Texas Land & Energy Research Tools
Official maps, records and agency resources to help Texans investigate land, minerals, energy projects and development near their property.
Most landowner research starts the same way: a rumour, a survey crew, a letter from a company you have never heard of, or a rezoning sign at the end of the road. Turning that into something you can actually rely on means finding the records, and knowing which record answers which question.
This page is a gateway, not an article. Each tool below explains what it is, what it can help you find, what it cannot establish on its own, and where to go next.
A map is a research starting point, not the final answer. Maps, databases and public records are research tools. On their own they do not establish legal boundaries: title, mineral ownership, permit status, project status or rights affecting a specific property. Carry what you find, names: survey information, legal descriptions, lease and project names, into the county and agency records that actually control.
Start here: the research sequence
Working in this order saves a great deal of wasted effort, because step 3 usually determines which agency matters at all.
- Identify the property. Get the legal description, not just the address: survey, abstract number, block and section where applicable.
- Identify the project or applicant. A company name, project name or lease name is the key that unlocks most agency systems.
- Determine whose land it is. Private, local government, state or GLO-managed, federal, or a mix. This decides which rules and which agency apply, and it is the step most people skip.
- Identify the deciding body. The permitting agency, county commissioners court, city planning body, groundwater district or utility regulator.
- Identify the specific action. A permit, zoning matter, docket, lease, easement or other governmental action, each has its own record trail.
- Find the controlling notice requirements for that action, from the body that issues them.
- Locate the meetings, hearings, comment periods or dockets, and note every deadline in writing.
- Confirm in the county records. Deeds, easements and plats recorded with the county clerk are where land interests actually live.
Keep the conclusion proportional to the evidence
These words are not interchangeable, and treating them as though they are is the most common research mistake we see:
- Proposed
- Announced
- Applied
- Permitted
- Under construction
- Operating
- Registered
- Leased
- Mapped
- Recorded
A map pin, a lease, an application, a registry entry, a memorandum, a deed, an easement, an interconnection request or a permit application does not by itself establish that a facility is currently operating. Say what the record supports, and no more.
State land, lease and mapping records
Texas GLO Land & Lease Mapping Viewer
Operated by the Texas General Land Office
A public GIS viewer covering land and lease information managed by the General Land Office. What you see depends heavily on which layers you switch on.
May help identify
State-managed land, survey information, leases, easements, mineral and energy records, and other GLO-managed geographic information, depending on the layers selected.
Does not by itself prove
Private property boundaries: title, mineral ownership, permit status, that a project is operating, or that a particular company owns a parcel. It is not a legal survey and does not replace a title examination.
Next step
Carry the names, survey information and legal description into the county clerk, the appraisal district and the applicable agency records.
Hard Minerals on Texas State Lands
Texas General Land Office, state lands and mineral-classified lands
The General Land Office issues prospect permits and leases involving certain minerals on state lands and mineral-classified lands. Minerals the GLO identifies in this program include caliche, sand, gravel, limestone, coal and sulphur. Exploration and leasing procedures depend on both the mineral involved and the classification of the land involved.
This is the distinction that matters most: the GLO process applies to state and mineral-classified land. It does not mean the GLO controls all mining, excavation, sand, gravel, limestone or mineral activity occurring on privately owned Texas land. Activity on private land follows a different path entirely, and the first job is working out which kind of land you are actually looking at.
May help identify
Prospecting and hard-mineral leasing procedures, royalty reporting, applicable statutes and rules, and scanned lease files relating to GLO-managed interests.
Does not by itself prove
That mineral activity near you is state-authorised, that any particular parcel is state or mineral-classified land, or who holds the mineral estate under private land.
Next step
Establish the land classification first. Then follow deed and mineral records at the county clerk, and check the applicable permitting body for the activity involved.
The GLO publishes the current prospecting and leasing forms: applications to prospect, questionnaires, annual reports, example permits and plan-of-operations material, on its own site. We deliberately do not mirror those forms here, because the authoritative version is the one the agency is publishing today.
Why hard minerals matter to landowners
Texas land development is not limited to oil, gas, solar, wind or large industrial projects. Sand, gravel, caliche, limestone and other mineral activity can also intersect with land use, roads: water, neighbouring property, leases and surface development.
The first question is not simply "Is someone mining nearby?" It is identifying the land involved, the mineral involved, who owns or controls the relevant interests, which government body has authority, and which records apply. Different minerals and different land classifications carry different permit, notice and approval requirements, they are not one process.
A limited landowner option: small fractional state mineral interests
Texas law provides a limited process that may apply in certain circumstances. Under Texas Natural Resources Code §31.1582, if the General Land Office receives an offer from a landowner to buy the state's interest in the mineral estate in property to which the landowner holds title, the GLO may sell that interest at fair market value where it is:
- a fractional mineral interest of 1/32 or less; and
- severed from a parcel that is 80 acres or less; and
- located in a county with a population of less than 11,000.
The section does not apply to land under the management and control of the board of regents of a public or private institution of higher education.
This is not a general right to buy state minerals, and nothing here promises that any particular property qualifies. Read the current statute, and take questions about your own property to a qualified professional.
Energy, water and carbon leasing on state land
CO2 Sequestration, Water & Geothermal Leasing
Texas General Land Office, GLO-managed land only
The GLO engages in leasing involving CO2 sequestration, water and produced water, and geothermal energy. Its published process differs by category: CO2 sequestration through a Request for Proposals; water and produced water through direct negotiation; geothermal through direct negotiation for State and Federal institutions and sealed bid for others.
May help identify
How the state leases these interests where GLO-managed land is involved.
Does not by itself prove
That a project near you involves state land at all. Most CO2, produced-water and geothermal activity in Texas does not occur on GLO land and is not approved by the GLO.
Next step
Establish whether state land is involved. For well permitting, see our carbon capture guide and the Railroad Commission.
State Energy Marketing Program (SEMP)
Texas General Land Office, public entities only
The GLO's State Energy Marketing Program sells natural gas to qualifying public entities and public retail customers. Examples the GLO identifies include independent school districts; community, junior and technical colleges; public colleges and universities; state agencies; cities and counties; municipal utility districts; other local government agencies; military bases; veterans facilities; and municipalities. The program may reduce natural-gas costs for participating public entities and generates revenue for the Permanent School Fund.
This is not a household utility program. An individual homeowner cannot buy natural gas through SEMP merely by living in Texas.
May help identify
How qualifying public entities may acquire natural gas through the state, and how the program relates to the Permanent School Fund.
Does not by itself prove
Anything about residential gas service, retail rates or a private supplier's contract.
Next step
Public entities should work directly with the GLO. Residential customers should look to their own retail provider and applicable utility regulator.
Historical note. The GLO formerly operated a State Power Program involving electricity for qualifying public customers. HB 2263 from the 86th Legislature (2019) phased that electricity program out and removed the GLO's authorisation to continue accepting new customers under it, allowing existing agreements to wind down. It is historical context only, the program is not open for enrolment, and current SEMP content concerns natural gas.
Texas Natural Resources Code §31.401 concerns the use of state energy resources. It provides for GLO review and approval of certain state-agency natural-gas acquisition contracts meeting the statutory threshold, and contains provisions concerning use of natural gas connected with specified state lands and royalty gas. It does not govern ordinary residential natural-gas contracts.
When state land is involved: development plans and hearings
Texas does not have one single universal public-notice system for every type of development. Where applicable state real property and the GLO development-plan process are involved, particular statutory procedures may become relevant. These are scoped procedures, not a general rule for private development.
Under Texas Natural Resources Code §31.1611, where the statutory development-plan process applies: the division notifies the affected local government; the local government may request a public hearing within the statutory timeframe; notice may be provided to affected real-property owners in the applicable manner; the hearing may include presentations from the state and the local government; oral and written public comments may be considered; and the division prepares a summary or report concerning the information presented.
Under §31.166, within that specific statutory process, one or more public hearings are held, affected political subdivisions and the appropriate central appraisal district receive statutory notice, and at least one hearing is conducted in the county where the property is located.
Neither section creates a hearing right for every neighbouring landowner facing private development. If the land near you is privately owned, these procedures are unlikely to be the ones that apply, go back to step 3 of the research sequence and identify the deciding body.
Where to continue your research
Which of these matters depends entirely on what you established in steps 3 and 4 above. Not every project involves every agency, and an agency with no jurisdiction over your situation has no record of it.
- County clerk: deeds: easements, plats, mineral reservations and recorded instruments. See Find Texas Property Records.
- County appraisal district: parcel records, ownership as appraised, and improvements. See Find My County.
- Commissioners court agendas and minutes: county-level decisions, often the only public record of a local approval.
- Municipal planning and zoning records: where the land sits inside city limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction.
- Railroad Commission of Texas: oil and gas records, pipelines, and Class VI carbon storage wells.
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality: environmental permitting and related records.
- Public Utility Commission of Texas: utility and transmission dockets, where applicable.
- Groundwater conservation district: well permitting and production rules in many parts of Texas.
- Texas Register and Texas Legislature Online: proposed rules, notices and legislation. See Legislative Watch.
Texas Homestead Law provides educational information and links to official and third-party records. Maps, databases and public records should be treated as research tools and do not independently establish legal boundaries: title, mineral ownership, permit status, project status or rights affecting a specific property. We are not affiliated with the Texas General Land Office, the Railroad Commission of Texas, TCEQ, PUCT, the Texas Comptroller, the Texas Legislature, any county government or any appraisal district, and we do not provide legal, tax, engineering, environmental, surveying, mineral-title, real-estate, financial or investment advice.
Sources & references
The Texas General Land Office publishes the GLO GIS map viewer, its Hard Minerals program information including the minerals listed above and its prospecting, leasing, royalty-reporting, statute and scanned-lease-file resources, its CO2 sequestration, water and geothermal leasing categories, and the State Energy Marketing Program description of qualifying public customers and the Permanent School Fund.
Texas Natural Resources Code Chapter 31 contains §31.1582 (sale of certain fractional mineral interests, including the higher-education exception), §31.401 (use of state energy resources), §31.1611 (development plan public hearings) and §31.166 (special board of review hearings). Chapter 53 governs prospecting for and leasing of minerals on state land. HB 2263, 86th Legislature (2019), eliminated the GLO's electric power sales program.
Agency programs: forms, map layers, statutes and leasing procedures change. The official source is always more current than any summary. Reviewed August 10, 2026.