Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 46 Part 1.djvu/1567

 1524 Report to C ongress. Limiting production under cooperative plan . Suspension of drill- ing, etc ., requirements if deemed necessary. Lease not to expire. Reduction of royalty if production small. Appli cabl e to all leases . Holdings limited . Coal, phosphate or sodium leases . Ante, p. 1008. Oil or gas. Interests in o ther leases. Total holdings lim- ited. Forfe iture of p rohi bit- ed interests. Temporary holdi ng by descent, will, etc. Provisos. E xcept ions. Vol. 41, pp. 443-446. SEVENTY-FIRST CONGRESS. SEss. III. C$. 506 . 1931 . a single oil or gas pool, or area, or other plan for the conservation of the oil and gas of a single pool or area, which plan has the approval of the Secretary of the department or departments having jurisdiction over the Government lands included in said plan as necessary or convenient in the public interest, shall continue in force beyond said period of twenty years until the termination of such plan : And provided further, That said Secretary or Secre- taries shall report all leases so continued to Congress at the begin- ning of its next regular session after the date of such continuance. "Any cooperative or unit plan of development or operation, which includes land owned by the United States, shall contain a provision whereby authority, limited as therein provided, is vested in the Secretary of the department or departments having jurisdiction over such land to alter or modify from time to time in his discre- tion the quantity and rate of production under said plan . The Sec- retary of the Interior is authorized whenever he shall deem such action necessary or in the public interest, with the consent of lessee, by order to suspend or modify the dr illing or pro ducing require - ments of any oil and gas lease heretofore or hereafter issued, and no lease shall be deemed to expire by reason of the suspension of production pursuant to any such order . Wh ene ver the ave rage daily production of any oil well shall not exceed ten barrels per day the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to reduce the royalty on future production when in his judgment the well can not be successfully operated upon the royalty fixed in the lease . The provisions of this section shall apply to all oil and gas leases made under this A ct. " SEC. 27. That no person, association, or corporation, except as herein provided, shall take or hold coal, phosphate, or sodium leases or permits during the life of such leases or permits in any one State exceeding in aggregate acreage two thousand five hundred and sixty acres for each of said minerals tion shall take or hold at one time oil or gas leases or permits exceed- ing in the aggregate seven thousand six hundred and eighty acres granted hereunder in any one State, and not more than two thousand five hundred and sixty acres within the geologic structure of the same producing oil or gas field ration shall take or hold at one time any interest or interests as a member of an association or associations or as a stockholder of a corporation or corporations holding a lease or leases, permit or per- mits, under the provisions hereof, which, together with the area embraced in any direct holding of a lease or leases, permit or per- mits, under this Act, or which, together with any other interest or interests as a member of an association or associations or as a stockholder of a corporation or corporations holding a lease or leases, permit or permits, under the provisions hereof for any kind of min- eral leases hereunder, exceeds in the aggregate an amount equivalent to the maximum number of acres of the respective kinds of minerals allowed to any one lessee or permittee under this Act . Any int erests held in violation of this Act shall be forfeited to the United States by appropria te proceeding s instituted by the Attorne y General for that purpose in the United States district court for the district in which the property, or some part thereof, is located, except that any ownership or interest for bidden in thi s Act which ma y be acquired by descent, will, judgment, or decree may be held for two years and not longer after its acquisition : Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to limit sections 18, 18a, 19, and 22 or to prevent a ny number of lessees under the provision s of this Act a
 * no person, association, or corpora-
 * and no person, assoc iation , or co rpo-

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