House committee approves new rules for Idaho oil and gas

BOISE (AP) - Idaho lawmakers on a House committee have approved new rules involving the state's nascent oil and gas industry even as the industry itself continues to surge ahead.

One of the most significant rules approved Tuesday by the House Resources and Conservation Committee requires 55 percent of mineral interest owners in a given area to support a process called integration before drilling can begin.

The Idaho Department of Lands sought the change that will generally require more mineral interest owners to approve of drilling before those who don't approve can be forced into the process.

"The authority already exists to do the integration, but the process wasn't clear," said Tom Schultz, director of the Idaho Department of Lands.

He noted that among other states, 55 percent puts Idaho "on the more stringent end." In 26 states, he said, one or two interested parties can force integration.

Integration involves people with mineral rights in an area of land where there might be profitable fields of oil or natural gas. Once integration is ordered under the new rules, mineral interest owners in the designated area will have three options. They can choose to lease rights to an oil company, they can become a working interest owner by sharing the costs, or they can become a nonconsenting working interest owner. The nonconsenting option avoids costs but results in having to pay a much larger portion of profits compared with working interest owners.

Jim Plucinski, who said he was a land owner and mineral rights owner in Payette County where much of the state's oil and gas industry is focused, asked the committee to reject the proposed rules because he objected to being forced into the integration process.