| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1555 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to streamline the oil and gas permitting |
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| 6 | 6 | | process and to recognize fee ownership for certain oil and gas drilling |
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| 7 | 7 | | or spacing units, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY25, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mrs. B |
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| 11 | 11 | | ICEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee |
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| 12 | 12 | | on Natural Resources |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to streamline the oil |
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| 15 | 15 | | and gas permitting process and to recognize fee owner- |
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| 16 | 16 | | ship for certain oil and gas drilling or spacing units, |
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| 17 | 17 | | and for other purposes. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bureau of Land Man-4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | agement Mineral Spacing Act’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | •HR 1555 IH |
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| 26 | 26 | | SEC. 2. ACCESS TO FEDERAL ENERGY RESOURCES FROM 1 |
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| 27 | 27 | | NON-FEDERAL SURFACE ESTATE. 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 3 |
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| 29 | 29 | | 226) is amended by adding at the end the following: 4 |
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| 30 | 30 | | ‘‘(r) N |
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| 31 | 31 | | OFEDERALPERMITREQUIRED FOROIL AND 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | G |
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| 33 | 33 | | ASACTIVITIES ONCERTAINLAND.— 6 |
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| 34 | 34 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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| 35 | 35 | | N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not re-7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | quire an operator to obtain a Federal drilling permit 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | for oil and gas exploration and production activities 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | conducted on non-Federal surface estate, provided 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | that— 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ‘‘(A) the United States holds an ownership 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | interest of less than 50 percent of the sub-13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | surface mineral estate to be accessed by the 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | proposed action; and 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ‘‘(B) the operator submits to the Secretary 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | a State permit to conduct oil and gas explo-17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | ration and production activities on the non-Fed-18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | eral surface estate. 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | ‘‘(2) N |
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| 49 | 49 | | O FEDERAL ACTION.—An oil and gas ex-20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ploration and production activity carried out under 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | paragraph (1)— 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | ‘‘(A) shall not be considered a major Fed-23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | eral action for the purposes of section 24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 25 |
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| 55 | 55 | | Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332); 26 |
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| 57 | 57 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 58 | 58 | | •HR 1555 IH |
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| 59 | 59 | | ‘‘(B) shall require no additional Federal 1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | action; 2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ‘‘(C) may commence 30 days after submis-3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | sion of the State permit to the Secretary; and 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | ‘‘(D) shall not be subject to— 5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ‘‘(i) section 306108 of title 54, United 6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | States Code (commonly known as the Na-7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966); 8 |
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| 67 | 67 | | and 9 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ‘‘(ii) section 7 of the Endangered Spe-10 |
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| 69 | 69 | | cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536). 11 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ‘‘(3) R |
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| 71 | 71 | | OYALTIES AND PRODUCTION ACCOUNT -12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | ABILITY.—(A) Nothing in this subsection shall affect 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | the amount of royalties due to the United States 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | under this Act from the production of oil and gas, 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | or alter the Secretary’s authority to conduct audits 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | and collect civil penalties pursuant to the Federal 17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 18 |
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| 78 | 78 | | U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 19 |
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| 79 | 79 | | ‘‘(B) The Secretary may conduct onsite reviews 20 |
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| 80 | 80 | | and inspections to ensure proper accountability, 21 |
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| 81 | 81 | | measurement, and reporting of production of Fed-22 |
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| 82 | 82 | | eral oil and gas, and payment of royalties. 23 |
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| 83 | 83 | | ‘‘(4) N |
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| 84 | 84 | | ONAPPLICABILITY TO INDIAN LANDS .— 24 |
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| 85 | 85 | | This subsection shall not apply to Indian lands. 25 |
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| 87 | 87 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 88 | 88 | | •HR 1555 IH |
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| 89 | 89 | | ‘‘(5) INDIAN LAND.—In this subsection, the 1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | term ‘Indian land’ means— 2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | ‘‘(A) any land located within the bound-3 |
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| 92 | 92 | | aries of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or 4 |
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| 93 | 93 | | rancheria; and 5 |
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| 94 | 94 | | ‘‘(B) any land not located within the 6 |
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| 95 | 95 | | boundaries of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or 7 |
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| 96 | 96 | | rancheria, the title to which is held— 8 |
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| 97 | 97 | | ‘‘(i) in trust by the United States for 9 |
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| 98 | 98 | | the benefit of an Indian tribe or an indi-10 |
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| 99 | 99 | | vidual Indian; 11 |
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| 100 | 100 | | ‘‘(ii) by an Indian tribe or an indi-12 |
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| 101 | 101 | | vidual Indian, subject to restriction against 13 |
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| 102 | 102 | | alienation under laws of the United States; 14 |
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| 103 | 103 | | or 15 |
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| 104 | 104 | | ‘‘(iii) by a dependent Indian commu-16 |
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| 105 | 105 | | nity.’’. 17 |
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| 106 | 106 | | Æ |
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| 108 | 108 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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