Marion Energy, Inc. v. KFJ Ranch Partnership

AMENDED OPINION*

Associate Chief Justice DURRANT,

opinion of the Court:

INTRODUCTION

1 Appellants, Marion Energy, Inc. (Marion) and the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (the Trust), lease and own oil and gas deposits that lie underneath property owned by the KFJ Ranch Partnership (KFJ). In order to build a road to access these deposits, Marion and the Trust seek to condemn a portion of KFJ's land. To do so, they rely upon a statute that permits the exercise of eminent domain for the construction of "roads ... to facilitate ... the working of ... mineral deposits."…