BLM disputes Wyoming split estate law

The federal government maintains a new state law providing protections to landowners from oil and gas development does not apply to the 11 million acres of Wyoming land on which the federal government owns the mineral rights. The stance by the Bureau of Land Management would mean the law would not apply to 92 percent of the 12 million acres where there are separate owners of the land and the minerals underneath -- so called split estates. Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Attorney General Pat Crank maintain the state law does apply to private land over federally owned minerals. "If the BLM wants to sue us, I think they should do so," Crank said Tuesday. "I think we would ultimately be successful if they brought such a challenge." Crank said the BLM has not threatened to file a lawsuit. The BLM's position was stated in a letter last week by BLM Director Kathleen Clarke. "The recent Wyoming statute and the proposed regulations would impose additional financial requirements that would burden the federal mineral estate," Clarke wrote in the June 13 letter. Lara Azar, spokeswoman for Freudenthal, wrote in an e-mail Tuesday that the governor "believes the Wyoming split estates statute is fair and reasonable, which means that it doesn't place some undue burden on the federal government."

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