By Uher H.C.R. No. 242 77R9537 MDR-D HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-1 WHEREAS, Gulf Marine Institute of Technology alleges that: 1-2 (1) on August 27, 1986, the General Land Office 1-3 executed a surface and subsurface lease agreement with Seagull 1-4 Energy E & P, Inc., for the purpose of oil and gas production; 1-5 (2) Gulf Marine Institute of Technology negotiated 1-6 with Seagull Energy E & P, Inc., to transfer Seagull's inactive oil 1-7 and gas lease and platform to Gulf Marine Institute of Technology 1-8 for mariculture purposes; 1-9 (3) in its formal surface lease application dated July 1-10 23, 1998, Gulf Marine Institute of Technology fully disclosed to 1-11 the General Land Office its intended use of the platform for 1-12 mariculture research and development; 1-13 (4) as a condition of the lease assignment, the 1-14 General Land Office required Gulf Marine Institute of Technology to 1-15 post a $2.6 million performance bond to ensure that it would 1-16 dismantle and remove the mariculture platform complex upon 1-17 completion of the project; 1-18 (5) Gulf Marine Institute complied with the request to 1-19 provide a performance bond; 1-20 (6) on September 19, 1998, the General Land Office 1-21 approved and accepted the performance bond, and the assignment of 1-22 the lease from Seagull Energy E & P, Inc., to Gulf Marine Institute 1-23 of Technology became effective; 1-24 (7) Seagull Energy E & P, Inc., was required to plug, 2-1 abandon, and remove all production equipment from the platform; 2-2 (8) on May 12, 1999, the General Land Office notified 2-3 Gulf Marine Institute of Technology that it no longer had the right 2-4 to use the platform and was given the final deadline of May 26, 2-5 2000, to dismantle the platform; 2-6 (9) by approving the assignment of the lease to Gulf 2-7 Marine Institute of Technology, the General Land Office entered 2-8 into a contractual relationship with Gulf Marine Institute of 2-9 Technology with the understanding that the platform would be used 2-10 for mariculture research and development purposes; and 2-11 (10) the General Land Office has breached its 2-12 contractual agreement with Gulf Marine Institute of Technology by 2-13 suddenly claiming that the lease is terminated because the oil and 2-14 gas wells were plugged and abandoned and by requiring the platform 2-15 to be removed; now, therefore, be it 2-16 RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That Gulf 2-17 Marine Institute of Technology be granted permission to sue the 2-18 State of Texas and General Land Office subject to Chapter 107, 2-19 Civil Practice and Remedies Code; and, be it further 2-20 RESOLVED, That the commissioner of the General Land Office be 2-21 served process as provided by Section 107.002(a)(3), Civil Practice 2-22 and Remedies Code.