S 722 119th Congress
Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act
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.
Official Title as Introduced Congress.gov
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Bill journey
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Introduction Congress.gov
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate.
Open bill recordOfficial action Congress.gov
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Open bill recordOfficial action Congress.gov
Introduced in Senate
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Introduced in Senate
A dated text-version record is available.
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View the complete bill journey as an accessible table
| Date and time | Record | Official detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| IntroductionIntroduced | Introduced in the Senate. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Senate | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionIntroduced in Senate | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 10000 | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionIntroduced in Senate | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov |
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Congressional Research Service
CRS summary
Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing ActThis bill exempts certain exploration and production activities from federal oil and gas drilling permit requirements. Generally, the exemption applies to activities on land with (1) a surface estate that the federal government does not own, and (2) an underlying mineral estate only partially owned by the federal government. It does not apply to tribal lands.Specifically, the bill bans the Department of the Interior from requiring a permit under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) whenthe federal government does not own or lease the surface estate, and it owns less than 50% of the mineral estate;a well is located on nonfederal land overlying a nonfederal mineral estate, but some portion of the wellbore (i.e., drilled hole) enters and produces oil and gas from the federal mineral estate subject to the lease; ora well is located on nonfederal land overlying a nonfederal mineral estate, but some portion of the wellbore traverses but does not produce oil or gas from the federal mineral estate subject to the lease.The bill also specifies that, in the case of an oil and gas lease on such land, the MLA does not authorize Interior to require a bond to protect nonfederal land, impose mitigation requirements, require approval for surface reclamation, or enter nonfederal land without consent of the landowner. However, lessees of federal mineral estates must authorize Interior to enter nonfederal land for inspection and enforcement of the terms of the federal lease.
Official documents
Text versions
- Introduced in SenateFeb 25, 2025