The bill to give mineral rights owner the ability to sue municipalities for restricting oil and gas use survived a vote this week in the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Committee.
By a vote of 7 to 5, House Bill 1250 co-authored by Sen. Mark Allen, R-Spiro and Rep. John Pfeiffer, R-Orlando won approval after the enacting clause was removed from the bill.
The future of the bill might rest with negotiations between the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association-Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association and the Oklahoma Municipal League.
The league supports the municipalities and their rights to control oil and gas drilling within city limits. The oil and gas group supports the bill.
Chad Warmington, president of the oil and gas group issued a statement, “The Oklahoma Municipal League has reached out to us about working with our local community leaders on common-sense solutions to these important issues.”
He called it a welcome change from what he called the “hostile approach that county representatives, who continue to misrepresent what is contained in this bill, have taken towards the oil and natural gas industry.”
Two Republicans on the committee joined Democrats in opposing the bill. They were Sen. Lonnie Paxton of Tuttle and Sen. Darcy Jech of Kingfisher.