Nothing in this chapter nor the issuing of a permit: 1. Prejudices the rights of property owners within a storage facility to exercise rights that have not been committed to a storage facility. 2. Prevents a mineral owner or mineral lessee from drilling through or near a storage reservoir to explore for and develop minerals, provided the drilling, production, and related activities comply with commission requirements that preserve the storage facility's integrity and protect this chapter's objectives.
38-22-14. Fees - Carbon dioxide storage facility administrative fund - Continuing appropriation. 1. Storage operators shall pay the commission a fee on each ton of carbon dioxide injected for storage. The fee must be in the amount set by commission rule. The amount must be based on the contribution of the storage facility and the source of the carbon dioxide to the energy and agriculture production economy of North Dakota and the commission's anticipated expenses that it will incur in regulating storage facilities during their construction, operational, and preclosure phases. 2. The fee must be deposited in the carbon dioxide storage facility administrative fund. The fund must be maintained as a special fund and all money in the fund is appropriated and may be used only for defraying the commission's expenses in processing permit applications; regulating storage facilities during their construction, operational, and preclosure phases; and making storage amount determinations under section 38-22-23. The commission, however, through a cooperative agreement with another state agency, may use the fund to compensate the cooperating agency for expenses the cooperating agency incurs in carrying out regulatory responsibilities that agency may have over a storage facility. Interest earned by the fund must be deposited in the fund.