WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today welcomed Senate passage of the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Act of 2014 (S. 2440), a bipartisan bill that would make permanent a program designed to provide resources to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to reduce the backlog of permit applications and improve the efficiency of its oil and natural gas permitting process without reducing environmental protections.

The legislation, cosponsored by Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., passed the Senate unanimously on Tuesday. The bill permanently extends a BLM pilot program established in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to reduce the amount of time BLM was taking to process permit applications.

The bill would permanently reauthorize funding for the program, which is set to expire in 2015, and would provide the Interior Secretary the flexibility to designate new BLM pilot offices in areas where oil and gas permitting demands are at their highest. It would also provide approximately $18 million annually to set up new permitting offices and hire additional staff.

“This legislation will provide BLM officials with much-needed resources and the flexibility to streamline the permitting process at a time when production from federal lands is trailing far behind the current boom from private and state lands,” Murkowski said. “This is critical for our energy and economic security, especially in Alaska where the vast majority of our untapped resources are on land managed by the federal government. This legislation will ensure that BLM has the staff and funding to complete the necessary environmental reviews in a timely and efficient fashion.”

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for approval before it can be signed into law.

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