Minerals Management: Annual Adjustment of Cost Recovery Fees
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is adjusting the fixed fees set forth in the Department of the Interior's onshore mineral resources regulations for the processing of certain...
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is adjusting the fixed fees set forth in the Department of the Interior's onshore mineral resources regulations for the processing of certain minerals program-related documents and actions.
DATES:
The adjusted fees take effect on October 1, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Yvette M. Fields, Chief, Division of Fluid Minerals, 240-712-8358,
yfields@blm.gov; Matthew Marsh, Acting Chief, Division of Solid Minerals, 307-347-5243,
mmarsh@blm.gov. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1953, 31 U.S.C. 9701, and section 304 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, 43 U.S.C. 1734, authorize the BLM to charge fees for processing applications and other documents related to public lands. In 2005, the BLM published a final cost recovery rule (70 FR 58854) that established new fees or revised existing fees and service charges for processing documents related to its minerals program and established the method that the BLM uses to adjust those fees and services charges for inflation on an annual basis. BLM regulations at 43 CFR 3000.120 provide that the BLM Director will post the fixed filing fees on the BLM's web page (
www.blm.gov) and publish a notice in the
Federal Register
announcing the fee adjustments by October 1 of each year to provide additional public notice. The new fees take effect each year on October 1.
The fee adjustments are based on mathematical formulas that were established in the 2005 final cost recovery rule and, in the case of the Application for Permit to Drill fee, section 3021(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015. For more details on how the BLM calculates the fee increases, please refer to the BLM website.
Processing and Filing Fee Table
Document/action
FY 2025 fee
Oil & Gas (parts 3100, 3110, 3120, 3130, 3150, 3160, and 3180):
Competitive lease application
$3,100
Leasing and compensatory royalty agreements under right-of-way pursuant to subpart 3109.
660
Lease consolidation
575
Assignment and transfer of record title or operating rights
115
Overriding royalty transfer, payment out of production
15
Name change; corporate merger; sheriff's deed; dissolution of corporation, partnership, or trust; or transfer to heir/devisee
270
Lease reinstatement, Class I
1,260
Geophysical exploration permit application—all states *
1,150
Renewal of exploration permit—Alaska
30
Final application for Federal unit agreement approval, Federal unit agreement expansion, and Federal subsurface gas storage application *
1,200
Designation of successor operator for all Federal agreements, except for contracted unit agreements that contain no Federal lands *
120
Geothermal (part 3200):
Noncompetitive lease application
520
Competitive lease application
200
Assignment and transfer of record title or operating rights
115
Name change, corporate merger or transfer to heir/devisee
270
Lease consolidation
575
Lease reinstatement
100
Nomination of lands
145
plus per acre nomination fee
0.14
( printed page 77171)
Site license application
80
Assignment or transfer of site license
80
Coal (parts 3400, 3470):
License to mine application
15
Exploration license application
425
Lease or lease interest transfer
85
Leasing of Solid Minerals Other Than Coal and Oil Shale (parts 3500, 3580):
Applications other than those listed below
45
Prospecting permit application amendment
85
Extension of prospecting permit
140
Lease modification or fringe acreage lease
40
Lease renewal
670
Assignment, sublease, or transfer of operating rights
40
Transfer of overriding royalty
40
Use permit
40
Shasta and Trinity hardrock mineral lease
40
Renewal of existing sand and gravel lease in Nevada
40
Public Law 359; Mining in Powersite Withdrawals: General (part 3730):
Notice of protest of placer mining operations
15
Mining Law Administration (parts 3800, 3810, 3830, 3860, 3870):
Application to open lands to location
15
Notice of location **
25
Amendment of location
15
Transfer of mining claim/site
15
Recording an annual FLPMA filing
15
Deferment of assessment work
140
Recording a notice of intent to locate mining claims on Stockraising Homestead Act lands
40
Mineral patent adjudication (more than 10 claims)
3,915
(10 or fewer claims)
1,955
Adverse claim
140
Protest
85
Oil Shale Management (parts 3900, 3910, 3930):
Exploration license application
410
Application for assignment or sublease of record title or overriding royalty
85
Onshore Oil and Gas Operations and Production (parts 3160, 3170):
Application for Permit to Drill
12,515
* These fees are new for FY 2025. The BLM adopted them in the final rule titled “Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process,” published on April 23, 2024 (89 FR 30916).
** To record a mining claim or site location, this processing fee along with the initial maintenance fee and the one-time location fee required by statute and at 43 CFR part 3833 must be paid.
David Rosenkrance,
Assistant Director, Office of Energy, Minerals, and Realty Management.