I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1505 

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to make certain adjustments to the 

regulation of surface-disturbing activities and to protect taxpayers from 

unduly bearing the reclamation costs of oil and gas development, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2021 

Mr. LOWENTHAL (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. 

CARTWRIGHT, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, and Mr. 

HUFFMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to make certain adjustments to the regulation of surface-disturbing activities 

and to protect taxpayers from unduly bearing the reclamation costs of oil and gas development, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be referred to as the ‘‘Bonding Reform 

5 and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SURFACE DISTURBANCE AND RECLAMATION. 

2 Section 17(g) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 

3 226(g)) is amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘(g) BONDING REQUIREMENTS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

6 ‘‘(A) INTERIM RECLAMATION PLAN.—The 

7 term ‘Interim Reclamation Plan’ means an on8 going plan specifying reclamation steps to be 

9 taken on all disturbed areas covered by any 

10 lease issued under this Act that are not needed 

11 for active operations. 

12 ‘‘(B) FINAL RECLAMATION PLAN.—The 

13 term ‘Final Reclamation Plan’ means a plan 

14 describing all reclamation activity to be con15 ducted for all disturbed areas, including loca16 tions, facilities, trenches, rights-of-way, roads, 

17 and any other surface disturbance covered by a 

18 lease issued under this Act prior to final aban19 donment. 

20 ‘‘(C) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term 

21 ‘Secretary concerned’ means— 

22 ‘‘(i) the Secretary of the Interior for 

23 public lands administered by such Sec24 retary; and 

25 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary of Agriculture for 

26 forest service lands. 


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1 ‘‘(2) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned 

2 shall regulate all surface-disturbing activities con3 ducted pursuant to any lease issued under this Act, 

4 and shall determine reclamation and other actions as 

5 required in the interest of conservation of surface re6 sources. 

7 ‘‘(3) RECLAMATION PLANS REQUIRED.— 

8 ‘‘(A) ANALYSIS AND APPROVAL RE9 QUIRED.—No permit to drill on an oil and gas 

10 lease issued under this Act may be granted 

11 without the analysis and approval by the Sec12 retary concerned of both an interim reclamation 

13 plan and a final reclamation plan covering pro14 posed surface-disturbing activities within the 

15 lease area. 

16 ‘‘(B) PLANS OF OPERATIONS.—All Plans 

17 of Operations submitted and approved pursuant 

18 to this Act shall include an Interim Reclama19 tion Plan. 

20 ‘‘(C) SECRETARIAL REVIEW.—The Sec21 retary concerned shall review each Interim Rec22 lamation Plan at regular intervals and shall re23 quire such plans to be amended as warranted, 

24 subject to the approval of such Secretary. 

25 ‘‘(4) BONDING.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

2 days after the date of enactment of the Bond3 ing Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 

4 2021, the Secretary concerned shall, by regula5 tion, require that an adequate bond, surety, or 

6 other financial arrangement be established prior 

7 to the commencement of surface-disturbing ac8 tivities on any lease, to ensure the complete and 

9 timely reclamation of the lease tract, and the 

10 restoration of any lands or surface waters ad11 versely affected by lease operations after the 

12 abandonment or cessation of oil and gas oper13 ations on the lease. 

14 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary con15 cerned shall not issue or approve the assign16 ment of any lease under the terms of this sec17 tion to any person, association, corporation, or 

18 any subsidiary, affiliate, or person controlled by 

19 or under common control with such person, as20 sociation, or corporation, during any period in 

21 which, as determined by the relevant Secretary, 

22 such entity has failed or refused to comply in 

23 any material respect with the reclamation re24 quirements and other standards established 


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1 under this section for any prior lease to which 

2 such requirements and standards applied. 

3 ‘‘(C) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY FOR COM4 PLIANCE.—Prior to making such determination 

5 with respect to any such entity the concerned 

6 Secretary shall provide such entity with ade7 quate notification and an opportunity to comply 

8 with such reclamation requirements and other 

9 standards and shall consider whether any ad10 ministrative or judicial appeal is pending. Once 

11 the entity has complied with the reclamation re12 quirement or other standard concerned each oil 

13 or gas lease may be issued to such entity under 

14 this Act. 

15 ‘‘(D) LIMITATION ON BONDS.—The Sec16 retary concerned shall review the adequacy of a 

17 bond, surety, or other financial instrument any18 time a lease is transferred. A bond, surety, or 

19 other financial arrangement described in sub20 paragraph (A) shall not be adequate if it is less 

21 than— 

22 ‘‘(i) $150,000 in the case of an ar23 rangement for an individual surface-dis24 turbing activity of each entity on an indi25 vidual oil or gas lease; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) $500,000 in the case of an ar2 rangement for all surface-disturbing activi3 ties of each entity in a State. 

4 ‘‘(E) ADJUSTMENTS FOR INFLATION.—In 

5 the application of subparagraph (B), the Secre6 taries concerned shall jointly at least once every 

7 three years, at the beginning of the fiscal year, 

8 adjust the dollar amounts in subparagraph (B) 

9 to account for inflation based on the Consumer 

10 Price Index for all urban consumer published 

11 by the Department of Labor. 

12 ‘‘(F) REQUIRING HIGHER BOND

13 AMOUNTS.—The Secretary concerned may re14 quire a higher level of a financial assurance 

15 above the applicable minimum level required 

16 under paragraph (D) as the Secretary con17 cerned determines to be appropriate or nec18 essary to ensure the complete and timely rec19 lamation of the lease tract, and the restoration 

20 of any lands or surface waters adversely af21 fected by lease operations after the abandon22 ment or cessation of oil and gas operations on 

23 the lease. 

24 ‘‘(5) STANDARDS.—Not later than 180 days 

25 after the date of enactment of the Bonding Reform 


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1 and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2021, the Secretary 

2 of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture 

3 shall, by regulation, establish uniform standards for 

4 all Interim and Final Reclamation Plans. The goal 

5 of such plans shall be the restoration of the affected 

6 ecosystem to a condition approximating or equal to 

7 that which existed prior to the surface disturbance. 

8 Such standards shall include restoration of natural 

9 vegetation and hydrology, habitat restoration, sal10 vage, storage and reuse of topsoils, erosion control, 

11 control of invasive species and noxious weeds and 

12 natural contouring. 

13 ‘‘(6) MONITORING.—The Secretary concerned 

14 shall not approve final abandonment and shall not 

15 release any bond required by this Act until the 

16 standards and requirement for final reclamation es17 tablished pursuant to this Act have been met. 

18 ‘‘(7) FINANCIAL ASSURANCES.—The Secretary 

19 concerned shall not release the financial assurance 

20 established for a lease until the applicable lessee has 

21 paid the inspection fees required under section 4 for 

22 the lease covered by the financial assurance instru23 ment. 

24 ‘‘(8) BOND ADEQUACY REVIEW.—The Secretary 

25 shall conduct bond adequacy reviews as required 


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1 under paragraph (4)(D) in accordance with Bureau 

2 of Land Management Instruction Memorandum No. 

3 2019-014, dated November 15, 2018.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. CHANGES TO THE BLM PERMIT PROCESSING IM5 PROVEMENT FUND. 

6 (a) NAME OF FUND.—Section 35(c)(2)(B) of the 

7 Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191(c)(2)(B)) is amended 

8 by striking ‘‘BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘BLM Administration and Accountability 

10 Fund’’. 

11 (b) ADDITIONAL USES.—Section 35(c)(3)(A) of such 

12 Act (30 191(c)(3)(A)) is amended by adding at the end 

13 the following: ‘‘Such coordination and processing shall in14 clude— 

15 ‘‘(i) the coordination and review proc16 ess for financial assurances for oil and gas 

17 leases and bond releases for oil and gas 

18 leases; 

19 ‘‘(ii) the inventory of orphaned wells 

20 and coordinate the processing of requests 

21 for delays in the permanent closure of in22 active wells; and 

23 ‘‘(iii) coordination and processing re24 lated to environmental and cultural reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1505.IH H1505

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1 sources reviews applicable to oil and gas 

2 activities.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. INSPECTION FEES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 108 of the Federal Oil 

5 and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 

6 1718) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(d) INSPECTION FEES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The designated operator 

9 under each oil and gas lease on Federal or Indian 

10 lands, or each unit and communitization agreement 

11 that includes one or more such Federal or Indian 

12 leases, that is subject to inspection under subsection 

13 (b) and that is in force at the start of the fiscal year 

14 2021, shall pay a nonrefundable annual inspection 

15 fee in an amount that, except as provided in para16 graph (2), is established by the Secretary by regula17 tion and is sufficient to recover the full costs in18 curred by the United States for inspection and en19 forcement with respect to such leases. 

20 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—Until the effective date of reg21 ulations under paragraph (1), the amount of the fee 

22 shall be— 

23 ‘‘(A) $700 for each lease or unit or 

24 communitization agreement with no active or 


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1 inactive wells, but with surface use, disturbance 

2 or reclamation; 

3 ‘‘(B) $1,225 for each lease or unit or 

4 communitization agreement with 1 to 10 wells, 

5 with any combination of active or inactive wells; 

6 ‘‘(C) $4,900 for each lease or unit or 

7 communitization agreement with 11 to 50 wells, 

8 with any combination of active or inactive wells; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(D) $9,800 for each lease or unit or 

11 communitization agreement with more than 50 

12 wells, with any combination of active or inactive 

13 wells. 

14 ‘‘(3) DUE DATE.—Payment of the fee under 

15 this section shall be due, annually, not later than 30 

16 days after the Secretary provides notice of the as17 sessment of the fee. 

18 ‘‘(4) PENALTY.—If the designated operator 

19 fails to pay the full amount of the fee as prescribed 

20 in this section, the Secretary may, in addition to uti21 lizing any other applicable enforcement authority, 

22 assess civil penalties against the operator under sec23 tion 109 in the same manner as if this section were 

24 a mineral leasing law.’’. 


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1 (b) ASSESSMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022.—The Sec2 retary of the Interior shall assess the fee under the amend3 ment made by subsection (a) for fiscal year 2022, and pro4 vide notice of such assessment to each designated operator 

5 who is liable for such fee, by not later than 60 days after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 5. BONDING EQUITY FOR NATIONAL WILDLIFE REF8 UGE SYSTEM LANDS. 

9 Section 4 of the National Wildlife Refuge System Ad10 ministration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.) is 

11 amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating subsections (h) through 

13 (o), as (i) through (p), respectively; and 

14 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol15 lowing new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(h) RECLAMATION, DAMAGES, AND FINANCIAL AS17 SURANCE FOR OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS ON REFUGE

18 LANDS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) The Secretary, acting through the Direc20 tor, shall obtain adequate financial assurances from 

21 non-Federal entities to repair potential damages to 

22 refuge resources, prior to the commencement of sur23 face-disturbing activities as part of the development 

24 of non-Federal minerals below refuge surface estate, 

25 including— 


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1 ‘‘(A) to ensure the complete and timely 

2 reclamation of the land, and the restoration of 

3 any lands or surface waters adversely affected 

4 by operations after the abandonment or ces5 sation of oil and gas operations on the land; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(B) to meet potential response and as8 sessment costs and other damages to refuge re9 sources as a result of oil and gas operations. 

10 ‘‘(2) Financial assurances forfeited by a non11 Federal entity under this subsection shall be re12 tained and available to the Secretary, without fur13 ther appropriation, and shall remain available until 

14 expended, for— 

15 ‘‘(A) plugging and abandoning wells; 

16 ‘‘(B) removing structures, equipment, ma17 terials, and other infrastructure; 

18 ‘‘(C) response costs and damage assess19 ments conducted; 

20 ‘‘(D) restoration, replacement, or acquisi21 tion of the equivalent refuge resources; and 

22 ‘‘(E) monitoring and studying affected ref23 uge resources.’’. 

Æ 


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