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2011 SESSION
11102476DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 55-154.2 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 55-154.2. Presumption regarding estate of owner of mineral rights.
Except as otherwise
provided Unless expressly
reserved in the deed instrument
by which the owner of
minerals derives title estate is created or severed,
the mineral owner of or, if leased, mineral
lessee who
removes the minerals shall be
presumed to be the owner of the shell, container chamber, passage and space
opened underground for that was created by
the removal of the minerals,
with full right to haul and transport minerals from other lands and to pass
men, materials, equipment, water and air through such space.
No injunction shall lie to prohibit the use of any such shell, container
chamber, passage or space opened underground by the mineral
owner of
minerals for the purposes herein described or, if leased, mineral
lessee. The
provisions of this section shall not affect contractual obligations and
agreements entered into prior to July 1, 1981. In the event that the interests of the mineral
owner or, if leased, the
mineral lessee in the mineral estate shall terminate, whether by
reversion or otherwise, the ownership interest of the mineral owner or mineral
lessee in the shell, container chamber, passage or space opened underground
that was created by the removal of minerals shall continue upon payment of an
annual rental in the amount of $5 per
acre to the current estate owner to whom the shell, container chamber, passage or space has passed. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, all wheelage agreements relating to any such shell, container
chamber, passage, or space shall remain in full force and effect. The
provisions of this section shall have no bearing on or application to any
determination of ownership rights in natural gas.