Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act

Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act

This 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) when

• the 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; or
• a 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.