The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2) of land, or one-eighth of the United States's total landmass.
In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters. The United States asserts sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing its territory. This extent of territory is all the area belonging to, and under the dominion of, the United States federal government for administrative and other purposes. The United States total territory includes a subset of political divisions.
In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. The following examples illustrate some of the range.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation, so land sales provided an important revenue stream. The Ordinance set up a survey system that eventually covered over three-quarters of the area of the continental United States.
The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury. Starting with the enactment of the Land Ordinance of 1785, which created the Public Land Survey System, the Treasury Department had already overseen the survey of the Northwest Territory, including what is now the state of Ohio.
The Permanent University Fund (PUF) is a sovereign wealth fund created by the State of Texas to fund public higher education within the state. A portion of the returns from the PUF are annually directed towards the Available University Fund (AUF), which distributes the funds according to provisions set forth by the 1876 Texas Constitution, subsequent constitutional amendments, and the board of regents of the Texas A&M University System and University of Texas System. The PUF provides extra funds, above monies from tax revenues, to the UT System and the Texas A&M System which collectively have approximately 50 percent of state public university students. The PUF does not provide any funding to other public Universities in the State of Texas.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS).
Federal lands are publicly owned lands in the United States managed by the federal government. Pursuant to the Property Clause of the United States Constitution, Congress has the power to retain, buy, sell, and regulate federal lands, such as by limiting cattle grazing on them. These powers have been recognized in a long series of United States Supreme Court decisions.
The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 30 U.S.C. § 181 et seq. is a United States federal law that authorizes and governs leasing of public lands for developing deposits of coal, petroleum, natural gas and other hydrocarbons, in addition to phosphates, sodium, sulfur, and potassium in the United States. Previous to the act, these materials were subject to mining claims under the General Mining Act of 1872.
The Ministry of Energy is a Cabinet-level agency of the government of the Canadian province of Alberta responsible for coordinating policy relating to the development of mineral and energy resources. It is also responsible for assessing and collecting non-renewable resource (NRR) royalties, freehold mineral taxes, rentals, and bonuses. The Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission, which is fully integrated with the Department of Energy within the ministry, and fully funded by the Crown, accepts delivery of the Crown's royalty share of conventional crude oil and sells it at the current market value. The current ministry was formed in 1986, but ministries with other names dealing with energy resources go back to the Ministry of Lands and Mines in 1930.
Mineral rights are property rights to exploit an area for the minerals it harbors. Mineral rights can be separate from property ownership. Mineral rights can refer to sedentary minerals that do not move below the Earth's surface or fluid minerals such as oil or natural gas. There are three major types of mineral property; unified estate, severed or split estate, and fractional ownership of minerals.
The Arizona State Land Department is a department of the state government in the U.S. state of Arizona dedicated to the management of state-owned lands and property.
Oil and gas law in the United States is the branch of law that pertains to the acquisition and ownership rights in oil and gas both under the soil before discovery and after its capture, and adjudication regarding those rights.
Severance taxes are taxes imposed on the removal of natural resources within a taxing jurisdiction. Severance taxes are most commonly imposed in oil producing states within the United States. Resources that typically incur severance taxes when extracted include oil, natural gas, coal, uranium, and timber. Some jurisdictions use other terms like gross production tax.
The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is a state agency of the U.S. state of Texas, responsible for managing lands and mineral rights properties that are owned by the state. The GLO also manages and contributes to the state's Permanent School Fund. The agency is headquartered in the Stephen F. Austin State Office Building in Downtown Austin.
The Texas Permanent School Fund is a sovereign wealth fund which serves to provide revenues for funding of public primary and secondary education in the US state of Texas. Its assets include many publicly owned lands within Texas and various other investments; as of the end of fiscal 2020, the fund had an endowment of $48.3 billion. The fund is distinct from the Permanent University Fund, which funds most institutions in the University of Texas System and the Texas A&M University System, but no other public universities or schools in the state.
Patrick H. "Pat" Lyons is an American politician from New Mexico. He is a former chairman and commissioner of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. Lyons, a Republican, was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. He previously served as the New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands and as a member of the New Mexico Senate.
The Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act of 2014 is a bill that would revise existing laws and policies regarding the development of oil and gas resources on the Outer Continental Shelf. The bill is intended to increase domestic energy production and lower gas prices.
The Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) is a state-level government agency of Idaho that manages State Trust Lands. IDL oversees forestry practices on state lands and some regulation of mining practices, as well as administering forestry programs and providing fire protection and prevention on state lands. IDL operates under the Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners and is the administrative arm of the Idaho Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Michigan Proposal 20-1 was a ballot initiative approved by voters in Michigan as part of the 2020 United States elections. The ballot initiative amended the Michigan Constitution to require money generated from drilling of oil and gas on state-owned land to be used for upkeep of Michigan's parks and acquisition of land for recreational purposes such as hunting and fishing.
