than to the State of West Virginia, and the eventual
reunification of the mineral estate with the surface
estate in cases where the owner of the mineral estate
is unidentifiable or cannot be found. In circumstances
where any portion of the subsurface estate is sold by
a governmental entity for nonpayment of taxes, the
owner of the surface estate should be given a right of
first refusal to purchase that portion offered for sale.
Farm Bureau is concerned about the removal of
surface acreage from agricultural (cropland, pasture,
hay and forestry) production to accommodate the
needed infrastructure for oil and gas extraction. Farm
Bureau believes that conservation of West Virginia’s
farmland is essential to meet the growing demands
for food and fiber production in America. Moreover,
we support proposals that ensure landowners are
adequately compensated for damages caused by the
extraction of subsurface resources both in the short
and long terms. We also support proposals requiring
equal agriculture representation on the West Virginia
Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
70. TAXATION OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS
LIQUIDS
Farm Bureau believes in the fair apportionment
of taxes and supports the farm use valuation for
agricultural land as a means to encourage land to stay
in agriculture production. We support proposals which
ensure a landowner’s tax burden is not increased by
the location of oil or gas extraction or processing
point. Severance taxes should be calculated based on
the wellhead production of oil, gas and natural gas
liquids and valued at the point of an arm’s length sale.
As for the oil and gas industry, we share the belief
that natural resource extraction can be an important
part of West Virginia’s economy for the foreseeable
future, but we expect the tax burden associated with
harvesting these resources to be borne by the industry,
not by West Virginia farmers (surface owners).
71. NATURAL GAS, OIL & CONSTITUENT
ROYALTY
West Virginia Farm Bureau recommends that a
royalty for all ga