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![handle is hein.congrecreports/crptxafnm0001 and id is 1 raw text is: AUTHENTICATED
U.GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION .
Calendar No. 125
118TH CONGRESS REPORT
1st Session SENATE 118-53
OIL AND GAS PERMITTING PROCESS
JULY 11, 2023.-Ordered to be printed
Mr. MANCHIN, from the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 535]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 535), to streamline the oil and gas permitting
process and to recognize fee ownership for certain oil and gas drill-
ing or spacing units, and for other purposes, having considered the
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and rec-
ommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 535 is to remove the requirement for a permit
from the Secretary of the Interior for certain oil and gas drilling
or spacing units where the Federal Government holds a minority
interest in the minerals within the unit and there is no surface in-
terest held by the Federal Government in the area impacted by the
action.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
In the western United States, there are occasionally split-estate
situations, where the ownership of the surface rights and mineral
rights are held by different parties. Generally, in split-estate situa-
tions, the surface is owned by a non-federal entity, while the sub-
surface mineral estate is held by the federal government. Split-es-
tates can present management challenges for oil and gas develop-
ment as modern directional drilling techniques have enabled well
drilling from a single well pad on the surface to reach multiple
pools of oil and gas miles apart, potentially with different owners
of the mineral estate and the surface estate.
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