119-s722

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 722 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 722

 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 February 25, 2025

 Mr. Hoeven (for himself, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Cramer, and Mr. Daines) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Bureau of Land Management Mineral 
Spacing Act''.

SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH BLM PERMITTING.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 
181 et seq.), the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 
(30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), or subpart 3162 of part 3160 of title 43, 
Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), but subject to 
any applicable State or Tribal requirements and subsection
            (c) , the 
Secretary of the Interior shall not require a permit to drill for an 
oil and gas lease under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) 
for an action occurring within an oil and gas drilling or spacing unit 
if--

    (1) the Federal Government--
        (A) owns less than 50 percent of the minerals 
 within the oil and gas drilling or spacing unit; and
        (B) does not own or lease the surface estate within 
 the area directly impacted by the action;

    (2) the well is located on non-Federal land overlying a 
 non-Federal mineral estate, but some portion of the wellbore 
 enters and produces from the Federal mineral estate subject to 
 the lease; or

    (3) the well is located on non-Federal land overlying a 
 non-Federal mineral estate, but some portion of the wellbore 
 traverses but does not produce from the Federal mineral estate 
 subject to the lease.

    (b) Notification.--For each State permit to drill or drilling plan 
that would impact or extract oil and gas owned by the Federal 
Government--

    (1) each lessee of Federal minerals in the unit, or 
 designee of a lessee, shall--
        (A) notify the Secretary of the Interior of the 
 submission of a State application for a permit to drill 
 or drilling plan on submission of the application; and
        (B) provide a copy of the application described in 
 subparagraph
        (A) to the Secretary of the Interior not 
 later than 5 days after the date on which the permit or 
 plan is submitted;

    (2) each lessee, designee of a lessee, or applicable State 
 shall notify the Secretary of the Interior of the approved 
 State permit to drill or drilling plan not later than 45 days 
 after the date on which the permit or plan is approved; and

    (3) each lessee or designee of a lessee shall provide, 
 prior to commencing drilling operations, agreements authorizing 
 the Secretary of the Interior to enter non-Federal land, as 
 necessary, for inspection and enforcement of the terms of the 
 Federal lease.
            (c) Nonapplicability to Indian Lands.--Subsection

    (a) shall not 
apply to Indian lands (as defined in 

section 3 of the Federal Oil and 
Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1702)).
            (d) Effect.--Nothing in this section affects--

    (1) other authorities of the Secretary of the Interior 
 under the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 
 (30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or

    (2) the amount of royalties due to the Federal Government 
 from the production of the Federal minerals within the oil and 
 gas drilling or spacing unit.

    (e) Authority on Non-Federal Land.--

Section 17

    (g) of the Mineral 
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226

    (g) ) is amended--

    (1) by striking the subsection designation and all that 
 follows through ``Secretary of the Interior, or'' in the first 
 sentence and inserting the following:
 ``

    (g)

    (1) The Secretary of the Interior, or''; and

    (2) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (2)
        (A) In the case of an oil and gas lease under this Act on land 
described in subparagraph
        (B) located within an oil and gas drilling or 
spacing unit, nothing in this Act authorizes the Secretary of the 
Interior--
 ``
            (i) to require a bond to protect non-Federal land;
 ``
            (ii) to enter non-Federal land without the consent of the 
 applicable landowner;
 ``
            (iii) to impose mitigation requirements; or
 ``
            (iv) to require approval for surface reclamation.
 ``
        (B) Land referred to in subparagraph
        (A) is land where--
 ``
            (i) the Federal Government--
 ``
            (I) owns less than 50 percent of the minerals 
 within the oil and gas drilling or spacing unit; and
 ``
            (II) does not own or lease the surface estate 
 within the area directly impacted by the action;
 ``
            (ii) the well is located on non-Federal land overlying a 
 non-Federal mineral estate, but some portion of the wellbore 
 enters and produces from the Federal mineral estate subject to 
 the lease; or
 ``
            (iii) the well is located on non-Federal land overlying a 
 non-Federal mineral estate, but some portion of the wellbore 
 traverses but does not produce from the Federal mineral estate 
 subject to the lease.''.
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