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Montana Petroleum Association
HEARD IT THROUGH THE PIPELINE
May 11, 2007
Special Session and Legislative Wrap-up:
As you all are probably aware
Montana’s Legislature is back in a special session to deal with a few items that did not get finished during the regular session. On the forefront is the state budget and long range building program, which were heard yesterday. For those of you who are interested in the long range building program, earmarks for the Petroleum Building at Montana Tech and the building expansion for the Board of Oil and Gas they are both still in the budget bills.
There are two bills dealing with energy incentives, SB 1 and HB 3. The purpose of these bills is to offer incentives for the development and transportation of clean energy and CO2. Both bills have language for a reduced tax rate for pipelines use to carry CO2 for sequestration and closed loop enhanced oil recovery. SB1 also contains language that prevents the department of revenue from placing a company’s assets under central assessment solely because they are connected to a CO2 pipeline used for enhanced oil recovery. The word I get is that it is unlikely that the tax language will survive.
MPA has a final legislative wrap up report that is ready to go but we have held because of the special session and the fact that several of the bills we are interested in have not yet been acted on by the Governor. As recently as Tuesday a couple of bills have been vetoed. This action has been reported on the updated status sheet. All indicators suggest the special session will conclude Saturday. If that holds true you can expect the MPA 2007 Wrap Up report by the end of next week.
MPA Planning Meeting:
The MPA Planning meeting is scheduled for June 6th and 7th at the Clock Tower Inn in Billings, Montana (please see attached). There is one minor change to the schedule. On Tuesday, June 5th, hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will be at the Petroleum Club 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. On Wednesday, June 6th, hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will be at the Clock Tower Inn meeting room 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Additionally, we have an Environment and Safety Committee on Tuesday, June 5th at the Petroleum Club starting at 10:00am. Many of the items I am working on for the agenda of the E&S Committee would overlap into items of interest to the E&P Committee. Items such as wildlife, salt water injection wells and air quality permits for well sites will be topics of discussion as well as follow through on items passed in the 2007 legislature. Agendas will be out by May 18th, but please mark your calendars. The room block at the Clock Tower expires on May 22nd, I urge you to book your reservations now.
Survey Notes and Plats for Montana Now Online:
In a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management and the State of Montana, the survey notes and plats for Montana (rectangular, mineral, homestead, and monument) are available on-line at the following site:
It is recommended that you use the “search by query” option over the map search option at this time. Please note, if you search for all documents in a particular township (both plats and notes), you are potentially pulling up hundreds of pages of notes and the viewing process will be slower.
We encourage you to use the Image-Feedback tab to report any errors, or missing or illegible documents.
Please direct questions to the BLM Information Access Center at 406-896-5004.
Revisions to Documents and Standards:
During the legislative session your organization expressed an interest in SB 269 (Revisions to Document Standards). As a result I wanted to share with you an informational piece that was developed the Clerks and Recorders Association along with input from the Montana Land Title Association. The new changes went into effect when the Governor signed the bill on April 28th. Please see the attached document.
2007 MPA MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORIES:
The 2007 MPA Membership Directories were mailed out this week. If you have any changes, please send them to the MPA office at mpa@montanapetroleum.org.
