Surface Damages Act
This post will cover Oklahoma’s Surface Damages Act. Read on to learn more about this act can protect your surface rights!
We previously discussed in this post HERE how the mineral estate and the surface estate are two separate interests, which can even be severed from one another. This means that one person or entity can own the surface rights, while another party can simultaneously own the underlying mineral rights. In Oklahoma, the mineral estate is “dominate” to the surface estate when it comes to the extraction on minerals. The surface estate is said to be “servient” to the mineral estate so as not to impede on such mineral extraction. If the surface estate was dominate, then the ownership of minerals could be rendered meaningless if the mineral owner is unable to access and extract the minerals for production.
But what if you own surface rights and the surface of your land becomes damaged from these drilling operations? Oklahoma has enacted the Surface Damages Act to help compensate surface owners for such damages. Prior to the passing of this act in 1982, Operators could make use of the surface for their drilling operations without having to pay damages, so long as their use of the land was reasonable. Now, Operators are required to notify the surface owner of their intent to drill on the land, provided their anticipated location and commencement date. The Operator and surface owner will then engage in good-faith negotiations to agree upon an amount for surface damages. Once the agreed-upon damages are paid to the surface owner, the Operator can commence drilling operations.
If a damages amount cannot be agreed upon, the Operator will ask the court to appoint designated appraisers. If this happens, the Operator can commence drilling operations before the surface owner is paid damages, since this amount will now be determined by the appraisers. Once the appraisers inspect the land and determine the damage amount, they will submit a report before the court outlining their findings. Once the surface owner accepts the suggested payment, it is paid by the Operator. The surface owner also has the option to challenge the suggested payment, at which point further court proceedings will commence.