Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act

The Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act proposes to streamline the permitting process for oil and gas development on certain lands. Specifically, it would remove the requirement for operators to obtain a federal permit from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) if the federal government owns less than 50 percent of the subsurface minerals and does not own the surface rights in a drilling area. Instead, operators would only need to provide the Department of the Interior with a copy of a state-approved permit and could begin activities 30 days later.

If enacted, the bill aims to reduce regulatory delays for energy producers working in "split-estate" areas where federal and private or state ownership overlap. Under the proposal, these drilling activities would no longer be classified as major federal actions, meaning they would not trigger certain federal environmental or historical reviews. However, the bill specifies that the federal government would still collect all due royalties and maintain the authority to conduct onsite inspections to ensure accurate payments.

The legislation is intended to give more control to state regulators and private property owners while maintaining federal revenue from energy production. It would not apply to Indian lands or any areas where the federal government owns the majority of the mineral rights or the surface of the land.