order of withdrawal issued September 27, 1909, has been or may Terms and condi Oil or gas lands not withdrawn. Prospecting permits making discovery. to valid claimants not Prior work required. Lease if discovery made. SEC. 19. That any person who on October 1, 1919, was a bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas lands under a claim initiated while such lands were not withdrawn from oil or gas location and entry, and who had previously performed all acts under then existing laws necessary to valid locations thereof except to make discovery, and upon which discovery had not been made prior to the passage of this Act, and who has performed work or expended on or for the benefit of such locations an amount equal in the aggregate of $250 for each location if application therefor shall be made within six months from the passage of this Act shall be entitled to prospecting permits thereon upon the same terms and conditions, and limitations as to acreage, as other permits provided for in this Act, or where any such person has heretofore made such discovery, he shall be entitled to a lease thereon under such terms as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe unless otherwise provided for in section 18 hereof: Provided, That where such prospecting permit is granted upon land within any ducing fields. known geologic structure of a producing oil or gas field, the royalty to be fixed in any lease thereafter granted thereon or any portion thereof shall be not less than 12 per centum of all the oil or gas produced except oil or gas used for production purposes on the claim, or unavoidably lost: Provided, however, That the provisions of this Naval lands excludsection shall not apply to lands reserved for the use of the Navy: Benefits barred by Provided, however, That no claimant for a permit or lease who has fraud. been guilty of any fraud or who had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud, or who has not acted honestly and in good faith, shall be entitled to any of the benefits of this section. ed. Provisos. Royalty, if in pro Persons entitled to All permits or leases hereunder shall inure to the benefit of the permits. claimant and all persons claiming through or under him by lease, contract, or otherwise, as their interests may appear. Agricultural entry Preference right to, Combinations per. SEC. 20. In the case of lands bona fide entered as agricultural, men on reserved lands and not withdrawn or classified as mineral at the time of entry, but for permit and lease, not including lands claimed under any railroad grant, the entryman on discovery. or patentee, or assigns, where assignment was made prior to January 1, 1918, if the entry has been patented with the mineral right reserved, shall be entitled to a preference right to a permit and to a lease, as herein provided, in case of discovery; and within an area not greater mitted. than a township such entryman and patentees, or assigns holding restricted patents may combine their holdings, not to exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres for the purpose of making Royalties. joint application. Leases executed under this section and embracing only lands so entered shall provide for the payment of a royalty of not less than 12 per centum as to such areas within the permit as may not be included within the discovery lease to which the permittee is entitled under section 14 hereof. OIL SHALE. Ante, p. 442. Oil shale deposits. Leases authorized of SEC. 21. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to lands containing. lease to any person or corporation qualified under this Act any deposits of oil shale belonging to the United States and the surface of so much of the public lands containing such deposits, or land adjacent thereto, as may be required for the extraction and reduction of the leased minerals, under such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this Area limited. tions of leases. als. Act, as he may prescribe; that no lease hereunder shall exceed five thousand one hundred and twenty acres of land, to be described by the legal subdivisions of the public-land surveys, or if unsurveyed, to be surveyed by the United States, at the expense of the applicant, in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of Period and condi- the Interior. Leases may be for indeterminate periods, upon such conditions as may be imposed by the Secretary of the Interior, including covenants relative to methods of mining, prevention of waste, and Royalties and rent productive development. For the privilege of mining, extracting, and disposing of the oil or other minerals covered by a lease under this section the lessee shall pay to the United States such royalties as shall be specified in the lease and an annual rental, payable at the beginning of each year, at the rate of 50 cents per acre per annum, for the lands included in the lease, the rental paid for any one year to be credited against the royalties accruing for that year; such royalties to be subject to readjustment at the end of each twenty-year period by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, That for the purpose of encouraging the production of petroleum products from shales the Secretary may, in his discretion, waive the payment of any royalty and rental Leases to claimants during the first five years of any lease: Provided, That any person having a valid claim to such minerals under existing laws on January 1, 1919, shall, upon the relinquishment of such claim, be entitled to a lease under the provisions of this section for such area of the land relinquished as shall not exceed the maximum area authorized by this section to be leased to an individual or corporation: Provided, howBenefits barred by ever, That no claimant for a lease who has been guilty of any fraud or who had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud, or who has not acted honestly and in good faith, shall be entitled to any Only onelease to any of the benefits of this section: Provided further, That not more than one lease shall be granted under this section to any one person, association, or corporation. Provisos. Discretionary waiving of royalties. relinquishing former rights. fraud. person, etc. Alaska oil deposits. Prospecting permits to valid mining claim oil or gas. to be relinquished. allowed. ALASKA OIL PROVISO. SEC. 22. That any bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas ants not discovering bearing lands in the Territory of Alaska, who, or whose predecessors in interest, prior to withdrawal had complied otherwise with the requirements of the mining laws, but had made no discovery of oil or gas in wells and who prior to withdrawal had made substantial improvements for the discovery of oil or gas on or for each location or had prior to the passage of this Act expended not less than $250 in Former application improvements on or for each location shall be entitled, upon relinquishment or surrender to the United States within one year from the date of this Act, or within six months after final denial or withdrawal Number of permits of application for patent, to a prospecting permit or permits, lease or leases, under this Act covering such lands, not exceeding five permits or leases in number and not exceeding an aggregate of one thousand Royalties, rentals, two hundred and eighty acres in each: Provided, That leases in Alaska under this Act whether as a result of prospecting permits or otherwise shall be upon such rental and royalties as shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior and specified in the lease, and be subject to readjustment at the end of each twenty-year period of the lease: Provided Discretionary waiv- further, That for the purpose of encouraging the production of petroleum products in Alaska the Secretary may, in his discretion, waive the payment of any rental or royalty not exceeding the first five years of any lease. Provisos. etc. ing of royalties. Benefits barred by fraud. No claimant for a lease who has been guilty of any fraud or who had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of any fraud, or who has not acted honestly and in good faith, shall be entitled to any of the benefits of this section. allowed for. SEC. 23. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to grant to any qualified applicant a prospecting permit which shall give the exclusive right to prospect for chlorides, sulphates, carbonates, borates, silicates, or nitrates of sodium dissolved in and soluble in water, and accumulated by concentration, in lands belonging to the United States for a period of not exceeding two years: Provided, Area limited. That the area to be included in such a permit shall be not exceeding two thousand five hundred and sixty acres of land in reasonably compact form: Provided further, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to lands in San Bernardino County, California. Provisos. Lands excluded. Lease to permittee of Royalty. Preference to lease Land containing Conditions. SEC. 24. That upon showing to the satisfaction of the Secretary of one-half of area in the Interior that valuable deposits of one of the substances enumerated which discovery made. in section 23 hereof has been discovered by the permittee within the area covered by his permit and that such land is chiefly valuable therefor the permittee shall be entitled to a lease for one-half of the land embraced in the prospecting permit, at a royalty of not less than one-eighth of the amount or value of the production, to be taken and described by legal subdivisions of the public-land surveys, or if the land be not surveyed by survey executed at the cost of the permittee in accordance with the rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. The permittee shall also have the prefer- remainder of land. ence right to lease the remainder of the lands embraced within the limits of his permit at a royalty of not less than one-eighth of the amount or value of the production to be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior. Lands known to contain such valuable deposits as are known deposits subenumerated in section 23 hereof and not covered by permits or leases, ject to lease. except such lands as are situated in said county of San Bernardino, shall be held subject to lease, and may be leased by the Secretary of the Interior through advertisement, competitive bidding, or such other methods as he may by general regulations adopt, and in such areas as he shall fix, not exceeding two thousand five hundred and sixty acres; all leases to be conditioned upon the payment by the etc. lessee of such royalty of not less than one-eighth of the amount or value of the production as may be fixed in the lease, and the payment in advance of a rental of 50 cents per acre for the first calendar year or fraction thereof and $1 per acre per annum thereafter during the continuance of the lease, the rental paid for any one year to be credited on the royalty for that year. Leases may be for indeterminate, Periods and condiperiods, subject to readjustment at the end of each twenty-year period, upon such conditions not inconsistent herewith as may be incorporated in each lease or prescribed in general regulation theretofore issued by the Secretary of the Interior, including covenants relative to mining methods, waste, period of preliminary development, and minimum production, and a lessee under this section may be lessee of the remaining lands in his permit. Royalties, rentals, tions of leases. Use of unoccupied Rental. SEC. 25. That in addition to areas of such mineral land which may lands for development be included in any such prospecting permits or leases, the Secretary work, etc. of the Interior, in his discretion, may grant to a permittee or lessee of lands containing sodium deposits, and subject to the payment of an annual rental of not less than 25 cents per acre, the exclusive right to use, during the life of the permit or lease, a tract of unoccupied nonmineral public land, not exceeding forty acres in area, for camp sites, refining works, and other purposes connected with and necessary to the proper development and use of the deposits covered by the permit or lease. General provisions. GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO COAL, PHOSPHATE, SODIUM, OIL, OIL SHALE, AND GAS LEASES. Permits may be canceled for want of diligence. Holdings restricted. Coal, phosphate, and sodium. Oil or gas. Corporation ests. Interests in leases. hibited interests. by descent, etc. Provisos. SEC. 26. That the Secretary of the Interior shall reserve and may exercise the authority to cancel any prospecting permit upon failure by the permittee to exercise due diligence in the prosecution of the prospecting work in accordance with the terms and conditions stated in the permit, and shall insert in every such permit issued under the provisions of this Act appropriate provisions for its cancellation by him. SEC. 27. That no person, association, or corporation, except as herein provided, shall take or hold more than one coal, phosphate, or sodium lease during the life of such lease in any one State; no person, association, or corporation shall take or hold, at one time, more than three oil or gas leases granted hereunder in any one State, and not more than one lease within the geologic structure of the same inter-producing oil or gas field; no corporation shall hold any interest as other a stockholder of another corporation in more than such number of leases; and no person or corporation shall take or hold any interest or interests as a member of an association or associations or as a stockholder of a corporation or corporations holding a lease under the provisions hereof, which, together with the area embraced in any direct holding of a lease under this Act, or which, together with any other interest or interests as a member of an association or associations or as a stockholder of a corporation or corporations holding a lease under the provisions hereof, for any kind of mineral leased hereunder, exceeds in the aggregate an amount equivalent to the maximum number of acres of the respective kinds of minerals allowed Forfeiture of pro- to any one lessee under this Act. Any interests held in violation of this Act shall be forfeited to the United States by appropriate proceedings instituted by the Attorney General for that purpose in the United States district court for the district in which the property, Temporary holding or some part thereof, is located, except that any ownership or interest forbidden in this Act which may be acquired by descent, will, judgment, or decree may be held for two years and not longer after its acquisition: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to limit sections 18, 18a, 19, and 22 or to prevent any number Combinations for re- of lessees under the provisions of this Act from combining their sevfineries, pipe lines, eral interests so far as may be necessary for the purposes of conetc., permitted. structing and carrying on the business of a refinery, or of establishing and constructing as a common carrier a pipe line or lines of railroads to be operated and used by them jointly in the transportation of oil from their several wells, or from the wells of other lessees under this Approval necessary. Act, or the transportation of coal: Provided further, That any combination for such purpose or purposes shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior on application to him for permission Forfeiture for sub- to form the same: And provided further, That if any of the lands or binations in restraint deposits leased under the provisions of this Act shall be subleased, trusteed, possessed, or controlled by any device permanently, temporarily, directly, indirectly, tacitly, or in any manner whatsoever, so that they form part of, or are in anywise controlled by any combination in the form of an unlawful trust, with consent of lessee, or form the subject of any contract or conspiracy in restraint of trade in the mining or selling of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas, or sodium entered into by the lessee, or any agreement or understanding, written, verbal, or otherwise to which such lessee shall be a party, of which his or its output is to be or become the subject, to control the price or prices thereof or of any holding of such lands by any individual, partnership, association, corporation, or control, in excess of the amounts of lands provided in this Act, the lease thereof shall be forfeited by appropriate court proceedings. Exceptions. Ante, pp. 443-446. Coal roads. leasing, etc., to com of trade, etc. Rights of way through public lands. Ante, p. 437. for pipe lines granted tions, etc. Provisos. condi condition of other producers, etc. SEC. 28. That rights of way through the public lands, including the forest reserves, of the United States are hereby granted for pipeline purposes for the transportation of oil or natural gas to any applicant possessing the qualifications provided in section 1 of this Act,Operating to the extent of the ground occupied by the said pipe line and twentyfive feet on each side of the same under such regulations as to survey, location, application, and use as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior and upon the express condition that such pipe lines shall be constructed, operated, and maintained as common carriers: Provided, That the Government shall in express terms reserve and shall provide in every lease of oil lands hereunder that the lessee, for conveyance of oil assignee, or beneficiary, if owner, or operator or owner of a controlling interest in any pipe line or of any company operating the same which may be operated accessible to the oil derived from lands under such lease, shall at reasonable rates and without discrimination accept and convey the oil of the Government or of any citizen or company not the owner of any pipe line, operating a lease or purchasing Applicable to all gas or oil under the provisions of this Act: Provided further, That no future grants. right of way shall hereafter be granted over said lands for the transportation of oil or natural gas except under and subject to the provisions, limitations, and conditions of this section. Failure to tions. comply with the provisions of this section or the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior shall be ground for forfeiture of the grant by the United States district court for the district in which the property, or some part thereof, is located in an appropriate proceeding. Forfeiture for viola Joint use of ease Provisos. SEC. 29. That any permit, lease, occupation, or use permitted ments, etc., reserved. under this Act shall reserve to the Secretary of the Interior the right to permit upon such terms as he may determine to be just, for joint or several use, such easements or rights of way, including easements in tunnels upon, through, or in the lands leased, occupied, or used as may be necessary or appropriate to the working of the same, or of other lands containing the deposits described in this Act, and the treatment and shipment of the products thereof by or under authority of the Government, its lessees, or permittees, and for other public purposes: Provided, That said Secretary, in his discretion, in making Disposal of surface any lease under this Act, may reserve to the United States the right of lands leased. to lease, sell, or otherwise dispose of the surface of the lands embraced within such lease under existing law or laws hereafter enacted, in so far as said surface is not necessary for use of the lessee in extracting and removing the deposits therein: Provided further, That if such, reservation is made it shall be so determined before the offering of such lease: And provided further, That the said Secretary, during the life of the lease, is authorized to issue such permits for easements herein provided to be reserved. Determination be fore offering of lease. Easement periods. Assignments, etc., of Restrictive provi SEC. 30. That no lease issued under the authority of this Act shall leases restricted. be assigned or sublet, except with the consent of the Secretary of Relinquishment althe Interior. The lessee may, in the discretion of the Secretary of lowed. the Interior, be permitted at any time to make written relinquishment of all rights under such a lease, and upon acceptance thereof be thereby relieved of all future obligations under said lease, and may with like consent surrender any legal subdivision of the area included within the lease. Each lease shall contain provisions for the purpose sions, for diligence, of insuring the exercise of reasonable diligence, skill, and care in the operation of said property; a provision that such rules for the safety and welfare of the miners and for the prevention of undue waste as may be prescribed by said Secretary shall be observed, Labor restrictions. including a restriction of the workday to not exceeding eight hours in any one day for underground workers except in cases of emergency; provisions prohibiting the employment of any boy under the age of safety, etc. |