GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo.—The Bureau of Land Management has begun charging a $4,000 processing fee for each new oil and gas drilling application.
The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent said legislation authorizing the charge was included in a $555 billion spending bill signed by President Bush on Dec. 26. There had been no charge.
Critics of the pace of drilling cheered the move. Duke Cox, a builder and interim executive director of the Western Colorado Congress, said it is just like applying for a building permit and creates costs for the issuing agency.
“Every building permit that I apply for, I reimburse either the county, the city or whatever the jurisdiction is,” Cox said. “I reimburse them for the cost of processing my permit before I begin to build. To ask (energy companies) to pay their own way is something that is finally being done. It should have been done years ago, but they have been getting a pass for a long time.”
Marc Smith, executive director of the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, criticized the new fee saying it is another obstacle to increased energy production.
“This will have a big impact on smaller and locally owned and managed energy companies. It makes it more costly to plan and go through the planning process,” he added.
