Bureau of Land Management Mineral Spacing Act
Introduced Feb 25, 2025 by Sen. John Hoeven
It's waiting on a committee vote to reach the full chamber. Most bills never leave this stage.
This bill exempts certain exploration and production activities from federal oil and gas drilling permit requirements. Generally, the exemption applies to activities on land with (1) a surface estate that the federal government does not own, and (2) an underlying mineral estate only partially owned by the federal government. It does not apply to tribal lands.
Specifically, the bill bans the Department of the Interior from requiring a permit under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) when
the federal government does not own or lease the surface estate, and it owns less than 50% of the mineral estate;
a well is located on nonfederal land overlying a nonfederal mineral estate, but some portion of the wellbore (i.e., drilled hole) enters and produces oil and gas from the federal mineral estate subject to the lease; or
Read the full summary on Congress.govSummary by the Congressional Research Service.
No floor votes yet — it hasn't reached the floor of either chamber.