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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 321. Rights-of-way for pipe lines
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and empowered to
grant a right-of-way in the nature of an easement for the
construction, operation, and maintenance of pipe lines for the
conveyance of oil and gas through any Indian reservation, through
any lands held by an Indian tribe or nation in the former Indian
Territory, through any lands reserved for an Indian agency or
Indian school, or for other purpose in connection with the Indian
Service, or through any lands which have been allotted in severalty
to any individual Indian under any law or treaty, but which have
not been conveyed to the allottee with full power of alienation
upon the terms and conditions herein expressed. Before title to
rights of way applied for hereunder shall vest, maps of definite
location shall be filed with and approved by the Secretary of the
Interior: Provided, That before such approval the Secretary of the
Interior may, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe,
grant temporary permits revocable in his discretion for the
construction of such lines: Provided, That the construction of
lateral lines from the main pipe line establishing connection with
oil and gas wells on the individual allotments of citizens may be
constructed without securing authority from the Secretary of the
Interior and without filing maps of definite location, when the
consent of the allottee upon whose lands oil or gas wells may be
located and of all other allottees through whose lands said lateral
pipe lines may pass has been obtained by the pipe-line company:
Provided further, That in case it is desired to run a pipe line
under the line of any railroad, and satisfactory arrangements
cannot be made with the railroad company, then the question shall
be referred to the Secretary of the Interior, who shall prescribe
the terms and conditions under which the pipe-line company shall be
permitted to lay its lines under said railroad. The compensation to
be paid the tribes in their tribal capacity and the individual
allottees for such right of way through their lands shall be
determined in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may
direct, and shall be subject to his final approval. And where such
lines are not subject to State or Territorial taxation the company
or owner of the line shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior,
for the use and benefit of the Indians, such annual tax as he may
designate, not exceeding $5 for each ten miles of line so
constructed and maintained under such rules and regulations as said
Secretary may prescribe. But nothing herein contained shall be so
construed as to exempt the owners of such lines from the payment of
any tax that may be lawfully assessed against them by either State,
Territorial, or municipal authority. And incorporated cities and
towns into and through which such pipe lines may be constructed
shall have the power to regulate the manner of construction
therein, and nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to
deny the right of municipal taxation in such towns and cities, and
nothing herein shall authorize the use of such right of way except
for pipe line, and then only so far as may be necessary for its
construction, maintenance, and care: Provided, That the rights
herein granted shall not extend beyond a period of twenty years:
Provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior, at the
expiration of said twenty years, may extend the right to maintain
any pipe line constructed under this section for another period not
to exceed twenty years from the expiration of the first right, upon
such terms and conditions as he may deem proper. The right to
alter, amend, or repeal this section is expressly reserved.
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