Montana Code 82-10-501. Purpose — legislative findings
82-10-501. Purpose — legislative findings. (1) The purpose of this part is to provide for the protection of surface owners of land underlaid with oil and gas reserves while allowing for the necessary development of those reserves.
Terms Used In Montana Code 82-10-501
- Agricultural production: means the production of any growing grass, crops, or trees attached to the surface of the land or farm animals with commercial value. See Montana Code 82-10-502
- 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
- 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
(2)To carry out the purpose described in subsection (1), the legislature finds that:
(a)it is necessary to protect the economic well-being of individuals engaged in agricultural production;
(b)exploration for and development of oil and gas reserves in this state, while necessary, interferes with the use, agricultural or otherwise, of the surface of certain land; and
(c)owners of the surface estate should be justly compensated for use of their property and interference with the use of their property due to oil and gas development.