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Hearing on bill to require pre-construction soil reservation for oil and gas sites draws debate over costs and enforcement
Summary
Senate Bill 2313 would require documentation and reservation of suitable plant growth material (topsoil and subsoil) for well pads and other oil and gas sites; landowner advocates urged statutory minimums and monitoring, while the Oil and Gas Division said rules already address topsoil and warned of staffing and workload impacts.
The committee considered Senate Bill 2313, introduced by Sen. Jeff Magrum, which would require that operators preserve and document suitable plant growth material (SPGM) — commonly called topsoil — when constructing oil and gas facilities, and that preservation be tracked to support final reclamation.
Supporters, including Troy (Chairman, Northwest Landowners Association) and retired trust-land official Michael Haupt, urged the committee to adopt a more prescriptive, documented process. Haupt said the Department of Trust Lands used on-site meetings and a volume-based approach to calculate required SPGM, and that the presence of visible stockpiles…
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