Oil industry gets 11-year fee lock-in on federal drilling permits
H.R. 7831 — License to Drill Act · Filed by Mike Kennedy (R-UT) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 5, 2026 · Sent to president
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What it does
This bill extends the deadline for the Department of Interior to collect application fees for oil and gas drilling permits on federal land from 2026 to 2037—a 11-year extension. It also redirects those collected fees into a dedicated fund (the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund) for fiscal years 2027–2037, rather than allowing them to lapse or be diverted elsewhere.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to extend the deadline for collecting application fees on federal oil and gas drilling permits and to redirect those fees into a dedicated BLM fund. It is a narrow, sector-specific amendment that benefits the oil and gas industry by locking in a predictable fee structure for over a decade.
What the text implies
- By dedicating fees to a BLM-specific fund rather than general Treasury, the bill may reduce congressional oversight of how drilling-related revenues are allocated and spent.
- The 11-year extension locks in current fee levels without requiring periodic review or adjustment for inflation, potentially undervaluing public resources extracted from federal lands.
- The bill does not specify what 'permit processing improvement' entails, leaving discretion to the BLM to define how the fund is used—potentially favoring faster permitting over environmental review.
- Extending the fee-collection deadline removes a natural congressional checkpoint (2026) that would have required affirmative action to renew the fee authority, shifting the burden to opponents of the program.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill extends a revenue-collection mechanism that funds federal permit processing, which could improve efficiency and oversight of drilling operations on public lands—a potential public benefit. However, the extension also locks in a fee structure for oil and gas drilling permits for 11 years without requiring competitive bidding or adjustment, and dedicates revenue to an agency fund rather than general Treasury, which may reduce transparency and public accountability over how drilling-relate
Who stands to gain
- oil and gas exploration and production companies
- oil and gas service contractors
Named in the bill
Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Mineral Leasing Act, BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.
- Mar 5, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 5, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Mar 25, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
- May 14, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- May 14, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent”
- Jun 2, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3757)”
- Jun 2, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
- Sep 30, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent”
- Oct 15, 2026 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
6 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $5,980,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 82% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Kennedy, the sponsor, reported $532,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Petroleum Institute — $2,780,000 on 1 filing
- Chevron U.S.A. Inc. — $1,670,000 on 1 filing
- Conocophillips — $750,000 on 1 filing
- American Exploration & Production Council — $500,000 on 1 filing
- Independent Petroleum Association of America — $250,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (710 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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