[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 16, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S5649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             BLM PERMIT PROCESSING IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2014

  Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Energy 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2440 and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2440) to expand and extend the program to 
     improve permit coordination by the Bureau of Land Management, 
     and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a Udall of 
New Mexico amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the bill, as 
amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The amendment (No. 3822) was agreed to, as follows:

(Purpose: To clarify the uses of the BLM Permit Processing Improvement 
                                 Fund)

       On page 5, line 13, insert ``and Indian trust mineral 
     estate'' after ``Federal''.
       On page 6, line 5, insert ``and Indian trust mineral 
     estate'' after ``Federal''.
       On page 7, line 11, insert ``and Indian trust mineral 
     estate'' after ``Federal''.

  The bill (S. 2440), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a 
third reading, was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 2440

       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.

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