US Senate passes BLM permitting bill

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill to permanently authorize funding for a program designed to provide resources for the Bureau of Land Management, to reduce the agency’s backlog of permit applications and improve oil and gas permitting efficiency for federal lands administered by the bureau. The program had been established on a pilot basis in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and was set to expire in 2015.

The new bill, which the Senate passed unanimously and now goes to the House of Representatives, makes permanent an arrangement whereby the Interior Secretary can designate BLM pilot offices in regions subject to especially high permitting demand. The bill provides for annual funding of about $18 million to establish new permitting offices and hire additional staff.

“This legislation will provide BLM officials with much-needed resources and the flexibility to streamline the permitting process at a time when production from federal lands is trailing far behind the current boom from private and state lands,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. “This is critical for our energy and economic security, especially in Alaska where the vast majority of our untapped resources are on land managed by the federal government. This legislation will ensure that BLM has the staff and funding to complete the necessary environmental reviews in a timely and efficient fashion.”

- Alan Bailey