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Last updated: 04/04/03

Contacts:

Tom Gorey, (202-452-5031)
Phil Allard, (202-452-5195)
Chris Fontecchio, (202-452-5012)

BLM Publishes New Rule To Simplify and Revise Solid Mineral Leasing Regulations

As part of the Administration's ongoing effort to "reinvent government," the Bureau of Land Management today published a new rule that will simplify the BLM's solid mineral regulations and make them easier to understand.

The rule, which takes effect on October 31, reduces the agency's existing solid mineral leasing regulations by one-third while making several substantive revisions. Among other things, the rule increases the per-state acreage limit for potassium leases on BLM-managed lands from 51,200 acres to 96,000 acres. This will enhance the development of Federal reserves and help achieve the goal of ultimate maximum resource recovery, as called for by Federal law.

"This rule advances the Administration's effort to reinvent government so that it works more effectively and efficiently for America's taxpayers," said BLM Deputy Director Tom Fry. "These new regulations, which are written in plain language, will enable our agency to provide better customer service."

Besides raising the acreage limit on potassium leases, the new rule revises the existing regulations in other ways. Specifically, the rule:

• eliminates the requirement that an applicant for a lease or title transfer re-describe lands in an application, and instead allows the applicant to refer to the previous use authorization that the BLM approved;
• allows heirs of a lease or permit holder -- specifically, those heirs who are not qualified to own a lease or permit -- to hold such a lease or permit for two years, during which time they can either become qualified lease holders or divest their interest;
• clarifies that when lessees or holders of a preference right exchange their interest with the BLM for other lands, the exchange must be equal in value, as required under Federal law, rather than comparable in value;
• clarifies the definition of the term "valuable deposit." The current definition uses the phrase "valuable mine" to describe a valuable deposit. The new rule changes "valuable mine" to "profitable mine," but this term will not affect how the BLM evaluates valuable deposits. The new definition merely gives a more descriptive account of how the Bureau already evaluates a deposit.

Unlike the existing regulations, the new rule does not authorize future-interest prospecting permits. Such permits authorize exploration for minerals on lands that the Federal Government will acquire at some point in the future. Applicants rarely seek these from the BLM, since they can work directly with the current mineral owner until the mineral title transfers to the United States. If a valuable deposit is found before the title transfers, the BLM can issue future-interest leases to the present interest holder of these minerals.

The new rule requires major stockholders of applicant companies to disclose the percentage of their stockholdings. This will help the BLM enforce lease and permit acreage limits, as the Bureau uses this percentage in calculating acreage holdings. The rule also eliminates the requirement to disclose such information on the basis of foreign residency, which is not needed to enforce any statutory restrictions on lease holdings.

The new rule makes clear that the BLM can issue non-competitive, fringe-acre leases for the extraction of sodium chloride to persons producing calcium chloride from an existing mine. This provision applies to a limited area in California where these two minerals are commingled.

The new rule also re-affirms the BLM's policy of not issuing leases to those who are failing to comply with the production-related diligence requirements for coal leases.

A copy of the rule, published in today's Federal Register, is available from the BLM's State Offices and from the agency's Headquarters Office in Washington, D.C. The new rule is also accessible from the BLM's Internet Web site in and PDF formats.

Under the Mineral Leasing Act, the BLM leases certain solid minerals -- such as phosphate, sodium, potassium, and gilsonite -- in states across the West. The BLM has issued more than 370 leases for potassium, sodium, and phosphate, covering 430,000 acres of public land; a handful of leases deal with the mining of gilsonite and asphalt. The BLM's solid mineral leasing program generates more than $30 million in royalties each year for America's taxpayers.

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land -- 264 million surface acres -- than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, which has a budget of $1.2 billion and a workforce of about 9,000 employees, also administers more than 560 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM preserves open space by managing the public lands for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mining, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources found on the public lands.

More information on the Federal Government's plain-language initiative is available on the Internet at www.plainlanguage.gov.

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