II
Calendar No. 125
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 535
[Report No. 118–53]
To streamline the oil and gas permitting process and to recognize fee owner-
ship for certain oil and gas drilling or spacing units, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY27, 2023
Mr. H
OEVEN(for himself, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. CRAMER, and Mr. DAINES) in-
troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources
J
ULY11, 2023
Reported by Mr. M
ANCHIN, without amendment
A BILL
To streamline the oil and gas permitting process and to
recognize fee ownership for certain oil and gas drilling
or spacing units, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bureau of Land Man-4
agement Mineral Spacing Act’’. 5
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•S 535 RS
SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH BLM PERMITTING. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding the Mineral 2
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the Federal Oil and 3
Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1701 4
et seq.), or subpart 3162 of title 43, Code of Federal Reg-5
ulations (or successor regulations), but subject to any 6
State or Tribal requirements and subsection (c), the Sec-7
retary of the Interior shall not require a permit to drill 8
for an oil and gas lease under the Mineral Leasing Act 9
(30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) for an action occurring within an 10
oil and gas drilling or spacing unit if— 11
(1) less than 50 percent of the minerals within 12
the oil and gas drilling or spacing unit are minerals 13
owned by the Federal Government; and 14
(2) the Federal Government does not own or 15
lease the surface estate within the area directly im-16
pacted by the action. 17
(b) N
OTIFICATION.—For each State permit to drill 18
or drilling plan that would impact or extract oil and gas 19
owned by the Federal Government— 20
(1) each lessee, or designee of a lessee, shall— 21
(A) notify the Secretary of the Interior of 22
the submission of a State application for a per-23
mit to drill or drilling plan on submission of the 24
application; and 25
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•S 535 RS
(B) provide a copy of the application de-1
scribed in subparagraph (A) to the Secretary of 2
the Interior not later than 5 days after the date 3
on which the permit or plan is submitted; and 4
(2) each lessee, designee of a lessee, or applica-5
ble State shall notify the Secretary of the Interior of 6
the approved State permit to drill or drilling plan 7
not later than 45 days after the date on which the 8
permit or plan is approved. 9
(c) N
ONAPPLICABILITY TO INDIANLANDS.—Sub-10
section (a) shall not apply to Indian lands (as defined in 11
section 3 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management 12
Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1702)). 13
(d) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section affects— 14
(1) other authorities of the Secretary of the In-15
terior under the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Man-16
agement Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 17
(2) the amount of royalties due to the Federal 18
Government from the production of the Federal min-19
erals within the oil and gas drilling or spacing unit. 20
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kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS Calendar No.
125
118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 535
[Report No. 118–53]
A BILL
To streamline the oil and gas permitting process
and to recognize fee ownership for certain oil and
gas drilling or spacing units, and for other pur-
poses.
J
ULY
11, 2023
Reported without amendment
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