BLM announces annual adjustment to its mineral fee cost-recovery schedule
Organization
BLM Office:
Media Contact:
WASHINGTON – Effective Oct. 1, 2018, the Bureau of Land Management will begin using an updated fee schedule to recover costs incurred in processing certain actions related to oil, gas, coal, and solid minerals activities on public land. The fee schedule is adjusted regularly based on inflation and follows procedures established under the 2005 Cost Recovery Rule. The updated schedule appears in today’s Federal Register and will be posted to the BLM website at http://www.blm.gov.
The fees cover the BLM’s costs for processing such actions as lease applications, name changes, corporate mergers, lease consolidations, and reinstatements. Under this update, 17 of the 48 fees subject to annual adjustment will remain unchanged, while 31 will increase.
Of the 31 fees that are increasing, 18 will increase by $5 each and eight will increase by $10 each. The fee for adjudicating 10 or fewer mineral patent claims will increase by $50 (from $1,555 to $1,605), and the fee for adjudicating more than 10 claims will increase by $105 (from $3,110 to $3,215).
The BLM is authorized to charge cost recovery fees under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and the 2005 Cost Recovery Rule. The Office of Management and Budget has also directed federal agencies to recover costs for their services. The 2005 Cost Recovery Rule expressly projected that the BLM would annually adjust the fee schedule to account for inflation. The BLM updates the fee schedule each year based on changes in the Implicit Price Deflator for Gross Domestic Product (IPD-GDP), as determined by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Minerals Management: Adjustment of Cost Recovery Fees
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2018-09-28/pdf/2018-21298.pdf
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.