§ 31:149 — Mineral rights reserved from acquisitions of land by governments or agencies thereof

§149. Mineral rights reserved from acquisitions of land by governments or agencies thereof
imprescriptible; prescriptive period in acquisitions for economic development
A. "Acquiring authority" for the purposes of this Section means (1) the United States,
the state of Louisiana, and a subdivision, department, or agency of either the United States
or the state of Louisiana; (2) any legal entity with authority to expropriate or condemn,
except an electric public utility acquiring land without expropriation. An electric public
utility acquiring land through expropriation shall be considered as an acquiring authority; and
(3) a nonprofit entity, recognized under Sections 501(c)(3) and 170 of the Internal Revenue
Code as being organized and operated as a public charitable organization, that is certified by
the secretary of the Department of Conservation and Energy to be a state or national land
conservation organization. The certification shall be in writing and shall be a public record.
The certification shall not, for that reason alone, be construed to authorize the nonprofit
entity to exercise expropriation powers. With respect to certifications occurring on and after
August 1, 2004, an entity's certification shall require approval by official action of both the
Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources and
Environment.
B. When land is acquired from any person by an acquiring authority through act of
sale, exchange, donation, or other contract, or by condemnation, appropriation, or
expropriation, and a mineral right subject to the prescription of nonuse is reserved in the
instrument or judgment by which the land is acquired, prescription of the mineral right is
interrupted as long as title to the land remains with the acquiring authority, or any successor
that is also an acquiring authority. The instrument or judgment shall reflect the intent to
reserve or exclude the mineral rights from the acquisition and their imprescriptibility as
authorized under the provisions of this Section and shall be recorded in the conveyance
records of the parish in which the land is located.
C. If part of the land subject to the mineral right as set forth in Subsection B is
divested by the acquiring authority to another who is not an acquiring authority, the mineral
right is not divided. However, prescription of the mineral right as to the land divested shall
commence and accrue unless it is interrupted by use of the mineral right.
D. If a mineral right subject to prescription has already been established over land
at the time it is acquired by an acquiring authority, the mineral right shall continue to be
subject to the prescription of nonuse to the same extent as if the acquiring authority had not
acquired the land. Upon the prescription or other extinction of such mineral right, the
transferor of the land shall without further action or agreement become vested with a mineral
right identical to that extinguished, if (1) the instrument or judgment by which the land was
acquired expressly reserves or purports to reserve the mineral right to the transferor, whether
or not the transferor then actually owns the mineral right that is reserved, and (2) the land is
still owned by an acquiring authority at the time of extinguishment.
E. Rights or interests in land originally acquired by an acquiring authority through
expropriation and subject to a mineral reservation shall not be transferred by the same or
subsequent acquiring authority to another who is not an acquiring authority, unless an
exception is provided in R.S. 41:1338 or prior to the transfer:
(1) The acquiring authority first offers to sell or transfer the same right or interest
back to the person or entity, or his heirs or successors, from whom such right or interest was
originally acquired, if such person or entity still retains the mineral rights reserved.
(2) The offer shall be in writing and shall be based upon the fair market value of the
right or interest.
(3) The offer shall be delivered by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last
known address of the grantor. The grantor shall have thirty calendar days from the date of
receipt to accept or reject the offer in writing. Failure to respond timely shall create a
presumption of rejection of the offer.
(4) If the last known address of the grantor cannot be determined, or if there has been
no written response from the grantor to the acquiring authority accepting or rejecting the
offer after thirty calendar days from date of receipt, the acquiring authority may institute a
civil action by summary proceeding to show cause why the offer should not be considered
rejected. A grantor whose last known address cannot be determined shall be treated as an
absentee defendant.
F. The provisions of Subsection E shall not apply to any property acquired or
disposed of by the Department of Transportation and Development pursuant to Part XII or
Part XVIII of Chapter 1 of Title 48 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950.
G. The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply to:
(1) A transfer to an acquiring authority arising from the nonpayment of ad valorem
taxes, or by enforcement of privileges, mortgages, judgments or other obligations for money.
(2) A transfer in which the acquiring authority neither expressly reserves or excludes
nor conveys to the transferor a mineral right otherwise subject to prescription.
(3) A transfer to an acquiring authority of land with an existing mineral right subject
to prescription in which the instrument or judgment transferring the land does not expressly
purport to reserve the mineral right to the transferor or otherwise exclude the mineral right
from the acquisition.
(4) Any lands or mineral rights that are the subject of agreements made pursuant to
R.S. 41:1702.
H.(1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, when land within the
Atchafalaya Basin Floodway is acquired from any person by an acquiring authority by
conventional deed, donation, or other contract or by condemnation or expropriation
proceedings and by the act of acquisition, order, or judgment, a mineral right otherwise
subject to the prescription of nonuse is reserved, the prescription of nonuse shall thereafter
not run against the right whether the title to the land remains in the acquiring authority, or
is subsequently transferred to a third person, public or private.
(2) For purposes of this Section, "Atchafalaya Basin Floodway" means that area
bounded by U.S. Highway 190 on the north, U.S. Highway 90 on the south, the East
Atchafalaya Basin Protection levee on the east, and the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection
levee on the west.
I. When land is acquired from any person by an acquiring authority or other person,
through act of sale, exchange, donation, or other contract, as part of an economic
development project pursuant to a cooperative endeavor agreement between the acquiring
authority and the state through Louisiana Economic Development, as evidenced in a
certification by the secretary of Louisiana Economic Development attached to the instrument
by which the land is acquired, and a mineral right subject to the prescription of nonuse is
reserved in the instrument by which the land is acquired, the prescription of nonuse shall be
for a period of twenty years from the date of acquisition whether the title to the land remains
in the acquiring authority or is subsequently transferred to a third person, public or private.

Legislative History

Acts 1990, No. 37, §1; Acts 1991, No. 745, §1; Acts 2004, No. 919, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2004; Acts 2008, No. 580, §3; Acts 2013, No. 91, §1, eff. June 4, 2013; Acts 2014, No. 473, §1; Acts 2016, No. 60, §1; Acts 2023, No. 150, §6, eff. Jan. 10, 2024.