Why was a ballot initiative necessary to finally obtain a Surface Owner Accommodation Act?
In the 2003 and 2004 legislative sessions, bills were introduced in the state legislature to protect surface landowners, but were not passed into law. The organized lobby of the oil and gas industry, represented by the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, originally opposed a comprehensive Surface Owner Accommodation Act that would apply to all split estate lands in Wyoming. Their opposition effectively blocked the passage of any legislation in 2003 and 2004. Landowners could not afford to continue to be forced to suffer economic losses caused by the actions of oil and gas developers and wait in hopes that the legislature would one day act. The ballot initiative would have placed the identical Surface Owner Accommodation legislation that was recommended by the Joint Judiciary Committee in 2004 before the voters of Wyoming in November 2006. Because the state legislature passed a Surface Owner Accomodation Act in 2005, the ballot initiative was no longer necessary. 4. What does the 2005 Wyo
