[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2440 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``BLM Permit Processing Improvement
Act of 2014''.
SEC. 2. PROGRAM TO IMPROVE FEDERAL PERMIT COORDINATION.
Section 365 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15924) is
amended--
(1) in the section heading, by striking ``pilot'';
(2) by striking ``Pilot Project'' each place it appears and
inserting ``Project'';
(3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ``Wyoming, Montana,
Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico'' and inserting ``the States in
which Project offices are located'';
(4) in subsection (d)--
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking
``Pilot''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(8) Any other State, district, or field office of the
Bureau of Land Management determined by the Secretary.'';
(5) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the following:
``(e) Report to Congress.--Not later than February 1 of the first
fiscal year beginning after the date of enactment of the BLM Permit
Processing Improvement Act of 2014 and each February 1 thereafter, the
Secretary shall report to the Chairman and ranking minority Member of
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the
Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, which
shall include--
``(1) the allocation of funds to each Project office for
the previous fiscal year; and
``(2) the accomplishments of each Project office relating
to the coordination and processing of oil and gas use
authorizations during that fiscal year.'';
(6) in subsection (h), by striking paragraph (6) and
inserting the following:
``(6) the States in which Project offices are located.'';
(7) by striking subsection (i); and
(8) by redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (i).
SEC. 3. BLM OIL AND GAS PERMIT PROCESSING FEE.
Section 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(d) BLM Oil and Gas Permit Processing Fee.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2026, the Secretary,
acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management,
shall collect a fee for each new application for a permit to
drill that is submitted to the Secretary.
``(2) Amount.--The amount of the fee shall be $9,500 for
each new application, as indexed for United States dollar
inflation from October 1, 2015 (as measured by the Consumer
Price Index).
``(3) Use.--Of the fees collected under this subsection for
a fiscal year, the Secretary shall transfer--
``(A) for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2019--
``(i) 15 percent to the field offices that
collected the fees and used to process
protests, leases, and permits under this Act,
subject to appropriation; and
``(ii) 85 percent to the BLM Permit
Processing Improvement Fund established under
subsection (c)(2)(B) (referred to in this
subsection as the `Fund'); and
``(B) for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2026,
all of the fees to the Fund.
``(4) Additional costs.--During each of fiscal years of
2016 through 2026, the Secretary shall not implement a
rulemaking that would enable an increase in fees to recover
additional costs related to processing applications for permits
to drill.''.
SEC. 4. BLM PERMIT PROCESSING IMPROVEMENT FUND.
(a) In General.--Section 35(c) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30
U.S.C. 191(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the
following:
``(3) Use of fund.--
``(A) In general.--The Fund shall be available to
the Secretary of the Interior for expenditure, without
further appropriation and without fiscal year
limitation, for the coordination and processing of oil
and gas use authorizations on onshore Federal and
Indian trust mineral estate land.
``(B) Accounts.--The Secretary shall divide the
Fund into--
``(i) a Rental Account (referred to in this
subsection as the `Rental Account') comprised
of rental receipts collected under this
section; and
``(ii) a Fee Account (referred to in this
subsection as the `Fee Account') comprised of
fees collected under subsection (d).
``(4) Rental account.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall use the
Rental Account for--
``(i) the coordination and processing of
oil and gas use authorizations on onshore
Federal and Indian trust mineral estate land
under the jurisdiction of the Project offices
identified under section 365(d) of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15924(d)); and
``(ii) training programs for development of
expertise related to coordinating and
processing oil and gas use authorizations.
``(B) Allocation.--In determining the allocation of
the Rental Account among Project offices for a fiscal
year, the Secretary shall consider--
``(i) the number of applications for permit
to drill received in a Project office during
the previous fiscal year;
``(ii) the backlog of applications
described in clause (i) in a Project office;
``(iii) publicly available industry
forecasts for development of oil and gas
resources under the jurisdiction of a Project
office; and
``(iv) any opportunities for partnership
with local industry organizations and
educational institutions in developing training
programs to facilitate the coordination and
processing of oil and gas use authorizations.
``(5) Fee account.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall use the Fee
Account for the coordination and processing of oil and
gas use authorizations on onshore Federal and Indian
trust mineral estate land.
``(B) Allocation.--The Secretary shall transfer not
less than 75 percent of the revenues collected by an
office for the processing of applications for permits
to the State office of the State in which the fees were
collected.''.
(b) Interest on Overpayment Adjustment.--Section 111(h) of the
Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1721(h))
is amended in the first sentence by striking ``the rate'' and all that
follows through the period at the end of the sentence and inserting ``a
rate equal to the sum of the Federal short-term rate determined under
section 6621(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 plus 1 percentage
point.''.
SEC. 5. BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying
with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go-Act of 2010, shall be determined by
reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO
Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional
Record by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, provided that
such statement has been submitted prior to the 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 permit coordination by the
Bureau of Land Management, and for other purposes.