I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1
To lower energy costs by increasing American energy production, exports,
infrastructure, and critical minerals processing, by promoting trans-
parency, accountability, permitting, and production of American re-
sources, and by improving water quality certification and energy projects,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH14, 2023
Mr. S
CALISE(for himself, Mrs. RODGERSof Washington, Mr. WESTERMAN,
and Mr. G
RAVESof Missouri) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the
Committees on Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Transportation and
Infrastructure, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To lower energy costs by increasing American energy produc-
tion, exports, infrastructure, and critical minerals proc-
essing, by promoting transparency, accountability, per-
mitting, and production of American resources, and by
improving water quality certification and energy projects,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2
‘‘Lower Energy Costs Act’’. 3
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents of 4
this Act is as follows: 5
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
DIVISION A—INCREASING AMERICAN ENERGY PRODUCTION, EX-
PORTS, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND CRITICAL MINERALS PROC-
ESSING
Sec. 10001. Securing America’s critical minerals supply.
Sec. 10002. Protecting American energy production.
Sec. 10003. Researching Efficient Federal Improvements for Necessary Energy
Refining.
Sec. 10004. Promoting cross-border energy infrastructure.
Sec. 10005. Sense of Congress expressing disapproval of the revocation of the
Presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Sec. 10006. Sense of Congress opposing restrictions on the export of crude oil
or other petroleum products.
Sec. 10007. Unlocking our domestic LNG potential.
Sec. 10008. Promoting interagency coordination for review of natural gas pipe-
lines.
Sec. 10009. Interim hazardous waste permits for critical energy resource facili-
ties.
Sec. 10010. Flexible air permits for critical energy resource facilities.
Sec. 10011. National security or energy security waivers to produce critical en-
ergy resources.
Sec. 10012. Ending future delays in chemical substance review for critical en-
ergy resources.
Sec. 10013. Natural gas tax repeal.
Sec. 10014. Repeal of greenhouse gas reduction fund.
Sec. 10015. Keeping America’s refineries operating.
Sec. 10016. Homeowner energy freedom.
DIVISION B—TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, PERMITTING,
AND PRODUCTION OF AMERICAN RESOURCES
Sec. 20001. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I—ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE LEASING AND OVERSIGHT
Sec. 20101. Onshore oil and gas leasing.
Sec. 20102. Lease reinstatement.
Sec. 20103. Protested lease sales.
Sec. 20104. Suspension of operations.
Sec. 20105. Administrative protest process reform.
Sec. 20106. Leasing and permitting transparency.
Sec. 20107. Offshore oil and gas leasing.
Sec. 20108. Five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing.
Sec. 20109. Geothermal leasing.
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Sec. 20110. Leasing for certain qualified coal applications.
Sec. 20111. Future coal leasing.
Sec. 20112. Staff planning report.
Sec. 20113. Prohibition on Chinese communist party ownership interest.
Sec. 20114. Effect on other law.
TITLE II—PERMITTING STREAMLINING
Sec. 20201. Definitions.
Sec. 20202. BUILDER Act.
Sec. 20203. Codification of National Environmental Policy Act regulations.
Sec. 20204. Non-major Federal actions.
Sec. 20205. No net loss determination for existing rights-of-way.
Sec. 20206. Determination of National Environmental Policy Act adequacy.
Sec. 20207. Determination regarding rights-of-way.
Sec. 20208. Terms of rights-of-way.
Sec. 20209. Funding to process permits and develop information technology.
Sec. 20210. Offshore geological and geophysical survey licensing.
Sec. 20211. Deferral of applications for permits to drill.
Sec. 20212. Processing and terms of applications for permits to drill.
Sec. 20213. Amendments to the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Sec. 20214. Access to Federal energy resources from non-Federal surface es-
tate.
Sec. 20215. Scope of environmental reviews for oil and gas leases.
Sec. 20216. Expediting approval of gathering lines.
Sec. 20217. Lease sale litigation.
Sec. 20218. Limitation on claims.
Sec. 20219. Government Accountability Office report on permits to drill.
Sec. 20220. E–NEPA.
TITLE III—PERMITTING FOR MINING NEEDS
Sec. 20301. Definitions.
Sec. 20302. Minerals supply chain and reliability.
Sec. 20303. Federal register process improvement.
Sec. 20304. Designation of mining as a covered sector for Federal permitting
improvement purposes.
Sec. 20305. Treatment of actions under presidential determination 2022–11 for
Federal permitting improvement purposes.
Sec. 20306. Notice for mineral exploration activities with limited surface dis-
turbance.
Sec. 20307. Use of mining claims for ancillary activities.
Sec. 20308. Ensuring consideration of uranium as a critical mineral.
Sec. 20309. Barring foreign bad actors from operating on Federal lands.
TITLE IV—FEDERAL LAND USE PLANNING
Sec. 20401. Federal land use planning and withdrawals.
Sec. 20402. Prohibitions on delay of mineral development of certain Federal
land.
Sec. 20403. Definitions.
TITLE V—ENSURING COMPETITIVENESS ON FEDERAL LANDS
Sec. 20501. Incentivizing domestic production.
TITLE VI—ENERGY REVENUE SHARING
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Sec. 20601. Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf revenue.
Sec. 20602. Parity in offshore wind revenue sharing.
Sec. 20603. Elimination of administrative fee under the Mineral Leasing Act.
DIVISION C—WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION AND ENERGY
PROJECT IMPROVEMENT
Sec. 30001. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 30002. Certification.
DIVISION A—INCREASING AMER-1
ICAN ENERGY PRODUCTION, 2
EXPORTS, INFRASTRUCTURE, 3
AND CRITICAL MINERALS 4
PROCESSING 5
Sec. 10001. Securing America’s critical minerals supply.
Sec. 10002. Protecting American energy production.
Sec. 10003. Researching Efficient Federal Improvements for Necessary Energy
Refining.
Sec. 10004. Promoting cross-border energy infrastructure.
Sec. 10005. Sense of Congress expressing disapproval of the revocation of the
Presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Sec. 10006. Sense of Congress opposing restrictions on the export of crude oil
or other petroleum products.
Sec. 10007. Unlocking our domestic LNG potential.
Sec. 10008. Promoting interagency coordination for review of natural gas pipe-
lines.
Sec. 10009. Interim hazardous waste permits for critical energy resource facili-
ties.
Sec. 10010. Flexible air permits for critical energy resource facilities.
Sec. 10011. National security or energy security waivers to produce critical en-
ergy resources.
Sec. 10012. Ending future delays in chemical substance review for critical en-
ergy resources.
Sec. 10013. Natural gas tax repeal.
Sec. 10014. Repeal of greenhouse gas reduction fund.
Sec. 10015. Keeping America’s refineries operating.
Sec. 10016. Homeowner energy freedom.
SEC. 10001. SECURING AMERICA’S CRITICAL MINERALS
6
SUPPLY. 7
(a) A
MENDMENT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 8
O
RGANIZATIONACT.—The Department of Energy Orga-9
nization Act (42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) is amended— 10
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(1) in section 2, by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(d) As used in sections 102(20) and 203(a)(12), the 3
term ‘critical energy resource’ means any energy re-4
source— 5
‘‘(1) that is essential to the energy sector and 6
energy systems of the United States; and 7
‘‘(2) the supply chain of which is vulnerable to 8
disruption.’’; 9
(2) in section 102, by adding at the end the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(20) To ensure there is an adequate and reli-12
able supply of critical energy resources that are es-13
sential to the energy security of the United States.’’; 14
and 15
(3) in section 203(a), by adding at the end the 16
following: 17
‘‘(12) Functions that relate to securing the sup-18
ply of critical energy resources, including identifying 19
and mitigating the effects of a disruption of such 20
supply on— 21
‘‘(A) the development and use of energy 22
technologies; and 23
‘‘(B) the operation of energy systems.’’. 24
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(b) SECURINGCRITICALENERGYRESOURCESUPPLY 1
C
HAINS.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out the require-3
ments of the Department of Energy Organization 4
Act (42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.), the Secretary of En-5
ergy, in consultation with the appropriate Federal 6
agencies, representatives of the energy sector, 7
States, and other stakeholders, shall— 8
(A) conduct ongoing assessments of— 9
(i) energy resource criticality based on 10
the importance of critical energy resources 11
to the development of energy technologies 12
and the supply of energy; 13
(ii) the critical energy resource supply 14
chain of the United States; 15
(iii) the vulnerability of such supply 16
chain; and 17
(iv) how the energy security of the 18
United States is affected by the reliance of 19
the United States on importation of critical 20
energy resources; 21
(B) facilitate development of strategies to 22
strengthen critical energy resource supply 23
chains in the United States, including by— 24
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(i) diversifying the sources of the sup-1
ply of critical energy resources; and 2
(ii) increasing domestic production, 3
separation, and processing of critical en-4
ergy resources; 5
(C) develop substitutes and alternatives to 6
critical energy resources; and 7
(D) improve technology that reuses and re-8
cycles critical energy resources. 9
(2) C
RITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE DEFINED .— 10
In this section, the term ‘‘critical energy resource’’ 11
has the meaning given such term in section 2 of the 12
Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 13
7101). 14
SEC. 10002. PROTECTING AMERICAN ENERGY PRODUCTION. 15
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-16
gress that States should maintain primacy for the regula-17
tion of hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas produc-18
tion on State and private lands. 19
(b) P
ROHIBITION ONDECLARATION OF A MORATO-20
RIUM ON HYDRAULICFRACTURING.—Notwithstanding 21
any other provision of law, the President may not declare 22
a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing unless 23
such moratorium is authorized by an Act of Congress. 24
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SEC. 10003. RESEARCHING EFFICIENT FEDERAL IMPROVE-1
MENTS FOR NECESSARY ENERGY REFINING. 2
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 3
of this section, the Secretary of Energy shall direct the 4
National Petroleum Council to— 5
(1) submit to the Secretary of Energy and Con-6
gress a report containing— 7
(A) an examination of the role of petro-8
chemical refineries located in the United States 9
and the contributions of such petrochemical re-10
fineries to the energy security of the United 11
States, including the reliability of supply in the 12
United States of liquid fuels and feedstocks, 13
and the affordability of liquid fuels for con-14
sumers in the United States; 15
(B) analyses and projections with respect 16
to— 17
(i) the capacity of petrochemical refin-18
eries located in the United States; 19
(ii) opportunities for expanding such 20
capacity; and 21
(iii) the risks to petrochemical refin-22
eries located in the United States; 23
(C) an assessment of any Federal or State 24
executive actions, regulations, or policies that 25
have caused or contributed to a decline in the 26
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capacity of petrochemical refineries located in 1
the United States; and 2
(D) any recommendations for Federal 3
agencies and Congress to encourage an increase 4
in the capacity of petrochemical refineries lo-5
cated in the United States; and 6
(2) make publicly available the report submitted 7
under paragraph (1). 8
SEC. 10004. PROMOTING CROSS-BORDER ENERGY INFRA-9
STRUCTURE. 10
(a) A
UTHORIZATION OF CERTAINENERGYINFRA-11
STRUCTUREPROJECTS AT AN INTERNATIONAL BOUND-12
ARY OF THEUNITEDSTATES.— 13
(1) A
UTHORIZATION.—Except as provided in 14
paragraph (3) and subsection (d), no person may 15
construct, connect, operate, or maintain a border- 16
crossing facility for the import or export of oil or 17
natural gas, or the transmission of electricity, across 18
an international border of the United States without 19
obtaining a certificate of crossing for the border- 20
crossing facility under this subsection. 21
(2) C
ERTIFICATE OF CROSSING.— 22
(A) R
EQUIREMENT.—Not later than 120 23
days after final action is taken, by the relevant 24
official or agency identified under subparagraph 25
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(B), under the National Environmental Policy 1
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with re-2
spect to a border-crossing facility for which a 3
person requests a certificate of crossing under 4
this subsection, the relevant official or agency, 5
in consultation with appropriate Federal agen-6
cies, shall issue a certificate of crossing for the 7
border-crossing facility unless the relevant offi-8
cial or agency finds that the construction, con-9
nection, operation, or maintenance of the bor-10
der-crossing facility is not in the public interest 11
of the United States. 12
(B) R
ELEVANT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY .— 13
The relevant official or agency referred to in 14
subparagraph (A) is— 15
(i) the Federal Energy Regulatory 16
Commission with respect to border-cross-17
ing facilities consisting of oil or natural 18
gas pipelines; and 19
(ii) the Secretary of Energy with re-20
spect to border-crossing facilities consisting 21
of electric transmission facilities. 22
(C) A
DDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR 23
ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION FACILITIES .—In the 24
case of a request for a certificate of crossing for 25
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a border-crossing facility consisting of an elec-1
tric transmission facility, the Secretary of En-2
ergy shall require, as a condition of issuing the 3
certificate of crossing under subparagraph (A), 4
that the border-crossing facility be constructed, 5
connected, operated, or maintained consistent 6
with all applicable policies and standards of— 7
(i) the Electric Reliability Organiza-8
tion and the applicable regional entity; and 9
(ii) any Regional Transmission Orga-10
nization or Independent System Operator 11
with operational or functional control over 12
the border-crossing facility. 13
(3) E
XCLUSIONS.—This subsection shall not 14
apply to any construction, connection, operation, or 15
maintenance of a border-crossing facility for the im-16
port or export of oil or natural gas, or the trans-17
mission of electricity— 18
(A) if the border-crossing facility is oper-19
ating for such import, export, or transmission 20
as of the date of enactment of this Act; 21
(B) if a Presidential permit (or similar 22
permit) for the construction, connection, oper-23
ation, or maintenance has been issued pursuant 24
to any provision of law or Executive order; or 25
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(C) if an application for a Presidential per-1
mit (or similar permit) for the construction, 2
connection, operation, or maintenance is pend-3
ing on the date of enactment of this Act, until 4
the earlier of— 5
(i) the date on which such application 6
is denied; or 7
(ii) two years after the date of enact-8
ment of this Act, if such a permit has not 9
been issued by such date of enactment. 10
(4) E
FFECT OF OTHER LAWS .— 11
(A) A
PPLICATION TO PROJECTS .—Nothing 12
in this subsection or subsection (d) shall affect 13
the application of any other Federal statute to 14
a project for which a certificate of crossing for 15
a border-crossing facility is requested under 16
this subsection. 17
(B) N
ATURAL GAS ACT.—Nothing in this 18
subsection or subsection (d) shall affect the re-19
quirement to obtain approval or authorization 20
under sections 3 and 7 of the Natural Gas Act 21
for the siting, construction, or operation of any 22
facility to import or export natural gas. 23
(C) O
IL PIPELINES.—Nothing in this sub-24
section or subsection (d) shall affect the author-25
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ity of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commis-1
sion with respect to oil pipelines under section 2
60502 of title 49, United States Code. 3
(b) T
RANSMISSION OFELECTRICENERGY TOCAN-4
ADA ANDMEXICO.— 5
(1) R
EPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO SECURE 6
ORDER.—Section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act 7
(16 U.S.C. 824a(e)) is repealed. 8
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .— 9
(A) S
TATE REGULATIONS.—Section 202(f) 10
of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824a(f)) 11
is amended by striking ‘‘insofar as such State 12
regulation does not conflict with the exercise of 13
the Commission’s powers under or relating to 14
subsection 202(e)’’. 15
(B) S
EASONAL DIVERSITY ELECTRICITY 16
EXCHANGE.—Section 602(b) of the Public Util-17
ity Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 18
824a–4(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘the Com-19
mission has conducted hearings and made the 20
findings required under section 202(e) of the 21
Federal Power Act’’ and all that follows 22
through the period at the end and inserting 23
‘‘the Secretary has conducted hearings and 24
finds that the proposed transmission facilities 25
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would not impair the sufficiency of electric sup-1
ply within the United States or would not im-2
pede or tend to impede the coordination in the 3
public interest of facilities subject to the juris-4
diction of the Secretary.’’. 5
(c) N
OPRESIDENTIALPERMITREQUIRED.—No 6
Presidential permit (or similar permit) shall be required 7
pursuant to any provision of law or Executive order for 8
the construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of 9
an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission facil-10
ity, or any border-crossing facility thereof. 11
(d) M
ODIFICATIONS TO EXISTINGPROJECTS.—No 12
certificate of crossing under subsection (a), or Presidential 13
permit (or similar permit), shall be required for a modi-14
fication to— 15
(1) an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric 16
transmission facility that is operating for the import 17
or export of oil or natural gas or the transmission 18
of electricity as of the date of enactment of this Act; 19
(2) an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric 20
transmission facility for which a Presidential permit 21
(or similar permit) has been issued pursuant to any 22
provision of law or Executive order; or 23
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(3) a border-crossing facility for which a certifi-1
cate of crossing has previously been issued under 2
subsection (a). 3
(e) P
ROHIBITION ONREVOCATION OFPRESIDENTIAL 4
P
ERMITS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 5
the President may not revoke a Presidential permit (or 6
similar permit) issued pursuant to Executive Order No. 7
13337 (3 U.S.C. 301 note), Executive Order No. 11423 8
(3 U.S.C. 301 note), Executive Order No. 12038 (43 Fed. 9
Reg. 4957), Executive Order No. 10485 (18 Fed. Reg. 10
5397), or any other Executive order for the construction, 11
connection, operation, or maintenance of an oil or natural 12
gas pipeline or electric transmission facility, or any bor-13
der-crossing facility thereof, unless such revocation is au-14
thorized by an Act of Congress. 15
(f) E
FFECTIVEDATE; RULEMAKINGDEADLINES.— 16
(1) E
FFECTIVE DATE .—Subsections (a) 17
through (d), and the amendments made by such 18
subsections, shall take effect on the date that is 1 19
year after the date of enactment of this Act. 20
(2) R
ULEMAKING DEADLINES .—Each relevant 21
official or agency described in subsection (a)(2)(B) 22
shall— 23
(A) not later than 180 days after the date 24
of enactment of this Act, publish in the Federal 25
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Register notice of a proposed rulemaking to 1
carry out the applicable requirements of sub-2
section (a); and 3
(B) not later than 1 year after the date of 4
enactment of this Act, publish in the Federal 5
Register a final rule to carry out the applicable 6
requirements of subsection (a). 7
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
(1) B
ORDER-CROSSING FACILITY.—The term 9
‘‘border-crossing facility’’ means the portion of an oil 10
or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission facil-11
ity that is located at an international boundary of 12
the United States. 13
(2) M
ODIFICATION.—The term ‘‘modification’’ 14
includes a reversal of flow direction, change in own-15
ership, change in flow volume, addition or removal 16
of an interconnection, or an adjustment to maintain 17
flow (such as a reduction or increase in the number 18
of pump or compressor stations). 19
(3) N
ATURAL GAS.—The term ‘‘natural gas’’ 20
has the meaning given that term in section 2 of the 21
Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717a). 22
(4) O
IL.—The term ‘‘oil’’ means petroleum or 23
a petroleum product. 24
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(5) ELECTRIC RELIABILITY ORGANIZATION ; RE-1
GIONAL ENTITY.—The terms ‘‘Electric Reliability 2
Organization’’ and ‘‘regional entity’’ have the mean-3
ings given those terms in section 215 of the Federal 4
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o). 5
(6) I
NDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR ; RE-6
GIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION .—The terms 7
‘‘Independent System Operator’’ and ‘‘Regional 8
Transmission Organization’’ have the meanings 9
given those terms in section 3 of the Federal Power 10
Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 11
SEC. 10005. SENSE OF CONGRESS EXPRESSING DIS-12
APPROVAL OF THE REVOCATION OF THE 13
PRESIDENTIAL PERMIT FOR THE KEYSTONE 14
XL PIPELINE. 15
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 16
(1) On March 29, 2019, TransCanada Key-17
stone Pipeline, L.P., was granted a Presidential per-18
mit to construct, connect, operate, and maintain the 19
Keystone XL pipeline. 20
(2) On January 20, 2021, President Biden 21
issued Executive Order 13990 (86 Fed. Reg. 7037) 22
that revoked the March 2019 Presidential permit for 23
the Keystone XL. 24
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(b) SENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-1
gress that Congress disapproves of the revocation by 2
President Biden of the Presidential permit for the Key-3
stone XL pipeline. 4
SEC. 10006. SENSE OF CONGRESS OPPOSING RESTRICTIONS 5
ON THE EXPORT OF CRUDE OIL OR OTHER 6
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS. 7
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 8
(1) The United States has enjoyed a renais-9
sance in energy production, with the expansion of 10
domestic crude oil and other petroleum product pro-11
duction contributing to enhanced energy security 12
and significant economic benefits to the national 13
economy. 14
(2) In 2015, Congress recognized the need to 15
adapt to changing crude oil market conditions and 16
repealed all restrictions on the export of crude oil on 17
a bipartisan basis. 18
(3) Section 101 of title I of division O of the 19
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (42 U.S.C. 20
6212a) established the national policy on oil export 21
restriction, prohibiting any official of the Federal 22
Government from imposing or enforcing any restric-23
tions on the export of crude oil with limited excep-24
tions, including a savings clause maintaining the au-25
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thority to prohibit exports under any provision of 1
law that imposes sanctions on a foreign person or 2
foreign government (including any provision of law 3
that prohibits or restricts United States persons 4
from engaging in a transaction with a sanctioned 5
person or government), including a foreign govern-6
ment that is designated as a state sponsor of ter-7
rorism. 8
(4) Lifting the restrictions on crude oil exports 9
encouraged additional domestic energy production, 10
created American jobs and economic development, 11
and allowed the United States to emerge as the lead-12
ing oil producer in the world. 13
(5) In 2019, the United States became a net 14
exporter of petroleum products for the first time 15
since 1952, and the reliance of the United States on 16
foreign imports of petroleum products has declined 17
to historic lows. 18
(6) Free trade, open markets, and competition 19
have contributed to the rise of the United States as 20
a global energy superpower. 21
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-22
gress that the Federal Government should not impose— 23
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(1) overly restrictive regulations on the explo-1
ration, production, or marketing of energy resources; 2
or 3
(2) any restrictions on the export of crude oil 4
or other petroleum products under the Energy Pol-5
icy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.), 6
except with respect to the export of crude oil or 7
other petroleum products to a foreign person or for-8
eign government subject to sanctions under any pro-9
vision of United States law, including to a country 10
the government of which is designated as a state 11
sponsor of terrorism. 12
SEC. 10007. UNLOCKING OUR DOMESTIC LNG POTENTIAL. 13
Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) 14
is amended— 15
(1) by striking subsections (a) through (c); 16
(2) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 17
subsections (a) and (b), respectively; 18
(3) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-19
section (c), and moving such subsection after sub-20
section (b), as so redesignated; 21
(4) in subsection (a), as so redesignated, by 22
amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: ‘‘(1) The 23
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (in this sub-24
section referred to as the ‘Commission’) shall have 25
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the exclusive authority to approve or deny an appli-1
cation for authorization for the siting, construction, 2
expansion, or operation of a facility to export nat-3
ural gas from the United States to a foreign country 4
or import natural gas from a foreign country, in-5
cluding an LNG terminal. In determining whether to 6
approve or deny an application under this para-7
graph, the Commission shall deem the exportation or 8
importation of natural gas to be consistent with the 9
public interest. Except as specifically provided in 10
this Act, nothing in this Act is intended to affect 11
otherwise applicable law related to any Federal 12
agency’s authorities or responsibilities related to fa-13
cilities to import or export natural gas, including 14
LNG terminals.’’; and 15
(5) by adding at the end the following new sub-16
section: 17
‘‘(d)(1) Nothing in this Act limits the authority of 18
the President under the Constitution, the International 19
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 20
seq.), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et 21
seq.), part B of title II of the Energy Policy and Conserva-22
tion Act (42 U.S.C. 6271 et seq.), the Trading With the 23
Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.), or any other provi-24
sion of law that imposes sanctions on a foreign person or 25
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foreign government (including any provision of law that 1
prohibits or restricts United States persons from engaging 2
in a transaction with a sanctioned person or government), 3
including a country that is designated as a state sponsor 4
of terrorism, to prohibit imports or exports. 5
‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘state sponsor of ter-6
rorism’ means a country the government of which the Sec-7
retary of State determines has repeatedly provided sup-8
port for international terrorism pursuant to— 9
‘‘(A) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export Con-10
trol Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4318(c)(1)(A)); 11
‘‘(B) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance 12
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 13
‘‘(C) section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act 14
(22 U.S.C. 2780); or 15
‘‘(D) any other provision of law.’’. 16
SEC. 10008. PROMOTING INTERAGENCY COORDINATION 17
FOR REVIEW OF NATURAL GAS PIPELINES. 18
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
(1) C
OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 20
means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 21
(2) F
EDERAL AUTHORIZATION .—The term 22
‘‘Federal authorization’’ has the meaning given that 23
term in section 15(a) of the Natural Gas Act (15 24
U.S.C. 717n(a)). 25
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(3) NEPA REVIEW.—The term ‘‘NEPA review’’ 1
means the process of reviewing a proposed Federal 2
action under section 102 of the National Environ-3
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 4
(4) P
ROJECT-RELATED NEPA REVIEW .—The 5
term ‘‘project-related NEPA review’’ means any 6
NEPA review required to be conducted with respect 7
to the issuance of an authorization under section 3 8
of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con-9
venience and necessity under section 7 of such Act. 10
(b) C
OMMISSIONNEPA REVIEWRESPONSIBIL-11
ITIES.—In acting as the lead agency under section 12
15(b)(1) of the Natural Gas Act for the purposes of com-13
plying with the National Environmental Policy Act of 14
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with respect to an author-15
ization under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certifi-16
cate of public convenience and necessity under section 7 17
of such Act, the Commission shall, in accordance with this 18
section and other applicable Federal law— 19
(1) be the only lead agency; 20
(2) coordinate as early as practicable with each 21
agency designated as a participating agency under 22
subsection (d)(3) to ensure that the Commission de-23
velops information in conducting its project-related 24
NEPA review that is usable by the participating 25
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agency in considering an aspect of an application for 1
a Federal authorization for which the agency is re-2
sponsible; and 3
(3) take such actions as are necessary and 4
proper to facilitate the expeditious resolution of its 5
project-related NEPA review. 6
(c) D
EFERENCE TOCOMMISSION.—In making a deci-7
sion with respect to a Federal authorization required with 8
respect to an application for authorization under section 9
3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public conven-10
ience and necessity under section 7 of such Act, each agen-11
cy shall give deference, to the maximum extent authorized 12
by law, to the scope of the project-related NEPA review 13
that the Commission determines to be appropriate. 14
(d) P
ARTICIPATINGAGENCIES.— 15
(1) I
DENTIFICATION.—The Commission shall 16
identify, not later than 30 days after the Commis-17
sion receives an application for an authorization 18
under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certifi-19
cate of public convenience and necessity under sec-20
tion 7 of such Act, any Federal or State agency, 21
local government, or Indian Tribe that may issue a 22
Federal authorization or is required by Federal law 23
to consult with the Commission in conjunction with 24
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the issuance of a Federal authorization required for 1
such authorization or certificate. 2
(2) I
NVITATION.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days 4
after the Commission receives an application for 5
an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 6
Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 7
and necessity under section 7 of such Act, the 8
Commission shall invite any agency identified 9
under paragraph (1) to participate in the review 10
process for the applicable Federal authorization. 11
(B) D
EADLINE.—An invitation issued 12
under subparagraph (A) shall establish a dead-13
line by which a response to the invitation shall 14
be submitted to the Commission, which may be 15
extended by the Commission for good cause. 16
(3) D
ESIGNATION AS PARTICIPATING AGEN -17
CIES.—Not later than 60 days after the Commission 18
receives an application for an authorization under 19
section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of 20
public convenience and necessity under section 7 of 21
such Act, the Commission shall designate an agency 22
identified under paragraph (1) as a participating 23
agency with respect to an application for authoriza-24
tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 25
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certificate of public convenience and necessity under 1
section 7 of such Act unless the agency informs the 2
Commission, in writing, by the deadline established 3
pursuant to paragraph (2)(B), that the agency— 4
(A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 5
respect to the applicable Federal authorization; 6
(B) has no special expertise or information 7
relevant to any project-related NEPA review; or 8
(C) does not intend to submit comments 9
for the record for the project-related NEPA re-10
view conducted by the Commission. 11
(4) E
FFECT OF NON-DESIGNATION.— 12
(A) E
FFECT ON AGENCY .—Any agency 13
that is not designated as a participating agency 14
under paragraph (3) with respect to an applica-15
tion for an authorization under section 3 of the 16
Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con-17
venience and necessity under section 7 of such 18
Act may not request or conduct a NEPA review 19
that is supplemental to the project-related 20
NEPA review conducted by the Commission, 21
unless the agency— 22
(i) demonstrates that such review is 23
legally necessary for the agency to carry 24
out responsibilities in considering an as-25
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pect of an application for a Federal au-1
thorization; and 2
(ii) requires information that could 3
not have been obtained during the project- 4
related NEPA review conducted by the 5
Commission. 6
(B) C
OMMENTS; RECORD.—The Commis-7
sion shall not, with respect to an agency that is 8
not designated as a participating agency under 9
paragraph (3) with respect to an application for 10
an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 11
Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 12
and necessity under section 7 of such Act— 13
(i) consider any comments or other in-14
formation submitted by such agency for 15
the project-related NEPA review conducted 16
by the Commission; or 17
(ii) include any such comments or 18
other information in the record for such 19
project-related NEPA review. 20
(e) W
ATERQUALITYIMPACTS.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 401 22
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 23
U.S.C. 1341), an applicant for a Federal authoriza-24
tion shall not be required to provide a certification 25
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under such section with respect to the Federal au-1
thorization. 2
(2) C
OORDINATION.—With respect to any 3
NEPA review for a Federal authorization to conduct 4
an activity that will directly result in a discharge 5
into the navigable waters (within the meaning of the 6
Federal Water Pollution Control Act), the Commis-7
sion shall identify as an agency under subsection 8
(d)(1) the State in which the discharge originates or 9
will originate, or, if appropriate, the interstate water 10
pollution control agency having jurisdiction over the 11
navigable waters at the point where the discharge 12
originates or will originate. 13
(3) P
ROPOSED CONDITIONS .—A State or inter-14
state agency designated as a participating agency 15
pursuant to paragraph (2) may propose to the Com-16
mission terms or conditions for inclusion in an au-17
thorization under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act 18
or a certificate of public convenience and necessity 19
under section 7 of such Act that the State or inter-20
state agency determines are necessary to ensure that 21
any activity described in paragraph (2) conducted 22
pursuant to such authorization or certification will 23
comply with the applicable provisions of sections 24
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301, 302, 303, 306, and 307 of the Federal Water 1
Pollution Control Act. 2
(4) C
OMMISSION CONSIDERATION OF CONDI -3
TIONS.—The Commission may include a term or 4
condition in an authorization under section 3 of the 5
Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public conven-6
ience and necessity under section 7 of such Act pro-7
posed by a State or interstate agency under para-8
graph (3) only if the Commission finds that the term 9
or condition is necessary to ensure that any activity 10
described in paragraph (2) conducted pursuant to 11
such authorization or certification will comply with 12
the applicable provisions of sections 301, 302, 303, 13
306, and 307 of the Federal Water Pollution Con-14
trol Act. 15
(f) S
CHEDULE.— 16
(1) D
EADLINE FOR FEDERAL AUTHORIZA -17
TIONS.—A deadline for a Federal authorization re-18
quired with respect to an application for authoriza-19
tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 20
certificate of public convenience and necessity under 21
section 7 of such Act set by the Commission under 22
section 15(c)(1) of such Act shall be not later than 23
90 days after the Commission completes its project- 24
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related NEPA review, unless an applicable schedule 1
is otherwise established by Federal law. 2
(2) C
ONCURRENT REVIEWS .—Each Federal and 3
State agency— 4
(A) that may consider an application for a 5
Federal authorization required with respect to 6
an application for authorization under section 3 7
of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 8
convenience and necessity under section 7 of 9
such Act shall formulate and implement a plan 10
for administrative, policy, and procedural mech-11
anisms to enable the agency to ensure comple-12
tion of Federal authorizations in compliance 13
with schedules established by the Commission 14
under section 15(c)(1) of such Act; and 15
(B) in considering an aspect of an applica-16
tion for a Federal authorization required with 17
respect to an application for authorization 18
under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 19
certificate of public convenience and necessity 20
under section 7 of such Act, shall— 21
(i) formulate and implement a plan to 22
enable the agency to comply with the 23
schedule established by the Commission 24
under section 15(c)(1) of such Act; 25
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(ii) carry out the obligations of that 1
agency under applicable law concurrently, 2
and in conjunction with, the project-related 3
NEPA review conducted by the Commis-4
sion, and in compliance with the schedule 5
established by the Commission under sec-6
tion 15(c)(1) of such Act, unless the agen-7
cy notifies the Commission in writing that 8
doing so would impair the ability of the 9
agency to conduct needed analysis or oth-10
erwise carry out such obligations; 11
(iii) transmit to the Commission a 12
statement— 13
(I) acknowledging receipt of the 14
schedule established by the Commis-15
sion under section 15(c)(1) of the 16
Natural Gas Act; and 17
(II) setting forth the plan formu-18
lated under clause (i) of this subpara-19
graph; 20
(iv) not later than 30 days after the 21
agency receives such application for a Fed-22
eral authorization, transmit to the appli-23
cant a notice— 24
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(I) indicating whether such appli-1
cation is ready for processing; and 2
(II) if such application is not 3
ready for processing, that includes a 4
comprehensive description of the in-5
formation needed for the agency to 6
determine that the application is 7
ready for processing; 8
(v) determine that such application 9
for a Federal authorization is ready for 10
processing for purposes of clause (iv) if 11
such application is sufficiently complete for 12
the purposes of commencing consideration, 13
regardless of whether supplemental infor-14
mation is necessary to enable the agency to 15
complete the consideration required by law 16
with respect to such application; and 17
(vi) not less often than once every 90 18
days, transmit to the Commission a report 19
describing the progress made in consid-20
ering such application for a Federal au-21
thorization. 22
(3) F
AILURE TO MEET DEADLINE .—If a Fed-23
eral or State agency, including the Commission, fails 24
to meet a deadline for a Federal authorization set 25
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forth in the schedule established by the Commission 1
under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act, not 2
later than 5 days after such deadline, the head of 3
the relevant Federal agency (including, in the case 4
of a failure by a State agency, the Federal agency 5
overseeing the delegated authority) shall notify Con-6
gress and the Commission of such failure and set 7
forth a recommended implementation plan to ensure 8
completion of the action to which such deadline ap-9
plied. 10
(g) C
ONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS FOR FED-11
ERALAUTHORIZATION.— 12
(1) I
SSUE IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLU -13
TION.— 14
(A) I
DENTIFICATION.—Federal and State 15
agencies that may consider an aspect of an ap-16
plication for a Federal authorization shall iden-17
tify, as early as possible, any issues of concern 18
that may delay or prevent an agency from 19
working with the Commission to resolve such 20
issues and granting such authorization. 21
(B) I
SSUE RESOLUTION.—The Commission 22
may forward any issue of concern identified 23
under subparagraph (A) to the heads of the rel-24
evant agencies (including, in the case of an 25
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issue of concern that is a failure by a State 1
agency, the Federal agency overseeing the dele-2
gated authority, if applicable) for resolution. 3
(2) R
EMOTE SURVEYS.—If a Federal or State 4
agency considering an aspect of an application for a 5
Federal authorization requires the person applying 6
for such authorization to submit data, the agency 7
shall consider any such data gathered by aerial or 8
other remote means that the person submits. The 9
agency may grant a conditional approval for the 10
Federal authorization based on data gathered by 11
aerial or remote means, conditioned on the 12
verification of such data by subsequent onsite in-13
spection. 14
(3) A
PPLICATION PROCESSING .—The Commis-15
sion, and Federal and State agencies, may allow a 16
person applying for a Federal authorization to fund 17
a third-party contractor to assist in reviewing the 18
application for such authorization. 19
(h) A
CCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, EFFI-20
CIENCY.—For an application for an authorization under 21
section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 22
convenience and necessity under section 7 of such Act that 23
requires multiple Federal authorizations, the Commission, 24
with input from any Federal or State agency considering 25
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an aspect of the application, shall track and make avail-1
able to the public on the Commission’s website information 2
related to the actions required to complete the Federal au-3
thorizations. Such information shall include the following: 4
(1) The schedule established by the Commission 5
under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act. 6
(2) A list of all the actions required by each ap-7
plicable agency to complete permitting, reviews, and 8
other actions necessary to obtain a final decision on 9
the application. 10
(3) The expected completion date for each such 11
action. 12
(4) A point of contact at the agency responsible 13
for each such action. 14
(5) In the event that an action is still pending 15
as of the expected date of completion, a brief expla-16
nation of the reasons for the delay. 17
(i) P
IPELINESECURITY.—In considering an applica-18
tion for an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 19
Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience and neces-20
sity under section 7 of such Act, the Federal Energy Reg-21
ulatory Commission shall consult with the Administrator 22
of the Transportation Security Administration regarding 23
the applicant’s compliance with security guidance and best 24
practice recommendations of the Administration regarding 25
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pipeline infrastructure security, pipeline cybersecurity, 1
pipeline personnel security, and other pipeline security 2
measures. 3
SEC. 10009. INTERIM HAZARDOUS WASTE PERMITS FOR 4
CRITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE FACILITIES. 5
Section 3005(e) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 6
U.S.C. 6925(e)) is amended— 7
(1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 8
(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 9
end; 10
(B) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘or’’ after 11
‘‘this section,’’; and 12
(C) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(iii) is a critical energy resource facility,’’; 14
and 15
(2) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(4) D
EFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this sub-17
section: 18
‘‘(A) C
RITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE .—The term 19
‘critical energy resource’ means, as determined by 20
the Secretary of Energy, any energy resource— 21
‘‘(i) that is essential to the energy sector 22
and energy systems of the United States; and 23
‘‘(ii) the supply chain of which is vulner-24
able to disruption. 25
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‘‘(B) CRITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE FACILITY .— 1
The term ‘critical energy resource facility’ means a 2
facility that processes or refines a critical energy re-3
source.’’. 4
SEC. 10010. FLEXIBLE AIR PERMITS FOR CRITICAL ENERGY 5
RESOURCE FACILITIES. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Administrator of the Envi-7
ronmental Protection Agency shall, as necessary, revise 8
regulations under parts 70 and 71 of title 40, Code of 9
Federal Regulations, to— 10
(1) authorize the owner or operator of a critical 11
energy resource facility to utilize flexible air permit-12
ting (as described in the final rule titled ‘‘Operating 13
Permit Programs; Flexible Air Permitting Rule’’ 14
published by the Environmental Protection Agency 15
in the Federal Register on October 6, 2009 (74 Fed. 16
Reg. 51418)) with respect to such critical energy re-17
source facility; and 18
(2) facilitate flexible, market-responsive oper-19
ations (as described in the final rule identified in 20
paragraph (1)) with respect to critical energy re-21
source facilities. 22
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 23
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(1) CRITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE .—The term 1
‘‘critical energy resource’’ means, as determined by 2
the Secretary of Energy, any energy resource— 3
(A) that is essential to the energy sector 4
and energy systems of the United States; and 5
(B) the supply chain of which is vulnerable 6
to disruption. 7
(2) C
RITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE FACILITY .— 8
The term ‘‘critical energy resource facility’’ means a 9
facility that processes or refines a critical energy re-10
source. 11
SEC. 10011. NATIONAL SECURITY OR ENERGY SECURITY 12
WAIVERS TO PRODUCE CRITICAL ENERGY 13
RESOURCES. 14
(a) C
LEANAIRACTREQUIREMENTS.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—If the Administrator of the 16
Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation 17
with the Secretary of Energy, determines that, by 18
reason of a sudden increase in demand for, or a 19
shortage of, a critical energy resource, or another 20
cause, the processing or refining of a critical energy 21
resource at a critical energy resource facility is nec-22
essary to meet the national security or energy secu-23
rity needs of the United States, then the Adminis-24
trator may, with or without notice, hearing, or other 25
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report, issue a temporary waiver of any requirement 1
under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) 2
with respect to such critical energy resource facility 3
that, in the judgment of the Administrator, will 4
allow for such processing or refining at such critical 5
energy resource facility as necessary to best meet 6
such needs and serve the public interest. 7
(2) C
ONFLICT WITH OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL 8
LAWS.—The Administrator shall ensure that any 9
waiver of a requirement under the Clean Air Act 10
under this subsection, to the maximum extent prac-11
ticable, does not result in a conflict with a require-12
ment of any other applicable Federal, State, or local 13
environmental law or regulation and minimizes any 14
adverse environmental impacts. 15
(3) V
IOLATIONS OF OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL 16
LAWS.—To the extent any omission or action taken 17
by a party under a waiver issued under this sub-18
section is in conflict with any requirement of a Fed-19
eral, State, or local environmental law or regulation, 20
such omission or action shall not be considered a 21
violation of such environmental law or regulation, or 22
subject such party to any requirement, civil or crimi-23
nal liability, or a citizen suit under such environ-24
mental law or regulation. 25
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(4) EXPIRATION AND RENEWAL OF WAIVERS .— 1
A waiver issued under this subsection shall expire 2
not later than 90 days after it is issued. The Admin-3
istrator may renew or reissue such waiver pursuant 4
to paragraphs (1) and (2) for subsequent periods, 5
not to exceed 90 days for each period, as the Admin-6
istrator determines necessary to meet the national 7
security or energy security needs described in para-8
graph (1) and serve the public interest. In renewing 9
or reissuing a waiver under this paragraph, the Ad-10
ministrator shall include in any such renewed or re-11
issued waiver such conditions as are necessary to 12
minimize any adverse environmental impacts to the 13
extent practicable. 14
(5) S
UBSEQUENT ACTION BY COURT .—If a 15
waiver issued under this subsection is subsequently 16
stayed, modified, or set aside by a court pursuant a 17
provision of law, any omission or action previously 18
taken by a party under the waiver while the waiver 19
was in effect shall remain subject to paragraph (3). 20
(6) C
RITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE ; CRITICAL EN-21
ERGY RESOURCE FACILITY DEFINED .—The terms 22
‘‘critical energy resource’’ and ‘‘critical energy re-23
source facility’’ have the meanings given such terms 24
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in section 3025(f) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act 1
(as added by this section). 2
(b) S
OLIDWASTEDISPOSALACTREQUIREMENTS.— 3
(1) H
AZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT .—The 4
Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) 5
is amended by inserting after section 3024 the fol-6
lowing: 7
‘‘SEC. 3025. WAIVERS FOR CRITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE 8
FACILITIES. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—If the Administrator, in con-10
sultation with the Secretary of Energy, determines that, 11
by reason of a sudden increase in demand for, or a short-12
age of, a critical energy resource, or another cause, the 13
processing or refining of a critical energy resource at a 14
critical energy resource facility is necessary to meet the 15
national security or energy security needs of the United 16
States, then the Administrator may, with or without no-17
tice, hearing, or other report, issue a temporary waiver 18
of any covered requirement with respect to such critical 19
energy resource facility that, in the judgment of the Ad-20
ministrator, will allow for such processing or refining at 21
such critical energy resource facility as necessary to best 22
meet such needs and serve the public interest. 23
‘‘(b) C
ONFLICTWITHOTHERENVIRONMENTAL 24
L
AWS.—The Administrator shall ensure that any waiver 25
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of a covered requirement under this section, to the max-1
imum extent practicable, does not result in a conflict with 2
a requirement of any other applicable Federal, State, or 3
local environmental law or regulation and minimizes any 4
adverse environmental impacts. 5
‘‘(c) V
IOLATIONS OF OTHERENVIRONMENTAL 6
L
AWS.—To the extent any omission or action taken by 7
a party under a waiver issued under this section is in con-8
flict with any requirement of a Federal, State, or local 9
environmental law or regulation, such omission or action 10
shall not be considered a violation of such environmental 11
law or regulation, or subject such party to any require-12
ment, civil or criminal liability, or a citizen suit under such 13
environmental law or regulation. 14
‘‘(d) E
XPIRATION ANDRENEWAL OFWAIVERS.—A 15
waiver issued under this section shall expire not later than 16
90 days after it is issued. The Administrator may renew 17
or reissue such waiver pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) 18
for subsequent periods, not to exceed 90 days for each pe-19
riod, as the Administrator determines necessary to meet 20
the national security or energy security needs described 21
in subsection (a) and serve the public interest. In renewing 22
or reissuing a waiver under this subsection, the Adminis-23
trator shall include in any such renewed or reissued waiver 24
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such conditions as are necessary to minimize any adverse 1
environmental impacts to the extent practicable. 2
‘‘(e) S
UBSEQUENTACTION BYCOURT.—If a waiver 3
issued under this section is subsequently stayed, modified, 4
or set aside by a court pursuant a provision of law, any 5
omission or action previously taken by a party under the 6
waiver while the waiver was in effect shall remain subject 7
to subsection (c). 8
‘‘(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
‘‘(1) C
OVERED REQUIREMENT .—The term ‘cov-10
ered requirement’ means— 11
‘‘(A) any standard established under sec-12
tion 3002, 3003, or 3004; 13
‘‘(B) the permit requirement under section 14
3005; or 15
‘‘(C) any other requirement of this Act, as 16
the Administrator determines appropriate. 17
‘‘(2) C
RITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE .—The term 18
‘critical energy resource’ means, as determined by 19
the Secretary of Energy, any energy resource— 20
‘‘(A) that is essential to the energy sector 21
and energy systems of the United States; and 22
‘‘(B) the supply chain of which is vulner-23
able to disruption. 24
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‘‘(3) CRITICAL ENERGY RESOURCE FACILITY .— 1
The term ‘critical energy resource facility’ means a 2
facility that processes or refines a critical energy re-3
source.’’. 4
(2) T
ABLE OF CONTENTS .—The table of con-5
tents of the Solid Waste Disposal Act is amended by 6
inserting after the item relating to section 3024 the 7
following: 8
‘‘Sec. 3025. Waivers for critical energy resource facilities.’’.
SEC. 10012. ENDING FUTURE DELAYS IN CHEMICAL SUB-
9
STANCE REVIEW FOR CRITICAL ENERGY RE-10
SOURCES. 11
Section 5(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 12
U.S.C. 2604(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(6) C
RITICAL ENERGY RESOURCES .— 15
‘‘(A) S
TANDARD.—For purposes of a de-16
termination under paragraph (3) with respect 17
to a chemical substance that is a critical energy 18
resource, the Administrator shall take into con-19
sideration economic, societal, and environmental 20
costs and benefits, notwithstanding any require-21
ment of this section to not take such factors 22
into consideration. 23
‘‘(B) F
AILURE TO RENDER DETERMINA -24
TION.— 25
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‘‘(i) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED .—If, with 1
respect to a chemical substance that is a 2
critical energy resource, the Administrator 3
fails to make a determination on a notice 4
under paragraph (3) by the end of the ap-5
plicable review period and the notice has 6
not been withdrawn by the submitter, the 7
submitter may take the actions described 8
in paragraph (1)(A) with respect to the 9
chemical substance, and the Administrator 10
shall be relieved of any requirement to 11
make such determination. 12
‘‘(ii) N
ON-DUPLICATION.—A refund of 13
applicable fees under paragraph (4)(A) 14
shall not be made if a submitter takes an 15
action described in paragraph (1)(A) under 16
this subparagraph. 17
‘‘(C) P
REREQUISITE FOR SUGGESTION OF 18
WITHDRAWAL OR SUSPENSION .—The Adminis-19
trator may not suggest to, or request of, a sub-20
mitter of a notice under this subsection for a 21
chemical substance that is a critical energy re-22
source that such submitter withdraw such no-23
tice, or request a suspension of the running of 24
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the applicable review period with respect to 1
such notice, unless the Administrator has— 2
‘‘(i) conducted a preliminary review of 3
such notice; and 4
‘‘(ii) provided to the submitter a draft 5
of a determination under paragraph (3), 6
including any supporting information. 7
‘‘(D) D
EFINITION.—For purposes of this 8
paragraph, the term ‘critical energy resource’ 9
means, as determined by the Secretary of En-10
ergy, any energy resource— 11
‘‘(i) that is essential to the energy sec-12
tor and energy systems of the United 13
States; and 14
‘‘(ii) the supply chain of which is vul-15
nerable to disruption.’’. 16
SEC. 10013. NATURAL GAS TAX REPEAL. 17
(a) R
EPEAL.—Section 136 of the Clean Air Act (42 18
U.S.C. 7436)(relating to methane emissions and waste re-19
duction incentive program for petroleum and natural gas 20
systems) is repealed. 21
(b) R
ESCISSION.—The unobligated balance of any 22
amounts made available under section 136 of the Clean 23
Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7436)(as in effect on the day before 24
the date of enactment of this Act) is rescinded. 25
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SEC. 10014. REPEAL OF GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION 1
FUND. 2
(a) R
EPEAL.—Section 134 of the Clean Air Act (42 3
U.S.C. 7434)(relating to the greenhouse gas reduction 4
fund) is repealed. 5
(b) R
ESCISSION.—The unobligated balance of any 6
amounts made available under section 134 of the Clean 7
Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7434)(as in effect on the day before 8
the date of enactment of this Act) is rescinded. 9
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 60103 of 10
Public Law 117–169 (relating to the greenhouse gas re-11
duction fund) is repealed. 12
SEC. 10015. KEEPING AMERICA’S REFINERIES OPERATING. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The owner or operator of a sta-14
tionary source described in subsection (b) of this section 15
shall not be required by the regulations promulgated 16
under section 112(r)(7)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 17
U.S.C. 7412(r)(7)(B)) to include in any hazard assess-18
ment under clause (ii) of such section 112(r)(7)(B) an as-19
sessment of safer technology and alternative risk manage-20
ment measures with respect to the use of hydrofluoric acid 21
in an alkylation unit. 22
(b) S
TATIONARYSOURCEDESCRIBED.—A stationary 23
source described in this subsection is a stationary source 24
(as defined in section 112(r)(2)(C) of the Clean Air Act 25
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(42 U.S.C. 7412(r)(2)(C)) in North American Industry 1
Classification System code 324— 2
(1) for which a construction permit or operating 3
permit has been issued pursuant to the Clean Air 4
Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); or 5
(2) for which the owner or operator dem-6
onstrates to the Administrator of the Environmental 7
Protection Agency that such stationary source con-8
forms or will conform to the most recent version of 9
American Petroleum Institute Recommended Prac-10
tice 751. 11
SEC. 10016. HOMEOWNER ENERGY FREEDOM. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The following are repealed: 13
(1) Section 50122 of Public Law 117–169 (42 14
U.S.C. 18795a) (relating to a high-efficiency electric 15
home rebate program). 16
(2) Section 50123 of Public Law 117–169 (42 17
U.S.C. 18795b) (relating to State-based home en-18
ergy efficiency contractor training grants). 19
(3) Section 50131 of Public Law 117–169 (136 20
Stat. 2041) (relating to assistance for latest and 21
zero building energy code adoption). 22
(b) R
ESCISSIONS.—The unobligated balances of any 23
amounts made available under each of sections 50122, 24
50123, and 50131 of Public Law 117–169 (42 U.S.C. 25
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18795a, 18795b; 136 Stat. 2041) (as in effect on the day 1
before the date of enactment of this Act) are rescinded. 2
(c) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3
50121(c)(7) of Public Law 117–169 (42 U.S.C. 4
18795(c)(7)) is amended by striking ‘‘, including a rebate 5
provided under a high-efficiency electric home rebate pro-6
gram (as defined in section 50122(d)),’’. 7
DIVISION B—TRANSPARENCY, 8
ACCOUNTABILITY, PERMIT-9
TING, AND PRODUCTION OF 10
AMERICAN RESOURCES 11
SEC. 20001. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 12
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This division may be cited as the 13
‘‘Transparency, Accountability, Permitting, and Produc-14
tion of American Resources Act’’ or the ‘‘TAPP American 15
Resources Act’’. 16
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 17
this division is as follows: 18
DIVISION B—TAPP AMERICAN RESOURCES
Sec. 20001. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I—ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE LEASING AND OVERSIGHT
Sec. 20101. Onshore oil and gas leasing.
Sec. 20102. Lease reinstatement.
Sec. 20103. Protested lease sales.
Sec. 20104. Suspension of operations.
Sec. 20105. Administrative protest process reform.
Sec. 20106. Leasing and permitting transparency.
Sec. 20107. Offshore oil and gas leasing.
Sec. 20108. Five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing.
Sec. 20109. Geothermal leasing.
Sec. 20110. Leasing for certain qualified coal applications.
Sec. 20111. Future coal leasing.
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Sec. 20112. Staff planning report.
Sec. 20113. Prohibition on Chinese communist party ownership interest.
Sec. 20114. Effect on other law.
TITLE II—PERMITTING STREAMLINING
Sec. 20201. Definitions.
Sec. 20202. BUILDER Act.
Sec. 20203. Codification of National Environmental Policy Act regulations.
Sec. 20204. Non-major Federal actions.
Sec. 20205. No net loss determination for existing rights-of-way.
Sec. 20206. Determination of National Environmental Policy Act adequacy.
Sec. 20207. Determination regarding rights-of-way.
Sec. 20208. Terms of rights-of-way.
Sec. 20209. Funding to process permits and develop information technology.
Sec. 20210. Offshore geological and geophysical survey licensing.
Sec. 20211. Deferral of applications for permits to drill.
Sec. 20212. Processing and terms of applications for permits to drill.
Sec. 20213. Amendments to the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Sec. 20214. Access to Federal energy resources from non-Federal surface es-
tate.
Sec. 20215. Scope of environmental reviews for oil and gas leases.
Sec. 20216. Expediting approval of gathering lines.
Sec. 20217. Lease sale litigation.
Sec. 20218. Limitation on claims.
Sec. 20219. Government Accountability Office report on permits to drill.
Sec. 20220. E–NEPA.
TITLE III—PERMITTING FOR MINING NEEDS
Sec. 20301. Definitions.
Sec. 20302. Minerals supply chain and reliability.
Sec. 20303. Federal register process improvement.
Sec. 20304. Designation of mining as a covered sector for Federal permitting
improvement purposes.
Sec. 20305. Treatment of actions under presidential determination 2022–11 for
Federal permitting improvement purposes.
Sec. 20306. Notice for mineral exploration activities with limited surface dis-
turbance.
Sec. 20307. Use of mining claims for ancillary activities.
Sec. 20308. Ensuring consideration of uranium as a critical mineral.
Sec. 20309. Barring foreign bad actors from operating on Federal lands.
TITLE IV—FEDERAL LAND USE PLANNING
Sec. 20401. Federal land use planning and withdrawals.
Sec. 20402. Prohibitions on delay of mineral development of certain Federal
land.
Sec. 20403. Definitions.
TITLE V—ENSURING COMPETITIVENESS ON FEDERAL LANDS
Sec. 20501. Incentivizing domestic production.
TITLE VI—ENERGY REVENUE SHARING
Sec. 20601. Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf revenue.
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Sec. 20602. Parity in offshore wind revenue sharing.
Sec. 20603. Elimination of administrative fee under the Mineral Leasing Act.
TITLE I—ONSHORE AND OFF-1
SHORE LEASING AND OVER-2
SIGHT 3
SEC. 20101. ONSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASING. 4
(a) R
EQUIREMENTTOIMMEDIATELYRESUMEON-5
SHOREOIL ANDGASLEASESALES.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Inte-7
rior shall immediately resume quarterly onshore oil 8
and gas lease sales in compliance with the Mineral 9
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.). 10
(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of the Inte-11
rior shall ensure— 12
(A) that any oil and gas lease sale pursu-13
ant to paragraph (1) is conducted immediately 14
on completion of all applicable scoping, public 15
comment, and environmental analysis require-16
ments under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 17
U.S.C. 181 et seq.) and the National Environ-18
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 19
seq.); and 20
(B) that the processes described in sub-21
paragraph (A) are conducted in a timely man-22
ner to ensure compliance with subsection (b)(1). 23
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(3) LEASE OF OIL AND GAS LANDS .—Section 1
17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 2
226(b)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘Eligible 3
lands comprise all lands subject to leasing under this 4
Act and not excluded from leasing by a statutory or 5
regulatory prohibition. Available lands are those 6
lands that have been designated as open for leasing 7
under a land use plan developed under section 202 8
of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 9
1976 and that have been nominated for leasing 10
through the submission of an expression of interest, 11
are subject to drainage in the absence of leasing, or 12
are otherwise designated as available pursuant to 13
regulations adopted by the Secretary.’’ after ‘‘sales 14
are necessary.’’. 15
(b) Q
UARTERLYLEASESALES.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In accordance with the Min-17
eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), each fiscal 18
year, the Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a 19
minimum of four oil and gas lease sales in each of 20
the following States: 21
(A) Wyoming. 22
(B) New Mexico. 23
(C) Colorado. 24
(D) Utah. 25
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(E) Montana. 1
(F) North Dakota. 2
(G) Oklahoma. 3
(H) Nevada. 4
(I) Alaska. 5
(J) Any other State in which there is land 6
available for oil and gas leasing under the Min-7
eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) or any 8
other mineral leasing law. 9
(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—In conducting a lease sale 10
under paragraph (1) in a State described in that 11
paragraph, the Secretary of the Interior shall offer 12
all parcels nominated and eligible pursuant to the 13
requirements of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 14
181 et seq.) for oil and gas exploration, develop-15
ment, and production under the resource manage-16
ment plan in effect for the State. 17
(3) R
EPLACEMENT SALES .—The Secretary of 18
the Interior shall conduct a replacement sale during 19
the same fiscal year if— 20
(A) a lease sale under paragraph (1) is 21
canceled, delayed, or deferred, including for a 22
lack of eligible parcels; or 23
(B) during a lease sale under paragraph 24
(1) the percentage of acreage that does not re-25
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ceive a bid is equal to or greater than 25 per-1
cent of the acreage offered. 2
(4) N
OTICE REGARDING MISSED SALES .—Not 3
later than 30 days after a sale required under this 4
subsection is canceled, delayed, deferred, or other-5
wise missed the Secretary of the Interior shall sub-6
mit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the 7
House of Representatives and the Committee on En-8
ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report 9
that states what sale was missed and why it was 10
missed. 11
SEC. 20102. LEASE REINSTATEMENT. 12
The reinstatement of a lease entered into under the 13
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) or the Geo-14
thermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) by 15
the Secretary shall be not considered a major Federal ac-16
tion under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environ-17
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 18
SEC. 20103. PROTESTED LEASE SALES. 19
Section 17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 20
U.S.C. 226(b)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘The Sec-21
retary shall resolve any protest to a lease sale not later 22
than 60 days after such payment.’’ after ‘‘annual rental 23
for the first lease year.’’. 24
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SEC. 20104. SUSPENSION OF OPERATIONS. 1
Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 2
226) is amended by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(r) S
USPENSION OFOPERATIONSPERMITS.—In the 4
event that an oil and gas lease owner has submitted an 5
expression of interest for adjacent acreage that is part of 6
the nature of the geological play and has yet to be offered 7
in a lease sale by the Secretary, they may request a sus-8
pension of operations from the Secretary of the Interior 9
and upon request, the Secretary shall grant the suspension 10
of operations within 15 days. Any payment of acreage 11
rental or of minimum royalty prescribed by such lease like-12
wise shall be suspended during such period of suspension 13
of operations and production; and the term of such lease 14
shall be extended by adding any such suspension period 15
thereto.’’. 16
SEC. 20105. ADMINISTRATIVE PROTEST PROCESS REFORM. 17
Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 18
226) is further amended by adding at the end the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘(s) P
ROTESTFILINGFEE.— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Before processing any pro-22
test filed under this section, the Secretary shall col-23
lect a filing fee in the amount described in para-24
graph (2) from the protestor to recover the cost for 25
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processing documents filed for each administrative 1
protest. 2
‘‘(2) A
MOUNT.—The amount described in this 3
paragraph is calculated as follows: 4
‘‘(A) For each protest filed in a submission 5
not exceeding 10 pages in length, the base filing 6
fee shall be $150. 7
‘‘(B) For each submission exceeding 10 8
pages in length, in addition to the base filing 9
fee, an assessment of $5 per page in excess of 10
10 pages shall apply. 11
‘‘(C) For protests that include more than 12
one oil and gas lease parcel, right-of-way, or ap-13
plication for permit to drill in a submission, an 14
additional assessment of $10 per additional 15
lease parcel, right-of-way, or application for 16
permit to drill shall apply. 17
‘‘(3) A
DJUSTMENT.— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Beginning on January 19
1, 2024, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 20
shall adjust the filing fees established in this 21
subsection to whole dollar amounts to reflect 22
changes in the Producer Price Index, as pub-23
lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for 24
the previous 12 months. 25
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‘‘(B) PUBLICATION OF ADJUSTED FILING 1
FEES.—At least 30 days before the filing fees 2
as adjusted under this paragraph take effect, 3
the Secretary shall publish notification of the 4
adjustment of such fees in the Federal Reg-5
ister.’’. 6
SEC. 20106. LEASING AND PERMITTING TRANSPARENCY. 7
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than 30 days after the date 8
of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, 9
the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to the Com-10
mittee on Natural Resources of the House of Representa-11
tives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-12
sources of the Senate a report that describes— 13
(1) the status of nominated parcels for future 14
onshore oil and gas and geothermal lease sales, in-15
cluding— 16
(A) the number of expressions of interest 17
received each month during the period of 365 18
days that ends on the date on which the report 19
is submitted with respect to which the Bureau 20
of Land Management— 21
(i) has not taken any action to review; 22
(ii) has not completed review; or 23
(iii) has completed review and deter-24
mined that the relevant area meets all ap-25
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plicable requirements for leasing, but has 1
not offered the relevant area in a lease 2
sale; 3
(B) how long expressions of interest de-4
scribed in subparagraph (A) have been pending; 5
and 6
(C) a plan, including timelines, for how the 7
Secretary of the Interior plans to— 8
(i) work through future expressions of 9
interest to prevent delays; 10
(ii) put expressions of interest de-11
scribed in subparagraph (A) into a lease 12
sale; and 13
(iii) complete review for expressions of 14
interest described in clauses (i) and (ii) of 15
subparagraph (A); 16
(2) the status of each pending application for 17
permit to drill received during the period of 365 18
days that ends on the date on which the report is 19
submitted, including the number of applications re-20
ceived each month, by each Bureau of Land Man-21
agement office, including— 22
(A) a description of the cause of delay for 23
pending applications, including as a result of 24
staffing shortages, technical limitations, incom-25
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plete applications, and incomplete review pursu-1
ant to the National Environmental Policy Act 2
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) or other ap-3
plicable laws; 4
(B) the number of days an application has 5
been pending in violation of section 17(p)(2) of 6
the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(p)(2)); 7
and 8
(C) a plan for how the office intends to 9
come into compliance with the requirements of 10
section 17(p)(2) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 11
U.S.C. 226(p)(2)); 12
(3) the number of permits to drill issued each 13
month by each Bureau of Land Management office 14
during the 5-year period ending on the date on 15
which the report is submitted; 16
(4) the status of each pending application for a 17
license for offshore geological and geophysical sur-18
veys received during the period of 365 days that 19
ends on the date on which the report is submitted, 20
including the number of applications received each 21
month, by each Bureau of Ocean Energy manage-22
ment regional office, including— 23
(A) a description of any cause of delay for 24
pending applications, including as a result of 25
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staffing shortages, technical limitations, incom-1
plete applications, and incomplete review pursu-2
ant to the National Environmental Policy Act 3
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) or other ap-4
plicable laws; 5
(B) the number of days an application has 6
been pending; and 7
(C) a plan for how the Bureau of Ocean 8
Energy Management intends to complete review 9
of each application; 10
(5) the number of licenses for offshore geologi-11
cal and geophysical surveys issued each month by 12
each Bureau of Ocean Energy Management regional 13
office during the 5-year period ending on the date on 14
which the report is submitted; 15
(6) the status of each pending application for a 16
permit to drill received during the period of 365 17
days that ends on the date on which the report is 18
submitted, including the number of applications re-19
ceived each month, by each Bureau of Safety and 20
Environmental Enforcement regional office, includ-21
ing— 22
(A) a description of any cause of delay for 23
pending applications, including as a result of 24
staffing shortages, technical limitations, incom-25
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plete applications, and incomplete review pursu-1
ant to the National Environmental Policy Act 2
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) or other ap-3
plicable laws; 4
(B) the number of days an application has 5
been pending; and 6
(C) steps the Bureau of Safety and Envi-7
ronmental Enforcement is taking to complete 8
review of each application; 9
(7) the number of permits to drill issued each 10
month by each Bureau of Safety and Environmental 11
Enforcement regional office during the period of 365 12
days that ends on the date on which the report is 13
submitted; 14
(8) how, as applicable, the Bureau of Land 15
Management, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Manage-16
ment, and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental 17
Enforcement determines whether to— 18
(A) issue a license for geological and geo-19
physical surveys; 20
(B) issue a permit to drill; and 21
(C) issue, extend, or suspend an oil and 22
gas lease; 23
(9) when determinations described in paragraph 24
(8) are sent to the national office of the Bureau of 25
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Land Management, the Bureau of Ocean Energy 1
Management, or the Bureau of Safety and Environ-2
mental Enforcement for final approval; 3
(10) the degree to which Bureau of Land Man-4
agement, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 5
and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforce-6
ment field, State, and regional offices exercise dis-7
cretion on such final approval; 8
(11) during the period of 365 days that ends on 9
the date on which the report is submitted, the num-10
ber of auctioned leases receiving accepted bids that 11
have not been issued to winning bidders and the 12
number of days such leases have not been issued; 13
and 14
(12) a description of the uses of application for 15
permit to drill fees paid by permit holders during 16
the 5-year period ending on the date on which the 17
report is submitted. 18
(b) P
ENDINGAPPLICATIONS FOR PERMITSTO 19
D
RILL.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the en-20
actment of this section, the Secretary of the Interior 21
shall— 22
(1) complete all requirements under the Na-23
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 24
4321 et seq.) and other applicable law that must be 25
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met before issuance of a permit to drill described in 1
paragraph (2); and 2
(2) issue a permit for all completed applications 3
to drill that are pending on the date of the enact-4
ment of this Act. 5
(c) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY OFDATA.— 6
(1) M
INERAL LEASING ACT.—Section 17 of the 7
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is further 8
amended by adding at the end the following: 9
‘‘(t) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY OFDATA.— 10
‘‘(1) E
XPRESSIONS OF INTEREST .—Not later 11
than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 12
subsection, and each month thereafter, the Secretary 13
shall publish on the website of the Department of 14
the Interior the number of pending, approved, and 15
not approved expressions of interest in nominated 16
parcels for future onshore oil and gas lease sales in 17
the preceding month. 18
‘‘(2) A
PPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO DRILL .— 19
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-20
ment of this subsection, and each month thereafter, 21
the Secretary shall publish on the website of the De-22
partment of the Interior the number of pending and 23
approved applications for permits to drill in the pre-24
ceding month in each State office. 25
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‘‘(3) PAST DATA.—Not later than 30 days after 1
the date of the enactment of this subsection, the 2
Secretary shall publish on the website of the Depart-3
ment of the Interior, with respect to each month 4
during the 5-year period ending on the date of the 5
enactment of this subsection— 6
‘‘(A) the number of approved and not ap-7
proved expressions of interest for onshore oil 8
and gas lease sales during such 5-year period; 9
and 10
‘‘(B) the number of approved and not ap-11
proved applications for permits to drill during 12
such 5-year period.’’. 13
(2) O
UTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT .— 14
Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 15
(43 U.S.C. 1337) is amended by adding at the end 16
the following: 17
‘‘(q) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY OFDATA.— 18
‘‘(1) O
FFSHORE GEOLOGICAL AND GEO -19
PHYSICAL SURVEY LICENSES .—Not later than 30 20
days after the date of the enactment of this sub-21
section, and each month thereafter, the Secretary 22
shall publish on the website of the Department of 23
the Interior the number of pending and approved 24
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applications for licenses for offshore geological and 1
geophysical surveys in the preceding month. 2
‘‘(2) A
PPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO DRILL .— 3
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-4
ment of this subsection, and each month thereafter, 5
the Secretary shall publish on the website of the De-6
partment of the Interior the number of pending and 7
approved applications for permits to drill on the 8
outer Continental Shelf in the preceding month in 9
each regional office. 10
‘‘(3) P
AST DATA.—Not later than 30 days after 11
the date of the enactment of this subsection, the 12
Secretary shall publish on the website of the Depart-13
ment of the Interior, with respect each month during 14
the 5-year period ending on the date of the enact-15
ment of this subsection— 16
‘‘(A) the number of approved applications 17
for licenses for offshore geological and geo-18
physical surveys; and 19
‘‘(B) the number of approved applications 20
for permits to drill on the outer Continental 21
Shelf.’’. 22
(d) R
EQUIREMENT TOSUBMITDOCUMENTS AND 23
C
OMMUNICATIONS.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 1
the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec-2
retary of the Interior shall submit to the Committee 3
on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and 4
the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 5
of Representatives all documents and communica-6
tions relating to the comprehensive review of Federal 7
oil and gas permitting and leasing practices required 8
under section 208 of Executive Order 14008 (86 9
Fed. Reg. 7624; relating to tackling the climate cri-10
sis at home and abroad). 11
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—The submission under para-12
graph (1) shall include all documents and commu-13
nications submitted to the Secretary of the Interior 14
by members of the public in response to any public 15
meeting or forum relating to the comprehensive re-16
view described in that paragraph. 17
SEC. 20107. OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASING. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct all 19
lease sales described in the 2017–2022 Outer Continental 20
Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (No-21
vember 2016) that have not been conducted as of the date 22
of the enactment of this Act by not later than September 23
30, 2023. 24
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(b) GULF OFMEXICOREGIONANNUALLEASE 1
S
ALES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and 2
except within areas subject to existing oil and gas leasing 3
moratoria beginning in fiscal year 2023, the Secretary of 4
the Interior shall annually conduct a minimum of 2 re-5
gion-wide oil and gas lease sales in the following planning 6
areas of the Gulf of Mexico region, as described in the 7
2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing 8
Proposed Final Program (November 2016): 9
(1) The Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 10
(2) The Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 11
(c) A
LASKAREGIONANNUALLEASESALES.—Not-12
withstanding any other provision of law, beginning in fis-13
cal year 2023, the Secretary of the Interior shall annually 14
conduct a minimum of 2 region-wide oil and gas lease 15
sales in the Alaska region of the Outer Continental Shelf, 16
as described in the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf 17
Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (November 18
2016). 19
(d) R
EQUIREMENTS.—In conducting lease sales 20
under subsections (b) and (c), the Secretary of the Interior 21
shall— 22
(1) issue such leases in accordance with the 23
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1332 24
et seq.); and 25
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(2) include in each such lease sale all unleased 1
areas that are not subject to a moratorium as of the 2
date of the lease sale. 3
SEC. 20108. FIVE-YEAR PLAN FOR OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS 4
LEASING. 5
Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 6
(43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended— 7
(1) in subsection (a)— 8
(A) by striking ‘‘subsections (c) and (d) of 9
this section, shall prepare and periodically re-10
vise,’’ and inserting ‘‘this section, shall issue 11
every five years’’; 12
(B) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(5) Each five-year program shall include at 14
least two Gulf of Mexico region-wide lease sales per 15
year.’’; and 16
(C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘domes-17
tic energy security,’’ after ‘‘between’’; 18
(2) by redesignating subsections (f) through (i) 19
as subsections (h) through (k), respectively; and 20
(3) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-21
lowing: 22
‘‘(f) F
IVE-YEARPROGRAM FOR 2023–2028.—The 23
Secretary shall issue the five-year oil and gas leasing pro-24
gram for 2023 through 2028 and issue the Record of De-25
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cision on the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 1
Statement by not later than July 1, 2023. 2
‘‘(g) S
UBSEQUENTLEASINGPROGRAMS.— 3
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 36 months 4
after conducting the first lease sale under an oil and 5
gas leasing program prepared pursuant to this sec-6
tion, the Secretary shall begin preparing the subse-7
quent oil and gas leasing program under this sec-8
tion. 9
‘‘(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—Each subsequent oil and 10
gas leasing program under this section shall be ap-11
proved by not later than 180 days before the expira-12
tion of the previous oil and gas leasing program.’’. 13
SEC. 20109. GEOTHERMAL LEASING. 14
(a) A
NNUALLEASING.—Section 4(b) of the Geo-15
thermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1003(b)) is amend-16
ed— 17
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and 18
inserting ‘‘year’’; 19
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as 20
paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and 21
(3) after paragraph (2), by inserting the fol-22
lowing: 23
‘‘(3) R
EPLACEMENT SALES .—If a lease sale 24
under paragraph (1) for a year is canceled or de-25
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layed, the Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a 1
replacement sale during the same year. 2
‘‘(4) R
EQUIREMENT.—In conducting a lease 3
sale under paragraph (2) in a State described in 4
that paragraph, the Secretary of the Interior shall 5
offer all nominated parcels eligible for geothermal 6
development and utilization under the resource man-7
agement plan in effect for the State.’’. 8
(b) D
EADLINES FOR CONSIDERATION OF GEO-9
THERMALDRILLINGPERMITS.—Section 4 of the Geo-10
thermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1003) is amended 11
by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(h) D
EADLINES FOR CONSIDERATION OF GEO-13
THERMALDRILLINGPERMITS.— 14
‘‘(1) N
OTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the 15
date on which the Secretary receives an application 16
for any geothermal drilling permit, the Secretary 17
shall— 18
‘‘(A) provide written notice to the appli-19
cant that the application is complete; or 20
‘‘(B) notify the applicant that information 21
is missing and specify any information that is 22
required to be submitted for the application to 23
be complete. 24
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‘‘(2) ISSUANCE OF DECISION.—If the Secretary 1
determines that an application for a geothermal 2
drilling permit is complete under paragraph (1)(A), 3
the Secretary shall issue a final decision on the ap-4
plication not later than 30 days after the Secretary 5
notifies the applicant that the application is com-6
plete.’’. 7
SEC. 20110. LEASING FOR CERTAIN QUALIFIED COAL AP-8
PLICATIONS. 9
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 10
(1) C
OAL LEASE.—The term ‘‘coal lease’’ 11
means a lease entered into by the United States as 12
lessor, through the Bureau of Land Management, 13
and the applicant on Bureau of Land Management 14
Form 3400–012. 15
(2) Q
UALIFIED APPLICATION .—The term 16
‘‘qualified application’’ means any application pend-17
ing under the lease by application program adminis-18
tered by the Bureau of Land Management pursuant 19
to the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) 20
and subpart 3425 of title 43, Code of Federal Regu-21
lations (as in effect on the date of the enactment of 22
this Act), for which the environmental review proc-23
ess under the National Environmental Policy Act of 24
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) has commenced. 25
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(b) MANDATORYLEASING ANDOTHERREQUIRED 1
A
PPROVALS.—As soon as practicable after the date of the 2
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promptly— 3
(1) with respect to each qualified application— 4
(A) if not previously published for public 5
comment, publish a draft environmental assess-6
ment, as required under the National Environ-7
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 8
seq.) and any applicable implementing regula-9
tions; 10
(B) finalize the fair market value of the 11
coal tract for which a lease by application is 12
pending; 13
(C) take all intermediate actions necessary 14
to grant the qualified application; and 15
(D) grant the qualified application; and 16
(2) with respect to previously awarded coal 17
leases, grant any additional approvals of the Depart-18
ment of the Interior or any bureau, agency, or divi-19
sion of the Department of the Interior required for 20
mining activities to commence. 21
SEC. 20111. FUTURE COAL LEASING. 22
Notwithstanding any judicial decision to the contrary 23
or a departmental review of the Federal coal leasing pro-24
gram, Secretarial Order 3338, issued by the Secretary of 25
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the Interior on January 15, 2016, shall have no force or 1
effect. 2
SEC. 20112. STAFF PLANNING REPORT. 3
The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 4
Agriculture shall each annually submit to the Committee 5
on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and 6
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 7
Senate a report on the staffing capacity of each respective 8
agency with respect to issuing oil, gas, hardrock mining, 9
coal, and renewable energy leases, rights-of-way, claims, 10
easements, and permits. Each such report shall include— 11
(1) the number of staff assigned to process and 12
issue oil, gas, hardrock mining, coal, and renewable 13
energy leases, rights-of-way, claims, easements, and 14
permits; 15
(2) a description of how many staff are needed 16
to meet statutory requirements for such oil, gas, 17
hardrock mining, coal, and renewable energy leases, 18
rights-of-way, claims, easements, and permits; and 19
(3) how, as applicable, the Department of the 20
Interior or the Department of Agriculture plans to 21
address staffing shortfalls and turnover to ensure 22
adequate staffing to process and issue such oil, gas, 23
hardrock mining, coal, and renewable energy leases, 24
rights-of-way, claims, easements, and permits. 25
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SEC. 20113. PROHIBITION ON CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY 1
OWNERSHIP INTEREST. 2
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Com-3
munist Party of China (or a person acting on behalf of 4
the Community Party of China) may not acquire any in-5
terest with respect to lands leased for oil or gas under 6
the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) or the 7
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et 8
seq.). 9
SEC. 20114. EFFECT ON OTHER LAW. 10
Nothing in this division, or any amendments made 11
by this division, shall affect— 12
(1) the Presidential memorandum titled 13
‘‘Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain Areas of 14
the United States Outer Continental Shelf From 15
Leasing Disposition’’ and dated September 8, 2020; 16
(2) the Presidential memorandum titled 17
‘‘Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain Areas of 18
the United States Outer Continental Shelf From 19
Leasing Disposition’’ and dated September 25, 20
2020; 21
(3) the Presidential memorandum titled 22
‘‘Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain Areas off 23
the Atlantic Coast on the Outer Continental Shelf 24
From Leasing Disposition’’ and dated December 20, 25
2016; or 26
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(4) the ban on oil and gas development in the 1
Great Lakes described in section 386 of the Energy 2
Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15941). 3
TITLE II—PERMITTING 4
STREAMLINING 5
SEC. 20201. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this title: 7
(1) E
NERGY FACILITY.—The term ‘‘energy fa-8
cility’’ means a facility the primary purpose of which 9
is the exploration for, or the development, produc-10
tion, conversion, gathering, storage, transfer, proc-11
essing, or transportation of, any energy resource. 12
(2) E
NERGY STORAGE DEVICE .—The term ‘‘en-13
ergy storage device’’— 14
(A) means any equipment that stores en-15
ergy, including electricity, compressed air, 16
pumped water, heat, and hydrogen, which may 17
be converted into, or used to produce, elec-18
tricity; and 19
(B) includes a battery, regenerative fuel 20
cell, flywheel, capacitor, superconducting mag-21
net, and any other equipment the Secretary 22
concerned determines may be used to store en-23
ergy which may be converted into, or used to 24
produce, electricity. 25
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(3) PUBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 1
means any land and interest in land owned by the 2
United States within the several States and adminis-3
tered by the Secretary of the Interior or the Sec-4
retary of Agriculture without regard to how the 5
United States acquired ownership, except— 6
(A) lands located on the Outer Continental 7
Shelf; and 8
(B) lands held in trust by the United 9
States for the benefit of Indians, Indian Tribes, 10
Aleuts, and Eskimos. 11
(4) R
IGHT-OF-WAY.—The term ‘‘right-of-way’’ 12
means— 13
(A) a right-of-way issued, granted, or re-14
newed under section 501 of the Federal Land 15
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 16
1761); or 17
(B) a right-of-way granted under section 18
28 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 185). 19
(5) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-20
retary concerned’’ means— 21
(A) with respect to public lands, the Sec-22
retary of the Interior; and 23
(B) with respect to National Forest Sys-24
tem lands, the Secretary of Agriculture. 25
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(6) LAND USE PLAN .—The term ‘‘land use 1
plan’’ means— 2
(A) a land and resource management plan 3
prepared by the Forest Service for a unit of the 4
National Forest System pursuant to section 6 5
of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Re-6
sources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 7
1604); 8
(B) a Land Management Plan developed 9
by the Bureau of Land Management under the 10
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 11
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 12
(C) a comprehensive conservation plan de-13
veloped by the United States Fish and Wildlife 14
Service under section 4(e)(1)(A) of the National 15
Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 16
1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd(e)(1)(A)). 17
SEC. 20202. BUILDER ACT. 18
(a) P
ARAGRAPH(2) OFSECTION102.—Section 19
102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 20
(42 U.S.C. 4332(2)) is amended— 21
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘insure’’ 22
and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; 23
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘insure’’ 24
and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; 25
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(3) in subparagraph (C)— 1
(A) by inserting ‘‘consistent with the provi-2
sions of this Act and except as provided by 3
other provisions of law,’’ before ‘‘include in 4
every’’; 5
(B) by striking clauses (i) through (v) and 6
inserting the following: 7
‘‘(i) reasonably foreseeable environmental 8
effects with a reasonably close causal relation-9
ship to the proposed agency action; 10
‘‘(ii) any reasonably foreseeable adverse en-11
vironmental effects which cannot be avoided 12
should the proposal be implemented; 13
‘‘(iii) a reasonable number of alternatives 14
to the proposed agency action, including an 15
analysis of any negative environmental impacts 16
of not implementing the proposed agency action 17
in the case of a no action alternative, that are 18
technically and economically feasible, are within 19
the jurisdiction of the agency, meet the purpose 20
and need of the proposal, and, where applicable, 21
meet the goals of the applicant; 22
‘‘(iv) the relationship between local short- 23
term uses of man’s environment and the main-24
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tenance and enhancement of long-term produc-1
tivity; and 2
‘‘(v) any irreversible and irretrievable com-3
mitments of Federal resources which would be 4
involved in the proposed agency action should it 5
be implemented.’’; and 6
(C) by striking ‘‘the responsible Federal 7
official’’ and inserting ‘‘the head of the lead 8
agency’’; 9
(4) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘Any’’ 10
and inserting ‘‘any’’; 11
(5) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 12
through (I) as subparagraphs (F) through (K), re-13
spectively; 14
(6) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol-15
lowing: 16
‘‘(D) ensure the professional integrity, including 17
scientific integrity, of the discussion and analysis in 18
an environmental document; 19
‘‘(E) make use of reliable existing data and re-20
sources in carrying out this Act;’’; 21
(7) by amending subparagraph (G), as redesig-22
nated, to read as follows: 23
‘‘(G) consistent with the provisions of this Act, 24
study, develop, and describe technically and economi-25
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cally feasible alternatives within the jurisdiction and 1
authority of the agency;’’; and 2
(8) in subparagraph (H), as amended, by in-3
serting ‘‘consistent with the provisions of this Act,’’ 4
before ‘‘recognize’’. 5
(b) N
EWSECTIONS.—Title I of the National Envi-6
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 7
is amended by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘SEC. 106. PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINATION OF LEVEL OF 9
REVIEW. 10
‘‘(a) T
HRESHOLDDETERMINATIONS.—An agency is 11
not required to prepare an environmental document with 12
respect to a proposed agency action if— 13
‘‘(1) the proposed agency action is not a final 14
agency action within the meaning of such term in 15
chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code; 16
‘‘(2) the proposed agency action is covered by 17
a categorical exclusion established by the agency, an-18
other Federal agency, or another provision of law; 19
‘‘(3) the preparation of such document would 20
clearly and fundamentally conflict with the require-21
ments of another provision of law; 22
‘‘(4) the proposed agency action is, in whole or 23
in part, a nondiscretionary action with respect to 24
which such agency does not have authority to take 25
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environmental factors into consideration in deter-1
mining whether to take the proposed action; 2
‘‘(5) the proposed agency action is a rulemaking 3
that is subject to section 553 of title 5, United 4
States Code; or 5
‘‘(6) the proposed agency action is an action for 6
which such agency’s compliance with another stat-7
ute’s requirements serve the same or similar func-8
tion as the requirements of this Act with respect to 9
such action. 10
‘‘(b) L
EVELS OFREVIEW.— 11
‘‘(1) E
NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT .— 12
An agency shall issue an environmental impact 13
statement with respect to a proposed agency action 14
that has a significant effect on the quality of the 15
human environment. 16
‘‘(2) E
NVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT .—An agen-17
cy shall prepare an environmental assessment with 18
respect to a proposed agency action that is not likely 19
to have a significant effect on the quality of the 20
human environment, or if the significance of such ef-21
fect is unknown, unless the agency finds that a cat-22
egorical exclusion established by the agency, another 23
Federal agency, or another provision of law applies. 24
Such environmental assessment shall be a concise 25
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public document prepared by a Federal agency to set 1
forth the basis of such agency’s finding of no signifi-2
cant impact. 3
‘‘(3) S
OURCES OF INFORMATION .—In making a 4
determination under this subsection, an agency— 5
‘‘(A) may make use of any reliable data 6
source; and 7
‘‘(B) is not required to undertake new sci-8
entific or technical research. 9
‘‘SEC. 107. TIMELY AND UNIFIED FEDERAL REVIEWS. 10
‘‘(a) L
EADAGENCY.— 11
‘‘(1) D
ESIGNATION.— 12
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If there are two or 13
more involved Federal agencies, such agencies 14
shall determine, by letter or memorandum, 15
which agency shall be the lead agency based on 16
consideration of the following factors: 17
‘‘(i) Magnitude of agency’s involve-18
ment. 19
‘‘(ii) Project approval or disapproval 20
authority. 21
‘‘(iii) Expertise concerning the ac-22
tion’s environmental effects. 23
‘‘(iv) Duration of agency’s involve-24
ment. 25
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‘‘(v) Sequence of agency’s involve-1
ment. 2
‘‘(B) J
OINT LEAD AGENCIES .—In making 3
a determination under subparagraph (A), the 4
involved Federal agencies may, in addition to a 5
Federal agency, appoint such Federal, State, 6
Tribal, or local agencies as joint lead agencies 7
as the involved Federal agencies shall determine 8
appropriate. Joint lead agencies shall jointly 9
fulfill the role described in paragraph (2). 10
‘‘(C) M
INERAL PROJECTS .—This para-11
graph shall not apply with respect to a mineral 12
exploration or mine permit. 13
‘‘(2) R
OLE.—A lead agency shall, with respect 14
to a proposed agency action— 15
‘‘(A) supervise the preparation of an envi-16
ronmental document if, with respect to such 17
proposed agency action, there is more than one 18
involved Federal agency; 19
‘‘(B) request the participation of each co-20
operating agency at the earliest practicable 21
time; 22
‘‘(C) in preparing an environmental docu-23
ment, give consideration to any analysis or pro-24
posal created by a cooperating agency with ju-25
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risdiction by law or a cooperating agency with 1
special expertise; 2
‘‘(D) develop a schedule, in consultation 3
with each involved cooperating agency, the ap-4
plicant, and such other entities as the lead 5
agency determines appropriate, for completion 6
of any environmental review, permit, or author-7
ization required to carry out the proposed agen-8
cy action; 9
‘‘(E) if the lead agency determines that a 10
review, permit, or authorization will not be com-11
pleted in accordance with the schedule devel-12
oped under subparagraph (D), notify the agen-13
cy responsible for issuing such review, permit, 14
or authorization of the discrepancy and request 15
that such agency take such measures as such 16
agency determines appropriate to comply with 17
such schedule; and 18
‘‘(F) meet with a cooperating agency that 19
requests such a meeting. 20
‘‘(3) C
OOPERATING AGENCY .—The lead agency 21
may, with respect to a proposed agency action, des-22
ignate any involved Federal agency or a State, Trib-23
al, or local agency as a cooperating agency. A co-24
operating agency may, not later than a date speci-25
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fied by the lead agency, submit comments to the 1
lead agency. Such comments shall be limited to mat-2
ters relating to the proposed agency action with re-3
spect to which such agency has special expertise or 4
jurisdiction by law with respect to an environmental 5
issue. 6
‘‘(4) R
EQUEST FOR DESIGNATION .—Any Fed-7
eral, State, Tribal, or local agency or person that is 8
substantially affected by the lack of a designation of 9
a lead agency with respect to a proposed agency ac-10
tion under paragraph (1) may submit a written re-11
quest for such a designation to an involved Federal 12
agency. An agency that receives a request under this 13
paragraph shall transmit such request to each in-14
volved Federal agency and to the Council. 15
‘‘(5) C
OUNCIL DESIGNATION.— 16
‘‘(A) R
EQUEST.—Not earlier than 45 days 17
after the date on which a request is submitted 18
under paragraph (4), if no designation has been 19
made under paragraph (1), a Federal, State, 20
Tribal, or local agency or person that is sub-21
stantially affected by the lack of a designation 22
of a lead agency may request that the Council 23
designate a lead agency. Such request shall con-24
sist of— 25
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‘‘(i) a precise description of the nature 1
and extent of the proposed agency action; 2
and 3
‘‘(ii) a detailed statement with respect 4
to each involved Federal agency and each 5
factor listed in paragraph (1) regarding 6
which agency should serve as lead agency. 7
‘‘(B) T
RANSMISSION.—The Council shall 8
transmit a request received under subparagraph 9
(A) to each involved Federal agency. 10
‘‘(C) R
ESPONSE.—An involved Federal 11
agency may, not later than 20 days after the 12
date of the submission of a request under sub-13
paragraph (A), submit to the Council a re-14
sponse to such request. 15
‘‘(D) D
ESIGNATION.—Not later than 40 16
days after the date of the submission of a re-17
quest under subparagraph (A), the Council 18
shall designate the lead agency with respect to 19
the relevant proposed agency action. 20
‘‘(b) O
NEDOCUMENT.— 21
‘‘(1) D
OCUMENT.—To the extent practicable, if 22
there are 2 or more involved Federal agencies with 23
respect to a proposed agency action and the lead 24
agency has determined that an environmental docu-25
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ment is required, such requirement shall be deemed 1
satisfied with respect to all involved Federal agencies 2
if the lead agency issues such an environmental doc-3
ument. 4
‘‘(2) C
ONSIDERATION TIMING .—In developing 5
an environmental document for a proposed agency 6
action, no involved Federal agency shall be required 7
to consider any information that becomes available 8
after the sooner of, as applicable— 9
‘‘(A) receipt of a complete application with 10
respect to such proposed agency action; or 11
‘‘(B) publication of a notice of intent or 12
decision to prepare an environmental impact 13
statement for such proposed agency action. 14
‘‘(3) S
COPE OF REVIEW.—In developing an en-15
vironmental document for a proposed agency action, 16
the lead agency and any other involved Federal 17
agencies shall only consider the effects of the pro-18
posed agency action that— 19
‘‘(A) occur on Federal land; or 20
‘‘(B) are subject to Federal control and re-21
sponsibility. 22
‘‘(c) R
EQUEST FORPUBLICCOMMENT.—Each notice 23
of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 24
under section 102 shall include a request for public com-25
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ment on alternatives or impacts and on relevant informa-1
tion, studies, or analyses with respect to the proposed 2
agency action. 3
‘‘(d) S
TATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND NEED.—Each 4
environmental impact statement shall include a statement 5
of purpose and need that briefly summarizes the under-6
lying purpose and need for the proposed agency action. 7
‘‘(e) E
STIMATEDTOTALCOST.—The cover sheet for 8
each environmental impact statement shall include a state-9
ment of the estimated total cost of preparing such environ-10
mental impact statement, including the costs of agency 11
full-time equivalent personnel hours, contractor costs, and 12
other direct costs. 13
‘‘(f) P
AGELIMITS.— 14
‘‘(1) E
NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS .— 15
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 16
subparagraph (B), an environmental impact 17
statement shall not exceed 150 pages, not in-18
cluding any citations or appendices. 19
‘‘(B) E
XTRAORDINARY COMPLEXITY .—An 20
environmental impact statement for a proposed 21
agency action of extraordinary complexity shall 22
not exceed 300 pages, not including any cita-23
tions or appendices. 24
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‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS .—An en-1
vironmental assessment shall not exceed 75 pages, 2
not including any citations or appendices. 3
‘‘(g) S
PONSORPREPARATION.—A lead agency shall 4
allow a project sponsor to prepare an environmental as-5
sessment or an environmental impact statement upon re-6
quest of the project sponsor. Such agency may provide 7
such sponsor with appropriate guidance and assist in the 8
preparation. The lead agency shall independently evaluate 9
the environmental document and shall take responsibility 10
for the contents upon adoption. 11
‘‘(h) D
EADLINES.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-13
graph (2), with respect to a proposed agency action, 14
a lead agency shall complete, as applicable— 15
‘‘(A) the environmental impact statement 16
not later than the date that is 2 years after the 17
sooner of, as applicable— 18
‘‘(i) the date on which such agency 19
determines that section 102(2)(C) requires 20
the issuance of an environmental impact 21
statement with respect to such action; 22
‘‘(ii) the date on which such agency 23
notifies the applicant that the application 24
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to establish a right-of-way for such action 1
is complete; and 2
‘‘(iii) the date on which such agency 3
issues a notice of intent to prepare the en-4
vironmental impact statement for such ac-5
tion; and 6
‘‘(B) the environmental assessment not 7
later than the date that is 1 year after the 8
sooner of, as applicable— 9
‘‘(i) the date on which such agency 10
determines that section 106(b)(2) requires 11
the preparation of an environmental as-12
sessment with respect to such action; 13
‘‘(ii) the date on which such agency 14
notifies the applicant that the application 15
to establish a right-of-way for such action 16
is complete; and 17
‘‘(iii) the date on which such agency 18
issues a notice of intent to prepare the en-19
vironmental assessment for such action. 20
‘‘(2) D
ELAY.—A lead agency that determines it 21
is not able to meet the deadline described in para-22
graph (1) may extend such deadline with the ap-23
proval of the applicant. If the applicant approves 24
such an extension, the lead agency shall establish a 25
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new deadline that provides only so much additional 1
time as is necessary to complete such environmental 2
impact statement or environmental assessment. 3
‘‘(3) E
XPENDITURES FOR DELAY .—If a lead 4
agency is unable to meet the deadline described in 5
paragraph (1) or extended under paragraph (2), the 6
lead agency must pay $100 per day, to the extent 7
funding is provided in advance in an appropriations 8
Act, out of the office of the head of the department 9
of the lead agency to the applicant starting on the 10
first day immediately following the deadline de-11
scribed in paragraph (1) or extended under para-12
graph (2) up until the date that an applicant ap-13
proves a new deadline. This paragraph does not 14
apply when the lead agency misses a deadline solely 15
due to delays caused by litigation. 16
‘‘(i) R
EPORT.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The head of each lead 18
agency shall annually submit to the Committee on 19
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives 20
and the Committee on Environment and Public 21
Works of the Senate a report that— 22
‘‘(A) identifies any environmental assess-23
ment and environmental impact statement that 24
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such lead agency did not complete by the dead-1
line described in subsection (h); and 2
‘‘(B) provides an explanation for any fail-3
ure to meet such deadline. 4
‘‘(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—Each report submitted 5
under paragraph (1) shall identify, as applicable— 6
‘‘(A) the office, bureau, division, unit, or 7
other entity within the Federal agency respon-8
sible for each such environmental assessment 9
and environmental impact statement; 10
‘‘(B) the date on which— 11
‘‘(i) such lead agency notified the ap-12
plicant that the application to establish a 13
right-of-way for the major Federal action 14
is complete; 15
‘‘(ii) such lead agency began the 16
scoping for the major Federal action; or 17
‘‘(iii) such lead agency issued a notice 18
of intent to prepare the environmental as-19
sessment or environmental impact state-20
ment for the major Federal action; and 21
‘‘(C) when such environmental assessment 22
and environmental impact statement is expected 23
to be complete. 24
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‘‘SEC. 108. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 1
‘‘(a) L
IMITATIONS ON CLAIMS.—Notwithstanding 2
any other provision of law, a claim arising under Federal 3
law seeking judicial review of compliance with this Act, 4
of a determination made under this Act, or of Federal ac-5
tion resulting from a determination made under this Act, 6
shall be barred unless— 7
‘‘(1) in the case of a claim pertaining to a pro-8
posed agency action for which— 9
‘‘(A) an environmental document was pre-10
pared and an opportunity for comment was pro-11
vided; 12
‘‘(B) the claim is filed by a party that par-13
ticipated in the administrative proceedings re-14
garding such environmental document; and 15
‘‘(C) the claim— 16
‘‘(i) is filed by a party that submitted 17
a comment during the public comment pe-18
riod for such administrative proceedings 19
and such comment was sufficiently detailed 20
to put the lead agency on notice of the 21
issue upon which the party seeks judicial 22
review; and 23
‘‘(ii) is related to such comment; 24
‘‘(2) except as provided in subsection (b), such 25
claim is filed not later than 120 days after the date 26
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of publication of a notice in the Federal Register of 1
agency intent to carry out the proposed agency ac-2
tion; 3
‘‘(3) such claim is filed after the issuance of a 4
record of decision or other final agency action with 5
respect to the relevant proposed agency action; 6
‘‘(4) such claim does not challenge the estab-7
lishment or use of a categorical exclusion under sec-8
tion 102; and 9
‘‘(5) such claim concerns— 10
‘‘(A) an alternative included in the envi-11
ronmental document; or 12
‘‘(B) an environmental effect considered in 13
the environmental document. 14
‘‘(b) S
UPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 15
S
TATEMENT.— 16
‘‘(1) S
EPARATE FINAL AGENCY ACTION .—The 17
issuance of a Federal action resulting from a final 18
supplemental environmental impact statement shall 19
be considered a final agency action for the purposes 20
of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, separate 21
from the issuance of any previous environmental im-22
pact statement with respect to the same proposed 23
agency action. 24
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‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR FILING A CLAIM .—A claim 1
seeking judicial review of a Federal action resulting 2
from a final supplemental environmental review 3
issued under section 102(2)(C) shall be barred un-4
less— 5
‘‘(A) such claim is filed within 120 days of 6
the date on which a notice of the Federal agen-7
cy action resulting from a final supplemental 8
environmental impact statement is issued; and 9
‘‘(B) such claim is based on information 10
contained in such supplemental environmental 11
impact statement that was not contained in a 12
previous environmental document pertaining to 13
the same proposed agency action. 14
‘‘(c) P
ROHIBITION ON INJUNCTIVERELIEF.—Not-15
withstanding any other provision of law, a violation of this 16
Act shall not constitute the basis for injunctive relief. 17
‘‘(d) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-18
tion shall be construed to create a right of judicial review 19
or place any limit on filing a claim with respect to the 20
violation of the terms of a permit, license, or approval. 21
‘‘(e) R
EMAND.—Notwithstanding any other provision 22
of law, no proposed agency action for which an environ-23
mental document is required shall be vacated or otherwise 24
limited, delayed, or enjoined unless a court concludes al-25
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lowing such proposed action will pose a risk of an immi-1
nent and substantial environmental harm and there is no 2
other equitable remedy available as a matter of law. 3
‘‘SEC. 109. DEFINITIONS. 4
‘‘In this title: 5
‘‘(1) C
ATEGORICAL EXCLUSION .—The term 6
‘categorical exclusion’ means a category of actions 7
that a Federal agency has determined normally does 8
not significantly affect the quality of the human en-9
vironment within the meaning of section 102(2)(C). 10
‘‘(2) C
OOPERATING AGENCY .—The term ‘co-11
operating agency’ means any Federal, State, Tribal, 12
or local agency that has been designated as a co-13
operating agency under section 107(a)(3). 14
‘‘(3) C
OUNCIL.—The term ‘Council’ means the 15
Council on Environmental Quality established in 16
title II. 17
‘‘(4) E
NVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT .—The 18
term ‘environmental assessment’ means an environ-19
mental assessment prepared under section 20
106(b)(2). 21
‘‘(5) E
NVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENT .—The term 22
‘environmental document’ means an environmental 23
impact statement, an environmental assessment, or 24
a finding of no significant impact. 25
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‘‘(6) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT .— 1
The term ‘environmental impact statement’ means a 2
detailed written statement that is required by section 3
102(2)(C). 4
‘‘(7) F
INDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT .— 5
The term ‘finding of no significant impact’ means a 6
determination by a Federal agency that a proposed 7
agency action does not require the issuance of an en-8
vironmental impact statement. 9
‘‘(8) I
NVOLVED FEDERAL AGENCY .—The term 10
‘involved Federal agency’ means an agency that, 11
with respect to a proposed agency action— 12
‘‘(A) proposed such action; or 13
‘‘(B) is involved in such action because 14
such action is directly related, through func-15
tional interdependence or geographic proximity, 16
to an action such agency has taken or has pro-17
posed to take. 18
‘‘(9) L
EAD AGENCY.— 19
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 20
subparagraph (B), the term ‘lead agency’ 21
means, with respect to a proposed agency ac-22
tion— 23
‘‘(i) the agency that proposed such ac-24
tion; or 25
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‘‘(ii) if there are 2 or more involved 1
Federal agencies with respect to such ac-2
tion, the agency designated under section 3
107(a)(1). 4
‘‘(B) S
PECIFICATION FOR MINERAL EX -5
PLORATION OR MINE PERMITS .—With respect 6
to a proposed mineral exploration or mine per-7
mit, the term ‘lead agency’ has the meaning 8
given such term in section 40206(a) of the In-9
frastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 10
‘‘(10) M
AJOR FEDERAL ACTION .— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘major Fed-12
eral action’ means an action that the agency 13
carrying out such action determines is subject 14
to substantial Federal control and responsi-15
bility. 16
‘‘(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘major Fed-17
eral action’ does not include— 18
‘‘(i) a non-Federal action— 19
‘‘(I) with no or minimal Federal 20
funding; 21
‘‘(II) with no or minimal Federal 22
involvement where a Federal agency 23
cannot control the outcome of the 24
project; or 25
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‘‘(III) that does not include Fed-1
eral land; 2
‘‘(ii) funding assistance solely in the 3
form of general revenue sharing funds 4
which do not provide Federal agency com-5
pliance or enforcement responsibility over 6
the subsequent use of such funds; 7
‘‘(iii) loans, loan guarantees, or other 8
forms of financial assistance where a Fed-9
eral agency does not exercise sufficient 10
control and responsibility over the effect of 11
the action; 12
‘‘(iv) farm ownership and operating 13
loan guarantees by the Farm Service 14
Agency pursuant to sections 305 and 311 15
through 319 of the Consolidated Farmers 16
Home Administration Act of 1961 (7 17
U.S.C. 1925 and 1941 through 1949); 18
‘‘(v) business loan guarantees pro-19
vided by the Small Business Administra-20
tion pursuant to section 7(a) or (b) and of 21
the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 22
636(a)), or title V of the Small Business 23
Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 695 et 24
seq.); 25
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‘‘(vi) bringing judicial or administra-1
tive civil or criminal enforcement actions; 2
or 3
‘‘(vii) extraterritorial activities or deci-4
sions, which means agency activities or de-5
cisions with effects located entirely outside 6
of the jurisdiction of the United States. 7
‘‘(C) A
DDITIONAL EXCLUSIONS .—An agen-8
cy action may not be determined to be a major 9
Federal action on the basis of— 10
‘‘(i) an interstate effect of the action 11
or related project; or 12
‘‘(ii) the provision of Federal funds 13
for the action or related project. 14
‘‘(11) M
INERAL EXPLORATION OR MINE PER -15
MIT.—The term ‘mineral exploration or mine permit’ 16
has the meaning given such term in section 17
40206(a) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 18
Act. 19
‘‘(12) P
ROPOSAL.—The term ‘proposal’ means 20
a proposed action at a stage when an agency has a 21
goal, is actively preparing to make a decision on one 22
or more alternative means of accomplishing that 23
goal, and can meaningfully evaluate its effects. 24
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‘‘(13) REASONABLY FORESEEABLE .—The term 1
‘reasonably foreseeable’ means likely to occur— 2
‘‘(A) not later than 10 years after the lead 3
agency begins preparing the environmental doc-4
ument; and 5
‘‘(B) in an area directly affected by the 6
proposed agency action such that an individual 7
of ordinary prudence would take such occur-8
rence into account in reaching a decision. 9
‘‘(14) S
PECIAL EXPERTISE.—The term ‘special 10
expertise’ means statutory responsibility, agency 11
mission, or related program experience.’’. 12
SEC. 20203. CODIFICATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL 13
POLICY ACT REGULATIONS. 14
The revisions to the Code of Federal Regulations 15
made pursuant to the final rule of the Council on Environ-16
mental Quality titled ‘‘Update to the Regulations Imple-17
menting the Procedural Provisions of the National Envi-18
ronmental Policy Act’’ and published on July 16, 2020 19
(85 Fed. Reg. 43304), shall have the same force and effect 20
of law as if enacted by an Act of Congress. 21
SEC. 20204. NON-MAJOR FEDERAL ACTIONS. 22
(a) E
XEMPTION.—An action by the Secretary con-23
cerned with respect to a covered activity shall be not con-24
sidered a major Federal action under section 102(2)(C) 25
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of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 1
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 2
(b) C
OVEREDACTIVITY.—In this section, the term 3
‘‘covered activity’’ includes— 4
(1) geotechnical investigations; 5
(2) off-road travel in an existing right-of-way; 6
(3) construction of meteorological towers where 7
the total surface disturbance at the location is less 8
than 5 acres; 9
(4) adding a battery or other energy storage de-10
vice to an existing or planned energy facility, if that 11
storage resource is located within the physical foot-12
print of the existing or planned energy facility; 13
(5) drilling temperature gradient wells and 14
other geothermal exploratory wells, including con-15
struction or making improvements for such activi-16
ties, where— 17
(A) the last cemented casing string is less 18
than 12 inches in diameter; and 19
(B) the total unreclaimed surface disturb-20
ance at any one time within the project area is 21
less than 5 acres; 22
(6) any repair, maintenance, upgrade, optimiza-23
tion, or minor addition to existing transmission and 24
distribution infrastructure, including— 25
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(A) operation, maintenance, or repair of 1
power equipment and structures within existing 2
substations, switching stations, transmission, 3
and distribution lines; 4
(B) the addition, modification, retirement, 5
or replacement of breakers, transmission tow-6
ers, transformers, bushings, or relays; 7
(C) the voltage uprating, modification, 8
reconductoring with conventional or advanced 9
conductors, and clearance resolution of trans-10
mission lines; 11
(D) activities to minimize fire risk, includ-12
ing vegetation management, routine fire mitiga-13
tion, inspection, and maintenance activities, and 14
removal of hazard trees and other hazard vege-15
tation within or adjacent to an existing right-of- 16
way; 17
(E) improvements to or construction of 18
structure pads for such infrastructure; and 19
(F) access and access route maintenance 20
and repairs associated with any activity de-21
scribed in subparagraph (A) through (E); 22
(7) approval of and activities conducted in ac-23
cordance with operating plans or agreements for 24
transmission and distribution facilities or under a 25
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special use authorization for an electric transmission 1
and distribution facility right-of-way; and 2
(8) construction, maintenance, realignment, or 3
repair of an existing permanent or temporary access 4
road— 5
(A) within an existing right-of-way or with-6
in a transmission or utility corridor established 7
by Congress or in a land use plan; 8
(B) that serves an existing transmission 9
line, distribution line, or energy facility; or 10
(C) activities conducted in accordance with 11
existing onshore oil and gas leases. 12
SEC. 20205. NO NET LOSS DETERMINATION FOR EXISTING 13
RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Upon a determination by the Sec-15
retary concerned that there will be no overall long-term 16
net loss of vegetation, soil, or habitat, as defined by acre-17
age and function, resulting from a proposed action, deci-18
sion, or activity within an existing right-of-way, within a 19
right-of-way corridor established in a land use plan, or in 20
an otherwise designated right-of-way, that action, deci-21
sion, or activity shall not be considered a major Federal 22
action under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environ-23
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 24
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(b) INCLUSION OFREMEDIATION.—In making a de-1
termination under subsection (a), the Secretary concerned 2
shall consider the effect of any remediation work to be 3
conducted during the lifetime of the action, decision, or 4
activity when determining whether there will be any over-5
all long-term net loss of vegetation, soil, or habitat. 6
SEC. 20206. DETERMINATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRON-7
MENTAL POLICY ACT ADEQUACY. 8
The Secretary concerned shall use previously com-9
pleted environmental assessments and environmental im-10
pact statements to satisfy the requirements of section 102 11
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 12
U.S.C. 4332) with respect to any major Federal action, 13
if such Secretary determines that— 14
(1) the new proposed action is substantially the 15
same as a previously analyzed proposed action or al-16
ternative analyzed in a previous environmental as-17
sessment or environmental impact statement; and 18
(2) the effects of the proposed action are sub-19
stantially the same as the effects analyzed in such 20
existing environmental assessments or environmental 21
impact statements. 22
SEC. 20207. DETERMINATION REGARDING RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 23
Not later than 60 days after the Secretary concerned 24
receives an application to grant a right-of-way, the Sec-25
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retary concerned shall notify the applicant as to whether 1
the application is complete or deficient. If the Secretary 2
concerned determines the application is complete, the Sec-3
retary concerned may not consider any other application 4
to grant a right-of-way on the same or any overlapping 5
parcels of land while such application is pending. 6
SEC. 20208. TERMS OF RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 7
(a) F
IFTYYEARTERMS FORRIGHTS-OF-WAY.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any right-of-way for pipe-9
lines for the transportation or distribution of oil or 10
gas granted, issued, amended, or renewed under 11
Federal law may be limited to a term of not more 12
than 50 years before such right-of-way is subject to 13
renewal or amendment. 14
(2) F
EDERAL LAND POLICY AND MANAGEMENT 15
ACT OF 1976.—Section 501 of the Federal Land Pol-16
icy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1761) 17
is amended by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(e) Any right-of-way granted, issued, amended, or 19
renewed under subsection (a)(4) may be limited to a term 20
of not more than 50 years before such right-of-way is sub-21
ject to renewal or amendment.’’. 22
(b) M
INERALLEASINGACT.—Section 28(n) of the 23
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 185(n)) is amended by 24
striking ‘‘thirty’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’. 25
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SEC. 20209. FUNDING TO PROCESS PERMITS AND DEVELOP 1
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In fiscal years 2023 through 3
2025, the Secretary of Agriculture (acting through the 4
Forest Service) and the Secretary of the Interior, after 5
public notice, may accept and expend funds contributed 6
by non-Federal entities for dedicated staff, information re-7
source management, and information technology system 8
development to expedite the evaluation of permits, biologi-9
cal opinions, concurrence letters, environmental surveys 10
and studies, processing of applications, consultations, and 11
other activities for the leasing, development, or expansion 12
of an energy facility under the jurisdiction of the respec-13
tive Secretaries. 14
(b) E
FFECT ONPERMITTING.—In carrying out this 15
section, the Secretary of the Interior shall ensure that the 16
use of funds accepted under subsection (a) will not impact 17
impartial decision making with respect to permits, either 18
substantively or procedurally. 19
(c) S
TATEMENT FOR FAILURETOACCEPT OREX-20
PENDFUNDS.—Not later than 60 days after the end of 21
the applicable fiscal year, if the Secretary of Agriculture 22
(acting through the Forest Service) or the Secretary of 23
the Interior does not accept funds contributed under sub-24
section (a) or accepts but does not expend such funds, that 25
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Natural Re-26
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sources of the House of Representatives and the Com-1
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 2
a statement explaining why such funds were not accepted, 3
were not expended, or both, as the case may be. 4
SEC. 20210. OFFSHORE GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL 5
SURVEY LICENSING. 6
The Secretary of the Interior shall authorize geologi-7
cal and geophysical surveys related to oil and gas activities 8
on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf, except 9
within areas subject to existing oil and gas leasing mora-10
toria. Such authorizations shall be issued within 30 days 11
of receipt of a completed application and shall, as applica-12
ble to survey type, comply with the mitigation and moni-13
toring measures in subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (f), and 14
(g) of section 217.184 of title 50, Code of Federal Regula-15
tions (as in effect on January 1, 2022), and section 16
217.185 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 17
effect on January 1, 2022). Geological and geophysical 18
surveys authorized pursuant to this section are deemed to 19
be in full compliance with the Marine Mammal Protection 20
Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) and the Endangered 21
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and their 22
implementing regulations. 23
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SEC. 20211. DEFERRAL OF APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO 1
DRILL. 2
Section 17(p)(3) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 3
U.S.C. 226(p)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the 4
following: 5
‘‘(D) D
EFERRAL BASED ON FORMATTING 6
ISSUES.—A decision on an application for a 7
permit to drill may not be deferred under para-8
graph (2)(B) as a result of a formatting issue 9
with the permit, unless such formatting issue 10
results in missing information.’’. 11
SEC. 20212. PROCESSING AND TERMS OF APPLICATIONS 12
FOR PERMITS TO DRILL. 13
(a) E
FFECT OFPENDINGCIVILACTIONS.—Section 14
17(p) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(p)) is 15
amended by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(4) E
FFECT OF PENDING CIVIL ACTION ON 17
PROCESSING APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO 18
DRILL.—Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 19
(2), notwithstanding the existence of any pending 20
civil actions affecting the application or related 21
lease, the Secretary shall process an application for 22
a permit to drill or other authorizations or approvals 23
under a valid existing lease, unless a United States 24
Federal court vacated such lease. Nothing in this 25
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paragraph shall be construed as providing authority 1
to a Federal court to vacate a lease.’’. 2
(b) T
ERM OFPERMITTODRILL.—Section 17 of the 3
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is further amended 4
by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(u) T
ERM OFPERMITTODRILL.—A permit to drill 6
issued under this section after the date of the enactment 7
of this subsection shall be valid for one four-year term 8
from the date that the permit is approved, or until the 9
lease regarding which the permit is issued expires, which-10
ever occurs first.’’. 11
SEC. 20213. AMENDMENTS TO THE ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 12
2005. 13
Section 390 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 14
U.S.C. 15942) is amended to read as follows: 15
‘‘SEC. 390. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT RE-16
VIEW. 17
‘‘(a) N
ATIONALENVIRONMENTAL POLICYACTRE-18
VIEW.—Action by the Secretary of the Interior, in man-19
aging the public lands, or the Secretary of Agriculture, 20
in managing National Forest System lands, with respect 21
to any of the activities described in subsection (c), shall 22
not be considered a major Federal action for the purposes 23
of section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 24
Act of 1969, if the activity is conducted pursuant to the 25
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Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) for the pur-1
pose of exploration or development of oil or gas. 2
‘‘(b) A
PPLICATION.—This section shall not apply to 3
an action of the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary 4
of Agriculture on Indian lands or resources managed in 5
trust for the benefit of Indian Tribes. 6
‘‘(c) A
CTIVITIESDESCRIBED.—The activities re-7
ferred to in subsection (a) are as follows: 8
‘‘(1) Reinstating a lease pursuant to section 31 9
of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 188). 10
‘‘(2) The following activities, provided that any 11
new surface disturbance is contiguous with the foot-12
print of the original authorization and does not ex-13
ceed 20 acres or the acreage has previously been 14
evaluated in a document previously prepared under 15
section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 16
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) with re-17
spect to such activity: 18
‘‘(A) Drilling an oil or gas well at a well 19
pad site at which drilling has occurred pre-20
viously. 21
‘‘(B) Expansion of an existing oil or gas 22
well pad site to accommodate an additional well. 23
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‘‘(C) Expansion or modification of an ex-1
isting oil or gas well pad site, road, pipeline, fa-2
cility, or utility submitted in a sundry notice. 3
‘‘(3) Drilling of an oil or gas well at a new well 4
pad site, provided that the new surface disturbance 5
does not exceed 20 acres and the acreage evaluated 6
in a document previously prepared under section 7
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act 8
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) with respect to such 9
activity, whichever is greater. 10
‘‘(4) Construction or realignment of a road, 11
pipeline, or utility within an existing right-of-way or 12
within a right-of-way corridor established in a land 13
use plan. 14
‘‘(5) The following activities when conducted 15
from non-Federal surface into federally owned min-16
erals, provided that the operator submits to the Sec-17
retary concerned certification of a surface use agree-18
ment with the non-Federal landowner: 19
‘‘(A) Drilling an oil or gas well at a well 20
pad site at which drilling has occurred pre-21
viously. 22
‘‘(B) Expansion of an existing oil or gas 23
well pad site to accommodate an additional well. 24
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‘‘(C) Expansion or modification of an ex-1
isting oil or gas well pad site, road, pipeline, fa-2
cility, or utility submitted in a sundry notice. 3
‘‘(6) Drilling of an oil or gas well from non- 4
Federal surface and non-Federal subsurface into 5
Federal mineral estate. 6
‘‘(7) Construction of up to 1 mile of new road 7
on Federal or non-Federal surface, not to exceed 2 8
miles in total. 9
‘‘(8) Construction of up to 3 miles of individual 10
pipelines or utilities, regardless of surface owner-11
ship.’’. 12
SEC. 20214. ACCESS TO FEDERAL ENERGY RESOURCES 13
FROM NON-FEDERAL SURFACE ESTATE. 14
(a) O
IL ANDGASPERMITS.—Section 17 of the Min-15
eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is further amended by 16
adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(v) N
OFEDERALPERMITREQUIRED FOROIL AND 18
G
ASACTIVITIES ONCERTAINLAND.— 19
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not re-20
quire an operator to obtain a Federal drilling permit 21
for oil and gas exploration and production activities 22
conducted on non-Federal surface estate, provided 23
that— 24
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‘‘(A) the United States holds an ownership 1
interest of less than 50 percent of the sub-2
surface mineral estate to be accessed by the 3
proposed action; and 4
‘‘(B) the operator submits to the Secretary 5
a State permit to conduct oil and gas explo-6
ration and production activities on the non-Fed-7
eral surface estate. 8
‘‘(2) N
O FEDERAL ACTION.—An oil and gas ex-9
ploration and production activity carried out under 10
paragraph (1)— 11
‘‘(A) shall not be considered a major Fed-12
eral action for the purposes of section 13
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 14
Act of 1969; 15
‘‘(B) shall require no additional Federal 16
action; 17
‘‘(C) may commence 30 days after submis-18
sion of the State permit to the Secretary; and 19
‘‘(D) shall not be subject to— 20
‘‘(i) section 306108 of title 54, United 21
States Code (commonly known as the Na-22
tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966); 23
and 24
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‘‘(ii) section 7 of the Endangered Spe-1
cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536). 2
‘‘(3) R
OYALTIES AND PRODUCTION ACCOUNT -3
ABILITY.—(A) Nothing in this subsection shall affect 4
the amount of royalties due to the United States 5
under this Act from the production of oil and gas, 6
or alter the Secretary’s authority to conduct audits 7
and collect civil penalties pursuant to the Federal 8
Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 9
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 10
‘‘(B) The Secretary may conduct onsite reviews 11
and inspections to ensure proper accountability, 12
measurement, and reporting of production of Fed-13
eral oil and gas, and payment of royalties. 14
‘‘(4) E
XCEPTIONS.—This subsection shall not 15
apply to actions on Indian lands or resources man-16
aged in trust for the benefit of Indian Tribes. 17
‘‘(5) I
NDIAN LAND.—In this subsection, the 18
term ‘Indian land’ means— 19
‘‘(A) any land located within the bound-20
aries of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or 21
rancheria; and 22
‘‘(B) any land not located within the 23
boundaries of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or 24
rancheria, the title to which is held— 25
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‘‘(i) in trust by the United States for 1
the benefit of an Indian tribe or an indi-2
vidual Indian; 3
‘‘(ii) by an Indian tribe or an indi-4
vidual Indian, subject to restriction against 5
alienation under laws of the United States; 6
or 7
‘‘(iii) by a dependent Indian commu-8
nity.’’. 9
(b) G
EOTHERMAL PERMITS.—The Geothermal 10
Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended 11
by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘SEC. 30. NO FEDERAL PERMIT REQUIRED FOR GEO-13
THERMAL ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND. 14
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall not require 15
an operator to obtain a Federal drilling permit for geo-16
thermal exploration and production activities conducted on 17
a non-Federal surface estate, provided that— 18
‘‘(1) the United States holds an ownership in-19
terest of less than 50 percent of the subsurface geo-20
thermal estate to be accessed by the proposed action; 21
and 22
‘‘(2) the operator submits to the Secretary a 23
State permit to conduct geothermal exploration and 24
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production activities on the non-Federal surface es-1
tate. 2
‘‘(b) N
OFEDERALACTION.—A geothermal explo-3
ration and production activity carried out under para-4
graph (1)— 5
‘‘(1) shall not be considered a major Federal 6
action for the purposes of section 102(2)(C) of the 7
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; 8
‘‘(2) shall require no additional Federal action; 9
‘‘(3) may commence 30 days after submission 10
of the State permit to the Secretary; and 11
‘‘(4) shall not be subject to— 12
‘‘(A) section 306108 of title 54, United 13
States Code (commonly known as the National 14
Historic Preservation Act of 1966); and 15
‘‘(B) section 7 of the Endangered Species 16
Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536). 17
‘‘(c) R
OYALTIES AND PRODUCTION ACCOUNT-18
ABILITY.—(1) Nothing in this section shall affect the 19
amount of royalties due to the United States under this 20
Act from the production of electricity using geothermal re-21
sources (other than direct use of geothermal resources) or 22
the production of any byproducts. 23
‘‘(2) The Secretary may conduct onsite reviews and 24
inspections to ensure proper accountability, measurement, 25
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and reporting of the production described in paragraph 1
(1), and payment of royalties. 2
‘‘(d) E
XCEPTIONS.—This section shall not apply to 3
actions on Indian lands or resources managed in trust for 4
the benefit of Indian Tribes. 5
‘‘(e) I
NDIANLAND.—In this section, the term ‘Indian 6
land’ means— 7
‘‘(1) any land located within the boundaries of 8
an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria; and 9
‘‘(2) any land not located within the boundaries 10
of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria, the 11
title to which is held— 12
‘‘(A) in trust by the United States for the 13
benefit of an Indian tribe or an individual In-14
dian; 15
‘‘(B) by an Indian tribe or an individual 16
Indian, subject to restriction against alienation 17
under laws of the United States; or 18
‘‘(C) by a dependent Indian community.’’. 19
SEC. 20215. SCOPE OF ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS FOR OIL 20
AND GAS LEASES. 21
An environmental review for an oil and gas lease or 22
permit prepared pursuant to the requirements of the Na-23
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 24
et seq.) and its implementing regulations— 25
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(1) shall apply only to areas that are within or 1
immediately adjacent to the lease plot or plots and 2
that are directly affected by the proposed action; 3
and 4
(2) shall not require consideration of down-5
stream, indirect effects of oil and gas consumption. 6
SEC. 20216. EXPEDITING APPROVAL OF GATHERING LINES. 7
Section 11318(b)(1) of the Infrastructure Investment 8
and Jobs Act (42 U.S.C. 15943(b)(1)) is amended by 9
striking ‘‘to be an action that is categorically excluded (as 10
defined in section 1508.1 of title 40, Code of Federal Reg-11
ulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 12
Act))’’ and inserting ‘‘to not be a major Federal action’’. 13
SEC. 20217. LEASE SALE LITIGATION. 14
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any oil 15
and gas lease sale held under section 17 of the Mineral 16
Leasing Act (26 U.S.C. 226) or the Outer Continental 17
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) shall not be 18
vacated and activities on leases awarded in the sale shall 19
not be otherwise limited, delayed, or enjoined unless the 20
court concludes allowing development of the challenged 21
lease will pose a risk of an imminent and substantial envi-22
ronmental harm and there is no other equitable remedy 23
available as a matter of law. No court, in response to an 24
action brought pursuant to the National Environmental 25
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Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. et seq.), may enjoin or issue 1
any order preventing the award of leases to a bidder in 2
a lease sale conducted pursuant to section 17 of the Min-3
eral Leasing Act (26 U.S.C. 226) or the Outer Continental 4
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) if the Depart-5
ment of the Interior has previously opened bids for such 6
leases or disclosed the high bidder for any tract that was 7
included in such lease sale. 8
SEC. 20218. LIMITATION ON CLAIMS. 9
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-10
sion of law, a claim arising under Federal law seeking ju-11
dicial review of a permit, license, or approval issued by 12
a Federal agency for a mineral project, energy facility, or 13
energy storage device shall be barred unless— 14
(1) the claim is filed within 120 days after pub-15
lication of a notice in the Federal Register announc-16
ing that the permit, license, or approval is final pur-17
suant to the law under which the agency action is 18
taken, unless a shorter time is specified in the Fed-19
eral law pursuant to which judicial review is allowed; 20
and 21
(2) the claim is filed by a party that submitted 22
a comment during the public comment period for 23
such permit, license, or approval and such comment 24
was sufficiently detailed to put the agency on notice 25
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of the issue upon which the party seeks judicial re-1
view. 2
(b) S
AVINGSCLAUSE.—Nothing in this section shall 3
create a right to judicial review or place any limit on filing 4
a claim that a person has violated the terms of a permit, 5
license, or approval. 6
(c) T
RANSPORTATION PROJECTS.—Subsection (a) 7
shall not apply to or supersede a claim subject to section 8
139(l)(1) of title 23, United States Code. 9
(d) M
INERALPROJECT.—In this section, the term 10
‘‘mineral project’’ means a project— 11
(1) located on— 12
(A) a mining claim, millsite claim, or tun-13
nel site claim for any mineral; 14
(B) lands open to mineral entry; or 15
(C) a Federal mineral lease; and 16
(2) for the purposes of exploring for or pro-17
ducing minerals. 18
SEC. 20219. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE RE-19
PORT ON PERMITS TO DRILL. 20
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 21
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 22
United States shall issue a report detailing— 23
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(1) the approval timelines for applications for 1
permits to drill issued by the Bureau of Land Man-2
agement from 2018 through 2022; 3
(2) the number of applications for permits to 4
drill that were not issued within 30 days of receipt 5
of a completed application; and 6
(3) the causes of delays resulting in applica-7
tions for permits to drill pending beyond the 30 day 8
deadline required under section 17(p)(2) of the Min-9
eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(p)(2)). 10
(b) R
ECOMMENDATIONS .—The report issued under 11
subsection (a) shall include recommendations with respect 12
to— 13
(1) actions the Bureau of Land Management 14
can take to streamline the approval process for ap-15
plications for permits to drill to approve applications 16
for permits to drill within 30 days of receipt of a 17
completed application; 18
(2) aspects of the Federal permitting process 19
carried out by the Bureau of Land Management to 20
issue applications for permits to drill that can be 21
turned over to States to expedite approval of appli-22
cations for permits to drill; and 23
(3) legislative actions that Congress must take 24
to allow States to administer certain aspects of the 25
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Federal permitting process described in paragraph 1
(2). 2
SEC. 20220. E–NEPA. 3
(a) P
ERMITTINGPORTALSTUDY.—The Council on 4
Environmental Quality shall conduct a study and submit 5
a report to Congress within 1 year of the enactment of 6
this Act on the potential to create an online permitting 7
portal for permits that require review under section 8
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 9
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) that would— 10
(1) allow applicants to— 11
(A) submit required documents or mate-12
rials for their application in one unified portal; 13
(B) upload additional documents as re-14
quired by the applicable agency; and 15
(C) track the progress of individual appli-16
cations; 17
(2) enhance interagency coordination in con-18
sultation by— 19
(A) allowing for comments in one unified 20
portal; 21
(B) centralizing data necessary for reviews; 22
and 23
(C) streamlining communications between 24
other agencies and the applicant; and 25
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(3) boost transparency in agency decision-1
making. 2
(b) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 3
authorized to be appropriated $500,000 for the Council 4
of Environmental Quality to carry out the study directed 5
by this section. 6
TITLE III—PERMITTING FOR 7
MINING NEEDS 8
SEC. 20301. DEFINITIONS. 9
In this title: 10
(1) B
YPRODUCT.—The term ‘‘byproduct’’ has 11
the meaning given such term in section 7002(a) of 12
the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)). 13
(2) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 14
has the meaning given such term in section 4 of the 15
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 16
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 17
(3) M
INERAL.—The term ‘‘mineral’’ means any 18
mineral of a kind that is locatable (including, but 19
not limited to, such minerals located on ‘‘lands ac-20
quired by the United States’’, as such term is de-21
fined in section 2 of the Mineral Leasing Act for Ac-22
quired Lands) under the Act of May 10, 1872 23
(Chapter 152; 17 Stat. 91). 24
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(4) SECRETARY.—Except as otherwise provided, 1
the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the In-2
terior. 3
(5) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 4
(A) a State; 5
(B) the District of Columbia; 6
(C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 7
(D) Guam; 8
(E) American Samoa; 9
(F) the Commonwealth of the Northern 10
Mariana Islands; and 11
(G) the United States Virgin Islands. 12
SEC. 20302. MINERALS SUPPLY CHAIN AND RELIABILITY. 13
Section 40206 of the Infrastructure Investment and 14
Jobs Act (30 U.S.C. 1607) is amended— 15
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘
CRIT-16
ICAL MINERALS ’’ and inserting ‘‘MINERALS’’; 17
(2) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol-18
lows: 19
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20
‘‘(1) L
EAD AGENCY.—The term ‘lead agency’ 21
means the Federal agency with primary responsi-22
bility for issuing a mineral exploration or mine per-23
mit or lease for a mineral project. 24
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‘‘(2) MINERAL.—The term ‘mineral’ has the 1
meaning given such term in section 20301 of the 2
TAPP American Resources Act. 3
‘‘(3) M
INERAL EXPLORATION OR MINE PER -4
MIT.—The term ‘mineral exploration or mine permit’ 5
means— 6
‘‘(A) an authorization of the Bureau of 7
Land Management or the Forest Service, as ap-8
plicable, for exploration for minerals that re-9
quires analysis under the National Environ-10
mental Policy Act of 1969; 11
‘‘(B) a plan of operations for a mineral 12
project approved by the Bureau of Land Man-13
agement or the Forest Service; or 14
‘‘(C) any other Federal permit or author-15
ization for a mineral project. 16
‘‘(4) M
INERAL PROJECT.—The term ‘mineral 17
project’ means a project— 18
‘‘(A) located on— 19
‘‘(i) a mining claim, millsite claim, or 20
tunnel site claim for any mineral; 21
‘‘(ii) lands open to mineral entry; or 22
‘‘(iii) a Federal mineral lease; and 23
‘‘(B) for the purposes of exploring for or 24
producing minerals.’’; 25
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(3) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘critical’’ each 1
place such term appears; 2
(4) in subsection (c)— 3
(A) by striking ‘‘critical mineral production 4
on Federal land’’ and inserting ‘‘mineral 5
projects’’; 6
(B) by inserting ‘‘, and in accordance with 7
subsection (h)’’ after ‘‘to the maximum extent 8
practicable’’; 9
(C) by striking ‘‘shall complete the’’ and 10
inserting ‘‘shall complete such’’; 11
(D) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘critical 12
mineral-related activities on Federal land’’ and 13
inserting ‘‘mineral projects’’; 14
(E) in paragraph (8), by striking the 15
‘‘and’’ at the end; 16
(F) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘proce-17
dures.’’ and inserting ‘‘procedures; and’’; and 18
(G) by adding at the end the following: 19
‘‘(10) deferring to and relying on baseline data, 20
analyses, and reviews performed by State agencies 21
with jurisdiction over the environmental or reclama-22
tion permits for the proposed mineral project.’’; 23
(5) in subsection (d)— 24
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(A) by striking ‘‘critical’’ each place such 1
term appears; and 2
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘mineral- 3
related activities on Federal land’’ and inserting 4
‘‘mineral projects’’; 5
(6) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘critical’’; 6
(7) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘critical’’ each 7
place such term appears; 8
(8) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘critical’’ each 9
place such term appears; and 10
(9) by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(h) O
THERREQUIREMENTS.— 12
‘‘(1) M
EMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT .—For pur-13
poses of maximizing efficiency and effectiveness of 14
the Federal permitting and review processes de-15
scribed under subsection (c), the lead agency in the 16
Federal permitting and review processes of a min-17
eral project shall (in consultation with any other 18
Federal agency involved in such Federal permitting 19
and review processes, and upon request of the 20
project applicant, an affected State government, 21
local government, or an Indian Tribe, or other entity 22
such lead agency determines appropriate) enter into 23
a memorandum of agreement with a project appli-24
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cant where requested by the applicant to carry out 1
the activities described in subsection (c). 2
‘‘(2) T
IMELINES AND SCHEDULES FOR NEPA 3
REVIEWS.— 4
‘‘(A) E
XTENSION.—A project applicant 5
may enter into 1 or more agreements with a 6
lead agency to extend the deadlines described in 7
subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (h)(1) 8
of section 107 of title I of the National Envi-9
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 by, with respect 10
to each such agreement, not more than 6 11
months. 12
‘‘(B) A
DJUSTMENT OF TIMELINES .—At 13
the request of a project applicant, the lead 14
agency and any other entity which is a signa-15
tory to a memorandum of agreement under 16
paragraph (1) may, by unanimous agreement, 17
adjust— 18
‘‘(i) any deadlines described in sub-19
paragraph (A); and 20
‘‘(ii) any deadlines extended under 21
subparagraph (B). 22
‘‘(3) E
FFECT ON PENDING APPLICATIONS .— 23
Upon a written request by a project applicant, the 24
requirements of this subsection shall apply to any 25
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application for a mineral exploration or mine permit 1
or mineral lease that was submitted before the date 2
of the enactment of the TAPP American Resources 3
Act.’’. 4
SEC. 20303. FEDERAL REGISTER PROCESS IMPROVEMENT. 5
Section 7002(f) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 6
U.S.C. 1606(f)) is amended— 7
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘critical’’ both 8
places such term appears; and 9
(2) by striking paragraph (4). 10
SEC. 20304. DESIGNATION OF MINING AS A COVERED SEC-11
TOR FOR FEDERAL PERMITTING IMPROVE-12
MENT PURPOSES. 13
Section 41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 14
4370m(6)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘mineral produc-15
tion,’’ before ‘‘or any other sector’’. 16
SEC. 20305. TREATMENT OF ACTIONS UNDER PRESI-17
DENTIAL DETERMINATION 2022–11 FOR FED-18
ERAL PERMITTING IMPROVEMENT PUR-19
POSES. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided by subsection 21
(c), an action described in subsection (b) shall be— 22
(1) treated as a covered project, as defined in 23
section 41001(6) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 24
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4370m(6)), without regard to the requirements of 1
that section; and 2
(2) included in the Permitting Dashboard main-3
tained pursuant to section 41003(b) of that Act (42 4
13 U.S.C. 4370m–2(b)). 5
(b) A
CTIONSDESCRIBED.—An action described in 6
this subsection is an action taken by the Secretary of De-7
fense pursuant to Presidential Determination 2022–11 8
(87 Fed. Reg. 19775; relating to certain actions under 9
section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950) or 10
the Presidential Memorandum of February 27, 2023, ti-11
tled ‘‘Presidential Waiver of Statutory Requirements Pur-12
suant to Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 13
1950, as amended, on Department of Defense Supply 14
Chains Resilience’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 13015) to create, main-15
tain, protect, expand, or restore sustainable and respon-16
sible domestic production capabilities through— 17
(1) supporting feasibility studies for mature 18
mining, beneficiation, and value-added processing 19
projects; 20
(2) byproduct and co-product production at ex-21
isting mining, mine waste reclamation, and other in-22
dustrial facilities; 23
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(3) modernization of mining, beneficiation, and 1
value-added processing to increase productivity, envi-2
ronmental sustainability, and workforce safety; or 3
(4) any other activity authorized under section 4
303(a)(1) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 15 5
(50 U.S.C. 4533(a)(1)). 6
(c) E
XCEPTION.—An action described in subsection 7
(b) may not be treated as a covered project or be included 8
in the Permitting Dashboard under subsection (a) if the 9
project sponsor (as defined in section 41001(18) of the 10
FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 21 4370m(18))) requests that the 11
action not be treated as a covered project. 12
SEC. 20306. NOTICE FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION ACTIVI-13
TIES WITH LIMITED SURFACE DISTURBANCE. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 15 days before 15
commencing an exploration activity with a surface disturb-16
ance of not more than 5 acres of public lands, the operator 17
of such exploration activity shall submit to the Secretary 18
concerned a complete notice of such exploration activity. 19
(b) I
NCLUSIONS.—Notice submitted under subsection 20
(a) shall include such information the Secretary concerned 21
may require, including the information described in sec-22
tion 3809.301 of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations (or 23
any successor regulation). 24
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(c) REVIEW.—Not later than 15 days after the Sec-1
retary concerned receives notice submitted under sub-2
section (a), the Secretary concerned shall— 3
(1) review and determine completeness of the 4
notice; and 5
(2) allow exploration activities to proceed if— 6
(A) the surface disturbance of such explo-7
ration activities on such public lands will not 8
exceed 5 acres; 9
(B) the Secretary concerned determines 10
that the notice is complete; and 11
(C) the operator provides financial assur-12
ance that the Secretary concerned determines is 13
adequate. 14
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 15
(1) E
XPLORATION ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘explo-16
ration activity’’— 17
(A) means creating surface disturbance 18
greater than casual use that includes sampling, 19
drilling, or developing surface or underground 20
workings to evaluate the type, extent, quantity, 21
or quality of mineral values present; 22
(B) includes constructing drill roads and 23
drill pads, drilling, trenching, excavating test 24
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pits, and conducting geotechnical tests and geo-1
physical surveys; and 2
(C) does not include activities where mate-3
rial is extracted for commercial use or sale. 4
(2) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-5
retary concerned’’ means— 6
(A) with respect to lands administered by 7
the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 8
the Interior; and 9
(B) with respect to National Forest Sys-10
tem lands, the Secretary of Agriculture. 11
SEC. 20307. USE OF MINING CLAIMS FOR ANCILLARY AC-12
TIVITIES. 13
Section 10101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation 14
Act of 1993 (30 U.S.C. 28f) is amended by adding at the 15
end the following: 16
‘‘(e) S
ECURITY OFTENURE.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A claimant shall have 19
the right to use, occupy, and conduct operations 20
on public land, with or without the discovery of 21
a valuable mineral deposit, if— 22
‘‘(i) such claimant makes a timely 23
payment of the location fee required by 24
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section 10102 and the claim maintenance 1
fee required by subsection (a); or 2
‘‘(ii) in the case of a claimant who 3
qualifies for a waiver under subsection (d), 4
such claimant makes a timely payment of 5
the location fee and complies with the re-6
quired assessment work under the general 7
mining laws. 8
‘‘(B) O
PERATIONS DEFINED .—For the 9
purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘oper-10
ations’ means— 11
‘‘(i) any activity or work carried out 12
in connection with prospecting, exploration, 13
processing, discovery and assessment, de-14
velopment, or extraction with respect to a 15
locatable mineral; 16
‘‘(ii) the reclamation of any disturbed 17
areas; and 18
‘‘(iii) any other reasonably incident 19
uses, whether on a mining claim or not, in-20
cluding the construction and maintenance 21
of facilities, roads, transmission lines, pipe-22
lines, and any other necessary infrastruc-23
ture or means of access on public land for 24
support facilities. 25
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‘‘(2) FULFILLMENT OF FEDERAL LAND POLICY 1
AND MANAGEMENT ACT .—A claimant that fulfills 2
the requirements of this section and section 10102 3
shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of any 4
provision of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-5
ment Act that requires the payment of fair market 6
value to the United States for use of public lands 7
and resources relating to use of such lands and re-8
sources authorized by the general mining laws. 9
‘‘(3) S
AVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub-10
section may be construed to diminish the rights of 11
entry, use, and occupancy, or any other right, of a 12
claimant under the general mining laws.’’. 13
SEC. 20308. ENSURING CONSIDERATION OF URANIUM AS A 14
CRITICAL MINERAL. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 7002(a)(3)(B)(i) of the 16
Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)(3)(B)(i)) is 17
amended to read as follows: 18
‘‘(i) oil, oil shale, coal, or natural 19
gas;’’. 20
(b) U
PDATE.—Not later than 60 days after the date 21
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, acting 22
through the Director of the United States Geological Sur-23
vey, shall publish in the Federal Register an update to 24
the final list established in section 7002(c)(3) of the En-25
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ergy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(c)(3)) in accordance 1
with subsection (a) of this section. 2
SEC. 20309. BARRING FOREIGN BAD ACTORS FROM OPER-3
ATING ON FEDERAL LANDS. 4
A mining claimant shall be barred from the right to 5
use, occupy, and conduct operations on Federal land if the 6
Secretary of the Interior finds the claimant has a foreign 7
parent company that has (including through a sub-8
sidiary)— 9
(1) a known record of human rights violations; 10
or 11
(2) knowingly operated an illegal mine in an-12
other country. 13
TITLE IV—FEDERAL LAND USE 14
PLANNING 15
SEC. 20401. FEDERAL LAND USE PLANNING AND WITH-16
DRAWALS. 17
(a) R
ESOURCEASSESSMENTSREQUIRED.—Federal 18
lands and waters may not be withdrawn from entry under 19
the mining laws or operation of the mineral leasing and 20
mineral materials laws unless— 21
(1) a quantitative and qualitative geophysical 22
and geological mineral resource assessment of the 23
impacted area has been completed during the 10- 24
year period ending on the date of such withdrawal; 25
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(2) the Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-1
retary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and 2
the Secretary of Defense, conducts an assessment of 3
the economic, energy, strategic, and national secu-4
rity value of mineral deposits identified in such min-5
eral resource assessment; 6
(3) the Secretary conducts an assessment of the 7
reduction in future Federal revenues to the Treas-8
ury, States, the Land and Water Conservation 9
Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, and the Na-10
tional Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration 11
Fund resulting from the proposed mineral with-12
drawal; 13
(4) the Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-14
retary of Defense, conducts an assessment of mili-15
tary readiness and training activities in the proposed 16
withdrawal area; and 17
(5) the Secretary submits a report to the Com-18
mittees on Natural Resources, Agriculture, Energy 19
and Commerce, and Foreign Affairs of the House of 20
Representatives and the Committees on Energy and 21
Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Foreign Affairs 22
of the Senate, that includes the results of the assess-23
ments completed pursuant to this subsection. 24
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(b) LANDUSEPLANS.—Before a resource manage-1
ment plan under the Federal Land Policy and Manage-2
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) or a forest 3
management plan under the National Forest Management 4
Act is updated or completed, the Secretary or Secretary 5
of Agriculture, as applicable, in consultation with the Di-6
rector of the United States Geological Survey, shall— 7
(1) review any quantitative and qualitative min-8
eral resource assessment that was completed or up-9
dated during the 10-year period ending on the date 10
that the applicable land management agency pub-11
lishes a notice to prepare, revise, or amend a land 12
use plan by the Director of the United States Geo-13
logical Survey for the geographic area affected by 14
the applicable management plan; 15
(2) the Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-16
retary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and 17
the Secretary of Defense, conducts an assessment of 18
the economic, energy, strategic, and national secu-19
rity value of mineral deposits identified in such min-20
eral resource assessment; and 21
(3) submit a report to the Committees on Nat-22
ural Resources, Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, 23
and Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 24
and the Committees on Energy and Natural Re-25
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sources, Agriculture, and Foreign Affairs of the Sen-1
ate, that includes the results of the assessment com-2
pleted pursuant to this subsection. 3
(c) N
EWINFORMATION.—The Secretary shall provide 4
recommendations to the President on appropriate meas-5
ures to reduce unnecessary impacts that a withdrawal of 6
Federal lands or waters from entry under the mining laws 7
or operation of the mineral leasing and mineral materials 8
laws may have on mineral exploration, development, and 9
other mineral activities (including authorizing exploration 10
and development of such mineral deposits) not later than 11
180 days after the Secretary has notice that a resource 12
assessment completed by the Director of the United States 13
Geological Survey, in coordination with the State geologi-14
cal surveys, determines that a previously undiscovered 15
mineral deposit may be present in an area that has been 16
withdrawn from entry under the mining laws or operation 17
of the mineral leasing and mineral materials laws pursu-18
ant to— 19
(1) section 204 of the Federal Land Policy and 20
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1714); or 21
(2) chapter 3203 of title 54, United States 22
Code. 23
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SEC. 20402. PROHIBITIONS ON DELAY OF MINERAL DEVEL-1
OPMENT OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LAND. 2
(a) P
ROHIBITIONS.—Notwithstanding any other pro-3
vision of law, the President shall not carry out any action 4
that would pause, restrict, or delay the process for or 5
issuance of any of the following on Federal land, unless 6
such lands are withdrawn from disposition under the min-7
eral leasing laws, including by administrative withdrawal: 8
(1) New oil and gas lease sales, oil and gas 9
leases, drill permits, or associated approvals or au-10
thorizations of any kind associated with oil and gas 11
leases. 12
(2) New coal leases (including leases by applica-13
tion in process, renewals, modifications, or expan-14
sions of existing leases), permits, approvals, or au-15
thorizations. 16
(3) New leases, claims, permits, approvals, or 17
authorizations for development or exploration of 18
minerals. 19
(b) P
ROHIBITION ONRESCISSION OFLEASES, PER-20
MITS, ORCLAIMS.—The President, the Secretary, or Sec-21
retary of Agriculture as applicable, may not rescind any 22
existing lease, permit, or claim for the extraction and pro-23
duction of any mineral under the mining laws or mineral 24
leasing and mineral materials laws on National Forest 25
System land or land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau 26
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of Land Management, unless specifically authorized by 1
Federal statute, or upon the lessee, permittee, or claim-2
ant’s failure to comply with any of the provisions of the 3
applicable lease, permit, or claim. 4
(c) M
INERALDEFINED.—In subsection (a)(3), the 5
term ‘‘mineral’’ means any mineral of a kind that is 6
locatable (including such minerals located on ‘‘lands ac-7
quired by the United States’’, as such term is defined in 8
section 2 of the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands) 9
under the Act of May 10, 1872 (Chapter 152; 17 Stat. 10
91). 11
SEC. 20403. DEFINITIONS. 12
In this title: 13
(1) F
EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 14
means— 15
(A) National Forest System land; 16
(B) public lands (as defined in section 103 17
of the Federal Land Policy and Management 18
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 19
(C) the outer Continental Shelf (as defined 20
in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf 21
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331)); and 22
(D) land managed by the Secretary of En-23
ergy. 24
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(2) PRESIDENT.—The term ‘‘President’’ 1
means— 2
(A) the President; and 3
(B) any designee of the President, includ-4
ing— 5
(i) the Secretary of Agriculture; 6
(ii) the Secretary of Commerce; 7
(iii) the Secretary of Energy; and 8
(iv) the Secretary of the Interior. 9
(3) P
REVIOUSLY UNDISCOVERED DEPOSIT .— 10
The term ‘‘previously undiscovered mineral deposit’’ 11
means— 12
(A) a mineral deposit that has been pre-13
viously evaluated by the United States Geologi-14
cal Survey and found to be of low mineral po-15
tential, but upon subsequent evaluation is de-16
termined by the United States Geological Sur-17
vey to have significant mineral potential; or 18
(B) a mineral deposit that has not pre-19
viously been evaluated by the United States Ge-20
ological Survey. 21
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 22
the Secretary of the Interior. 23
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TITLE V—ENSURING COMPETI-1
TIVENESS ON FEDERAL 2
LANDS 3
SEC. 20501. INCENTIVIZING DOMESTIC PRODUCTION. 4
(a) O
FFSHOREOIL ANDGASROYALTYRATE.—Sec-5
tion 8(a)(1) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 6
U.S.C. 1337(a)(1)) is amended— 7
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘not less 8
than 16
2
⁄3percent, but not more than 18
3
⁄4percent, 9
during the 10-year period beginning on the date of 10
enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act to provide for 11
reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 12
14’, and not less than 16
2
⁄3percent thereafter,’’ 13
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘not less than 14
12.5 percent’’; 15
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘not less 16
than 16
2
⁄3percent, but not more than 18
3
⁄4percent, 17
during the 10-year period beginning on the date of 18
enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act to provide for 19
reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 20
14’, and not less than 16
2
⁄3percent thereafter,’’ 21
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘not less than 22
12.5 percent’’; 23
(3) in subparagraph (F), by striking ‘‘not less 24
than 16
2
⁄3percent, but not more than 18
3
⁄4percent, 25
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during the 10-year period beginning on the date of 1
enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act to provide for 2
reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 3
14’, and not less than 16
2
⁄3percent thereafter,’’ and 4
inserting ‘‘not less than 12.5 percent’’; and 5
(4) in subparagraph (H), by striking ‘‘not less 6
than 16
2
⁄3percent, but not more than 18
3
⁄4percent, 7
during the 10-year period beginning on the date of 8
enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act to provide for 9
reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 10
14’, and not less than 16
2
⁄3percent thereafter,’’ and 11
inserting ‘‘not less than 12.5 percent’’. 12
(b) M
INERALLEASINGACT.— 13
(1) O
NSHORE OIL AND GAS ROYALTY RATES .— 14
(A) L
EASE OF OIL AND GAS LAND .—Sec-15
tion 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 16
226) is amended— 17
(i) in subsection (b)(1)(A)— 18
(I) by striking ‘‘not less than 19
16
2
⁄3’’ and inserting ‘‘not less than 20
12.5’’; and 21
(II) by striking ‘‘or, in the case 22
of a lease issued during the 10-year 23
period beginning on the date of enact-24
ment of the Act titled ‘An Act to pro-25
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vide for reconciliation pursuant to 1
title II of S. Con. Res. 14’, 16
2
⁄3per-2
cent in amount or value of the pro-3
duction removed or sold from the 4
lease’’; and 5
(ii) by striking ‘‘16
2
⁄3percent’’ each 6
place it appears and inserting ‘‘12.5 per-7
cent’’. 8
(B) C
ONDITIONS FOR REINSTATEMENT .— 9
Section 31(e)(3) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 10
U.S.C. 188(e)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘20’’ 11
inserting ‘‘16
2
⁄3’’. 12
(2) O
IL AND GAS MINIMUM BID .—Section 17(b) 13
of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(b)) is 14
amended— 15
(A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘$10 16
per acre during the 10-year period beginning on 17
the date of enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act 18
to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II 19
of S. Con. Res. 14’.’’ and inserting ‘‘$2 per 20
acre for a period of 2 years from the date of 21
the enactment of the Federal Onshore Oil and 22
Gas Leasing Reform Act of 1987.’’; and 23
(B) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ‘‘$10 24
per acre’’ and inserting ‘‘$2 per acre’’. 25
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(3) FOSSIL FUEL RENTAL RATES .—Section 1
17(d) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 2
226(d)) is amended to read as follows: 3
‘‘(d) All leases issued under this section, as amended 4
by the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act 5
of 1987, shall be conditioned upon payment by the lessee 6
of a rental of not less than $1.50 per acre per year for 7
the first through fifth years of the lease and not less than 8
$2 per acre per year for each year thereafter. A minimum 9
royalty in lieu of rental of not less than the rental which 10
otherwise would be required for that lease year shall be 11
payable at the expiration of each lease year beginning on 12
or after a discovery of oil or gas in paying quantities on 13
the lands leased.’’. 14
(4) E
XPRESSION OF INTEREST FEE .—Section 15
17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is 16
further amended by repealing subsection (q). 17
(5) E
LIMINATION OF NONCOMPETITIVE LEAS -18
ING.—Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 19
U.S.C. 226) is further amended— 20
(A) in subsection (b)— 21
(i) in paragraph (1)(A)— 22
(I) in the first sentence, by strik-23
ing ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting 24
‘‘paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; and 25
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(II) by adding at the end ‘‘Lands 1
for which no bids are received or for 2
which the highest bid is less than the 3
national minimum acceptable bid shall 4
be offered promptly within 30 days 5
for leasing under subsection (c) of this 6
section and shall remain available for 7
leasing for a period of 2 years after 8
the competitive lease sale.’’; and 9
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(3)(A) If the United States held a vested fu-12
ture interest in a mineral estate that, immediately 13
prior to becoming a vested present interest, was sub-14
ject to a lease under which oil or gas was being pro-15
duced, or had a well capable of producing, in paying 16
quantities at an annual average production volume 17
per well per day of either not more than 15 barrels 18
per day of oil or condensate, or not more than 19
60,000 cubic feet of gas, the holder of the lease may 20
elect to continue the lease as a noncompetitive lease 21
under subsection (c)(1). 22
‘‘(B) An election under this paragraph is effec-23
tive— 24
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‘‘(i) in the case of an interest which vested 1
after January 1, 1990, and on or before Octo-2
ber 24, 1992, if the election is made before the 3
date that is 1 year after October 24, 1992; 4
‘‘(ii) in the case of an interest which vests 5
within 1 year after October 24, 1992, if the 6
election is made before the date that is 2 years 7
after October 24, 1992; and 8
‘‘(iii) in any case other than those de-9
scribed in clause (i) or (ii), if the election is 10
made prior to the interest becoming a vested 11
present interest.’’; 12
(B) by striking subsection (c) and insert-13
ing the following: 14
‘‘(c) L
ANDSSUBJECT TOLEASINGUNDERSUB-15
SECTION(B); FIRSTQUALIFIEDAPPLICANT.— 16
‘‘(1) If the lands to be leased are not leased 17
under subsection (b)(1) of this section or are not 18
subject to competitive leasing under subsection 19
(b)(2) of this section, the person first making appli-20
cation for the lease who is qualified to hold a lease 21
under this chapter shall be entitled to a lease of 22
such lands without competitive bidding, upon pay-23
ment of a non-refundable application fee of at least 24
$75. A lease under this subsection shall be condi-25
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tioned upon the payment of a royalty at a rate of 1
12.5 percent in amount or value of the production 2
removed or sold from the lease. Leases shall be 3
issued within 60 days of the date on which the Sec-4
retary identifies the first responsible qualified appli-5
cant. 6
‘‘(2)(A) Lands (i) which were posted for sale 7
under subsection (b)(1) of this section but for which 8
no bids were received or for which the highest bid 9
was less than the national minimum acceptable bid 10
and (ii) for which, at the end of the period referred 11
to in subsection (b)(1) of this section no lease has 12
been issued and no lease application is pending 13
under paragraph (1) of this subsection, shall again 14
be available for leasing only in accordance with sub-15
section (b)(1) of this section. 16
‘‘(B) The land in any lease which is issued 17
under paragraph (1) of this subsection or under sub-18
section (b)(1) of this section which lease terminates, 19
expires, is cancelled or is relinquished shall again be 20
available for leasing only in accordance with sub-21
section (b)(1) of this section.’’; and 22
(C) by striking subsection (e) and inserting 23
the following: 24
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‘‘(e) PRIMARYTERM.—Competitive and noncompeti-1
tive leases issued under this section shall be for a primary 2
term of 10 years: Provided, however, That competitive 3
leases issued in special tar sand areas shall also be for 4
a primary term of 10 years. Each such lease shall continue 5
so long after its primary term as oil or gas is produced 6
in paying quantities. Any lease issued under this section 7
for land on which, or for which under an approved cooper-8
ative or unit plan of development or operation, actual drill-9
ing operations were commenced prior to the end of its pri-10
mary term and are being diligently prosecuted at that time 11
shall be extended for two years and so long thereafter as 12
oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.’’. 13
(6) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 31 of 14
the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 188) is amend-15
ed— 16
(A) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘sec-17
tion 17(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b) or (c) 18
of section 17 of this Act’’; 19
(B) in subsection (e)— 20
(i) in paragraph (2)— 21
(I) insert ‘‘either’’ after ‘‘rentals 22
and’’; and 23
(II) insert ‘‘or the inclusion in a 24
reinstated lease issued pursuant to the 25
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provisions of section 17(c) of this Act 1
of a requirement that future rentals 2
shall be at a rate not less than $5 per 3
acre per year, all’’ before ‘‘as deter-4
mined by the Secretary’’; and 5
(ii) by amending paragraph (3) to 6
read as follows: 7
‘‘(3)(A) payment of back royalties and the in-8
clusion in a reinstated lease issued pursuant to the 9
provisions of section 17(b) of this Act of a require-10
ment for future royalties at a rate of not less than 11
16
2
⁄3percent computed on a sliding scale based 12
upon the average production per well per day, at a 13
rate which shall be not less than 4 percentage points 14
greater than the competitive royalty schedule then in 15
force and used for royalty determination for com-16
petitive leases issued pursuant to such section as de-17
termined by the Secretary: Provided, That royalty 18
on such reinstated lease shall be paid on all produc-19
tion removed or sold from such lease subsequent to 20
the termination of the original lease; 21
‘‘(B) payment of back royalties and inclusion in 22
a reinstated lease issued pursuant to the provisions 23
of section 17(c) of this Act of a requirement for fu-24
ture royalties at a rate not less than 16
2
⁄3percent: 25
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Provided, That royalty on such reinstated lease shall 1
be paid on all production removed or sold from such 2
lease subsequent to the cancellation or termination 3
of the original lease; and’’; 4
(C) in subsection (f)— 5
(i) in paragraph (1), strike ‘‘in the 6
same manner as the original lease issued 7
pursuant to section 17’’ and insert ‘‘as a 8
competitive or a noncompetitive oil and gas 9
lease in the same manner as the original 10
lease issued pursuant to subsection (b) or 11
(c) of section 17 of this Act’’; 12
(ii) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 13
and (3) as paragraph (3) and (4), respec-14
tively; and 15
(iii) by inserting after paragraph (1) 16
the following: 17
‘‘(2) Except as otherwise provided in this sec-18
tion, the issuance of a lease in lieu of an abandoned 19
patented oil placer mining claim shall be treated as 20
a noncompetitive oil and gas lease issued pursuant 21
to section 17(c) of this Act.’’; 22
(D) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘sub-23
section (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (d) and 24
(f)’’; 25
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(E) by amending subsection (h) to read as 1
follows: 2
‘‘(h) R
OYALTYREDUCTIONS.— 3
‘‘(1) In acting on a petition to issue a non-4
competitive oil and gas lease, under subsection (f) of 5
this section or in response to a request filed after 6
issuance of such a lease, or both, the Secretary is 7
authorized to reduce the royalty on such lease if in 8
his judgment it is equitable to do so or the cir-9
cumstances warrant such relief due to uneconomic 10
or other circumstances which could cause undue 11
hardship or premature termination of production. 12
‘‘(2) In acting on a petition for reinstatement 13
pursuant to subsection (d) of this section or in re-14
sponse to a request filed after reinstatement, or 15
both, the Secretary is authorized to reduce the roy-16
alty in that reinstated lease on the entire leasehold 17
or any tract or portion thereof segregated for royalty 18
purposes if, in his judgment, there are uneconomic 19
or other circumstances which could cause undue 20
hardship or premature termination of production; or 21
because of any written action of the United States, 22
its agents or employees, which preceded, and was a 23
major consideration in, the lessee’s expenditure of 24
funds to develop the property under the lease after 25
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the rent had become due and had not been paid; or 1
if in the judgment of the Secretary it is equitable to 2
do so for any reason.’’; 3
(F) by redesignating subsections (f) 4
through (i) as subsections (g) through (j), re-5
spectively; and 6
(G) by inserting after subsection (e) the 7
following: 8
‘‘(f) I
SSUANCE OFNONCOMPETITIVEOIL ANDGAS 9
L
EASE; CONDITIONS.—Where an unpatented oil placer 10
mining claim validly located prior to February 24, 1920, 11
which has been or is currently producing or is capable of 12
producing oil or gas, has been or is hereafter deemed con-13
clusively abandoned for failure to file timely the required 14
instruments or copies of instruments required by section 15
1744 of title 43, and it is shown to the satisfaction of 16
the Secretary that such failure was inadvertent, justifi-17
able, or not due to lack of reasonable diligence on the part 18
of the owner, the Secretary may issue, for the lands cov-19
ered by the abandoned unpatented oil placer mining claim, 20
a noncompetitive oil and gas lease, consistent with the pro-21
visions of section 17(e) of this Act, to be effective from 22
the statutory date the claim was deemed conclusively 23
abandoned. Issuance of such a lease shall be conditioned 24
upon: 25
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‘‘(1) a petition for issuance of a noncompetitive 1
oil and gas lease, together with the required rental 2
and royalty, including back rental and royalty accru-3
ing from the statutory date of abandonment of the 4
oil placer mining claim, being filed with the 5
Secretary- (A) with respect to any claim deemed 6
conclusively abandoned on or before January 12, 7
1983, on or before the one hundred and twentieth 8
day after January 12, 1983, or (B) with respect to 9
any claim deemed conclusively abandoned after Jan-10
uary 12, 1983, on or before the one hundred and 11
twentieth day after final notification by the Sec-12
retary or a court of competent jurisdiction of the de-13
termination of the abandonment of the oil placer 14
mining claim; 15
‘‘(2) a valid lease not having been issued affect-16
ing any of the lands covered by the abandoned oil 17
placer mining claim prior to the filing of such peti-18
tion: Provided, however, That after the filing of a 19
petition for issuance of a lease under this subsection, 20
the Secretary shall not issue any new lease affecting 21
any of the lands covered by such abandoned oil plac-22
er mining claim for a reasonable period, as deter-23
mined in accordance with regulations issued by him; 24
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‘‘(3) a requirement in the lease for payment of 1
rental, including back rentals accruing from the 2
statutory date of abandonment of the oil placer min-3
ing claim, of not less than $5 per acre per year; 4
‘‘(4) a requirement in the lease for payment of 5
royalty on production removed or sold from the oil 6
placer mining claim, including all royalty on produc-7
tion made subsequent to the statutory date the claim 8
was deemed conclusively abandoned, of not less than 9
12
1
⁄2percent; and 10
‘‘(5) compliance with the notice and reimburse-11
ment of costs provisions of paragraph (4) of sub-12
section (e) but addressed to the petition covering the 13
conversion of an abandoned unpatented oil placer 14
mining claim to a noncompetitive oil and gas lease.’’. 15
TITLE VI—ENERGY REVENUE 16
SHARING 17
SEC. 20601. GULF OF MEXICO OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF 18
REVENUE. 19
(a) D
ISTRIBUTION OFOUTERCONTINENTALSHELF 20
R
EVENUE TOGULFPRODUCINGSTATES.—Section 105 of 21
the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (43 22
U.S.C. 1331 note) is amended— 23
(1) in subsection (a)— 24
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(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘50’’ and 1
inserting ‘‘37.5’’; and 2
(B) in paragraph (2)— 3
(i) by striking ‘‘50’’ and inserting 4
‘‘62.5’’; 5
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 6
‘‘75’’ and inserting ‘‘80’’; and 7
(iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 8
‘‘25’’ and inserting ‘‘20’’; and 9
(2) by striking subsection (f) and inserting the 10
following: 11
‘‘(f) T
REATMENT OFAMOUNTS.—Amounts disbursed 12
to a Gulf producing State under this section shall be treat-13
ed as revenue sharing and not as a Federal award or grant 14
for the purposes of part 200 of title 2, Code of Federal 15
Regulations.’’. 16
(b) E
XEMPTION OFCERTAINPAYMENTSFROMSE-17
QUESTRATION.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 255(g)(1)(A) of the 19
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 20
Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 905(g)(1)(A)) is amended by 21
inserting after ‘‘Payments to Social Security Trust 22
Funds (28–0404–0–1–651).’’ the following: 23
‘‘Payments to States pursuant to section 24
105(a)(2)(A) of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security 25
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Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–432; 43 U.S.C. 1331 1
note) (014–5535–0–2–302).’’. 2
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by 3
this subsection shall apply to any sequestration 4
order issued under the Balanced Budget and Emer-5
gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et 6
seq.) on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 7
SEC. 20602. PARITY IN OFFSHORE WIND REVENUE SHAR-8
ING. 9
(a) P
AYMENTS ANDREVENUES.—Section 8(p)(2) of 10
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 11
1337(p)(2)) is amended— 12
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘(A) The 13
Secretary’’ and inserting the following: 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-15
graphs (B) and (C), the Secretary’’; 16
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘(B) The 17
Secretary’’ and inserting the following: 18
‘‘(B) D
ISPOSITION OF REVENUES FOR 19
PROJECTS LOCATED WITHIN 3 NAUTICAL MILES 20
SEAWARD OF STATE SUBMERGED LAND .—The 21
Secretary’’; and 22
(3) by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(C) D
ISPOSITION OF REVENUES FOR OFF -24
SHORE WIND PROJECTS IN CERTAIN AREAS .— 25
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‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara-1
graph: 2
‘‘(I) C
OVERED OFFSHORE WIND 3
PROJECT.—The term ‘covered off-4
shore wind project’ means a wind 5
powered electric generation project in 6
a wind energy area on the outer Con-7
tinental Shelf that is not wholly or 8
partially located within an area sub-9
ject to subparagraph (B). 10
‘‘(II) E
LIGIBLE STATE.—The 11
term ‘eligible State’ means a State a 12
point on the coastline of which is lo-13
cated within 75 miles of the geo-14
graphic center of a covered offshore 15
wind project. 16
‘‘(III) Q
UALIFIED OUTER CONTI -17
NENTAL SHELF REVENUES .—The 18
term ‘qualified outer Continental 19
Shelf revenues’ means all royalties, 20
fees, rentals, bonuses, or other pay-21
ments from covered offshore wind 22
projects carried out pursuant to this 23
subsection on or after the date of en-24
actment of this subparagraph. 25
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‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT.— 1
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—The Sec-2
retary of the Treasury shall deposit— 3
‘‘(aa) 12.5 percent of quali-4
fied outer Continental Shelf reve-5
nues in the general fund of the 6
Treasury; 7
‘‘(bb) 37.5 percent of quali-8
fied outer Continental Shelf reve-9
nues in the North American Wet-10
lands Conservation Fund; and 11
‘‘(cc) 50 percent of qualified 12
outer Continental Shelf revenues 13
in a special account in the Treas-14
ury from which the Secretary 15
shall disburse to each eligible 16
State an amount determined pur-17
suant to subclause (II). 18
‘‘(II) A
LLOCATION.— 19
‘‘(aa) I
N GENERAL.—Sub-20
ject to item (bb), for each fiscal 21
year beginning after the date of 22
enactment of this subparagraph, 23
the amount made available under 24
subclause (I)(cc) shall be allo-25
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cated to each eligible State in 1
amounts (based on a formula es-2
tablished by the Secretary by 3
regulation) that are inversely 4
proportional to the respective dis-5
tances between the point on the 6
coastline of each eligible State 7
that is closest to the geographic 8
center of the applicable leased 9
tract and the geographic center 10
of the leased tract. 11
‘‘(bb) M
INIMUM ALLOCA -12
TION.—The amount allocated to 13
an eligible State each fiscal year 14
under item (aa) shall be at least 15
10 percent of the amounts made 16
available under subclause (I)(cc). 17
‘‘(cc) P
AYMENTS TO COAST -18
AL POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.— 19
‘‘(AA) I
N GENERAL.— 20
The Secretary shall pay 20 21
percent of the allocable 22
share of each eligible State, 23
as determined pursuant to 24
item (aa), to the coastal po-25
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litical subdivisions of the eli-1
gible State. 2
‘‘(BB) A
LLOCATION.— 3
The amount paid by the 4
Secretary to coastal political 5
subdivisions under subitem 6
(AA) shall be allocated to 7
each coastal political sub-8
division in accordance with 9
subparagraphs (B) and (C) 10
of section 31(b)(4) of this 11
Act. 12
‘‘(iii) T
IMING.—The amounts required 13
to be deposited under subclause (I) of 14
clause (ii) for the applicable fiscal year 15
shall be made available in accordance with 16
such subclause during the fiscal year im-17
mediately following the applicable fiscal 18
year. 19
‘‘(iv) A
UTHORIZED USES.— 20
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to 21
subclause (II), each eligible State 22
shall use all amounts received under 23
clause (ii)(II) in accordance with all 24
applicable Federal and State laws, 25
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only for 1 or more of the following 1
purposes: 2
‘‘(aa) Projects and activities 3
for the purposes of coastal pro-4
tection and resiliency, including 5
conservation, coastal restoration, 6
estuary management, beach 7
nourishment, hurricane and flood 8
protection, and infrastructure di-9
rectly affected by coastal wetland 10
losses. 11
‘‘(bb) Mitigation of damage 12
to fish, wildlife, or natural re-13
sources, including through fish-14
eries science and research. 15
‘‘(cc) Implementation of a 16
federally approved marine, coast-17
al, or comprehensive conservation 18
management plan. 19
‘‘(dd) Mitigation of the im-20
pact of outer Continental Shelf 21
activities through the funding of 22
onshore infrastructure projects. 23
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‘‘(ee) Planning assistance 1
and the administrative costs of 2
complying with this section. 3
‘‘(ff) Infrastructure improve-4
ments at ports, including modi-5
fications to Federal navigation 6
channels, to support installation 7
of offshore wind energy projects. 8
‘‘(II) L
IMITATION.—Of the 9
amounts received by an eligible State 10
under clause (ii)(II), not more than 3 11
percent shall be used for the purposes 12
described in subclause (I)(ee). 13
‘‘(v) A
DMINISTRATION.—Subject to 14
clause (vi)(III), amounts made available 15
under items (aa) and (cc) of clause (ii)(I) 16
shall— 17
‘‘(I) be made available, without 18
further appropriation, in accordance 19
with this subparagraph; 20
‘‘(II) remain available until ex-21
pended; and 22
‘‘(III) be in addition to any 23
amount appropriated under any other 24
Act. 25
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‘‘(vi) REPORTING REQUIREMENT .— 1
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—Not later 2
than 180 days after the end of each 3
fiscal year, the Governor of each eligi-4
ble State that receives amounts under 5
clause (ii)(II) for the applicable fiscal 6
year shall submit to the Secretary a 7
report that describes the use of the 8
amounts by the eligible State during 9
the period covered by the report. 10
‘‘(II) P
UBLIC AVAILABILITY.—On 11
receipt of a report submitted under 12
subclause (I), the Secretary shall 13
make the report available to the pub-14
lic on the website of the Department 15
of the Interior. 16
‘‘(III) L
IMITATION.—If the Gov-17
ernor of an eligible State that receives 18
amounts under clause (ii)(II) fails to 19
submit the report required under sub-20
clause (I) by the deadline specified in 21
that subclause, any amounts that 22
would otherwise be provided to the eli-23
gible State under clause (ii)(II) for 24
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the succeeding fiscal year shall be de-1
posited in the Treasury. 2
‘‘(vii) T
REATMENT OF AMOUNTS .— 3
Amounts disbursed to an eligible State 4
under this subsection shall be treated as 5
revenue sharing and not as a Federal 6
award or grant for the purposes of part 7
200 of title 2, Code of Federal Regula-8
tions.’’. 9
(b) W
INDLEASESALES FORAREAS OF THEOUTER 10
C
ONTINENTALSHELFOFFSHORE OF TERRITORIES OF 11
THEUNITEDSTATES.—Section 33 of the Outer Conti-12
nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1356c) is amended by 13
adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(b) W
INDLEASESALEPROCEDURE.—Any wind 15
lease granted pursuant to this section shall be considered 16
a wind lease granted under section 8(p), including for pur-17
poses of the disposition of revenues pursuant to subpara-18
graphs (B) and (C) of section 8(p)(2).’’. 19
(c) E
XEMPTION OFCERTAINPAYMENTSFROMSE-20
QUESTRATION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 255(g)(1)(A) of the 22
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 23
Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 905(g)(1)(A)) is amended by 24
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inserting after ‘‘Payments to Social Security Trust 1
Funds (28–0404–0–1–651).’’ the following: 2
‘‘Payments to States pursuant to subparagraph 3
(C)(ii)(I)(cc) of section 8(p)(2) of the Outer Conti-4
nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)(2)).’’. 5
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by 6
this subsection shall apply to any sequestration 7
order issued under the Balanced Budget and Emer-8
gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et 9
seq.) on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 10
SEC. 20603. ELIMINATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE FEE UNDER 11
THE MINERAL LEASING ACT. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 35 of the Mineral Leasing 13
Act (30 U.S.C. 191) is amended— 14
(1) in subsection (a), in the first sentence, by 15
striking ‘‘and, subject to the provisions of subsection 16
(b),’’; 17
(2) by striking subsection (b); 18
(3) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 19
subsections (b) and (c), respectively; 20
(4) in paragraph (3)(B)(ii) of subsection (b) (as 21
so redesignated), by striking ‘‘subsection (d)’’ and 22
inserting ‘‘subsection (c)’’; and 23
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(5) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii) of subsection (c) (as 1
so redesignated), by striking ‘‘subsection (c)(2)(B)’’ 2
and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(2)(B)’’. 3
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 4
(1) Section 6(a) of the Mineral Leasing Act for 5
Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 355(a)) is amended— 6
(A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘Sub-7
ject to the provisions of section 35(b) of the 8
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191(b)), all’’ 9
and inserting ‘‘All’’; and 10
(B) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘of 11
the Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 450; 30 12
U.S.C. 191),’’ and inserting ‘‘of the Mineral 13
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191)’’. 14
(2) Section 20(a) of the Geothermal Steam Act 15
of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1019(a)) is amended, in the sec-16
ond sentence of the matter preceding paragraph (1), 17
by striking ‘‘the provisions of subsection (b) of sec-18
tion 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 19
191(b)) and section 5(a)(2) of this Act’’ and insert-20
ing ‘‘section 5(a)(2)’’. 21
(3) Section 205(f) of the Federal Oil and Gas 22
Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 23
1735(f)) is amended— 24
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(A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘this 1
Section’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; and 2
(B) by striking the fourth, fifth, and sixth 3
sentences. 4
DIVISION C—WATER QUALITY 5
CERTIFICATION AND ENERGY 6
PROJECT IMPROVEMENT 7
SEC. 30001. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 8
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This division may be cited as the 9
‘‘Water Quality Certification and Energy Project Improve-10
ment Act of 2023’’. 11
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents of 12
this division is as follows: 13
DIVISION C—WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION AND ENERGY
PROJECT IMPROVEMENT
Sec. 30001. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 30002. Certification.
SEC. 30002. CERTIFICATION.
14
Section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 15
Act (33 U.S.C. 1341) is amended— 16
(1) in subsection (a)— 17
(A) in paragraph (1)— 18
(i) in the first sentence, by striking 19
‘‘may result’’ and inserting ‘‘may directly 20
result’’; 21
(ii) in the second sentence, by striking 22
‘‘activity’’ and inserting ‘‘discharge’’; 23
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(iii) in the third sentence, by striking 1
‘‘applications’’ each place it appears and 2
inserting ‘‘requests’’; 3
(iv) in the fifth sentence, by striking 4
‘‘act on’’ and inserting ‘‘grant or deny’’; 5
and 6
(v) by inserting after the fourth sen-7
tence the following: ‘‘Not later than 30 8
days after the date of enactment of the 9
Water Quality Certification and Energy 10
Project Improvement Act of 2023, each 11
State and interstate agency that has au-12
thority to give such a certification, and the 13
Administrator, shall publish requirements 14
for certification to demonstrate to such 15
State, such interstate agency, or the Ad-16
ministrator, as the case may be, compli-17
ance with the applicable provisions of sec-18
tions 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307. A deci-19
sion to grant or deny a request for certifi-20
cation shall be based only on the applicable 21
provisions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, 22
and 307, and the grounds for the decision 23
shall be set forth in writing and provided 24
to the applicant. Not later than 90 days 25
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after receipt of a request for certification, 1
the State, interstate agency, or Adminis-2
trator, as the case may be, shall identify in 3
writing all specific additional materials or 4
information that are necessary to grant or 5
deny the request.’’; 6
(B) in paragraph (2)— 7
(i) in the second sentence, by striking 8
‘‘notice of application for such Federal li-9
cense or permit’’ and inserting ‘‘receipt of 10
a notice under the preceding sentence’’; 11
(ii) in the third sentence, by striking 12
‘‘any water quality requirement’’ and in-13
serting ‘‘any applicable provision of section 14
301, 302, 303, 306, or 307’’; 15
(iii) in the fifth sentence, by striking 16
‘‘insure compliance with applicable water 17
quality requirements.’’ and inserting ‘‘en-18
sure compliance with the applicable provi-19
sions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 20
307.’’; 21
(iv) in the final sentence, by striking 22
‘‘insure’’ and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; and 23
(v) by striking the first sentence and 24
inserting ‘‘On receipt of a request for cer-25
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tification, the certifying State or interstate 1
agency, as applicable, shall immediately 2
notify the Administrator of the request.’’; 3
(C) in paragraph (3), in the second sen-4
tence, by striking ‘‘section’’ and inserting ‘‘any 5
applicable provision of section’’; 6
(D) in paragraph (4)— 7
(i) in the first sentence, by striking 8
‘‘applicable effluent limitations or other 9
limitations or other applicable water qual-10
ity requirements will not be violated’’ and 11
inserting ‘‘no applicable provision of sec-12
tion 301, 302, 303, 306, or 307 will be vio-13
lated’’; 14
(ii) in the second sentence, by striking 15
‘‘will violate applicable effluent limitations 16
or other limitations or other water quality 17
requirements’’ and inserting ‘‘will directly 18
result in a discharge that violates an appli-19
cable provision of section 301, 302, 303, 20
306, or 307,’’; and 21
(iii) in the third sentence, by striking 22
‘‘such facility or activity will not violate the 23
applicable provisions’’ and inserting ‘‘oper-24
ation of such facility or activity will not di-25
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rectly result in a discharge that violates 1
any applicable provision’’; and 2
(E) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘the ap-3
plicable provisions’’ and inserting ‘‘any applica-4
ble provision’’; 5
(2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘any applica-6
ble effluent limitations and other limitations, under 7
section 301 or 302 of this Act, standard of perform-8
ance under section 306 of this Act, or prohibition, 9
effluent standard, or pretreatment standard under 10
section 307 of this Act, and with any other appro-11
priate requirement of State law set forth in such 12
certification, and’’ and inserting ‘‘the applicable pro-13
visions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307, and 14
any such limitations or requirements’’; and 15
(3) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(e) For purposes of this section, the applicable pro-17
visions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307 are any 18
applicable effluent limitations and other limitations, under 19
section 301 or 302, standard of performance under section 20
306, prohibition, effluent standard, or pretreatment stand-21
ard under section 307, and requirement of State law im-22
plementing water quality criteria under section 303 nec-23
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essary to support the designated use or uses of the receiv-1
ing navigable waters.’’. 2
Æ
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