How did BLM determine the final fees?
The new fees are based on the number of Federal work hours to process an application or to monitor the grant. The four fixed fee categories (minor categories 1-4) are based on a mean per hour rate ($21.46 for 2005). The final rule allows for automatic annual adjustment of the minor category fees based on changes in the IPD-GDP, and requires BLM to reevaluate the fees five years from the effective date of the regulations and every 10 years after that. Please refer to the preamble to the final rule for further information on how BLM determined the final fees for the fixed fee categories.
