[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 2, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H3757-H3758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LICENSE TO DRILL ACT
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 7831) to amend the Mineral Leasing Act to extend the period
of time during which the Secretary of the Interior is required to
collect a fee for each new application for a permit to drill, and for
other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 7831
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 ``License to Drill Act''.
SEC. 2. BLM OIL AND GAS PERMIT PROCESSING FEE.
Section 35(d) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191(d))
is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``2026'' and inserting
``2037'';
(2) in paragraph (3)--
(A) by striking ``Of the fees collected under this
subsection for a fiscal year, the'' and inserting ``The'';
and
(B) by striking ``transfer--'' and all that follows through
``the Fund'' and inserting ``transfer, for each of fiscal
years 2027 through 2037, all of the fees collected under this
subsection for each such fiscal year to the BLM Permit
Processing Improvement Fund''; and
(3) in paragraph (4), by striking ``2026'' and inserting
``2037''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) and the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms.
Stansbury) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.
General Leave
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
add extraneous material on H.R. 7831, the bill now under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7831, the License to
Drill Act, sponsored by Representative Kennedy of Utah.
Since its creation under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Permit
Processing Improvement Fund, or PPIF, has been a critical tool for the
Bureau of Land Management. Congress created this program to provide BLM
with the resources necessary to process Applications for Permits to
Drill, or APDs, in a timely manner. To support that effort, Congress
authorized an APD application fee to help fund the PPIF and reduce
permitting delays.
Over the years, BLM has relied on the PPIF to ensure APDs are
processed consistently and efficiently. While past administrations have
not always maintained a satisfactory APD approval record, the PPIF has
served as a reliable backstop, helping maintain continuity and staffing
at BLM field offices.
Under President Trump, Secretary Burgum's Department of the Interior
has approved 63.7 percent more Federal and Indian drilling permits than
the previous administration had approved during an equivalent period of
time in office. In fact, President Trump's BLM has approved 6,027 new
oil and gas permits and more APDs than any other year over the past 15
years.
Just last month, the Department of the Interior generated over $4
billion in total receipts from a BLM oil and gas lease sale in New
Mexico and Texas under the Working Families Tax Cut Act. That is four
times the previous record. This commendable performance demonstrates
strong demand for domestic energy production on Federal lands, the
Trump administration's success in unleashing American energy, and House
Republicans' commitment to responsible management of our natural
resources and lowering American energy prices.
H.R. 7831 reauthorizes the APD fee program. The fees, which are paid
when submitting an application to drill, are deposited into the PPIF
and used by the BLM to support application review and permitting
activities. Since the implementation of these fees, operators and
industry stakeholders have observed more reliable and timely permit
approvals, prompting their strong support for the fees as good policy.
H.R. 7831 takes an important step toward maintaining a predictable,
efficient, and durable permitting framework for oil and natural gas
development on Federal lands. Reauthorizing fees for oil and gas
drilling permits will help ensure that BLM has the resources necessary
to process the permits needed to unleash American energy.
I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 7831, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7831, the
License to Drill Act.
This bill would reauthorize a commonsense permitting program,
allowing the Bureau of Land Management to continue collecting fees with
applications for permits to drill oil and gas wells.
[[Page H3758]]
These fees go into the Permit Processing Improvement Fund, which
funds the expert staff responsible for processing drilling permits,
conducting inspections, and ensuring compliance with environmental
laws.
Studies have consistently found that understaffing at agencies is one
of the most common causes of permitting delays. Funding expert agency
staff, as the Permit Processing Improvement Fund does, is the simplest
solution to speeding up permitting without cutting corners on safety.
Without this bill, BLM's authority to collect these fees will expire
at the end of this year. Allowing this authority to expire would have
serious consequences for staffing and permitting efficiency, especially
given the devastating cuts to the Federal workforce that have been
undertaken by this administration.
I urge support for this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Utah (Mr. Kennedy), the lead sponsor of the bill.
Mr. KENNEDY of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chair Westerman and his
outstanding staff for their help in getting this bill to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my legislation, the License
to Drill Act. This bill ensures the Federal Government has the
operational resources to process energy permits efficiently without
unnecessary delay.
Every American takes part in an electrified economy, whether they
choose to or not, and right now that economy is facing a critical
point. We are heading toward a severe energy deficit.
We possess the most dynamic economy in the world, but every single
engine of that economy runs on power. We need more of it every year to
build, manufacture, and to put people to work, yet much of our existing
generating capacity is at the end of its useful life. As those plants
go offline, our energy deficit worsens.
We cannot close an energy gap this massive with wishful thinking. We
must take practical steps to meet demand because meeting demand is how
we keep energy affordable for working families.
The answer isn't to bet everything on a single source. The answer is
an all-of-the-above energy strategy. We have already proven that this
works. Just last year, the United States produced more energy than at
any point in its history, hitting record highs in oil, natural gas, and
renewables simultaneously, but when one source is choked off, everyday
Americans pay the price.
Producing that energy requires the capacity to efficiently permit it.
Right now, a single permit can sit for months, not because the
technology or industry isn't ready, but because the Federal Government
often lacks the ability to keep up.
Let's be clear: Cutting red tape is not about cutting corners on
safety. It is about speeding up our bureaucracy. We can maintain
rigorous oversight without ensuring years of needless delay. Every day
a permit sits idly on a bureaucrat's desk is a day that costs American
jobs, drives up utility bills, and hands global leverage to our
adversaries.
My License to Drill Act will extend a proven, bipartisan program that
has successfully cleared permit backlogs since 2004. By utilizing an
industry-funded fee model, energy companies foot the bill for the
administrative costs of these reviews. This means faster approvals,
smaller backlogs, and more American energy, all without costing the
taxpayers a single dollar.
The License to Drill Act is a commonsense step in the right
direction. Let's keep American energy moving forward. I urge my
colleagues to support this bill.
{time} 1540
Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am
prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Minnesota (Mr. Stauber), who is also the chair of the House Natural
Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Mr. STAUBER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7831, the
License to Drill Act; H.R. 1687, the CLEAN Act; and H.R. 5631, the
Geothermal Energy Advancement Act, three good, bipartisan bills that
were put forth by my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee.
Now more than ever, the United States needs to be bringing more
energy online to drive our 21st century economy.
These bills will help guarantee we have durable, proenergy policy no
matter who is in the White House. These pieces of legislation will
provide much-needed certainty for domestic energy producers, ensuring
leaseholders will be able to responsibly produce on Federal lands,
including onshore oil and gas and geothermal energy development.
Representative Kennedy's bill will reauthorize the BLM's authority to
collect permit processing fees for oil and gas drilling permits and
direct these fees toward processing the permits. This will help ensure
that producers will actually have the ability to produce oil and gas on
Federal lands, rather than sit in limbo for months or even years on end
waiting for paperwork to be processed.
Representative Fulcher's bill will require BLM to hold annual lease
sales for geothermal development on Federal lands. It also imposes
deadlines for the BLM to process geothermal drilling permits, which
again, will ensure these energy producers will actually be able to
produce on the Federal leases they are issued.
Representative Hurd's bipartisan package of geothermal bills will
build on this by enacting a series of reforms that will streamline the
permitting of and collection of Federal royalties for geothermal
projects on Federal lands.
Ultimately, all three of these bills will bring more energy online
faster, increase our strategic national security by lessening our
dependence on foreign adversarial nations, and most importantly, lower
costs for the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee
for their work on these bills, and I urge my colleagues to join me in
supporting this package of good, bipartisan legislation.
Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I, again, urge my colleagues to support
the License to Drill Act.
America has some of the richest energy resources in the world, and
House Republicans are working alongside the Trump administration to put
those resources to work.
I, again, thank Representative Kennedy for his diligent work on this
issue, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 7831.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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