---
kind: "range"
citation: "30 U.S.C. §§ 189–192"
title: "30"
from: "189"
to: "192"
count: 6
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/30/189..192"
---

# §189. Rules and regulations; boundary lines; State rights unaffected; taxation


The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to prescribe necessary and proper rules and regulations and to do any and all things necessary to carry out and accomplish the purposes of this chapter, also to fix and determine the boundary lines of any structure, or [oil](/usc/30/181.md) or gas field, for the purposes of this chapter. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed or held to affect the rights of the States or other local authority to exercise any rights which they may have, including the right to levy and collect taxes upon improvements, output of mines, or other rights, property, or assets of any lessee of the United States.


# §190. Oath; requirement; form; blanks


All statements, representations, or reports required by the Secretary of the Interior under this chapter shall be upon oath, unless otherwise specified by him, and in such form and upon such blanks as the Secretary of the Interior may require.


# §191. Disposition of moneys received

- (a) **In general—** All money received from sales, bonuses, royalties including interest charges collected under the Federal [Oil](/usc/30/181.md) and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 [[30 U.S.C. 1701](/usc/30/1701.md) et seq.], and rentals of the public lands under the provisions of this chapter and the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 [[30 U.S.C. 1001](/usc/30/1001.md) et seq.], shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States; and, subject to the provisions of [subsection (b)](#b), 50 per centum thereof shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury to the State other than Alaska within the boundaries of which the leased lands or deposits are or were located; said moneys paid to any of such States on or after January 1, 1976, to be used by such State and its subdivisions, as the legislature of the State may direct giving priority to those subdivisions of the State socially or economically impacted by development of minerals leased under this chapter, for (i) planning, (ii) construction and maintenance of public facilities, and (iii) provision of public service; and excepting those from Alaska, 40 per centum thereof shall be paid into, reserved, appropriated, as part of the reclamation [fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7) created by the Act of Congress known as the Reclamation Act, approved June 17, 1902, and of those from Alaska, 90 per centum thereof shall be paid to the State of Alaska for disposition by the legislature thereof: Provided, That all moneys which may accrue to the United States under the provisions of this chapter and the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 from lands within the naval petroleum reserves shall be deposited in the Treasury as “miscellaneous receipts”, as provided by [section 8733(b) of title 10](/usc/10/8733.md?p=b). All moneys received under the provisions of this chapter and the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 not otherwise disposed of by this section shall be credited to miscellaneous receipts. Payments to States under this section with respect to any moneys received by the United States, shall be made not later than the last business day of the month in which such moneys are warranted by the United States Treasury to the Secretary as having been received, except for any portion of such moneys which is under challenge and placed in a suspense account pending resolution of a dispute. Such warrants shall be issued by the United States Treasury not later than 10 days after receipt of such moneys by the Treasury. Moneys placed in a suspense account which are determined to be payable to a State shall be made not later than the last business day of the month in which such dispute is resolved. Any such amount placed in a suspense account pending resolution shall bear interest until the dispute is resolved.
- (b) **Deduction for administrative costs—** In determining the amount of payments to the States under this section, beginning in fiscal year 2014 and for each year thereafter, the amount of such payments shall be reduced by 2 percent for any administrative or other costs incurred by the United States in carrying out the program authorized by this chapter, and the amount of such reduction shall be deposited to miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury.
- (c) **Rentals received on or after August 8, 2005—**
  - (1) Notwithstanding the first sentence of [subsection (a)](#a), any rentals received from leases in any State (other than the State of Alaska) on or after August 8, 2005, shall be deposited in the Treasury, to be allocated in accordance with [paragraph (2)](#c-2).
  - (2) Of the amounts deposited in the Treasury under [paragraph (1)](#c-1)—
    - (A) 50 percent shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury to the State within the boundaries of which the leased land is located or the deposits were derived; and
    - (B) 50 percent shall be deposited in a special [fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7) in the Treasury, to be known as the “BLM Permit Processing Improvement [Fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7)” (referred to in this subsection as the “[Fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7)”).
  - (3) **Use of fund.—**
    - (A) **In general.—** The [Fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7) shall be available to the Secretary of the Interior for expenditure, without further appropriation and without fiscal year limitation, for the coordination and processing of [oil](/usc/30/181.md) and gas use authorizations on onshore Federal and Indian trust mineral estate land.
    - (B) **Accounts.—** The Secretary shall divide the [Fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7) into—
      - (i) a Rental Account (referred to in this subsection as the “Rental Account”) comprised of rental receipts collected under this section; and
      - (ii) a Fee Account (referred to in this subsection as the “Fee Account”) comprised of fees collected under [subsection (d)](#d).
  - (4) **Rental account.—**
    - (A) **In general.—** The Secretary shall use the Rental Account for—
      - (i) the coordination and processing of [oil](/usc/30/181.md) and gas use authorizations on onshore Federal and Indian trust mineral estate land under the jurisdiction of the Project offices identified under [section 15924(d) of title 42](/usc/42/15924.md?p=d); and
      - (ii) training programs for development of expertise related to coordinating and processing [oil](/usc/30/181.md) and gas use authorizations.
    - (B) **Allocation.—** In determining the allocation of the Rental Account among Project offices for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall consider—
      - (i) the number of applications for permit to drill received in a Project office during the previous fiscal year;
      - (ii) the backlog of applications described in [clause (i)](#c-4-B-i) in a Project office;
      - (iii) publicly available industry forecasts for development of [oil](/usc/30/181.md) and gas resources under the jurisdiction of a Project office; and
      - (iv) any opportunities for partnership with local industry organizations and educational institutions in developing training programs to facilitate the coordination and processing of [oil](/usc/30/181.md) and gas use authorizations.
  - (5) **Fee account.—**
    - (A) **In general.—** The Secretary shall use the Fee Account for the coordination and processing of [oil](/usc/30/181.md) and gas use authorizations on onshore Federal and Indian trust mineral estate land.
    - (B) **Allocation.—** The Secretary shall transfer not less than 75 percent of the revenues collected by an office for the processing of applications for permits to the State office of the State in which the fees were collected.
- (d) **BLM oil and gas permit processing fee—**
  - (1) **In general—** Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2026, the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, shall collect a fee for each new application for a permit to drill that is submitted to the Secretary.
  - (2) **Amount—** The amount of the fee shall be $9,500 for each new application, as indexed for United States dollar inflation from October 1, 2015 (as measured by the Consumer Price Index).
  - (3) **Use—** Of the fees collected under this subsection for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall transfer—
    - (A) for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2019—
      - (i) 15 percent to the field offices that collected the fees and used to process protests, leases, and permits under this chapter, subject to appropriation; and
      - (ii) 85 percent to the BLM Permit Processing Improvement [Fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7) established under [subsection (c)(2)(B)](#c-2-B) (referred to in this subsection as the “[Fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7)”); and
    - (B) for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2026, all of the fees to the [Fund](/usc/30/1291.md?p=7).
  - (4) **Additional costs—** During each of fiscal years of 2016 through 2026, the Secretary shall not implement a rulemaking that would enable an increase in fees to recover additional costs related to processing applications for permits to drill.

# §191a. Late payment charges under Federal mineral leases

- (a) **Distribution of late payment charges—** Any interest or other charges paid to the United States by reason of the late payment of any royalty, rent, bonus, or other amount due to the United States under any lease issued by the United States for the extraction of [oil](/usc/30/181.md), gas, coal, or any other mineral, or for geothermal steam, shall be deposited in the same account and distributed to the same recipients, in the same manner, as such royalty, rent, bonus, or other amount.
- (b) **Effective date—** [Subsection (a)](#a) shall apply with respect to any interest, or other charge referred to in [subsection (a)](#a), which is paid to the United States on or after July 1, 1988.
- (c) **Prohibition against recoupment—** Any interest, or other charge referred to in [subsection (a)](#a), which was paid to the United States before July 1, 1988, and distributed to any State or other recipient is hereby deemed to be authorized and approved as of the date of payment or distribution, and no part of any such payment or distribution shall be recouped from the State or other recipient. This subsection shall not apply to interest or other charges paid in connection with any royalty, rent, bonus, or other amount determined not to be owing to the United States.

# §191b. Collection of unpaid and underpaid royalties and late payment interest owed by lessees


Beginning in fiscal year 1996 and thereafter, the Secretary shall take appropriate action to collect unpaid and underpaid royalties and late payment interest owed by Federal and Indian mineral lessees and other royalty payors on amounts received in settlement or other resolution of disputes under, and for partial or complete termination of, sales agreements for minerals from Federal and Indian leases.


# §192. Payment of royalties in oil or gas; sale of such oil or gas


All royalty accruing to the United States under any [oil](/usc/30/181.md) or gas lease or permit under this chapter on demand of the Secretary of the Interior shall be paid in [oil](/usc/30/181.md) or gas.

Upon granting any [oil](/usc/30/181.md) or gas lease under this chapter, and from time to time thereafter during said lease, the Secretary of the Interior shall, except whenever in his judgment it is desirable to retain the same for the use of the United States, offer for sale for such period as he may determine, upon notice and advertisement on sealed bids or at public auction, all royalty [oil](/usc/30/181.md) and gas accruing or reserved to the United States under such lease. Such advertisement and sale shall reserve to the Secretary of the Interior the right to reject all bids whenever within his judgment the interest of the United States demands; and in cases where no satisfactory bid is received or where the accepted bidder fails to complete the purchase, or where the Secretary of the Interior shall determine that it is unwise in the public interest to accept the offer of the highest bidder, the Secretary of the Interior, within his discretion, may readvertise such royalty for sale, or sell at private sale at not less than the market price for such period, or accept the value thereof from the lessee: Provided, That inasmuch as the public interest will be served by the sale of royalty [oil](/usc/30/181.md) to refineries not having their own source of supply for crude [oil](/usc/30/181.md), the Secretary of the Interior, when he determines that sufficient supplies of crude [oil](/usc/30/181.md) are not available in the open market to such refineries, is authorized and directed to grant preference to such refineries in the sale of [oil](/usc/30/181.md) under the provisions of this section, for processing or use in such refineries and not for resale in kind, and in so doing may sell to such refineries at private sale at not less than the market price any royalty [oil](/usc/30/181.md) accruing or reserved to the United States under leases issued pursuant to this chapter: Provided further, That in selling such royalty [oil](/usc/30/181.md) the Secretary of the Interior may at his discretion prorate such [oil](/usc/30/181.md) among such refineries in the area in which the [oil](/usc/30/181.md) is produced: Provided, however, That pending the making of a permanent contract for the sale of any royalty, [oil](/usc/30/181.md) or gas as herein provided, the Secretary of the Interior may sell the current product at private sale, at not less than the market price: And provided further, That any royalty, [oil](/usc/30/181.md), or gas may be sold at not less than the market price at private sale to any department or agency of the United States.