Chapter 854. To amend sections 17 and 27 of the General Leasing Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437; U
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CHAP. 854.— An Act To amend sections 17 and 27 of the General Leasing Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437; U. S. C., title 30, sec. 226), as amended. July 3, 1930.[[S. 4657](/us/bill/71/s/4657).][[Public, No. 527](/us/pl/71/527).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That sections 17General Leasing Act, amendment.Vol. 41, p. 443, amended.[U. S. C., p. 969](/us/usc/p969).*Post*, p. 1523. and 27 of the Act entitled “An Act to promote the mining of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas, and sodium on the public domain,” approved February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437;
U. S. C., title 30, sec. 226), as amended, are amended to read as follows: " “Sec. 17. That all unappropriated deposits of oil or gas situatedLeases of unappropriated deposits in known producing fields. within the known geologic structure of a producing oil or gas field and the unentered lands containing the same, not subject to preferential lease, may be leased by the Secretary of the Interior to the highest responsible bidder by competitive bidding under generalCompetitive bidding. regulations to qualified applicants in areas not exceeding six hundred and forty acres and in tracts which shall not exceed in length two and one-half times their width, such leases to be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee of such bonus as may be accepted andPayment of bonus, etc. of such royalty as may be fixed in the lease, which shall not be less than 12½ per centum in amount or value of the production, and the payment in advance of a rental of not less than $1 per acre per annum thereafter during the continuance of the lease, the rental paid for any one year to be credited against the royalties as they accrue for that year.
Leases shall be for a period of twenty years, withPeriod of leases, renewals. the preferential right in the lessee to renew the same for successive periods of ten years upon such reasonable terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, unless otherwise provided by law at the time of the expiration of such periods: *Provided*, *Provisos*.Additional, if cooperative plan of development, etc.That any lease heretofore or hereafter issued under this Act that has become the subject of a cooperative or unit plan of development or operation of a single oil or gas pool, which plan has the approval of the Secretary of the Interior as necessary or convenient in the public interest, shall continue in force beyond said period of 20 years until the termination of such plan: *And provided further*,Report thereon.
That the Secretary of the Interior shall report all leases so continued to Congress at the beginning of its next regular session after the date of such continuance. Whenever the average daily productionReduction of royalty for small production. of any oil well shall not exceed ten barrels per day, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to reduce the royalty on future production when in his judgment the wells can not be successfully operated upon the royalty fixed in the lease.
The provisions of this paragraph shallApplicable to all oil and gas leases. apply to all oil and gas leases made under this Act. 1008 “Sec. 27. Limit on holdings of person, etc., in any one State, etc.Vol. 44, p. 373. That no person, association, or corporation, except as herein provided, shall take or hold coal, phosphate, or sodium leases or permits during the life of such leases or permits in any one State exceeding in aggregate acreage two thousand five hundred and sixty acres for each of said minerals; no person, association, or corporation shall take or hold at one time oil or gas leases or permits exceeding in the aggregate seven thousand six hundred and eighty acres granted hereunder in any one State, and not more than two thousand five hundred and sixty acres within the geologic structure of the same producing oil or gas field; and no person, association, or corporation shall take or hold at one time any interest or interests as a member of an association or associations or as a stockholder of a corporation or corporations holding a lease or leases, permit or permits, under the provisions hereof, which, together with the area embraced in any direct holding of a lease or leases, permit or permits, under this Act, or which, together with any other interest or interests as a member of an association or associations or as a stockholder of a corporation or corporations holding a lease or leases, permit or permits, under the provisions hereof for any kind of mineral leases hereunder, exceeds in the aggregate an amount equivalent to the maximum number of acres of the respective kinds of minerals allowed to any one lessee or Forfeiture for violation.permittee under this Act.
Any interests held in violation of this Act shall be forfeited to the United States by appropriate proceedings instituted by the Attorney General for that purpose in the United States district court for the district in which the property, or Excess holding acquired by descent, will, etc.some part thereof, is located, except that any ownership or interest forbidden in this Act which may be acquired by descent, will, judgment, or decree may be held for two years and not longer after *Provisos*.Combinations for constructing refinery, pipe lines, etc., permitted.its acquisition: *Provided*, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to limit sections 18, 18a, 19, and 22 or to prevent any number of lessees under the provisions of this Act from combining their several interests so far as may be necessary for the purposes of constructing and carrying on the business of a refinery, or of Vol. 41, pp. 443–446.establishing and constructing as a common carrier a pipe line or lines of railroads to be operated and used by them jointly in the transportation of oil from their several wells, or from the wells of other lessees *Supra*.under this Act, or the transportation of coal or to increase the acreage which may be acquired or held under section 17 of this Act:
Application for combination.*Provided further*, That any combination for such purpose or purposes shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior on application to him for permission to form the same: Cooperative development of gas pool, etc., authorized, when in public interest.*And provided further*, That for the purpose of more properly conserving the natural resources of any single oil or gas pool or field, permittees and lessees thereof and their representatives may unite with each other or jointly or separately with others in collectively adopting and operating under a cooperative or unit plan of development or operation of said pool or field, whenever determined and certified by the Secretary of the Interior to be necessary or advisable Regulations under Secretary.in the public interest, and the Secretary of the Interior is thereunto authorized in his discretion, with the consent of the holders of leases involved, to establish, alter, change, or revoke drilling, producing, and royalty requirements of such leases, and to make such regulations with reference to such leases with like consent on the part of the lessee or lessees in connection with the institution and operation of any such cooperative or unit plan as he may deem necessary or proper to secure the proper protection of such public interest: *And provided Forfeiture for combinations in restraint of trade.further*, That except as herein provided, if any of the lands or deposits leased under the provisions of this Act shall be subleased, trusteed, possessed, or controlled by any device permanently, tem-1009porarily, directly, indirectly, tacitly, or in any manner whatsoever, so that they form a part of; or are in anywise controlled by any combination in the form of an unlawful trust, with consent of lessee, or form the subject of any contract or conspiracy in restraint of trade in the mining or selling of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas, or sodium entered into by the lessee, or any agreement or understanding, written, verbal, or otherwise to which such lessee shall be a party, of which his or its output is to be or become the subject, to control the price or prices thereof or of any holding of such lands by any individual, partnership, association, corporation, or control, in excess of the amounts of lands provided in this Act, the lease thereof shall be forfeited by appropriate court proceedings.
" Sec. 2. The amendments herein adopted to sections 17 and 27 ofAmendments herein to expire at midnight, January 31, 1931. the General Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended, shall expire at midnight on the 31st day of January, 1931. Approved, July 3, 1930.
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Chapter 854
To amend sections 17 and 27 of the General Leasing Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437; U
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