113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2440 

AN ACT 

To expand and extend the program to improve permit coordination by the Bureau of Land Management, 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, 
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†S 2440 ES

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘BLM Permit Proc3 essing Improvement Act of 2014’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROGRAM TO IMPROVE FEDERAL PERMIT COORDI5 NATION. 

6 Section 365 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

7 U.S.C. 15924) is amended— 

8 (1) in the section heading, by striking 

9 ‘‘PILOT’’; 

10 (2) by striking ‘‘Pilot Project’’ each place it ap11 pears and inserting ‘‘Project’’; 

12 (3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘Wyoming, 

13 Montana, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico’’ and in14 serting ‘‘the States in which Project offices are lo15 cated’’; 

16 (4) in subsection (d)— 

17 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

18 ‘‘PILOT’’; and 

19 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(8) Any other State, district, or field office of 

21 the Bureau of Land Management determined by the 

22 Secretary.’’; 

23 (5) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the 

24 following: 

25 ‘‘(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than Feb26 ruary 1 of the first fiscal year beginning after the date 
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1 of enactment of the BLM Permit Processing Improvement 

2 Act of 2014 and each February 1 thereafter, the Secretary 

3 shall report to the Chairman and ranking minority Mem4 ber of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

5 of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources 

6 of the House of Representatives, which shall include— 

7 ‘‘(1) the allocation of funds to each Project of8 fice for the previous fiscal year; and 

9 ‘‘(2) the accomplishments of each Project office 

10 relating to the coordination and processing of oil and 

11 gas use authorizations during that fiscal year.’’; 

12 (6) in subsection (h), by striking paragraph (6) 

13 and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(6) the States in which Project offices are lo15 cated.’’; 

16 (7) by striking subsection (i); and 

17 (8) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub18 section (i). 

19 SEC. 3. BLM OIL AND GAS PERMIT PROCESSING FEE. 

20 Section 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 

21 191) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(d) BLM OIL AND GAS PERMIT PROCESSING

23 FEE.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

25 provision of law, for each of fiscal years 2016 
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1 through 2026, the Secretary, acting through the Di2 rector of the Bureau of Land Management, shall col3 lect a fee for each new application for a permit to 

4 drill that is submitted to the Secretary. 

5 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The amount of the fee shall be 

6 $9,500 for each new application, as indexed for 

7 United States dollar inflation from October 1, 2015 

8 (as measured by the Consumer Price Index). 

9 ‘‘(3) USE.—Of the fees collected under this 

10 subsection for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall 

11 transfer— 

12 ‘‘(A) for each of fiscal years 2016 through 

13 2019— 

14 ‘‘(i) 15 percent to the field offices that 

15 collected the fees and used to process pro16 tests, leases, and permits under this Act, 

17 subject to appropriation; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) 85 percent to the BLM Permit 

19 Processing Improvement Fund established 

20 under subsection (c)(2)(B) (referred to in 

21 this subsection as the ‘Fund’); and 

22 ‘‘(B) for each of fiscal years 2020 through 

23 2026, all of the fees to the Fund. 

24 ‘‘(4) ADDITIONAL COSTS.—During each of fis25 cal years of 2016 through 2026, the Secretary shall 
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1 not implement a rulemaking that would enable an 

2 increase in fees to recover additional costs related to 

3 processing applications for permits to drill.’’. 

4 SEC. 4. BLM PERMIT PROCESSING IMPROVEMENT FUND. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 35(c) of the Mineral 

6 Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191(c)) is amended by striking 

7 paragraph (3) and inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUND.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund shall be 

10 available to the Secretary of the Interior for ex11 penditure, without further appropriation and 

12 without fiscal year limitation, for the coordina13 tion and processing of oil and gas use author14 izations on onshore Federal and Indian trust 

15 mineral estate land. 

16 ‘‘(B) ACCOUNTS.—The Secretary shall di17 vide the Fund into— 

18 ‘‘(i) a Rental Account (referred to in 

19 this subsection as the ‘Rental Account’) 

20 comprised of rental receipts collected under 

21 this section; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) a Fee Account (referred to in 

23 this subsection as the ‘Fee Account’) com24 prised of fees collected under subsection 

25 (d). 
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1 ‘‘(4) RENTAL ACCOUNT.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

3 use the Rental Account for— 

4 ‘‘(i) the coordination and processing 

5 of oil and gas use authorizations on on6 shore Federal and Indian trust mineral es7 tate land under the jurisdiction of the 

8 Project offices identified under section 

9 365(d) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 

10 (42 U.S.C. 15924(d)); and 

11 ‘‘(ii) training programs for develop12 ment of expertise related to coordinating 

13 and processing oil and gas use authoriza14 tions. 

15 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION.—In determining the al16 location of the Rental Account among Project 

17 offices for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall con18 sider— 

19 ‘‘(i) the number of applications for 

20 permit to drill received in a Project office 

21 during the previous fiscal year; 

22 ‘‘(ii) the backlog of applications de23 scribed in clause (i) in a Project office; 

24 ‘‘(iii) publicly available industry fore25 casts for development of oil and gas re-
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1 sources under the jurisdiction of a Project 

2 office; and 

3 ‘‘(iv) any opportunities for partner4 ship with local industry organizations and 

5 educational institutions in developing train6 ing programs to facilitate the coordination 

7 and processing of oil and gas use author8 izations. 

9 ‘‘(5) FEE ACCOUNT.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

11 use the Fee Account for the coordination and 

12 processing of oil and gas use authorizations on 

13 onshore Federal and Indian trust mineral estate 

14 land. 

15 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION.—The Secretary shall 

16 transfer not less than 75 percent of the reve17 nues collected by an office for the processing of 

18 applications for permits to the State office of 

19 the State in which the fees were collected.’’. 

20 (b) INTEREST ON OVERPAYMENT ADJUSTMENT.— 

21 Section 111(h) of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Man22 agement Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1721(h)) is amended in 

23 the first sentence by striking ‘‘the rate’’ and all that fol24 lows through the period at the end of the sentence and 

25 inserting ‘‘a rate equal to the sum of the Federal short- 
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1 term rate determined under section 6621(b) of the Inter2 nal Revenue Code of 1986 plus 1 percentage point.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

4 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

5 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go-Act of 2010, 

6 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

7 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

8 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

9 by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, pro10 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

11 vote on passage. 

Passed the Senate September 16, 2014. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2440 

AN ACT 

To expand and extend the program to improve perment, and for other purposes. mit coordination by the Bureau of Land Manage-