PART 3000—MINERALS MANAGEMENT: GENERAL Authority: 16 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.; et seq., et seq.; et seq.; et seq.; Source: 89 FR 30963, Apr. 23, 2024, unless otherwise noted. § 3000.5 Definitions. As used in 43 CFR parts 3000 and 3100, the term: Acquired lands Acreage for which expressions of interest have been submitted Acres offered for lease Act MLA et seq. Anniversary date Authorized officer BLM Bureau Director Gas Interest interest Interest Oil ONRR Party in interest Person Proper BLM office (See 43 CFR 1821.10 for office location and area of jurisdiction of Bureau of Land Management offices.) Properly filed Public domain lands Secretary Surface managing agency § 3000.10 Nondiscrimination. Any person acquiring a lease under this chapter must comply fully with the equal opportunity provisions of Executive Order 11246 dated September 24, 1965, as amended, and the rules, regulations and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor (41 CFR part 60 and 43 CFR part 17). § 3000.20 False statements. As provided in 18 U.S.C. 1001, it is a crime punishable by imprisonment or a fine, or both, for any person knowingly and willfully to submit or cause to be submitted to any agency of the United States any false or fraudulent statement(s) as to any matter within the agency's jurisdiction. § 3000.30 Unlawful interests. No member of, or delegate to, Congress, or Resident Commissioner, and no employee of the Department of the Interior, except as provided in 43 CFR part 20, is allowed or entitled to acquire or hold any Federal lease, or interest therein. (Officer, agent or employee of the Department—see 43 CFR part 20; Member of Congress—see R.S. 3741; 41 U.S.C. 22; 18 U.S.C. 431-433.) § 3000.40 Appeals. Except as provided in 43 CFR 3000.120, 3101.53(b), 3103.1, 3165.4, and 3427.2, any party adversely affected by a decision of the authorized officer made pursuant to the provisions of 43 CFR parts 3000 or 3100 has a right of appeal pursuant to 43 CFR part 4. § 3000.41 Severability. If a court holds any section or its paragraphs of the regulations in parts 3000 through 3180 or their applicability to any person or circumstance invalid, the remainder of these rules and their applicability to other persons or circumstances will not be affected. § 3000.50 Limitations on time to institute suit to challenge a decision of the Secretary. No action challenging a decision of the Secretary involving any oil or gas lease (including decisions on offers or applications to lease) can be maintained unless such action is commenced or taken within 90 days after the final decision of the Secretary relating to such matter. § 3000.60 Filing of documents. All necessary documents must be filed in the proper BLM office. Documents may be submitted to the BLM using hard-copy delivery services, in-person delivery, or by electronic filing. When using hard-copy delivery services or in-person delivery, the document will be considered filed only when received during regular business hours in the proper BLM office. See 43 CFR part 1820, subpart 1822. § 3000.70 Multiple development. The granting of a permit or lease for the prospecting, development or production of deposits of any one mineral does not preclude the issuance of other permits or leases for the same lands for deposits of other minerals with suitable stipulations for simultaneous operation, nor the allowance of applicable entries, locations or selections of leased lands with a reservation of the mineral deposits to the United States. § 3000.80 Management of Federal minerals from reserved mineral estates. Where nonmineral public land disposal statutes provide that in conveyances of title all or certain minerals are reserved to the United States together with the right to prospect for, mine and remove the minerals under applicable law and regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the lease or sale, and administration and management of the use of such minerals will be accomplished under the regulations of 43 CFR parts 3000 and 3100. Such mineral estates include, but are not limited to, those that have been or will be reserved under the authorities of the Small Tract Act of June 1, 1938, as amended (43 U.S.C. 682(b)) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. § 3000.90 Enforcement actions under the United States Code. The United States Department of Justice is the agency responsible for the enforcement actions described in 30 U.S.C. 195, which makes it unlawful for any person to organize or participate in any scheme, arrangement, plan, or agreement to circumvent or defeat the provisions of the MLA or its implementing regulations; or to seek to obtain or to obtain any money or property by means of false statements of material facts or by failing to state materials facts concerning the: (a) Value of any lease or portion thereof issued or to be issued under the MLA; (b) Availability of any land for leasing under the MLA; (c) Ability of any person to obtain leases under the MLA; or (d) Provisions of the MLA and its implementing regulations. § 3000.100 Fees in general. (a) Setting fees. § 3000. (b) Conditions for filing. § 3000. (c) Periodic adjustment. (d) Timing of fee applicability. (2) For a document that the BLM receives on or after June 22, 2024, the applicant must include the required fixed fees with the documents filed, as provided in § 3000.120(a) of this chapter, and the applicant is subject to case-by-case processing fees as provided in § 3000.110 and under other provisions of this chapter. § 3000.110 Processing fees on a case-by-case basis. (a) Fees in this subchapter are designated either as case-by-case fees or as fixed fees. The fixed fees are established in this subchapter for specified types of documents. However, if the BLM decides at any time that a particular document designated for a fixed fee will have a unique processing cost, such as the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement, the BLM may set the fee under the case-by-case procedures in this section. (b) For case-by-case fees, the BLM measures the ongoing processing cost for each individual document and considers the factors in section 304(b) of FLPMA on a case-by-case basis according to the following procedures: (1) The applicant may request the BLM's approval to do all or part of any study or other activity according to standards the BLM specifies, thereby reducing the BLM's costs for processing the document, in accordance with all other applicable laws and regulations. (2) Before performing any case processing, the BLM will give the applicant a written estimate of the proposed fee for reasonable processing costs after the BLM considers the FLPMA section 304(b) factors. (3) The applicant may comment on the proposed fee. (4) The BLM will then give the applicant the final estimate of the processing fee amount after considering the applicant's comments and any BLM-approved work that the applicant will do. (i) If the BLM encounters higher or lower processing costs than anticipated, the BLM will re-estimate the reasonable processing costs following the procedure in paragraphs (b)(1) through (4) paragraph (b)(5) (ii) If the fee the applicant would pay under this paragraph (b)(4) (iii) Once processing is complete, the BLM will refund to the applicant any money that the BLM did not spend on processing costs. (5)(i) The BLM will periodically estimate what its reasonable processing costs will be for a specific period and will bill the applicant for that period. Payment is due to the BLM 30 days after the applicant receives its bill. The BLM will stop processing the document if the applicant does not pay the bill by the date payment is due. (ii) If a periodic payment turns out to be more or less than the BLM's reasonable processing costs for the period, the BLM will adjust the next billing accordingly or make a refund. Do not deduct any amount from a payment without the BLM's prior written approval. (6) The applicant must pay the entire fee before the BLM will issue the final document. (7) The applicant may appeal the BLM's estimated processing costs in accordance with the regulations in 43 CFR part 4, subpart E. The applicant may also appeal any determination the BLM makes under paragraph (a) paragraph (b)(5)(i) paragraph (b)(5)(ii) § 3000.120 Fee schedule for fixed fees. (a) The table in this section lists the services that require payment of fixed fees to the BLM. The fixed fee amounts are posted on the BLM website ( https://www.blm.gov Federal Register https://www.blm.gov Federal Register Table 1 to Paragraph ( a Document/action Oil & Gas (parts 3100, 3110, 3120, 3130, 3150, 3160, and 3180): Competitive lease application Leasing and compensatory royalty agreements under right-of-way pursuant to subpart 3109. Lease consolidation Assignment and transfer of record title or operating rights Overriding royalty transfer, payment out of production Name change; corporate merger; sheriff's deed; dissolution of corporation, partnership, or trust; or transfer to heir/devisee Lease reinstatement, Class I Geophysical exploration permit application—all states Renewal of exploration permit—Alaska Final application for Federal unit agreement approval, Federal unit agreement expansion, and Federal subsurface gas storage application Designation of successor operator for all Federal agreements, except for contracted unit agreements that contain no Federal lands. Geothermal (part 3200): Noncompetitive lease application Competitive lease application Assignment and transfer of record title or operating rights Name change, corporate merger or transfer to heir/devisee Lease consolidation Lease reinstatement Nomination of lands plus per acre nomination fee Site license application Assignment or transfer of site license Coal (parts 3400, 3470): License to mine application Exploration license application Lease or lease interest transfer Leasing of Solid Minerals Other Than Coal and Oil Shale (parts 3500, 3580): Applications other than those listed below Prospecting permit application amendment Extension of prospecting permit Lease modification or fringe acreage lease Lease renewal Assignment, sublease, or transfer of operating rights Transfer of overriding royalty Use permit Shasta and Trinity hardrock mineral lease Renewal of existing sand and gravel lease in Nevada Public Law 359; Mining in Powersite Withdrawals: General (part 3730): Notice of protest of placer mining operations Mining Law Administration (parts 3800, 3810, 3830, 3860, 3870): Application to open lands to location Notice of location * Amendment of location Transfer of mining claim/site Recording an annual FLPMA filing Deferment of assessment work Recording a notice of intent to locate mining claims on Stockraising Homestead Act lands Mineral patent adjudication Adverse claim Protest Oil Shale Management (parts 3900, 3910, 3930): Exploration license application Application for assignment or sublease of record title or overriding royalty Onshore Oil and Gas Operations and Production (parts 3160, 3170): Application for Permit to Drill * To record a mining claim or site location, this processing fee along with the initial maintenance fee and the one-time location fee required by statute 43 CFR part 3833 must be paid. (b) The amount of a fixed fee is not subject to appeal to the Interior Board of Land Appeals pursuant to 43 CFR part 4, subpart E.