WEST virginia legislature
2025 regular session
Enrolled
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Bill 627
By Senators Jeffries, Clements, Helton, Rose, and Tarr
[Passed April 9, 2025; in effect 90 days from passage (July 8, 2025)]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §20-1-22 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to removing the prohibition against leasing state-owned pore spaces underlying lands designated as state parks; prohibiting any disturbance of the surface of state park property for any drilling or injection activity; requiring that the proceeds from any leased state-owned pore spaces underlying state forests, state parks, natural and scenic areas, wildlife management areas, and other lands under the jurisdiction and control of the director be used exclusively where the leased pore space is located; and requiring that the center of any well pad leased for pore space underlying state parks may not be located within 200 feet of a state park boundary, provided, that the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Director of the Division of Natural Resources, may waive the setback requirement after considering the impact of the lessee’s proposed well-site location on viewshed, noise, and other possible impediments to the public use and enjoyment of the state park property.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
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(b) Notwithstanding the competitive bidding process established in subsection (a) of this section, the director may, with the approval in writing of the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, directly award a pore space lease when the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and the Secretary of the Department of Economic Development certifies in writing to the director that the lease is a necessary component of an economic development project: Provided, That the lease shall afford a market value or greater royalty.
(c) The center of any well pad leased in accordance with subsection (a) of this section for pore space underlying state parks may not be located within 200 feet of a state park boundary: Provided, That the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Director of the Division of Natural Resources, may waive this requirement after considering the impact of the lessee’s proposed well-site location on viewshed, noise, and other possible impediments to the public use and enjoyment of the state park property.
The Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Delegates hereby certify that the foregoing bill is correctly enrolled.
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Clerk of the Senate
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Clerk of the House of Delegates
Originated in the Senate.
In effect 90 days from passage.
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President of the Senate
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Speaker of the House of Delegates
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The within is ................................................ this the...........................................
Day of ..........................................................................................................., 2025.
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Governor