Local governments in Alaska receive $8.7 million from BLM

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has paid $8,734,619 in Alaska as part of $125 million distributed nationally as payments in lieu of taxes.

The payments, made Sept. 24, are distributed in accordance with the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Act and are intended to offset the loss of tax revenue caused by the presence of tax-exempt federal lands within state and local jurisdictions.

The annual payments are made for tax-exempt federal lands administered by BLM, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, all part of the Interior Department; lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; for federal water projects and some military installations.

PILT payments are appropriated by Congress and allocated according to a formula that includes population and the amount of federal land within an affected area. BLM has distributed more than $2 billion in PILT payments since the program began in 1977.

The states which receive the largest amounts are: California, $12.8 million; New Mexico, $11.6 million; Arizona, $10.3 million; Montana, $9.8 million; Utah, $9.8 million; Colorado, $9.3 million; and Alaska, $8.7 million.