West Virginia Code § 22-6B-3

Compensation of surface owners for drilling operations
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(a) The oil and gas developer is obligated to pay the surface owner compensation for:
(1) Lost income or expenses incurred as a result of being unable to dedicate land actually
occupied by the driller's operation, or to which access is prevented by the drilling operation,
to the uses to which it was dedicated prior to commencement of the activity for which a
permit was obtained, measured from the date the operator enters upon the land and
commences drilling operations until the date reclamation is completed;
(2) The market value of crops, including timber, destroyed, damauged or prevented from
reaching market;
(3) Any damage to a water supply in use prior to the commencement of the permitted
activity; a
(4) The cost of repair of personal property up to thel value of replacement by personal
property of like age, wear and quality; and
(5) The diminution in value, if any, of the surface lands and other property after completion
of the surface disturbance done pursuant to the activity for which the permit was issued
determined according to the market value of the actual use made thereof by the surface
owner immediately prior to the commencement of the permitted activity.
The amount of damages may be determined by any formula mutually agreeable between the
surface owner and the oil and gas developer.
(b) Any reservation o r assignment of the compensation provided in this section apart from
the surface estate except to a tenant of the surface estate is prohibited.
(c) In the case of surface lands owned by more than one person as tenants in common, joint
tenWants or other co-ownership, any claim for compensation under this article shall be for the
benefit of all co-owners. The resolution of a claim for compensation provided in this article
operates as a bar to the assertion of additional claims under this section arising out of the
same drilling operations.

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