Title 30, Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-102
§188a Surrender of Leases
Title 30 › CHAPTER 3A — LEASES AND PROSPECTING PERMITS › SUBCHAPTER I — GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 188a
Summary
Interior Secretary may accept a lease surrender filed in the BLM after annual rent is due but before it's paid if the lessee pays rent owed prorated monthly for the time before filing and the late filing wasn't due to lack of reasonable effort. Not for cases sent to the DOJ.
Full Legal Text
Title 30, §188a
Mineral Lands and Mining, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to accept the surrender of any lease issued pursuant to any of the provisions of this chapter, or any amendment thereof, where the surrender is filed in the Bureau of Land Management subsequent to the accrual but prior to the payment of the yearly rental due under the lease, upon payment of the accrued rental on a pro rata monthly basis for the portion of the lease year prior to the filing of the surrender. The authority granted to the Secretary of the Interior by this section shall extend only to cases in which he finds that the failure of the lessee to file a timely surrender of the lease prior to the accrual of the rental was not due to a lack of reasonable diligence, but it shall not extend to claims or cases which have been referred to the Department of Justice for purposes of suit.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification Section was not enacted as part of act Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437, known as the Mineral Leasing Act, which comprises this chapter.
Executive Documents
Transfer of Functions
“Bureau of Land Management” substituted in text for “General Land Office” on authority of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, § 403, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
30 U.S.C. § 188a
Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102