BLM may charge $4,000 fee to handle drilling applications

WASHINGTON (AP) — Companies that want to drill for oil, gas and other minerals on federal lands are going to be asked to pay the cost of processing their permit applications.

Under new regulations proposed by the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that manages more than 260 million acres of land would charge $4,000 to handle applications for permits to drill for oil and natural gas. Permit applications for other minerals could be significantly more.

Environmentalists praised the plan, but industry advocates and others blasted the news.

"This doesn't seem like a fair business practice to us," said Jennifer Zuccarelli, press secretary for the House Resources Committee. "There are already so many barriers to mineral development in the United States. This is just one more that's going to lead companies to question whether it's beneficial to do business in the United States any more."

Part of an effort to make users pay for services they benefit from, the BLM says the estimated $23.5 million it would raise each year from the fees would help BLM offices in Western states that now are hustling to keep up with the increasing number of applications.

"Our proposal is aimed at setting fair fees so our agency can recover reasonable costs resulting from the processing of minerals-related permit applications," said Thomas Lonnie, BLM assistant director for minerals, realty and resource protection.

The plan will be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, beginning a 30-day comment period.

Both sides predicted an intense lobbying effort for and against the fee.