§4b Cooperation with Individuals, Municipalities, Etc.; Contracts with Owners; Agreements as to Prices

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce can work together, under formal agreements, with people, companies, states, cities, schools, or other groups. Before they drill on land where the minerals are privately owned, they must sign contracts with the mineral owners or leaseholders. Those contracts must say that if potash or oil is found and later sold, the owners or leaseholders must pay at least 2½ percent of the sale value to the United States and its partners. Payments stop once the total paid is no more than the exploration costs, as the two Secretaries decide. Federal claims for repayment end automatically 20 years after the contracts are approved unless all parties agree to end sooner. The contracts cannot stop the Secretaries from choosing drilling sites or doing exploration work, as long as they do not unreasonably harm the surface, and the United States is not liable for damages from reasonable surface use needed for the work.