For release: Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008
Contacts: Tom Gorey  202-452-5137
Tim Spisak 202-452-5061

At Direction of Congress, BLM Will Start Collection of $4,000 Processing Fee For Each New Oil and Gas Drilling Permit Application

The Fiscal Year 2008 omnibus appropriations bill – signed into law by President Bush on December 26 – requires that the Bureau of Land Management charge a $4,000 processing fee for each new oil and gas drilling permit application, known as an Application for Permit to Drill (APD).  Prior to enactment of the omnibus bill, there was no charge for processing APDs.  The money generated by these fees is not new revenue, but rather a reimbursement to the U.S. Treasury for the estimated cost of processing new APDs for the duration of Fiscal Year 2008.

To carry out this congressional directive, the BLM has developed interim guidance for its field offices regarding the collection and handling of the new fees, which took effect December 26.  Final guidance will be developed over the next several weeks.

The BLM manages more land – 258 million surface acres – than any other Federal agency.  Most of this public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska.  The BLM, with a budget of about $1.8 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.  The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.  The BLM accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, and cultural resources on the public lands.

– BLM –