BLM implements e-filing for permits

The Bureau of Land Management is putting the finishing touches to its new online system for the electronic filing of drilling permit applications. The agency has announced the completion of a multiyear upgrade to its online system - the rollout of the system began in October 2015. The plan is to move to the electronic rather than paper filing of all applications for oil and gas drilling permits by the end of this year, a procedure which, the agency says, will help reduce permit processing times by 50 percent. On July 28 BLM proposed a regulatory change, to make electronic filing the default method for submitting applications.

“This modern, online system will result in a better and more efficient experience for both industry and the BLM,” said BLM Director Neil Kornze. “The new system is a big improvement over the current hard copy based application system.”

The online application procedure applies to applications for permits to drill and to notices of staking of potential drilling locations, for onshore federal lands.

BLM says that the new system automatically flags missing or incomplete information on an application, thus cutting out a primary source of delay in the processing of paper-based applications. Moreover, operators will be able to track their applications through the BLM review process. And standardized workflows will enable BLM to allocate permitting work among the agency’s various offices in response to the demand for permits, BLM says.

BLM anticipates the new system reducing the average permit processing time from a current 220 days to 115 days for 90 percent of applications. The new system is already in use and to date has been used for the processing of 101 permit applications, the agency says.

Although the regulatory change introduced in conjunction with the new system requires that electronic filing be the default means of submitting an application, the regulation includes a procedure for obtaining a waiver, should online filing not be practical in certain circumstances.

BLM requires comments on its proposed regulatory change by Aug. 29.

- ALAN BAILEY