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2010 Letter Opinions North Dakota Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2010)

handle is hein.sag/sagnd0047 and id is 1 raw text is: LETTER OPINION 201 0-L-01 February 5, 2010 Mr. Wade Enget Mountrail County State's Attorney PO Box 369 Stanley, ND 587840-0369 Dear Mr. Enget: Thank you for your letter requesting my opinion on whether Mountrail County's zoning ordinance may be applied to oil, gas, or saltwater wells that are subject to the State Industrial Commission's jurisdiction. You specifically ask about authority over determining the location of such wells. It is my opinion that Mountrail County's zoning ordinances cannot be applied to oil, gas, or saltwater wells because of the comprehensive nature of the Industrial Commission's statutory authority which preempts county regulation of oil, gas, or saltwater wells, including their location. ANALYSIS In your letter, you stated: Mountrail County, if it had the jurisdiction, would require that all oil, gas or salt water wells be zoned industrial. This would require that the surface owners of all the lands upon which these wells are located to petition for change of zoning. This process would then require a public hearing at the County Planning and Zoning Board, with the recommendations of that Zoning Board being then forwarded to the Mountrail County Board of Commissioners for a separate public hearing. At that time, the Board of Commissioners have the final say as to whether or not the application will be approved or not.1 This office has previously determined that a county may not issue oil drilling permits.2 County zoning was specifically addressed in that opinion, and it was determined that the comprehensive state laws regulating oil and gas production demonstrated the North 1 Letter from Wade G. Enget to Attorney General Wayne K. Stenehjem (Oct. 6, 2009). 2 N.D.A.G. 90-23.