ND oil royalties sharing proposal defeated

A proposal to require the sharing of oil royalty payments with landowners near the oil well has been rejected in the North Dakota Senate.

It's common for property owners near an oil well to not have any right to get a cut of revenues from oil and gas production beneath the surface.

Crosby Sen. John Andrist says surface landowners get all of the problems from an oil well, and mineral rights owners get the benefits. Andrist says a share of royalty payments would compensate them.

Senators defeated the bill 40-6 on Friday.

Dickinson Sen. George Nodland says the issue won't go away and the Legislature needs to find a way to help surface landowners.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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