TLMA
was created in 1999 by 54 founding members who wanted to
create an entity which would maintain and strengthen property
rights for all Texas and royalty owners while working to
protect our land and water resources from the poorly regulated
oil exploration industry. Today we have over 1,200 members
and over 5,000 supporters across the state.
TLMA
enjoys the support of organizations such as Rice
University and the Kenedy Memorial Foundation and companies such as
the Texas Pacific Land Trust.
While
many of our members are ranchers and farmers, the largest
single group of members in TLMA is royalty owners. The average
royalty owner in Texas is a widow, over 65 years old and
living on a fixed income. There are over 800,000 royalty
owners in Texas. The majority of royalty owners receive
less than $100 a month.
Our
members are concerned about two broad areas of issues:
Royalty
Payment Accuracy |
- During
the 1990s the Texas Supreme Court issued rulings
which adversely affected royalty owners.
- Royalty
owners continue to lack information to determine
the accuracy of their payments
- Invalid
monthly reporting of oil and gas production by oil
operators to the Texas Railroad Commission.
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| Texas'
Land and Water Resources |
- There
are 355,000 oil and gas wells in Texas.
- 116,500
wells are fully depleted and need to be plugged.
- Thousands
of old idle production facilities, gas plants, and
compressor stations must be dismantled and remediated.
- In
2003, TNRCC reported 250 cases of groundwater contamination
located in 85 Texas counties as a result of oil
and gas operations.
- Annual
well plugging by the oil industry has declined 50%
in the last ten years.
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