YourVoice.Now Summary
EnvironmentCorporate BenefitsTransparency & AccountabilityOil and gas firms keep paying a drilling permit fee through 2037 — no change for you.
Environment
Companies must pay a fee every time they ask to drill a new well on federal land. The law sets it at $9,500, rising with inflation since 2015. That duty was set to end after September 2026; the bill runs it to 2037.
The money goes into a BLM fund that pays staff to review drilling permits. All of it already goes there today, and the bill keeps that setup for 2027 through 2037.
Corporate Benefits
Interior cannot write a rule that raises these fees to cover extra review costs. That block was due to lift after 2026, and the bill holds it to 2037.
Transparency & Accountability
The fee program was set to expire after September 2026, which would have forced Congress to act. Moving that date to 2037 means no such deadline for eleven more years.
More about this bill
You would not notice this one in daily life. It covers how the government pays to review drilling permits on federal land. Companies pay a fee each time they apply to drill a new well there. The law set that fee at $9,500 in 2015 and raises it with inflation, so it costs more today. The power to charge that fee runs out after September 2026. The bill would extend it through 2037. All of that fee money keeps going to a fund that pays staff to review those permits. That part would not change. The bill would also hold one more rule in place. Interior may not write a rule that raises these fees to cover extra review costs. That block was set to lift after 2026. It would now run to 2037.
Congressional Summary
License to Drill Act 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.)
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-07-21
- Date Added
- 2026-08-05
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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