The US Bureau of Land Management takes an average 227 days to process an application to drill for oil and gas on onshore federal land it oversees. States take nowhere near as long when it comes to acreage they control, congressional Republicans have noted for years.
That's one reason why US Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) introduced identical bills that would let states take charge of onshore federal oil and gas leasing if they were so inclined.
Drilling permit delays aren't the only reason for their bills. "While we have seen an energy revolution in the United States the past year, this is in spite of the president's policies that are intended to stifle the development of our domestic resources," Inhofe said as he introduced S. 490 on Feb. 13. "One of the leading ways he can control our energy resources is by dictating what can take place on federal land across the states."
States-not the federal government-are "best equipped to tend to the extensive unused and unprotected lands across the nation that the federal government has staked a claim to," Inhofe said. "Currently about 60% of federal land is off limits to energy production."
Black, as she introduced HR 866 a day earlier, said, "Today, Americans are enjoying a reprieve from the sky-high [gasoline] prices that have become a hallmark of President Obama's time in office. But the fact remains, this administration lacks a common-sense strategy to create more energy at home and to ensure that affordable fuel costs are here to stay."
Neither bill would deprive the federal government of oil and gas revenue. Each would empower states to establish programs to lease, permit, and regulate the development of all energy resources on federal lands, including renewables. Once a state declared that such a program had been established, it would receive the right to develop energy resources on federal lands within its borders.
What wouldn't change
Ownership of the resources and their royalty structure would not be affected. States would continue to receive half the royalties from energy produced from federal land within their borders.
No Democrats have embraced the idea as yet. The 21 cosponsors of Black's bill and 8 cosponsors of Inhofe's are all Republicans. Questions almost certainly would be raised about holding BLM accountable for its multiple use mission if Congress reassigns managing a significant part of that to states that show an interest.
But the idea stands a greater chance of being fully discussed in the 114th Congress than it did when Inhofe initially proposed during the 113th. Its actually becoming law still looks unlikely.