IB 
Union Calendar No. 786 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6087 
[Report No. 115–1005] 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to recover the cost of processing 
administrative protests for oil and gas lease sales, applications for per-
mits to drill, and right of way applications, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 13, 2018 
Ms. CHENEY (for herself, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. BISHOP of 
Utah, and Mr. GOSAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Natural Resources 
NOVEMBER 2, 2018 
Additional sponsor: Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N of Puerto Rico 
NOVEMBER 2, 2018 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 13, 2018] 
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A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to recover the 
cost of processing administrative protests for oil and 
gas lease sales, applications for permits to drill, and 
right of way applications, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Removing Barriers to 
Energy Independence Act’’. 
SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE PROTEST PROCESS REFORM. 
Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(q) PROTEST FILING FEE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Before processing any pro-
test filed under this section, the Secretary shall collect 
a filing fee from the protestor to recover the cost for 
processing documents filed for each administrative 
protest. 
‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The filing fee shall be calculated 
as follows: 
‘‘(A) For each protest filed in a submission 
not exceeding 10 pages in length, the base filing 
fee shall be $150. 
‘‘(B) For each submission exceeding 10 
pages in length, an addition to the base filing 
fee, an assessment of $5 per page in excess of 10 
pages shall apply. 
‘‘(C) For protests that include more than 
one oil and gas lease parcel, right-of-way, or ap-
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plication for permit to drill in a submission, an 
additional assessment of $10 per additional lease 
parcel, right-of-way, or application for permit to 
drill shall apply. 
‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on January 
1, 2020, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 
shall adjust the filing fees established in this sub-
section to whole dollar amounts to reflect changes 
in the Producer Price Index, as published by the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the previous 12 
months. 
‘‘(B) PUBLICATION
OF
ADJUSTED
FILING 
FEES.—At least 30 days before the filing fees as 
adjusted under this paragraph take effect, the 
Secretary shall publish notification of the adjust-
ment of such fees in the Federal Register.’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 786 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6087 
[Report No. 115–1005] 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to re-
cover the cost of processing administrative pro-
tests for oil and gas lease sales, applications for 
permits to drill, and right of way applications, 
and for other purposes. 
NOVEMBER 2, 2018 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:13 Nov 02, 2018
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PO 00000
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