By:  Armbrister                                                   S.B. No. 575


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to notice to a surface owner by an oil or gas well operator 
of certain oil and gas operations.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Chapter 91, Natural Resources Code, is amended 
by adding Subchapter P to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER P.  NOTICE OF OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS
	Sec. 91.701.  DEFINITION.  In this subchapter, "surface 
owner" means the first person who is shown on the appraisal roll of 
the appraisal district established for the county in which a tract 
of land is located as owning an interest in the surface estate of 
the land at the time notice is required to be given under this 
subchapter.
	Sec. 91.702.  APPLICABILITY.  This subchapter applies only 
to the drilling of a new oil or gas well or the reentry of a plugged 
and abandoned oil or gas well.  This subchapter does not apply to:
		(1)  the plugging back, reworking, sidetracking, or 
deepening of an existing oil or gas well that has not been plugged 
and abandoned; or
		(2)  the use of an existing oil or gas well bore that 
has not been plugged and abandoned to drill a horizontal oil or gas 
well.
	Sec. 91.703.  NOTICE REQUIRED.  (a)  Not later than the 
third day after the date the commission issues an oil or gas well 
operator a permit to drill a new oil or gas well or to reenter a 
plugged and abandoned oil or gas well, the operator shall give 
written notice of the operator's intention to drill or reenter the 
well to the surface owner of the tract of land on which the well is 
located or is proposed to be located.
	(b)  An oil or gas well operator is not required to give 
notice under this subchapter to a surface owner if:
		(1)  the operator and the surface owner have entered 
into an agreement that contains alternative provisions regarding 
the operator's obligation to give notice of oil and gas operations; 
or
		(2)  the surface owner has waived in writing the owner's 
right to notice under this subchapter.
	Sec. 91.704.  ADDRESS FOR NOTICE.  The notice must be given 
to the surface owner at the surface owner's address as shown by the 
records of the county tax assessor-collector at the time the notice 
is given.
	Sec. 91.705.  RIGHTS OF OWNER OF MINERAL ESTATE NOT 
AFFECTED.  (a)  This subchapter does not affect the status of any 
rule of law to the effect that the mineral estate in land is 
dominant over the surface estate.
	(b)  Failure to give notice as required by this subchapter 
does not restrict, limit, work as a forfeiture of, or terminate any 
existing or future right to develop the mineral estate in land.
	SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only 
to oil and gas operations for which a permit is issued on or after 
October 1, 2005.  Oil and gas operations for which a permit is 
issued before October 1, 2005, are governed by the law as it existed 
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is 
continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.