CHAPTER 9 WHAT ARE EXOTIC RECORDS USED FOR? PANEL DISCUSSION

• Jurisdiction: United States

Land and Permitting II
(Jan 1996)
CHAPTER 9
WHAT ARE EXOTIC RECORDS USED FOR? PANEL DISCUSSION
Thomas E. Root Moderator
Martha Phillips Allbright
Robert L. Bartholic
Joe H. Dickerson
Mark R. Leutbecker
Ronald I. Schindler

Thus far we have heard talks on railroad title records and other railroad-related records, materials located in the National Archives, uses of corporate records and computer data bases, helpful discussions on the uses of records of the Bureau of Mines, state oil and gas conservation commissions, state engineers, state libraries, and museum records of various types, and water records of various shapes and sizes.

The next segment of this program is a panel discussion of location and uses of exotic records. It is this segment which places the information contained in the prior papers into context or marshals that information so that it can be put to some practical use.

What might those uses be? As I mentioned in the introduction to this segment of the program, a situation might arise where one is interested in the entire history of a particular area of land...as in the multiple party Superfund litigation context. In such a case, all of the various record types might be needed to identify ownership, corporate and land use, mineral(oil, gas, and all others) production, and water use. This information could be helpful in PRP identification, for example, or allocation of costs based upon contamination contributed.

Another possibility might be historical use. For example, railroad...