License to Drill Act
Click any stage to learn more about the legislative process.
Would extend, through fiscal year 2037, the Bureau of Land Management's authority to collect a processing fee on each new oil and gas drilling permit application, continuing an authority currently set to expire after 2026.
The fees would keep funding the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund, which supports the agency's permit review work, giving the program more than a decade of continued funding certainty.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would amend the Mineral Leasing Act to extend, from 2026 to 2037, the period during which the Secretary of the Interior must collect a fee for each new application for a permit to drill on federal land. It would also revise how those fees are handled, directing that for fiscal years 2027 through 2037, all fees collected each year be transferred to the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund, rather than only a portion as under current law.
The bill is narrow in scope: it does not change the fee amount, create any new program, or alter who must pay the fee. It simply extends an existing statutory deadline and adjusts the fund-transfer language tied to that extension.
Key provisions
- 1Would extend the Secretary of the Interior's authority to collect a fee for each new drilling permit application from 2026 through 2037
- 2Would require that all fees collected each fiscal year from 2027 through 2037 be transferred to the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund
Who would be affected
Oil and gas companies applying for federal drilling permits, who would continue paying the processing fee through 2037; and the Bureau of Land Management, whose permit-processing operations are funded through the fees deposited in the Permit Processing Improvement Fund.
Why it matters
Without this extension, BLM's authority to collect the permit fee would lapse after fiscal year 2026, potentially disrupting funding for permit-processing staff and operations. Extending it through 2037 gives industry applicants and the agency continued certainty about fee obligations and the funding stream supporting permit reviews.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191(d)) (Sec. 2)
Extends the permit-fee collection period from 2026 to 2037 and directs that all fees each year go to the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- Extended fee collection and full fund transfer period
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
This bill extends through FY2037 the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) authority to collect oil and gas permit processing fees. For each new permit application, BLM collects a fee that is transferred to the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund. (Under current law, the fees are authorized through FY2026.)
Legislative subjects
Energy; Licensing and registrations; Mining; Oil and gas
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-665