Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB722 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 722
5	5	To streamline the oil and gas permitting process and to recognize fee owner-
6	6	ship for certain oil and gas drilling or spacing units, and for other
7	7	purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	FEBRUARY25, 2025
10	10	Mr. H
11	11	OEVEN(for himself, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. CRAMER, and Mr. DAINES) in-
12	12	troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
13	13	mittee on Energy and Natural Resources
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To streamline the oil and gas permitting process and to
16	16	recognize fee ownership for certain oil and gas drilling
17	17	or spacing units, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bureau of Land Man-4
22	22	agement Mineral Spacing Act’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH BLM PERMITTING. 6
24	24	(a) I
25	25	NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding the Mineral 7
26	26	Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the Federal Oil and 8
27	27	Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1701 9
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30	30	•S 722 IS
31	31	et seq.), or subpart 3162 of part 3160 of title 43, Code 1
32	32	of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), but sub-2
33	33	ject to any applicable State or Tribal requirements and 3
34	34	subsection (c), the Secretary of the Interior shall not re-4
35	35	quire a permit to drill for an oil and gas lease under the 5
36	36	Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) for an action 6
37	37	occurring within an oil and gas drilling or spacing unit 7
38	38	if— 8
39	39	(1) the Federal Government— 9
40	40	(A) owns less than 50 percent of the min-10
41	41	erals within the oil and gas drilling or spacing 11
42	42	unit; and 12
43	43	(B) does not own or lease the surface es-13
44	44	tate within the area directly impacted by the 14
45	45	action; 15
46	46	(2) the well is located on non-Federal land over-16
47	47	lying a non-Federal mineral estate, but some portion 17
48	48	of the wellbore enters and produces from the Fed-18
49	49	eral mineral estate subject to the lease; or 19
50	50	(3) the well is located on non-Federal land over-20
51	51	lying a non-Federal mineral estate, but some portion 21
52	52	of the wellbore traverses but does not produce from 22
53	53	the Federal mineral estate subject to the lease. 23
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56	56	•S 722 IS
57	57	(b) NOTIFICATION.—For each State permit to drill 1
58	58	or drilling plan that would impact or extract oil and gas 2
59	59	owned by the Federal Government— 3
60	60	(1) each lessee of Federal minerals in the unit, 4
61	61	or designee of a lessee, shall— 5
62	62	(A) notify the Secretary of the Interior of 6
63	63	the submission of a State application for a per-7
64	64	mit to drill or drilling plan on submission of the 8
65	65	application; and 9
66	66	(B) provide a copy of the application de-10
67	67	scribed in subparagraph (A) to the Secretary of 11
68	68	the Interior not later than 5 days after the date 12
69	69	on which the permit or plan is submitted; 13
70	70	(2) each lessee, designee of a lessee, or applica-14
71	71	ble State shall notify the Secretary of the Interior of 15
72	72	the approved State permit to drill or drilling plan 16
73	73	not later than 45 days after the date on which the 17
74	74	permit or plan is approved; and 18
75	75	(3) each lessee or designee of a lessee shall pro-19
76	76	vide, prior to commencing drilling operations, agree-20
77	77	ments authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to 21
78	78	enter non-Federal land, as necessary, for inspection 22
79	79	and enforcement of the terms of the Federal lease. 23
80	80	(c) N
81	81	ONAPPLICABILITY TO INDIANLANDS.—Sub-24
82	82	section (a) shall not apply to Indian lands (as defined in 25
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85	85	•S 722 IS
86	86	section 3 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management 1
87	87	Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1702)). 2
88	88	(d) E
89	89	FFECT.—Nothing in this section affects— 3
90	90	(1) other authorities of the Secretary of the In-4
91	91	terior under the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Man-5
92	92	agement Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 6
93	93	(2) the amount of royalties due to the Federal 7
94	94	Government from the production of the Federal min-8
95	95	erals within the oil and gas drilling or spacing unit. 9
96	96	(e) A
97	97	UTHORITY ONNON-FEDERALLAND.—Section 10
98	98	17(g) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(g)) is 11
99	99	amended— 12
100	100	(1) by striking the subsection designation and 13
101	101	all that follows through ‘‘Secretary of the Interior, 14
102	102	or’’ in the first sentence and inserting the following: 15
103	103	‘‘(g)(1) The Secretary of the Interior, or’’; and 16
104	104	(2) by adding at the end the following: 17
105	105	‘‘(2)(A) In the case of an oil and gas lease under this 18
106	106	Act on land described in subparagraph (B) located within 19
107	107	an oil and gas drilling or spacing unit, nothing in this Act 20
108	108	authorizes the Secretary of the Interior— 21
109	109	‘‘(i) to require a bond to protect non-Federal 22
110	110	land; 23
111	111	‘‘(ii) to enter non-Federal land without the con-24
112	112	sent of the applicable landowner; 25
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116	116	‘‘(iii) to impose mitigation requirements; or 1
117	117	‘‘(iv) to require approval for surface reclama-2
118	118	tion. 3
119	119	‘‘(B) Land referred to in subparagraph (A) is land 4
120	120	where— 5
121	121	‘‘(i) the Federal Government— 6
122	122	‘‘(I) owns less than 50 percent of the min-7
123	123	erals within the oil and gas drilling or spacing 8
124	124	unit; and 9
125	125	‘‘(II) does not own or lease the surface es-10
126	126	tate within the area directly impacted by the 11
127	127	action; 12
128	128	‘‘(ii) the well is located on non-Federal land 13
129	129	overlying a non-Federal mineral estate, but some 14
130	130	portion of the wellbore enters and produces from the 15
131	131	Federal mineral estate subject to the lease; or 16
132	132	‘‘(iii) the well is located on non-Federal land 17
133	133	overlying a non-Federal mineral estate, but some 18
134	134	portion of the wellbore traverses but does not 19
135	135	produce from the Federal mineral estate subject to 20
136	136	the lease.’’. 21
137	137	Æ
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