§ 52-802. Definitions.

As used in the Exploration Rights Act of 2011:

1.  “Act” means the Exploration Rights Act of 2011;

2. “Minerals” means oil, natural gas and other minerals of similar type or character that may be produced or associated with the oil or natural gas, regardless of whether title to, or ownership of, the minerals is severed from the fee simple or absolute fee as defined by Section 23 of Title 60 of the Oklahoma Statutes;

3.  “Mineral estate” means, as to any lands within the State of Oklahoma, the minerals underlying a tract of real property, or the right to capture the minerals underlying a tract of real property, together with the right to make reasonable use of the surface estate, including the right of ingress and egress therefor, for the purpose of exploring, severing, capturing and producing the minerals, as such rights both have been historically articulated at common law and also included within the surface damage statutes, regardless of whether title to, or ownership of, the minerals is severed from the fee simple or absolute fee as defined by Section 23 of Title 60 of the Oklahoma Statutes;

4.  “Mineral owner” means a person owning the mineral estate or a right to explore, sever, capture and produce the minerals, whether such right is derived from ownership of the mineral estate, from an oil and gas lease or from a force pooling order issued by the Corporation Commission, and includes the operator;

5.  “Surface damages statutes” means Sections 318.2 through 318.9 of Title 52 of the Oklahoma Statutes, as the same now exists or may hereafter be amended;

6.  “Oil and gas operations” means, for purposes of this act only, (a) conducting drilling, completion and operation of a well or wells for the purpose of exploring, severing, capturing and producing minerals, or (b) conducting seismic exploration;

7.  “Operator” means a person engaged in the exploration, severance, capture or production of the minerals for that person alone, for other persons only, or for that person and others;

8.  “Person” means any individual, executor, administrator, estate, agent, trust, trustee, institution, receiver, business trust, firm, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, cooperative, joint venture, governmental entity or agency, association or any other group or combination acting as a unit;

9.  “Surface estate” means, as to any lands within the State of Oklahoma, the fee simple or absolute fee ownership of a tract of real property, as defined by Sections 5 and 23 of Title 60 of the Oklahoma Statutes, less and excluding the mineral estate;

10.  “Wind energy developer” means a person who is developing or constructing, pursuant to rights granted by a wind or solar energy agreement, a wind energy facility, or has constructed and is now operating a wind energy facility;

11.  “Wind energy facility” means an electrical generation facility consisting of one or more wind turbines, substations, meteorological data towers, aboveground and underground electrical transmission lines, transformers, control systems, and other buildings or facilities under common ownership or operating control used to support the operation of the facility, and whose primary purpose is to supply electricity to an off-site customer or customers. Wind energy facility shall not include either:

a.a wind energy facility located entirely on property held in fee simple absolute estate by the owner of the wind energy facility, or

b.substations, transmission lines, transformers, and control systems which:

(i)are owned and operated by an electric utility regulated by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the Grand River Dam Authority, the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority or an Oklahoma rural electric cooperative, and

(ii)which are not constructed or placed pursuant to rights granted through a wind or solar energy agreement; and

12.  “Wind or solar energy agreement” means the same as defined in Section 820.1 of Title 60 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

Added by Laws 2011, c. 197, § 4.