U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke last week signed a Secretarial Order aimed at reducing the backlog of permit applications for mineral leases on federal lands and improving access to additional parcels of federal land for mineral development, an order several Republicans said they support.
U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, the senior Republican senator from North Dakota, said Zinke’s order is a crucial step toward providing regulatory relief to the nation’s energy industry.
“This is especially important for western states and tribes, where federal red tape and delays hamper local development. By streamlining the permit process, this order supports good jobs for our citizens, a stronger economy and more revenues for federal, state and tribal governments,” Hoeven said.
By law, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) must review and process Applications for Permit to Drill (APDs) within 30 days of receiving one. According to DOI data, the average time to approve a lease permit is 257 days and there are roughly 2,802 ADPs pending as of Jan. 31. North Dakota’s BLM field office located in Dickinson has 488 APDs in the queue.
“It’s about time we have an administration with an all-of-the-above energy strategy,” said U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND). “Congress should double-down on Zinke’s Secretarial Order with legislation to make sure the next ‘keep-it-in-the-ground’ president can’t pick winners and losers in the energy sector the way the last one did.”
Wyoming also has a backlog of 526 pending APDs at its Casper BLM office, said the state’s Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso.
“For years, energy production has been bogged down by permitting delays in BLM offices across the West. If applications aren’t being approved, our economy suffers and we lose out on job opportunities in our local communities,” said Barrasso.
Barrasso also said the order “will get the ball rolling on making necessary reforms to help BLM field offices address the growing backlog.”
Hoeven, meanwhile, has some previous experience in the area of streamlining of the BLM permit process.
In 2012, the Senate passed Hoeven’s BLM Streamlining Act, which expanded the service area of the Miles City, Montana, office to include North Dakota so permits could get processed and the backlog in the region relieved.
The expanded office became permanent in 2014 when Congress passed the BLM Management Permit Processing Improvement Act, which was included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.