Legislation from Congresswoman Stephanie Bice aimed at reducing federal permitting requirements for some oil and natural gas development has advanced from the House Natural Resources Committee.
H.R. 1555, the Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act, addresses projects involving land where the federal government owns less than half of the subsurface mineral estate and the surface land is not federally owned.
The legislation would allow qualifying projects with state-approved permits to proceed without also going through the federal permitting process.
“I’m proud to advance this commonsense legislation that respects private mineral owners and supports American energy production,” Bice said. “Right now, energy projects can be forced to go through both state and federal permitting processes even when the federal government owns less than half of the subsurface estate.”
Bice said the legislation would allow those projects to move forward under applicable state and private requirements while maintaining protections for federal mineral interests and royalties.
The bill now moves forward for consideration by the full U.S. House.
