Dear LAAPL Members & Guests!
September 2019 LAAPL Luncheon Meeting
When: September , 2019 @ 11:30 am
Where: The Grand Long Beach
4101 E. Willow Street, Long Beach, CA 90815.
Cost: $25 per person. Pre-pay on the LAAPL website. Cash or check accepted at the door.
Menu: Buffet style
Topic: AB 585 New Law Affecting Assignments of Oil and Gas Leases on Calif. Public Land –
What’s a Landman to do?
Our speaker: The luncheon speaker will be L. “Rae” Connet, Esq. from PetroLand Services
L. “Rae” Connet, Esq. from PetroLand Services
L. “Rae” Connet is an active member of AAPL, LAAPL, a practicing attorney and the co-founder of PetroLand Services, a land consulting from serving oil and gas producers, utility companies, mineral owners, governmental agencies and real estate developers across multiple states. Combining her strong legal background and training with the practical skills of a working land professional, Rae brings 28 years of experience and expertise to serve the company’s clientele. Rae also represents the company’s clients before regulatory agencies dealing with land use, zoning and planning issues, drilling and facilities permitting related to oil and gas facilities. Law Degree: JD, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles; Admitted to Practice in All California Courts, The United States District Court for the Central District of California & The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.
Topic: AB 585 New Law Affecting Assignments of Oil and Gas Leases on Calif. Public Land – What’s a Landman to do?
On July 30, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 585 into law. AB 585 came about in response to Bankruptcies in 2017 that left the state largely responsible for the decommissioning of Platform Holly in state waters off the coast of Goleta (Santa Barbara County) and Rincon Island just off Mussel Shoals (Ventura County). The State alleged that Venoco LLC removed staff and closed Offshore Platform Holly and the Ellwood Onshore Facility (EOF), without first plugging and abandoning the oil and gas wells. The SLC stepped in to provide staff to run the facilities for abandonment and closure purposes. Venoco, LLC filed suit.
The Act clarifies the State’s police power to step in to plug, abandon and remediate facilities on Public Lands. In response to Venoco’s actions, the State of California has incurred costs in the amount of $108 million and is expected to continue to incur costs in the tens of millions of dollars over the next two years. The Act authorizes the State Lands Commission, when considering the approval of an assignment, transfer, or sublet of an oil and gas lease, to consider whether a proposed assignee is likely to comply with the provisions of the assigned, transferred, or sublet lease for the duration of the lease term. The bill also requires present and future oil and gas leases or permit holders to remain liable for plugging and abandoning wells and drill site remediation.
What’s a landman to do? The Act mandates the preparation of affidavits showing when the leases expire or terminate and imposes criminal liability for the failure to do so within 6 months of termination or expiration. The bill would make the failure of a lessee, assignee, transferee, sublessee, or operator to comply with these deadlines a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment, for each offense. The Act further requires recording of documents not previously required to be recorded. The Act’s provisions are effective on or after January 1, 2020. Ms. Connet will speak on the effect of the Act and ways in which landmen may wish to modify their practices to best serve their operating clients.
The Act impacts the State’s four million acres of tidelands and submerged lands and the beds of navigable rivers, streams, lakes, bays, estuaries, inlets, and straits, as well as the 459,000 acres of the State’s “school lands.”
L. Rae Connet, Esq.
President, PetroLand Services
www.petrolandservice.com (outside link)