting together, are authorized, at their discretion, to cooperate under a formal agreement with individuals, associations, corporations, states, municipalities, educational institutions, or other bodies, to carry out this section's purposes. Before starting any drilling on land where the United States does not own the mineral rights, the two Secretaries jointly must first sign a contract with the owners or lessees, or both, of those mineral rights. That contract must say that if potash minerals or oil are discovered through the work, and later mined and sold, the owners or lessees must pay the government and its cooperating partners a royalty of at least 2.5% of the sale value of that potash or oil. Those royalty payments continue until they add up to no more than the cost of the exploration, as the two Secretaries jointly determine. Any federal claim for reimbursement under this section automatically expires twenty years after the contract was approved, unless the owners or lessees and the two Secretaries jointly agree to end it sooner. The contract cannot restrict the two Secretaries in choosing where to drill on the property or how to run the exploration, as long as that choice or conduct does not unreasonably interfere with the land's surface or its improvements. The contract must also state that the United States will not be liable for damages from this reasonable use of the surface, as long as it is necessary for the work.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly are hereby authorized, within their discretion, to cooperate under formal agreement with individuals, associations, corporations, States, and municipalities, educational institutions, or other bodies, for the purposes of this section: Provided, That before undertaking drilling operations upon any tract or tracts of land, the mineral deposits of which are not the property of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly shall enter into a contract or contracts with the owners or lessees, or both, of the mineral rights therein, and the aforesaid contract or contracts shall provide, among other things, that, if deposits of potash minerals or oil shall be discovered in pursuance of operations under said contract or contracts and if and when said mineral deposits shall be mined and sold, the owners or lessees, or both, of said mineral rights shall pay to the Government and its cooperators a royalty of not less than 2½ per centum of the sale value of any potash minerals and oil therefrom, said payments to continue until such time as the total amount derived from said royalty is equal to not more than the cost of the exploration, as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly: Provided further, That all Federal claims for reimbursement under this section shall automatically expire twenty years from the date of approval of the contracts entered into, in accordance with the provisions thereof, unless sooner terminated by agreement between the owners or lessees of the potash mineral rights and oil and the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly: Provided further, That said contract or contracts shall not restrict the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce jointly in the choice of drilling locations within the property or in the conduct of the exploratory operations, so long as such selection or conduct do not interfere unreasonably with the surface of the land or with the improvements thereof, and said contract or contracts shall provide that the United States shall not be liable for damages on account of such reasonable use of the surface as may be necessary in the proper conduct of the work.

Source credit: (June 25, 1926, ch. 674, § 2, 44 Stat. 768; Mar. 3, 1927, ch. 356, 44 Stat. 1388.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1926Enacted · Act of June 25, 1926, ch. 674 · 44 Stat. 768
1927Amended · Act of Mar. 3, 1927, ch. 356 · 44 Stat. 1388

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 674 on 1926-06-25.

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