Agriculture; creating the Landowner Energy Negotiation, Agricultural Preservation, and Orphaned Well Mitigation Education Act of 2026. Effective date. Emergency.
SB 2173 creates the Landowner Energy Negotiation, Agricultural Preservation, and Orphaned Well Mitigation Education Act of 2026. The bill establishes a new education and assistance program within the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service to help landowners negotiate oil and gas, wind, and solar agreements, understand dual-use land management, and address issues tied to orphaned and abandoned wells. It also directs the program to provide training, model materials, outreach, and technical support on topics such as agrivoltaics, land restoration, decommissioning, and voluntary soil and water conservation practices.
The bill also creates a revolving fund to support the program and authorizes the Corporation Commission to levy an annual State Energy Land Remediation and Education Fee of up to $25 per acre of disturbed acreage on renewable energy projects. Most of the revenue would be distributed to the Oklahoma State University and Langston University Cooperative Extension Services, with smaller portions retained by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry and the Corporation Commission for administration. Renewable energy project owners could receive a 50% fee credit for approved agrivoltaic or dual-use practices, such as grazing, crop production, pollinator habitat, or soil-health measures that preserve agricultural productivity.
The bill would add new sections to Title 2 of the Oklahoma Statutes and create a new state program, fund, and fee structure tied to renewable energy development on disturbed acreage. It would expand the role of the Cooperative Extension Service and the Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry in landowner education, while also giving the Corporation Commission rulemaking and fee-collection authority related to energy land remediation and education. The measure expressly states that it does not regulate water rights, water use, siting, permitting, or operation of energy facilities, and it frames the fee as a charge on disturbed acreage rather than a tax on energy production.
The available vote history suggests broad support at the committee level, with the Senate Agriculture & Wildlife Committee advancing the committee substitute unanimously, 12-0. The bill’s findings and structure indicate a generally supportive posture toward helping landowners and agricultural producers adapt to renewable energy development while also addressing environmental and abandoned-well concerns. No committee transcript is available, so the public record provided does not show detailed debate or opposition arguments.
The main areas of potential contention are the new annual fee on renewable energy projects, the Corporation Commission’s authority to assess and collect it, and whether the fee could be viewed as a regulatory burden despite the bill’s statement that it is not a tax or operational restriction. Another possible point of debate is the bill’s emphasis on balancing renewable energy development with agricultural preservation, which may draw differing views from renewable energy developers, landowners, agricultural groups, and water-policy stakeholders. The bill also carefully limits its water-related language to voluntary education and repeatedly disclaims any effect on existing water rights, suggesting sensitivity to concerns about state water-law authority.