AN ACT Relating to mineral interests; and adding a new chapter to Title 78 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The public policy of this state is to enable and encourage marketability of real property and to mitigate the adverse effect of dormant mineral interests on the full use and development of both surface estate and mineral interests in real property.

(2) This chapter shall be construed to effectuate its purpose to provide a means for termination of dormant mineral interests that impair marketability of real property.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Mineral interest" means an interest in a mineral estate, however created and regardless of form, whether absolute or fractional, divided or undivided, corporeal or incorporeal, including a fee simple or any lesser interest or any kind of royalty, production payment, executive right, nonexecutive right, leasehold, or lien, in minerals, regardless of character.

(2) "Minerals" includes gas, oil, coal, other gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons, oil shale, cement material, sand and gravel, road material, building stone, chemical substance, gemstone, metallic, fissionable and nonfissionable ores, colloidal and other clay, steam and other geothermal resource, and any other substance defined as a mineral in RCW 78.44.030.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) This chapter does not apply to:

(a) A mineral interest of the United States or an Indian tribe, except to the extent permitted by federal law;

(b) A mineral interest of this state or an agency or political subdivision of this state, except to the extent permitted by state law other than this chapter.

(2) This chapter does not affect water rights.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) The surface owner of real property subject to a mineral interest may maintain an action to terminate a dormant mineral interest. A mineral interest is dormant for the purpose of this chapter if the interest is unused within the meaning of subsection (2) of this section for twenty years or more immediately preceding commencement of the action and has not been preserved under section 5 of this act. The action must be in the nature of and requires the same notice as is required in an action to quiet title. The action may be maintained whether the owner of the mineral interest or the owner's whereabouts is known or unknown. Disability or lack of knowledge of any kind on the part of any person does not suspend the running of the twenty-year period.

(2) For the purpose of this section, any of the following actions taken by or under authority of the owner of a mineral interest in relation to any mineral that is part of the mineral interest constitutes use of the entire mineral interest:

(a) Active mineral operations on or below the surface of the real property or other property unitized or pooled with the real property, including production, geophysical exploration, exploratory or developmental drilling, mining, exploitation, and development, but not including injection of substances for purposes of disposal or storage. Active mineral operations constitute use of any mineral interest owned by any person in any mineral that is the object of the operations;

(b) Payment of taxes on a separate assessment of the mineral interest or of a transfer or severance tax relating to the mineral interest;

(c) Recordation of an instrument that creates, reserves, or otherwise evidences a claim to or the continued existence of the mineral interest, including an instrument that transfers, leases, or divides the interest. Recordation of an instrument constitutes use of (i) any recorded interest owned by any person in any mineral that is the subject to the instrument, and (ii) any recorded mineral interest in the property owned by any party to the instrument;

(d) Recordation of a judgment or decree that makes specific reference to the mineral interest.

(3) This section applies notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the instrument that creates, reserves, transfers, leases, divides, or otherwise evidences the claim to or the continued existence of the mineral interest or in another recorded document unless the instrument or other recorded document provides an earlier termination date.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) The owner of a mineral interest may record at any time a notice of intent to preserve the mineral interest or a part thereof. The mineral interest shall be preserved in each county in which the notice is recorded. A mineral interest is not dormant if the notice is recorded within twenty years immediately preceding commencement of the action to terminate the mineral interest or pursuant to section 6 of this act after commencement of the action.

(2) The notice may be executed by an owner of the mineral interest or by another person acting on behalf of the owner, including an owner who is under a disability or unable to assert a claim on the owner's own behalf or whose identity cannot be established or is uncertain at the time of execution of the notice. The notice may be executed by or on behalf of a co-owner for the benefit of any or all co-owners or by or on behalf of an owner for the benefit of any or all persons claiming under the owner or persons under whom the owner claims.

(3) The notice shall contain the name of the owner of the mineral interest or the co-owners or other persons for whom the mineral interest is to be preserved or, if the identity of the owner cannot be established or is uncertain, the name of the class of which the owner is a member, and shall identify the mineral interest or part thereof to be preserved by one of the following means:

(a) A reference to the location in the records of the instrument that creates, reserves, or otherwise evidences the interest or of the judgment or decree that confirms the interest;

(b) A legal description of the mineral interest. If the owner of a mineral interest claims the mineral interest under an instrument that is not of record or claims under a recorded instrument that does not specifically identify that owner, a legal description is not effective to preserve a mineral interest unless accompanied by a reference to the name of the record owner under whom the owner of the mineral interest claims. In such a case, the record of the notice of intent to preserve the mineral interest must be indexed under the name of the record owner as well as under the name of the owner of the mineral interest;

(c) A reference generally and without specificity to any or all mineral interests of the owner in any real property situated in the county. The reference is not effective to preserve a particular mineral interest unless there is, in the county, in the name of the person claiming to be the owner of the interest, (i) a previously recorded instrument that creates, reserves, or otherwise evidences that interest or (ii) a judgment or decree that confirms that interest.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) In this section, "litigation expenses" means costs and expenses that the court determines are reasonably and necessarily incurred in preparing for and prosecuting an action, including reasonable attorneys' fees.

(2) In an action to terminate a mineral interest pursuant to this chapter, the court shall permit the owner of the mineral interest to record a late notice of intent to preserve the mineral interest as a condition of dismissal of the action, upon payment into court for the benefit of the surface owner of the real property the litigation expenses attributable to the mineral interest or portion thereof as to which the notice is recorded.

(3) This section does not apply in an action in which a mineral interest has been unused within the meaning of section 4(2) of this act for forty or more years immediately preceding commencement of the action.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A court order terminating a mineral interest, when recorded, merges the terminated mineral interest, including express and implied appurtenant surface rights and obligations, with the surface estate in shares proportionate to the ownership of the surface estate, subject to existing liens for taxes or assessments.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, this chapter applies to all mineral interests, whether created before, on, or after the effective date of this section.

(2) An action may not be maintained under this chapter to terminate a mineral interest until two years after the effective date of this section.

(3) This chapter does not limit or affect any other procedure provided by law for clearing an abandoned mineral interest from title to real property.

(4) This chapter does not affect the validity of the termination of any mineral interest made pursuant to any predecessor statute on dormant mineral interests.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. This chapter shall be applied and construed to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this chapter among states enacting it.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. This chapter may be cited as the uniform dormant mineral interests act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. Sections 1 through 10 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 78 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.