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industry will have trouble finding a place to live, he said.
• Sen. Tom Nelson, R-Lead, said South Dakota cannot ignore the coming surge in oil and gas drilling.
• "It's not a matter of if, it's when," Nelson said.
• Reuben Bezpaletz, a legislative staffer, said the study committee may also want to look at a state law that allows ownership of mineral rights to be severed from ownership of the land's surface. When many South Dakota farms and ranches were sold, the original owners kept rights to any minerals under that land, he said.
• As mineral interests have been passed down through several generations, they have been divided among many heirs, Bezpaletz said. Companies will be reluctant to explore in an area where it's difficult to track down all the people who hold a share

of the mineral interests, he said.
• However, the state holds the mineral rights underlying much land in South Dakota, Bezpaletz said.
• "If we did make a major strike in South Dakota, the state would be rolling in money," he said.
•

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Rain across South Dakota over the past week has left many

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