Who must grant authority for a life tenant to produce oil and gas according to the Open Mine Doctrine?

In the context of the Open Mine Doctrine, the correct choice highlights the necessity for the life tenant to secure permission from the prior owner of the royalties in fee for any extraction of oil and gas resources. This doctrine recognizes that a life tenant can use the property but is also bound by the rights of the remainderman or the future interest holder. The prior owner of the royalties retains an interest in the property that can be affected by any extraction activities.

When dealing with natural resources like oil and gas, the rights associated with those resources are often separated from the surface rights. Therefore, the life tenant's ability to extract these resources isn’t solely dependent on their own rights but also on the permissions and obligations owed to the previous owner of those rights, who has an ongoing interest in the yield from the property. This ensures that the future interests of the property are not unduly harmed by the life tenant's actions, maintaining a balance between current use and future benefit.