A multitude of laws enacted over the past century authorize the lease or sale of federal lands and resources by federal agencies—the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Park Service (NPS), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Forest Service (USFS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The receipts from selling or leasing federal lands and resources have been used for a wide variety of purposes, including funding general federal government activities and compensating state and local governments for the tax-exempt status of federal lands. This report presents information on the receipts from the sale and/or lease of federal lands and resources; it identifies the legislative authority for the sales or leases and the process by which fees are established. Many of these accounts have mandatory spending authority, allowing deposits to be spent without further appropriation by Congress. Others require annual appropriations by Congress to be spent. The report presents information on federal land sales, on the sale or lease of renewable resources, on the sale or lease of minerals, and on other resource sales or leases. Issues for Congress

Congress faces two general issues in legislation to create or reauthorize programs for the sale or lease of federal lands and resources: the price or fee to be charged, and how the receipts should be used. In authorizing land and resource sales and leases, Congress can choose how fees or prices are to be established. Some sales and leases are offered and bid competitively, and thus the price is a value determined by the market. However, some fees are intended to recover administrative costs, while others are intended to fund activities to restore lands and resources to pre-sale conditions. Other receipts are "reinvested" in federal land or resource management in some way. Also, some land disposal authorities (e.g., the General Mining Law) have other pricing provisions. FLTFA —96% of land sale receipts under FLTFA are permanently appropriated to a designated account for the Secretaries of the Interior and of Agriculture to use to acquire inholdings and adjacent nonfederal lands (or interests therein) with exceptional resources in the state where the receipts were generated; not more than 20% can be used for administrative expenses related to land disposal. Because the volume sold and the prices vary from year to year, annual receipts can fluctuate widely. Because of the USFS's two-step process for allocations to accounts (deposits to the National Forest Fund are re-allocated to other accounts), and because these other accounts have mandatory spending authority that is not limited by the deposits to the National Forest Fund, the total allocation of USFS timber sale receipts can exceed 100% of the actual receipts—up to 135%. The amount is determined for each sale. General Treasury —any remaining receipts are deposited in the Treasury. General Treasury —37.5% of receipts from TGA §3 lands are deposited in the Treasury. Since FY2008, under language in the Interior appropriation bills, 2% of the state's share (1.8% of receipts from leases in Alaska) is retained by the BLM to cover administrative costs of the leasing program. General Treasury —the remaining 10% of receipts is deposited in the Treasury. Bids —competitive bidding, roughly comparable to bonus bidding for other mineral leases, is used for lease sales, with leases awarded to the highest bidder. Special Land Use Permits , $14.8 million in FY2009—receipts intended to approximate fair market value are collected from special use permits for the use of national forest lands, such as for telecommunication sites and agricultural activities.
Many laws have been enacted over the past century authorizing the sale or lease of lands or resources by the federal land management agencies—the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service (NPS), and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Forest Service (USFS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The receipts from these leases and sales have been used for many purposes, including for local economic development, to recover some or all of the operating and capital costs, or to fund land management activities. In its legislative debates, Congress may consider how prices or fees should be set for the sale or use of federal lands and resources and whether and how the receipts from such sales or leases should be used to fund desired activities.
The various resources sold or leased generate substantial federal revenues—nearly $16 billion annually for FY2007-FY2009. Leases for oil and gas and other minerals have generated the vast majority of these receipts, averaging $10.3 billion from offshore leasing and $4.4 billion from onshore leasing, although the amounts fluctuate widely from year to year. Recreation ($253 million) and timber sales ($223 million) also generate significant receipts annually. Other resource sales and leases generate lesser amounts—hardrock mining ($60 million), BLM land sales ($35 million), geothermal leasing ($30 million), and grazing ($17 million). Various other programs (e.g., special use fees) generated nearly $500 million in FY2009.
The pricing mechanisms for the various land and resource sales and leases vary widely. For many leases and sales, the fees are determined administratively. This can be (1) to recover agency administrative costs, such as for hardrock mining and for mineral leasing permit fees; (2) to approximate a fair market value, such as for BLM land sales; or (3) to account for other factors established in law, such as for grazing and recreation. For some resource leases and sales, competitive bidding is used to establish prices for some resources, such as for timber and mineral leasing bonuses. In a few situations, prices are set in the legislative authorization for the lease or sale program. For mineral resources, multiple pricing mechanisms are used, often with a combination of administrative fees and competitive bids.
Many of the receipts can be spent without further appropriation by Congress; these accounts have mandatory spending authority. Other receipts are deposited in designated accounts or the General Treasury, and cannot be spent without an annual appropriation.
Many of the receipts are granted to state or local governments, generally as compensation for the tax-exempt status of federal lands and resources. The portion of receipts granted to state and local governments varies widely by the type of resource leased or sold and by the history of the lands, and ranges from 0% (for recreation) to 90% (for mineral leasing in Alaska). Other receipts are commonly deposited into designated accounts for particular agency activities, to recover the cost of administering the lease or sale program or to restore or enhance the affected lands and resources, with remaining receipts deposited in the General Treasury. For some sales or leases, the portion deposited in the General Treasury is fixed—for example, 10% of onshore lease receipts, 37.5% of grazing receipts from certain lands, and 0% for recreation. For others, however, the deposits to many of the accounts vary, often being determined on each lease or sale, and thus the remaining portion deposited in the General Treasury, if any, fluctuates.