Us Congress House Bill HB1335 Introduced / Bill

                    I 
118THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION H. R. 1335 
To restart onshore and offshore oil, gas, and coal leasing, streamline permit-
ting for energy infrastructure, ensure transparency in energy development 
on Federal lands, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH3, 2023 
Mr. W
ESTERMAN(for himself, Mr. GRAVESof Louisiana, and Mr. STAUBER) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, 
and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To restart onshore and offshore oil, gas, and coal leasing, 
streamline permitting for energy infrastructure, ensure 
transparency in energy development on Federal lands, 
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Transparency, Accountability, Permitting, and Produc-5
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tion of American Resources Act’’ or the ‘‘TAPP American 1
Resources Act’’. 2
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 3
this Act is as follows: 4
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE LEASING AND OVERSIGHT 
Sec. 101. Onshore oil and gas leasing. 
Sec. 102. Lease reinstatement. 
Sec. 103. Protested lease sales. 
Sec. 104. Suspension of operations. 
Sec. 105. Administrative protest process reform. 
Sec. 106. Leasing and permitting transparency. 
Sec. 107. Offshore oil and gas leasing. 
Sec. 108. Five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing. 
Sec. 109. Geothermal leasing. 
Sec. 110. Leasing for certain qualified coal applications. 
Sec. 111. Future coal leasing. 
Sec. 112. Staff planning report. 
TITLE II—PERMITTING STREAMLINING 
Sec. 201. Definitions. 
Sec. 202. BUILDER Act. 
Sec. 203. Codification of National Environmental Policy Act regulations. 
Sec. 204. Non-major Federal actions. 
Sec. 205. No net loss determination for existing rights-of-way. 
Sec. 206. Determination of National Environmental Policy Act adequacy. 
Sec. 207. Determination regarding rights-of-way. 
Sec. 208. Terms of rights-of-way. 
Sec. 209. Funding to process permits and develop information technology. 
Sec. 210. Offshore geological and geophysical survey licensing. 
Sec. 211. Deferral of applications for permits to drill. 
Sec. 212. Processing and terms of applications for permits to drill. 
Sec. 213. Amendments to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. 
Sec. 214. Access to Federal energy resources from non-Federal surface estate. 
Sec. 215. Scope of environmental reviews for oil and gas leases. 
Sec. 216. Expediting approval of gathering lines. 
Sec. 217. Lease sale litigation. 
Sec. 218. Limitation on claims. 
Sec. 219. Government Accountability Office report on permits to drill. 
TITLE III—PERMITTING FOR MINING NEEDS 
Sec. 301. Definitions. 
Sec. 302. Minerals supply chain and reliability. 
Sec. 303. Federal register process improvement. 
Sec. 304. Designation of mining as a covered sector for Federal permitting im-
provement purposes. 
Sec. 305. Treatment of actions under presidential determination 2022–11 for 
Federal permitting improvement purposes. 
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Sec. 306. Notice for mineral exploration activities with limited surface disturb-
ance. 
Sec. 307. Use of mining claims for ancillary activities. 
Sec. 308. Ensuring consideration of uranium as a critical mineral. 
TITLE IV—FEDERAL LAND USE PLANNING 
Sec. 401. Federal land use planning and withdrawals. 
Sec. 402. Prohibitions on delay of mineral development of certain Federal land. 
Sec. 403. Definitions. 
TITLE V—ENSURING COMPETITIVENESS ON FEDERAL LANDS 
Sec. 501. Incentivizing domestic production. 
TITLE VI—ENERGY REVENUE SHARING 
Sec. 601. Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf revenue. 
Sec. 602. Parity in offshore wind revenue sharing. 
Sec. 603. Elimination of administrative fee under the Mineral Leasing Act. 
TITLE I—ONSHORE AND OFF-1
SHORE LEASING AND OVER-2
SIGHT 3
SEC. 101. 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
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U.S.C. 181 et seq.) and the National Environ-1
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 2
seq.); and 3
(B) that the processes described in sub-4
paragraph (A) are conducted in a timely man-5
ner to ensure compliance with subsection (b)(1). 6
(3) L
EASE OF OIL AND GAS LANDS .—Section 7
17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 8
226(b)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘Eligible 9
lands comprise all lands subject to leasing under this 10
Act and not excluded from leasing by a statutory or 11
regulatory prohibition. Available lands are those 12
lands that have been designated as open for leasing 13
under a land use plan developed under section 202 14
of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 15
1976 and that have been nominated for leasing 16
through the submission of an expression of interest, 17
are subject to drainage in the absence of leasing, or 18
are otherwise designated as available pursuant to 19
regulations adopted by the Secretary.’’ after ‘‘sales 20
are necessary.’’. 21
(b) Q
UARTERLYLEASESALES.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In accordance with the Min-23
eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), each fiscal 24
year, the Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a 25
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minimum of four oil and gas lease sales in each of 1
the following States: 2
(A) Wyoming. 3
(B) New Mexico. 4
(C) Colorado. 5
(D) Utah. 6
(E) Montana. 7
(F) North Dakota. 8
(G) Oklahoma. 9
(H) Nevada. 10
(I) Alaska. 11
(J) Any other State in which there is land 12
available for oil and gas leasing under the Min-13
eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) or any 14
other mineral leasing law. 15
(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—In conducting a lease sale 16
under paragraph (1) in a State described in that 17
paragraph, the Secretary of the Interior shall offer 18
all parcels nominated and eligible pursuant to the 19
requirements of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 20
181 et seq.) for oil and gas exploration, develop-21
ment, and production under the resource manage-22
ment plan in effect for the State. 23
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(3) REPLACEMENT SALES .—The Secretary of 1
the Interior shall conduct a replacement sale during 2
the same fiscal year if— 3
(A) a lease sale under paragraph (1) is 4
canceled, delayed, or deferred, including for a 5
lack of eligible parcels; or 6
(B) during a lease sale under paragraph 7
(1) the percentage of acreage that does not re-8
ceive a bid is equal to or greater than 25 per-9
cent of the acreage offered. 10
(4) N
OTICE REGARDING MISSED SALES .—Not 11
later than 30 days after a sale required under this 12
subsection is canceled, delayed, deferred, or other-13
wise missed the Secretary of the Interior shall sub-14
mit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the 15
House of Representatives and the Committee on En-16
ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report 17
that states what sale was missed and why it was 18
missed. 19
SEC. 102. LEASE REINSTATEMENT. 20
The reinstatement of a lease entered into under the 21
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) or the Geo-22
thermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) by 23
the Secretary shall be not considered a major Federal ac-24
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tion under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environ-1
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 2
SEC. 103. PROTESTED LEASE SALES. 3
Section 17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 4
U.S.C. 226(b)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘The Sec-5
retary shall resolve any protest to a lease sale not later 6
than 60 days after such payment.’’ after ‘‘annual rental 7
for the first lease year.’’. 8
SEC. 104. SUSPENSION OF OPERATIONS. 9
Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 10
226) is amended by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(r) S
USPENSION OFOPERATIONSPERMITS.—In the 12
event that an oil and gas lease owner has submitted an 13
expression of interest for adjacent acreage that is part of 14
the nature of the geological play and has yet to be offered 15
in a lease sale by the Secretary, they may request a sus-16
pension of operations from the Secretary of the Interior 17
and upon request, the Secretary shall grant the suspension 18
of operations within 15 days. Any payment of acreage 19
rental or of minimum royalty prescribed by such lease like-20
wise shall be suspended during such period of suspension 21
of operations and production; and the term of such lease 22
shall be extended by adding any such suspension period 23
thereto.’’. 24
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SEC. 105. ADMINISTRATIVE PROTEST PROCESS REFORM. 1
Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 2
226) is further amended by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(s) P
ROTESTFILINGFEE.— 5
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Before processing any pro-6
test filed under this section, the Secretary shall col-7
lect a filing fee in the amount described in para-8
graph (2) from the protestor to recover the cost for 9
processing documents filed for each administrative 10
protest. 11
‘‘(2) A
MOUNT.—The amount described in this 12
paragraph is calculated as follows: 13
‘‘(A) For each protest filed in a submission 14
not exceeding 10 pages in length, the base filing 15
fee shall be $150. 16
‘‘(B) For each submission exceeding 10 17
pages in length, in addition to the base filing 18
fee, an assessment of $5 per page in excess of 19
10 pages shall apply. 20
‘‘(C) For protests that include more than 21
one oil and gas lease parcel, right-of-way, or ap-22
plication for permit to drill in a submission, an 23
additional assessment of $10 per additional 24
lease parcel, right-of-way, or application for 25
permit to drill shall apply. 26
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‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENT.— 1
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Beginning on January 2
1, 2022, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 3
shall adjust the filing fees established in this 4
subsection to whole dollar amounts to reflect 5
changes in the Producer Price Index, as pub-6
lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for 7
the previous 12 months. 8
‘‘(B) P
UBLICATION OF ADJUSTED FILING 9
FEES.—At least 30 days before the filing fees 10
as adjusted under this paragraph take effect, 11
the Secretary shall publish notification of the 12
adjustment of such fees in the Federal Reg-13
ister.’’. 14
SEC. 106. LEASING AND PERMITTING TRANSPARENCY. 15
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than 30 days after the date 16
of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, 17
the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to the Com-18
mittee on Natural Resources of the House of Representa-19
tives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-20
sources of the Senate a report that describes— 21
(1) the status of nominated parcels for future 22
onshore oil and gas and geothermal lease sales, in-23
cluding— 24
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(A) the number of expressions of interest 1
received each month during the period of 365 2
days that ends on the date on which the report 3
is submitted with respect to which the Bureau 4
of Land Management— 5
(i) has not taken any action to review; 6
(ii) has not completed review; or 7
(iii) has completed review and deter-8
mined that the relevant area meets all ap-9
plicable requirements for leasing, but has 10
not offered the relevant area in a lease 11
sale; 12
(B) how long expressions of interest de-13
scribed in subparagraph (A) have been pending; 14
and 15
(C) a plan, including timelines, for how the 16
Secretary of the Interior plans to— 17
(i) work through future expressions of 18
interest to prevent delays; 19
(ii) put expressions of interest de-20
scribed in subparagraph (A) into a lease 21
sale; and 22
(iii) complete review for expressions of 23
interest described in clauses (i) and (ii) of 24
subparagraph (A); 25
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(2) the status of each pending application for 1
permit to drill received during the period of 365 2
days that ends on the date on which the report is 3
submitted, including the number of applications re-4
ceived each month, by each Bureau of Land Man-5
agement office, including— 6
(A) a description of the cause of delay for 7
pending applications, including as a result of 8
staffing shortages, technical limitations, incom-9
plete applications, and incomplete review pursu-10
ant to the National Environmental Policy Act 11
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) or other ap-12
plicable laws; 13
(B) the number of days an application has 14
been pending in violation of section 17(p)(2) of 15
the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(p)(2)); 16
and 17
(C) a plan for how the office intends to 18
come into compliance with the requirements of 19
section 17(p)(2) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 20
U.S.C. 226(p)(2)); 21
(3) the number of permits to drill issued each 22
month by each Bureau of Land Management office 23
during the 5-year period ending on the date on 24
which the report is submitted; 25
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(4) the status of each pending application for a 1
license for offshore geological and geophysical sur-2
veys received during the period of 365 days that 3
ends on the date on which the report is submitted, 4
including the number of applications received each 5
month, by each Bureau of Ocean Energy manage-6
ment regional office, including— 7
(A) a description of any cause of delay for 8
pending applications, including as a result of 9
staffing shortages, technical limitations, incom-10
plete applications, and incomplete review pursu-11
ant to the National Environmental Policy Act 12
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) or other ap-13
plicable laws; 14
(B) the number of days an application has 15
been pending; and 16
(C) a plan for how the Bureau of Ocean 17
Energy Management intends to complete review 18
of each application; 19
(5) the number of licenses for offshore geologi-20
cal and geophysical surveys issued each month by 21
each Bureau of Ocean Energy Management regional 22
office during the 5-year period ending on the date on 23
which the report is submitted; 24
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(6) the status of each pending application for a 1
permit to drill received during the period of 365 2
days that ends on the date on which the report is 3
submitted, including the number of applications re-4
ceived each month, by each Bureau of Safety and 5
Environmental Enforcement regional office, includ-6
ing— 7
(A) a description of any cause of delay for 8
pending applications, including as a result of 9
staffing shortages, technical limitations, incom-10
plete applications, and incomplete review pursu-11
ant to the National Environmental Policy Act 12
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) or other ap-13
plicable laws; 14
(B) the number of days an application has 15
been pending; and 16
(C) steps the Bureau of Safety and Envi-17
ronmental Enforcement is taking to complete 18
review of each application; 19
(7) the number of permits to drill issued each 20
month by each Bureau of Safety and Environmental 21
Enforcement regional office during the period of 365 22
days that ends on the date on which the report is 23
submitted; 24
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(8) how, as applicable, the Bureau of Land 1
Management, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Manage-2
ment, and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental 3
Enforcement determines whether to— 4
(A) issue a license for geological and geo-5
physical surveys; 6
(B) issue a permit to drill; and 7
(C) issue, extend, or suspend an oil and 8
gas lease; 9
(9) when determinations described in paragraph 10
(8) are sent to the national office of the Bureau of 11
Land Management, the Bureau of Ocean Energy 12
Management, or the Bureau of Safety and Environ-13
mental Enforcement for final approval; 14
(10) the degree to which Bureau of Land Man-15
agement, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 16
and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforce-17
ment field, State, and regional offices exercise dis-18
cretion on such final approval; 19
(11) during the period of 365 days that ends on 20
the date on which the report is submitted, the num-21
ber of auctioned leases receiving accepted bids that 22
have not been issued to winning bidders and the 23
number of days such leases have not been issued; 24
and 25
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(12) a description of the uses of application for 1
permit to drill fees paid by permit holders during 2
the 5-year period ending on the date on which the 3
report is submitted. 4
(b) P
ENDINGAPPLICATIONS FOR PERMITSTO 5
D
RILL.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the en-6
actment of this section, the Secretary of the Interior 7
shall— 8
(1) complete all requirements under the Na-9
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 10
4321 et seq.) and other applicable law that must be 11
met before issuance of a permit to drill described in 12
paragraph (2); and 13
(2) issue a permit for all completed applications 14
to drill that are pending on the date of the enact-15
ment of this Act. 16
(c) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY OFDATA.— 17
(1) M
INERAL LEASING ACT.—Section 17 of the 18
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is further 19
amended by adding at the end the following: 20
‘‘(t) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY OFDATA.— 21
‘‘(1) E
XPRESSIONS OF INTEREST .—Not later 22
than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 23
subsection, and each month thereafter, the Secretary 24
shall publish on the website of the Department of 25
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the Interior the number of pending, approved, and 1
not approved expressions of interest in nominated 2
parcels for future onshore oil and gas lease sales in 3
the preceding month. 4
‘‘(2) A
PPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO DRILL .— 5
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-6
ment of this subsection, and each month thereafter, 7
the Secretary shall publish on the website of the De-8
partment of the Interior the number of pending and 9
approved applications for permits to drill in the pre-10
ceding month in each State office. 11
‘‘(3) P
AST DATA.—Not later than 30 days after 12
the date of the enactment of this subsection, the 13
Secretary shall publish on the website of the Depart-14
ment of the Interior, with respect to each month 15
during the 5-year period ending on the date of the 16
enactment of this subsection— 17
‘‘(A) the number of approved and not ap-18
proved expressions of interest for onshore oil 19
and gas lease sales during such 5-year period; 20
and 21
‘‘(B) the number of approved and not ap-22
proved applications for permits to drill during 23
such 5-year period.’’. 24
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(2) OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT .— 1
Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 2
(43 U.S.C. 1337) is amended by adding at the end 3
the following: 4
‘‘(q) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY OFDATA.— 5
‘‘(1) O
FFSHORE GEOLOGICAL AND GEO -6
PHYSICAL SURVEY LICENSES .—Not later than 30 7
days after the date of the enactment of this sub-8
section, and each month thereafter, the Secretary 9
shall publish on the website of the Department of 10
the Interior the number of pending and approved 11
applications for licenses for offshore to geological 12
and geophysical surveys in the preceding month. 13
‘‘(2) A
PPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO DRILL .— 14
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-15
ment of this subsection, and each month thereafter, 16
the Secretary shall publish on the website of the De-17
partment of the Interior the number of pending and 18
approved applications for permits to drill on the 19
outer Continental Shelf in the preceding month in 20
each regional office. 21
‘‘(3) P
AST DATA.—Not later than 30 days after 22
the date of the enactment of this subsection, the 23
Secretary shall publish on the website of the Depart-24
ment of the Interior, with respect each month during 25
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the 5-year period ending on the date of the enact-1
ment of this subsection— 2
‘‘(A) the number of approved applications 3
for licenses for offshore geological and geo-4
physical surveys; and 5
‘‘(B) the number of approved applications 6
for permits to drill on the outer Continental 7
Shelf.’’. 8
(d) R
EQUIREMENT TOSUBMITDOCUMENTS AND 9
C
OMMUNICATIONS.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 11
the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec-12
retary of the Interior shall submit to the Committee 13
on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and 14
the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 15
of Representatives all documents and communica-16
tions relating to the comprehensive review of Federal 17
oil and gas permitting and leasing practices required 18
under section 208 of Executive Order 14008 (86 19
Fed. Reg. 7624; relating to tackling the climate cri-20
sis at home and abroad). 21
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—The submission under para-22
graph (1) shall include all documents and commu-23
nications submitted to the Secretary of the Interior 24
by members of the public in response to any public 25
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meeting or forum relating to the comprehensive re-1
view described in that paragraph. 2
SEC. 107. OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASING. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct all 4
lease sales described in the 2017–2022 Outer Continental 5
Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (No-6
vember 2016) that have not been conducted as of the date 7
of the enactment of this Act by not later than September 8
30, 2023. 9
(b) G
ULF OFMEXICOREGIONANNUALLEASE 10
S
ALES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and 11
except within areas subject to existing oil and gas leasing 12
moratoria beginning in fiscal year 2023, the Secretary of 13
the Interior shall annually conduct a minimum of 2 re-14
gion-wide oil and gas lease sales in the following planning 15
areas of the Gulf of Mexico region, as described in the 16
2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing 17
Proposed Final Program (November 2016): 18
(1) The Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 19
(2) The Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 20
(c) A
LASKAREGIONANNUALLEASESALES.—Not-21
withstanding any other provision of law, beginning in fis-22
cal year 2023, the Secretary of the Interior shall annually 23
conduct a minimum of 2 region-wide oil and gas lease 24
sales in the Alaska region of the Outer Continental Shelf, 25
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as described in the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf 1
Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (November 2
2016). 3
(d) R
EQUIREMENTS.—In conducting lease sales 4
under subsections (b) and (c), the Secretary of the Interior 5
shall— 6
(1) issue such leases in accordance with the 7
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1332 8
et seq.); and 9
(2) include in each such lease sale all unleased 10
areas that are not subject to a moratorium as of the 11
date of the lease sale. 12
SEC. 108. FIVE-YEAR PLAN FOR OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS 13
LEASING. 14
Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 15
(43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended— 16
(1) in subsection (a)— 17
(A) by striking ‘‘subsections (c) and (d) of 18
this section, shall prepare and periodically re-19
vise,’’ and inserting ‘‘this section, shall issue 20
every five years’’; 21
(B) by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(5) Each five-year program shall include at 23
least two Gulf of Mexico region-wide lease sales per 24
year.’’; and 25
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(C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘domes-1
tic energy security,’’ after ‘‘between’’; 2
(2) by redesignating subsections (f) through (i) 3
as subsections (h) through (k), respectively; and 4
(3) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘(f) F
IVE-YEARPROGRAM FOR 2023–2028.—The 7
Secretary shall issue the five-year oil and gas leasing pro-8
gram for 2023 through 2028 and issue the Record of De-9
cision on the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 10
Statement by not later than July 1, 2023. 11
‘‘(g) S
UBSEQUENTLEASINGPROGRAMS.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 36 months 13
after conducting the first lease sale under an oil and 14
gas leasing program prepared pursuant to this sec-15
tion, the Secretary shall begin preparing the subse-16
quent oil and gas leasing program under this sec-17
tion. 18
‘‘(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—Each subsequent oil and 19
gas leasing program under this section shall be ap-20
proved by not later than 180 days before the expira-21
tion of the previous oil and gas leasing program.’’. 22
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SEC. 109. GEOTHERMAL LEASING. 1
(a) A
NNUALLEASING.—Section 4(b) of the Geo-2
thermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1003(b)) is amend-3
ed— 4
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and 5
inserting ‘‘year’’; 6
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as 7
paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and 8
(3) after paragraph (2), by inserting the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(3) R
EPLACEMENT SALES .—If a lease sale 11
under paragraph (1) for a year is canceled or de-12
layed, the Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a 13
replacement sale during the same year. 14
‘‘(4) R
EQUIREMENT.—In conducting a lease 15
sale under paragraph (2) in a State described in 16
that paragraph, the Secretary of the Interior shall 17
offer all nominated parcels eligible for geothermal 18
development and utilization under the resource man-19
agement plan in effect for the State.’’. 20
(b) D
EADLINES FOR CONSIDERATION OF GEO-21
THERMALDRILLINGPERMITS.—Section 4 of the Geo-22
thermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1003) is amended 23
by adding at the end the following: 24
‘‘(h) D
EADLINES FOR CONSIDERATION OF GEO-25
THERMALDRILLINGPERMITS.— 26
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‘‘(1) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the 1
date on which the Secretary receives an application 2
for any geothermal drilling permit, the Secretary 3
shall— 4
‘‘(A) provide written notice to the appli-5
cant that the application is complete; or 6
‘‘(B) notify the applicant that information 7
is missing and specify any information that is 8
required to be submitted for the application to 9
be complete. 10
‘‘(2) I
SSUANCE OF DECISION.—If the Secretary 11
determines that an application for a geothermal 12
drilling permit is complete under paragraph (1)(A), 13
the Secretary shall issue a final decision on the ap-14
plication not later than 30 days after the Secretary 15
notifies the applicant that the application is com-16
plete.’’. 17
SEC. 110. LEASING FOR CERTAIN QUALIFIED COAL APPLI-18
CATIONS. 19
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20
(1) C
OAL LEASE.—The term ‘‘coal lease’’ 21
means a lease entered into by the United States as 22
lessor, through the Bureau of Land Management, 23
and the applicant on Bureau of Land Management 24
Form 3400–012. 25
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(2) QUALIFIED APPLICATION .—The term 1
‘‘qualified application’’ means any application pend-2
ing under the lease by application program adminis-3
tered by the Bureau of Land Management pursuant 4
to the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) 5
and subpart 3425 of title 43, Code of Federal Regu-6
lations (as in effect on the date of the enactment of 7
this Act), for which the environmental review proc-8
ess under the National Environmental Policy Act of 9
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) has commenced. 10
(b) M
ANDATORYLEASING ANDOTHERREQUIRED 11
A
PPROVALS.—As soon as practicable after the date of the 12
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promptly— 13
(1) with respect to each qualified application— 14
(A) if not previously published for public 15
comment, publish a draft environmental assess-16
ment, as required under the National Environ-17
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 18
seq.) and any applicable implementing regula-19
tions; 20
(B) finalize the fair market value of the 21
coal tract for which a lease by application is 22
pending; 23
(C) take all intermediate actions necessary 24
to grant the qualified application; and 25
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(D) grant the qualified application; and 1
(2) with respect to previously awarded coal 2
leases, grant any additional approvals of the Depart-3
ment of the Interior or any bureau, agency, or divi-4
sion of the Department of the Interior required for 5
mining activities to commence. 6
SEC. 111. FUTURE COAL LEASING. 7
Notwithstanding any judicial decision to the contrary 8
or a departmental review of the Federal coal leasing pro-9
gram, Secretarial Order 3338, issued by the Secretary of 10
the Interior on January 15, 2016, shall have no force or 11
effect. 12
SEC. 112. STAFF PLANNING REPORT. 13
The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 14
Agriculture shall each annually submit to the Committee 15
on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and 16
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 17
Senate a report on the staffing capacity of each respective 18
agency with respect to issuing oil, gas, hardrock mining, 19
coal, and renewable energy leases, rights-of-way, claims, 20
easements, and permits. Each such report shall include— 21
(1) the number of staff assigned to process and 22
issue oil, gas, hardrock mining, coal, and renewable 23
energy leases, rights-of-way, claims, easements, and 24
permits; 25
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(2) a description of how many staff are needed 1
to meet statutory requirements for such oil, gas, 2
hardrock mining, coal, and renewable energy leases, 3
rights-of-way, claims, easements, and permits; and 4
(3) how, as applicable, the Department of the 5
Interior or the Department of Agriculture plans to 6
address staffing shortfalls and turnover to ensure 7
adequate staffing to process and issue such oil, gas, 8
hardrock mining, coal, and renewable energy leases, 9
rights-of-way, claims, easements, and permits. 10
TITLE II—PERMITTING 11
STREAMLINING 12
SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 13
In this title: 14
(1) E
NERGY FACILITY.—The term ‘‘energy fa-15
cility’’ means a facility the primary purpose of which 16
is the exploration for, or the development, produc-17
tion, conversion, gathering, storage, transfer, proc-18
essing, or transportation of, any energy resource. 19
(2) E
NERGY STORAGE DEVICE .—The term ‘‘en-20
ergy storage device’’— 21
(A) means any equipment that stores en-22
ergy, including electricity, compressed air, 23
pumped water, heat, and hydrogen, which may 24
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be converted into, or used to produce, elec-1
tricity; and 2
(B) includes a battery, regenerative fuel 3
cell, flywheel, capacitor, superconducting mag-4
net, and any other equipment the Secretary 5
concerned determines may be used to store en-6
ergy which may be converted into, or used to 7
produce, electricity. 8
(3) P
UBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 9
means any land and interest in land owned by the 10
United States within the several States and adminis-11
tered by the Secretary of the Interior or the Sec-12
retary of Agriculture without regard to how the 13
United States acquired ownership, except— 14
(A) lands located on the Outer Continental 15
Shelf; and 16
(B) lands held in trust by the United 17
States for the benefit of Indians, Indian Tribes, 18
Aleuts, and Eskimos. 19
(4) R
IGHT-OF-WAY.—The term ‘‘right-of-way’’ 20
means— 21
(A) a right-of-way issued, granted, or re-22
newed under section 501 of the Federal Land 23
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 24
1761); or 25
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(B) a right-of-way granted under section 1
28 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 185). 2
(5) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-3
retary concerned’’ means— 4
(A) with respect to public lands, the Sec-5
retary of the Interior; and 6
(B) with respect to National Forest Sys-7
tem lands, the Secretary of Agriculture. 8
(6) L
AND USE PLAN .—The term ‘‘land use 9
plan’’ means— 10
(A) a land and resource management plan 11
prepared by the Forest Service for a unit of the 12
National Forest System pursuant to section 6 13
of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Re-14
sources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 15
1604); 16
(B) a Land Management Plan developed 17
by the Bureau of Land Management under the 18
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 19
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or 20
(C) a comprehensive conservation plan de-21
veloped by the United States Fish and Wildlife 22
Service under section 4(e)(1)(A) of the National 23
Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 24
1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd(e)(1)(A)). 25
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SEC. 202. BUILDER ACT. 1
(a) P
ARAGRAPH(2) OFSECTION102.—Section 2
102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 3
(42 U.S.C. 4332(2)) is amended— 4
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘insure’’ 5
and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; 6
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘insure’’ 7
and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; 8
(3) in subparagraph (C)— 9
(A) by inserting ‘‘consistent with the provi-10
sions of this Act and except as provided by 11
other provisions of law,’’ before ‘‘include in 12
every’’; 13
(B) by striking clauses (i) through (v) and 14
inserting the following: 15
‘‘(i) reasonably foreseeable environmental 16
effects with a reasonably close causal relation-17
ship to the proposed agency action; 18
‘‘(ii) any reasonably foreseeable adverse en-19
vironmental effects which cannot be avoided 20
should the proposal be implemented; 21
‘‘(iii) a reasonable number of alternatives 22
to the proposed agency action, including an 23
analysis of any negative environmental impacts 24
of not implementing the proposed agency action 25
in the case of a no action alternative, that are 26
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technically and economically feasible, are within 1
the jurisdiction of the agency, meet the purpose 2
and need of the proposal, and, where applicable, 3
meet the goals of the applicant; 4
‘‘(iv) the relationship between local short- 5
term uses of man’s environment and the main-6
tenance and enhancement of long-term produc-7
tivity; and 8
‘‘(v) any irreversible and irretrievable com-9
mitments of Federal resources which would be 10
involved in the proposed agency action should it 11
be implemented.’’; and 12
(C) by striking ‘‘the responsible Federal 13
official’’ and inserting ‘‘the head of the lead 14
agency’’; 15
(4) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘Any’’ 16
and inserting ‘‘any’’; 17
(5) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 18
through (I) as subparagraphs (F) through (K), re-19
spectively; 20
(6) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol-21
lowing: 22
‘‘(D) ensure the professional integrity, including 23
scientific integrity, of the discussion and analysis in 24
an environmental document; 25
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‘‘(E) make use of reliable existing data and re-1
sources in carrying out this Act;’’; 2
(7) by amending subparagraph (G), as redesig-3
nated, to read as follows: 4
‘‘(G) consistent with the provisions of this Act, 5
study, develop, and describe technically and economi-6
cally feasible alternatives within the jurisdiction and 7
authority of the agency;’’; and 8
(8) in subparagraph (H), as amended, by in-9
serting ‘‘consistent with the provisions of this Act,’’ 10
before ‘‘recognize’’. 11
(b) N
EWSECTIONS.—Title I of the National Envi-12
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 13
is amended by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘SEC. 106. PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINATION OF LEVEL OF 15
REVIEW. 16
‘‘(a) T
HRESHOLDDETERMINATIONS.—An agency is 17
not required to prepare an environmental document with 18
respect to a proposed agency action if— 19
‘‘(1) the proposed agency action is not a final 20
agency action within the meaning of such term in 21
chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code; 22
‘‘(2) the proposed agency action is covered by 23
a categorical exclusion established by a Federal 24
agency or by another provision of law; 25
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‘‘(3) the preparation of such document would 1
clearly and fundamentally conflict with the require-2
ments of another provision of law; 3
‘‘(4) the proposed agency action is, in whole or 4
in part, a nondiscretionary action with respect to 5
which such agency does not have authority to take 6
environmental factors into consideration in deter-7
mining whether to take the proposed action; 8
‘‘(5) the proposed agency action is a rulemaking 9
that is subject to section 553 of title 5, United 10
States Code; or 11
‘‘(6) the proposed agency action is an action for 12
which such agency’s compliance with another stat-13
ute’s requirements serve the same or similar func-14
tion as the requirements of this Act with respect to 15
such action. 16
‘‘(b) L
EVELS OFREVIEW.— 17
‘‘(1) E
NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT .— 18
An agency shall issue an environmental impact 19
statement with respect to a proposed agency action 20
that has a significant effect on the quality of the 21
human environment. 22
‘‘(2) E
NVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT .—An agen-23
cy shall prepare an environmental assessment with 24
respect to a proposed agency action that is not likely 25
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to have a significant effect on the quality of the 1
human environment, or if the significance of such ef-2
fect is unknown. Such environmental assessment 3
shall be a concise public document prepared by a 4
Federal agency to set forth the basis of such agen-5
cy’s finding of no significant impact. 6
‘‘(3) S
OURCES OF INFORMATION .—In making a 7
determination under this subsection, an agency— 8
‘‘(A) may make use of any reliable data 9
source; and 10
‘‘(B) is not required to undertake new sci-11
entific or technical research. 12
‘‘SEC. 107. TIMELY AND UNIFIED FEDERAL REVIEWS. 13
‘‘(a) L
EADAGENCY.— 14
‘‘(1) D
ESIGNATION.— 15
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If there are two or 16
more involved Federal agencies, such agencies 17
shall determine, by letter or memorandum, 18
which agency shall be the lead agency based on 19
consideration of the following factors: 20
‘‘(i) Magnitude of agency’s involve-21
ment. 22
‘‘(ii) Project approval or disapproval 23
authority. 24
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‘‘(iii) Expertise concerning the ac-1
tion’s environmental effects. 2
‘‘(iv) Duration of agency’s involve-3
ment. 4
‘‘(v) Sequence of agency’s involve-5
ment. 6
‘‘(B) J
OINT LEAD AGENCIES .—In making 7
a determination under subparagraph (A), the 8
involved Federal agencies may, in addition to a 9
Federal agency, appoint such Federal, State, 10
Tribal, or local agencies as joint lead agencies 11
as the involved Federal agencies shall determine 12
appropriate. Joint lead agencies shall jointly 13
fulfill the role described in paragraph (2). 14
‘‘(C) M
INERAL PROJECTS .—This para-15
graph shall not apply with respect to a mineral 16
exploration or mine permit. 17
‘‘(2) R
OLE.—A lead agency shall, with respect 18
to a proposed agency action— 19
‘‘(A) supervise the preparation of an envi-20
ronmental document if, with respect to such 21
proposed agency action, there is more than one 22
involved Federal agency; 23
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‘‘(B) request the participation of each co-1
operating agency at the earliest practicable 2
time; 3
‘‘(C) in preparing an environmental docu-4
ment, give consideration to any analysis or pro-5
posal created by a cooperating agency with ju-6
risdiction by law or a cooperating agency with 7
special expertise; 8
‘‘(D) develop a schedule, in consultation 9
with each involved cooperating agency, the ap-10
plicant, and such other entities as the lead 11
agency determines appropriate, for completion 12
of any environmental review, permit, or author-13
ization required to carry out the proposed agen-14
cy action; 15
‘‘(E) if the lead agency determines that a 16
review, permit, or authorization will not be com-17
pleted in accordance with the schedule devel-18
oped under subparagraph (D), notify the agen-19
cy responsible for issuing such review, permit, 20
or authorization of the discrepancy and request 21
that such agency take such measures as such 22
agency determines appropriate to comply with 23
such schedule; and 24
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‘‘(F) meet with a cooperating agency that 1
requests such a meeting. 2
‘‘(3) C
OOPERATING AGENCY .—The lead agency 3
may, with respect to a proposed agency action, des-4
ignate any involved Federal agency or a State, Trib-5
al, or local agency as a cooperating agency. A co-6
operating agency may, not later than a date speci-7
fied by the lead agency, submit comments to the 8
lead agency. Such comments shall be limited to mat-9
ters relating to the proposed agency action with re-10
spect to which such agency has special expertise or 11
jurisdiction by law with respect to an environmental 12
issue. 13
‘‘(4) R
EQUEST FOR DESIGNATION .—Any Fed-14
eral, State, Tribal, or local agency or person that is 15
substantially affected by the lack of a designation of 16
a lead agency with respect to a proposed agency ac-17
tion under paragraph (1) may submit a written re-18
quest for such a designation to an involved Federal 19
agency. An agency that receives a request under this 20
paragraph shall transmit such request to each in-21
volved Federal agency and to the Council. 22
‘‘(5) C
OUNCIL DESIGNATION.— 23
‘‘(A) R
EQUEST.—Not earlier than 45 days 24
after the date on which a request is submitted 25
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under paragraph (4), if no designation has been 1
made under paragraph (1), a Federal, State, 2
Tribal, or local agency or person that is sub-3
stantially affected by the lack of a designation 4
of a lead agency may request that the Council 5
designate a lead agency. Such request shall con-6
sist of— 7
‘‘(i) a precise description of the nature 8
and extent of the proposed agency action; 9
and 10
‘‘(ii) a detailed statement with respect 11
to each involved Federal agency and each 12
factor listed in paragraph (1) regarding 13
which agency should serve as lead agency. 14
‘‘(B) T
RANSMISSION.—The Council shall 15
transmit a request received under subparagraph 16
(A) to each involved Federal agency. 17
‘‘(C) R
ESPONSE.—An involved Federal 18
agency may, not later than 20 days after the 19
date of the submission of a request under sub-20
paragraph (A), submit to the Council a re-21
sponse to such request. 22
‘‘(D) D
ESIGNATION.—Not later than 40 23
days after the date of the submission of a re-24
quest under subparagraph (A), the Council 25
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shall designate the lead agency with respect to 1
the relevant proposed agency action. 2
‘‘(b) O
NEDOCUMENT.— 3
‘‘(1) D
OCUMENT.—To the extent practicable, if 4
there are 2 or more involved Federal agencies with 5
respect to a proposed agency action and the lead 6
agency has determined that an environmental docu-7
ment is required, such requirement shall be deemed 8
satisfied with respect to all involved Federal agencies 9
if the lead agency issues such an environmental doc-10
ument. 11
‘‘(2) C
ONSIDERATION TIMING .—In developing 12
an environmental document for a proposed agency 13
action, no involved Federal agency shall be required 14
to consider any information that becomes available 15
after the sooner of, as applicable— 16
‘‘(A) receipt of a complete application with 17
respect to such proposed agency action; or 18
‘‘(B) publication of a notice of intent or 19
decision to prepare an environmental impact 20
statement for such proposed agency action. 21
‘‘(3) S
COPE OF REVIEW.—In developing an en-22
vironmental document for a proposed agency action, 23
the lead agency and any other involved Federal 24
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agencies shall only consider the effects of the pro-1
posed agency action that— 2
‘‘(A) occur on Federal land; or 3
‘‘(B) are subject to Federal control and re-4
sponsibility. 5
‘‘(c) R
EQUEST FORPUBLICCOMMENT.—Each notice 6
of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 7
under section 102 shall include a request for public com-8
ment on alternatives or impacts and on relevant informa-9
tion, studies, or analyses with respect to the proposed 10
agency action. 11
‘‘(d) S
TATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND NEED.—Each 12
environmental impact statement shall include a statement 13
of purpose and need that briefly summarizes the under-14
lying purpose and need for the proposed agency action. 15
‘‘(e) E
STIMATEDTOTALCOST.—The cover sheet for 16
each environmental impact statement shall include a state-17
ment of the estimated total cost of preparing such environ-18
mental impact statement, including the costs of agency 19
full-time equivalent personnel hours, contractor costs, and 20
other direct costs. 21
‘‘(f) P
AGELIMITS.— 22
‘‘(1) E
NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS .— 23
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 24
subparagraph (B), an environmental impact 25
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statement shall not exceed 150 pages, not in-1
cluding any citations or appendices. 2
‘‘(B) E
XTRAORDINARY COMPLEXITY .—An 3
environmental impact statement for a proposed 4
agency action of extraordinary complexity shall 5
not exceed 300 pages, not including any cita-6
tions or appendices. 7
‘‘(2) E
NVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS .—An en-8
vironmental assessment shall not exceed 75 pages, 9
not including any citations or appendices. 10
‘‘(g) S
PONSORPREPARATION.—A lead agency shall 11
allow a project sponsor to prepare an environmental as-12
sessment or an environmental impact statement upon re-13
quest of the project sponsor. Such agency may provide 14
such sponsor with appropriate guidance and assist in the 15
preparation. The lead agency shall independently evaluate 16
the environmental document and shall take responsibility 17
for the contents upon adoption. 18
‘‘(h) D
EADLINES.— 19
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-20
graph (2), with respect to a proposed agency action, 21
a lead agency shall complete, as applicable— 22
‘‘(A) the environmental impact statement 23
not later than the date that is 2 years after the 24
sooner of, as applicable— 25
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‘‘(i) the date on which such agency 1
determines that section 102(2)(C) requires 2
the issuance of an environmental impact 3
statement with respect to such action; 4
‘‘(ii) the date on which such agency 5
notifies the applicant that the application 6
to establish a right-of-way for such action 7
is complete; and 8
‘‘(iii) the date on which such agency 9
issues a notice of intent to prepare the en-10
vironmental impact statement for such ac-11
tion; and 12
‘‘(B) the environmental assessment not 13
later than the date that is 1 year after the 14
sooner of, as applicable— 15
‘‘(i) the date on which such agency 16
determines that section 106(b)(2) requires 17
the preparation of an environmental as-18
sessment with respect to such action; 19
‘‘(ii) the date on which such agency 20
notifies the applicant that the application 21
to establish a right-of-way for such action 22
is complete; and 23
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‘‘(iii) the date on which such agency 1
issues a notice of intent to prepare the en-2
vironmental assessment for such action. 3
‘‘(2) D
ELAY.—A lead agency that determines it 4
is not able to meet the deadline described in para-5
graph (1) may extend such deadline with the ap-6
proval of the applicant. If the applicant approves 7
such an extension, the lead agency shall establish a 8
new deadline that provides only so much additional 9
time as is necessary to complete such environmental 10
impact statement or environmental assessment. 11
‘‘(3) E
XPENDITURES FOR DELAY .—If a lead 12
agency is unable to meet the deadline described in 13
paragraph (1) or extended under paragraph (2), the 14
lead agency must pay $100 per day, to the extent 15
funding is provided in advance in an appropriations 16
Act, out of the office of the head of the department 17
of the lead agency to the applicant starting on the 18
first day immediately following the deadline de-19
scribed in paragraph (1) or extended under para-20
graph (2) up until the date that an applicant ap-21
proves a new deadline. This paragraph does not 22
apply when the lead agency misses a deadline solely 23
due to delays caused by litigation. 24
‘‘(i) R
EPORT.— 25
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each lead 1
agency shall annually submit to the Committee on 2
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives 3
and the Committee on Environment and Public 4
Works of the Senate a report that— 5
‘‘(A) identifies any environmental assess-6
ment and environmental impact statement that 7
such lead agency did not complete by the dead-8
line described in subsection (h); and 9
‘‘(B) provides an explanation for any fail-10
ure to meet such deadline. 11
‘‘(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—Each report submitted 12
under paragraph (1) shall identify, as applicable— 13
‘‘(A) the office, bureau, division, unit, or 14
other entity within the Federal agency respon-15
sible for each such environmental assessment 16
and environmental impact statement; 17
‘‘(B) the date on which— 18
‘‘(i) such lead agency notified the ap-19
plicant that the application to establish a 20
right-of-way for the major Federal action 21
is complete; 22
‘‘(ii) such lead agency began the 23
scoping for the major Federal action; or 24
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‘‘(iii) such lead agency issued a notice 1
of intent to prepare the environmental as-2
sessment or environmental impact state-3
ment for the major Federal action; and 4
‘‘(C) when such environmental assessment 5
and environmental impact statement is expected 6
to be complete. 7
‘‘SEC. 108. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 8
‘‘(a) L
IMITATIONS ON CLAIMS.—Notwithstanding 9
any other provision of law, a claim arising under Federal 10
law seeking judicial review of compliance with this Act, 11
of a determination made under this Act, or of Federal ac-12
tion resulting from a determination made under this Act, 13
shall be barred unless— 14
‘‘(1) in the case of a claim pertaining to a pro-15
posed agency action for which— 16
‘‘(A) an environmental document was pre-17
pared and an opportunity for comment was pro-18
vided; 19
‘‘(B) the claim is filed by a party that par-20
ticipated in the administrative proceedings re-21
garding such environmental document; and 22
‘‘(C) the claim— 23
‘‘(i) is filed by a party that submitted 24
a comment during the public comment pe-25
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•HR 1335 IH
riod for such administrative proceedings 1
and such comment was sufficiently detailed 2
to put the lead agency on notice of the 3
issue upon which the party seeks judicial 4
review; and 5
‘‘(ii) is related to such comment; 6
‘‘(2) except as provided in subsection (b), such 7
claim is filed not later than 120 days after the date 8
of publication of a notice in the Federal Register of 9
agency intent to carry out the proposed agency ac-10
tion; 11
‘‘(3) such claim is filed after the issuance of a 12
record of decision or other final agency action with 13
respect to the relevant proposed agency action; 14
‘‘(4) such claim does not challenge the estab-15
lishment or use of a categorical exclusion under sec-16
tion 102; and 17
‘‘(5) such claim concerns— 18
‘‘(A) an alternative included in the envi-19
ronmental document; or 20
‘‘(B) an environmental effect considered in 21
the environmental document. 22
‘‘(b) S
UPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 23
S
TATEMENT.— 24
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‘‘(1) SEPARATE FINAL AGENCY ACTION .—The 1
issuance of a Federal action resulting from a final 2
supplemental environmental impact statement shall 3
be considered a final agency action for the purposes 4
of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, separate 5
from the issuance of any previous environmental im-6
pact statement with respect to the same proposed 7
agency action. 8
‘‘(2) D
EADLINE FOR FILING A CLAIM .—A claim 9
seeking judicial review of a Federal action resulting 10
from a final supplemental environmental review 11
issued under section 102(2)(C) shall be barred un-12
less— 13
‘‘(A) such claim is filed within 120 days of 14
the date on which a notice of the Federal agen-15
cy action resulting from a final supplemental 16
environmental impact statement is issued; and 17
‘‘(B) such claim is based on information 18
contained in such supplemental environmental 19
impact statement that was not contained in a 20
previous environmental document pertaining to 21
the same proposed agency action. 22
‘‘(c) P
ROHIBITION ON INJUNCTIVERELIEF.—Not-23
withstanding any other provision of law, a violation of this 24
Act shall not constitute the basis for injunctive relief. 25
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‘‘(d) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-1
tion shall be construed to create a right of judicial review 2
or place any limit on filing a claim with respect to the 3
violation of the terms of a permit, license, or approval. 4
‘‘(e) R
EMAND.—Notwithstanding any other provision 5
of law, no proposed agency action for which an environ-6
mental document is required shall be vacated or otherwise 7
limited, delayed, or enjoined unless a court concludes al-8
lowing such proposed action will pose a risk of an immi-9
nent and substantial environmental harm and there is no 10
other equitable remedy available as a matter of law. 11
‘‘SEC. 109. DEFINITIONS. 12
‘‘In this title: 13
‘‘(1) C
ATEGORICAL EXCLUSION .—The term 14
‘categorical exclusion’ means a category of actions 15
that a Federal agency has determined normally does 16
not significantly affect the quality of the human en-17
vironment within the meaning of section 102(2)(C). 18
‘‘(2) C
OOPERATING AGENCY .—The term ‘co-19
operating agency’ means any Federal, State, Tribal, 20
or local agency that has been designated as a co-21
operating agency under section 107(a)(3). 22
‘‘(3) C
OUNCIL.—The term ‘Council’ means the 23
Council on Environmental Quality established in 24
title II. 25
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‘‘(4) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT .—The 1
term ‘environmental assessment’ means an environ-2
mental assessment prepared under section 3
106(b)(2). 4
‘‘(5) E
NVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENT .—The term 5
‘environmental document’ means an environmental 6
impact statement, an environmental assessment, or 7
a finding of no significant impact. 8
‘‘(6) E
NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT .— 9
The term ‘environmental impact statement’ means a 10
detailed written statement that is required by section 11
102(2)(C). 12
‘‘(7) F
INDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT .— 13
The term ‘finding of no significant impact’ means a 14
determination by a Federal agency that a proposed 15
agency action does not require the issuance of an en-16
vironmental impact statement. 17
‘‘(8) I
NVOLVED FEDERAL AGENCY .—The term 18
‘involved Federal agency’ means an agency that, 19
with respect to a proposed agency action— 20
‘‘(A) proposed such action; or 21
‘‘(B) is involved in such action because 22
such action is directly related, through func-23
tional interdependence or geographic proximity, 24
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to an action such agency has taken or has pro-1
posed to take. 2
‘‘(9) L
EAD AGENCY.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 4
subparagraph (B), the term ‘lead agency’ 5
means, with respect to a proposed agency ac-6
tion— 7
‘‘(i) the agency that proposed such ac-8
tion; or 9
‘‘(ii) if there are 2 or more involved 10
Federal agencies with respect to such ac-11
tion, the agency designated under section 12
107(a)(1). 13
‘‘(B) S
PECIFICATION FOR MINERAL EX -14
PLORATION OR MINE PERMITS .—With respect 15
to a proposed mineral exploration or mine per-16
mit, the term ‘lead agency’ has the meaning 17
given such term in section 40206(a) of the In-18
frastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 19
‘‘(10) M
AJOR FEDERAL ACTION .— 20
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘major Fed-21
eral action’ means an action that the agency 22
carrying out such action determines is subject 23
to substantial Federal control and responsi-24
bility. 25
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‘‘(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘major Fed-1
eral action’ does not include— 2
‘‘(i) a non-Federal action— 3
‘‘(I) with no or minimal Federal 4
funding; 5
‘‘(II) with no or minimal Federal 6
involvement where a Federal agency 7
cannot control the outcome of the 8
project; or 9
‘‘(III) that does not include Fed-10
eral land; 11
‘‘(ii) funding assistance solely in the 12
form of general revenue sharing funds 13
which do not provide Federal agency com-14
pliance or enforcement responsibility over 15
the subsequent use of such funds; 16
‘‘(iii) loans, loan guarantees, or other 17
forms of financial assistance where a Fed-18
eral agency does not exercise sufficient 19
control and responsibility over the effect of 20
the action; 21
‘‘(iv) farm ownership and operating 22
loan guarantees by the Farm Service 23
Agency pursuant to sections 305 and 311 24
through 319 of the Consolidated Farmers 25
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Home Administration Act of 1961 (7 1
U.S.C. 1925 and 1941 through 1949); 2
‘‘(v) business loan guarantees pro-3
vided by the Small Business Administra-4
tion pursuant to section 7(a) or (b) and of 5
the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 6
636(a)), or title V of the Small Business 7
Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 695 et 8
seq.); 9
‘‘(vi) bringing judicial or administra-10
tive civil or criminal enforcement actions; 11
or 12
‘‘(vii) extraterritorial activities or deci-13
sions, which means agency activities or de-14
cisions with effects located entirely outside 15
of the jurisdiction of the United States. 16
‘‘(C) A
DDITIONAL EXCLUSIONS .—An agen-17
cy action may not be determined to be a major 18
Federal action on the basis of— 19
‘‘(i) an interstate effect of the action 20
or related project; or 21
‘‘(ii) the provision of Federal funds 22
for the action or related project. 23
‘‘(11) M
INERAL EXPLORATION OR MINE PER -24
MIT.—The term ‘mineral exploration or mine permit’ 25
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has the meaning given such term in section 1
40206(a) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 2
Act. 3
‘‘(12) P
ROPOSAL.—The term ‘proposal’ means 4
a proposed action at a stage when an agency has a 5
goal, is actively preparing to make a decision on one 6
or more alternative means of accomplishing that 7
goal, and can meaningfully evaluate its effects. 8
‘‘(13) R
EASONABLY FORESEEABLE .—The term 9
‘reasonably foreseeable’ means likely to occur— 10
‘‘(A) not later than 10 years after the lead 11
agency begins preparing the environmental doc-12
ument; and 13
‘‘(B) in an area directly affected by the 14
proposed agency action such that an individual 15
of ordinary prudence would take such occur-16
rence into account in reaching a decision. 17
‘‘(14) S
PECIAL EXPERTISE.—The term ‘special 18
expertise’ means statutory responsibility, agency 19
mission, or related program experience.’’. 20
SEC. 203. CODIFICATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL 21
POLICY ACT REGULATIONS. 22
The revisions to the Code of Federal Regulations 23
made pursuant to the final rule of the Council on Environ-24
mental Quality titled ‘‘Update to the Regulations Imple-25
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menting the Procedural Provisions of the National Envi-1
ronmental Policy Act’’ and published on July 16, 2020 2
(85 Fed. Reg. 43304), shall have the same force and effect 3
of law as if enacted by an Act of Congress. 4
SEC. 204. NON-MAJOR FEDERAL ACTIONS. 5
(a) E
XEMPTION.—An action by the Secretary con-6
cerned with respect to a covered activity shall be not con-7
sidered a major Federal action under section 102(2)(C) 8
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 9
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 10
(b) C
OVEREDACTIVITY.—In this section, the term 11
‘‘covered activity’’ includes— 12
(1) geotechnical investigations; 13
(2) off-road travel in an existing right-of-way; 14
(3) construction of meteorological towers where 15
the total surface disturbance at the location is less 16
than 5 acres; 17
(4) adding a battery or other energy storage de-18
vice to an existing or planned energy facility, if that 19
storage resource is located within the physical foot-20
print of the existing or planned energy facility; 21
(5) drilling temperature gradient wells and 22
other geothermal exploratory wells, including con-23
struction or making improvements for such activi-24
ties, where— 25
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(A) the last cemented casing string is less 1
than 12 inches in diameter; and 2
(B) the total unreclaimed surface disturb-3
ance at any one time within the project area is 4
less than 5 acres; 5
(6) any repair, maintenance, upgrade, optimiza-6
tion, or minor addition to existing transmission and 7
distribution infrastructure, including— 8
(A) operation, maintenance, or repair of 9
power equipment and structures within existing 10
substations, switching stations, transmission, 11
and distribution lines; 12
(B) the addition, modification, retirement, 13
or replacement of breakers, transmission tow-14
ers, transformers, bushings, or relays; 15
(C) the voltage uprating, modification, 16
reconductoring with conventional or advanced 17
conductors, and clearance resolution of trans-18
mission lines; 19
(D) activities to minimize fire risk, includ-20
ing vegetation management, routine fire mitiga-21
tion, inspection, and maintenance activities, and 22
removal of hazard trees and other hazard vege-23
tation within or adjacent to an existing right-of- 24
way; 25
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(E) improvements to or construction of 1
structure pads for such infrastructure; and 2
(F) access and access route maintenance 3
and repairs associated with any activity de-4
scribed in subparagraph (A) through (E); 5
(7) approval of and activities conducted in ac-6
cordance with operating plans or agreements for 7
transmission and distribution facilities or under a 8
special use authorization for an electric transmission 9
and distribution facility right-of-way; and 10
(8) construction, maintenance, realignment, or 11
repair of an existing permanent or temporary access 12
road— 13
(A) within an existing right-of-way or with-14
in a transmission or utility corridor established 15
by Congress or in a land use plan; 16
(B) that serves an existing transmission 17
line, distribution line, or energy facility; or 18
(C) activities conducted in accordance with 19
existing onshore oil and gas leases. 20
SEC. 205. NO NET LOSS DETERMINATION FOR EXISTING 21
RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Upon a determination by the Sec-23
retary concerned that there will be no overall long-term 24
net loss of vegetation, soil, or habitat, as defined by acre-25
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age and function, resulting from a proposed action, deci-1
sion, or activity within an existing right-of-way, within a 2
right-of-way corridor established in a land use plan, or in 3
an otherwise designated right-of-way, that action, deci-4
sion, or activity shall not be considered a major Federal 5
action under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environ-6
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 7
(b) I
NCLUSION OFREMEDIATION.—In making a de-8
termination under subsection (a), the Secretary concerned 9
shall consider the effect of any remediation work to be 10
conducted during the lifetime of the action, decision, or 11
activity when determining whether there will be any over-12
all long-term net loss of vegetation, soil, or habitat. 13
SEC. 206. DETERMINATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL 14
POLICY ACT ADEQUACY. 15
The Secretary concerned shall use previously com-16
pleted environmental assessments and environmental im-17
pact statements to satisfy the requirements of section 102 18
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 19
U.S.C. 4332) with respect to any major Federal action, 20
if such Secretary determines that— 21
(1) the new proposed action is substantially the 22
same as a previously analyzed proposed action or al-23
ternative analyzed in a previous environmental as-24
sessment or environmental impact statement; and 25
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(2) the effects of the proposed action are sub-1
stantially the same as the effects analyzed in such 2
existing environmental assessments or environmental 3
impact statements. 4
SEC. 207. DETERMINATION REGARDING RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 5
Not later than 60 days after the Secretary concerned 6
receives an application to grant a right-of-way, the Sec-7
retary concerned shall notify the applicant as to whether 8
the application is complete or deficient. If the Secretary 9
concerned determines the application is complete, the Sec-10
retary concerned may not consider any other application 11
to grant a right-of-way on the same or any overlapping 12
parcels of land while such application is pending. 13
SEC. 208. TERMS OF RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 14
(a) F
IFTY-YEARTERMS FORRIGHTS-OF-WAY.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any right-of-way for pipe-16
lines for the transportation or distribution of oil or 17
gas granted, issued, amended, or renewed under 18
Federal law may be limited to a term of not more 19
than 50 years before such right-of-way is subject to 20
renewal or amendment. 21
(2) F
EDERAL LAND POLICY AND MANAGEMENT 22
ACT OF 1976.—Section 501 of the Federal Land Pol-23
icy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1761) 24
is amended by adding at the end the following: 25
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‘‘(e) Any right-of-way granted, issued, amended, or 1
renewed under subsection (a)(4) may be limited to a term 2
of not more than 50 years before such right-of-way is sub-3
ject to renewal or amendment.’’. 4
(b) M
INERALLEASINGACT.—Section 28(n) of the 5
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 185(n)) is amended by 6
striking ‘‘thirty’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’. 7
SEC. 209. FUNDING TO PROCESS PERMITS AND DEVELOP 8
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. 9
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In fiscal years 2023 through 10
2025, the Secretary of Agriculture (acting through the 11
Forest Service) and the Secretary of the Interior, after 12
public notice, may accept and expend funds contributed 13
by non-Federal entities for dedicated staff, information re-14
source management, and information technology system 15
development to expedite the evaluation of permits, biologi-16
cal opinions, concurrence letters, environmental surveys 17
and studies, processing of applications, consultations, and 18
other activities for the leasing, development, or expansion 19
of an energy facility under the jurisdiction of the respec-20
tive Secretaries. 21
(b) E
FFECT ONPERMITTING.—In carrying out this 22
section, the Secretary of the Interior shall ensure that the 23
use of funds accepted under subsection (a) will not impact 24
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impartial decision making with respect to permits, either 1
substantively or procedurally. 2
(c) S
TATEMENT FOR FAILURETOACCEPT OREX-3
PENDFUNDS.—Not later than 60 days after the end of 4
the applicable fiscal year, if the Secretary of Agriculture 5
(acting through the Forest Service) or the Secretary of 6
the Interior does not accept funds contributed under sub-7
section (a) or accepts but does not expend such funds, that 8
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Natural Re-9
sources of the House of Representatives and the Com-10
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 11
a statement explaining why such funds were not accepted, 12
were not expended, or both, as the case may be. 13
SEC. 210. OFFSHORE GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL SUR-14
VEY LICENSING. 15
The Secretary of the Interior shall authorize geologi-16
cal and geophysical surveys related to oil and gas activities 17
on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf, except 18
within areas subject to existing oil and gas leasing mora-19
toria. Such authorizations shall be issued within 30 days 20
of receipt of a completed application and shall, as applica-21
ble to survey type, comply with the mitigation and moni-22
toring measures in subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (f), and 23
(g) of section 217.184 of title 50, Code of Federal Regula-24
tions (as in effect on January 1, 2022), and section 25
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217.185 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 1
effect on January 1, 2022). Geological and geophysical 2
surveys authorized pursuant to this section are deemed to 3
be in full compliance with the Marine Mammal Protection 4
Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) and the Endangered 5
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and their 6
implementing regulations. 7
SEC. 211. DEFERRAL OF APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO 8
DRILL. 9
Section 17(p)(3) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 10
U.S.C. 226(p)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the 11
following: 12
‘‘(D) D
EFERRAL BASED ON FORMATTING 13
ISSUES.—A decision on an application for a 14
permit to drill may not be deferred under para-15
graph (2)(B) as a result of a formatting issue 16
with the permit, unless such formatting issue 17
results in missing information.’’. 18
SEC. 212. PROCESSING AND TERMS OF APPLICATIONS FOR 19
PERMITS TO DRILL. 20
(a) E
FFECT OFPENDINGCIVILACTIONS.—Section 21
17(p) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(p)) is 22
amended by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(4) E
FFECT OF PENDING CIVIL ACTION ON 24
PROCESSING APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO 25
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DRILL.—Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 1
(2), notwithstanding the existence of any pending 2
civil actions affecting the application or related 3
lease, the Secretary shall process an application for 4
a permit to drill or other authorizations or approvals 5
under a valid existing lease, unless a United States 6
Federal court vacated such lease. Nothing in this 7
paragraph shall be construed as providing authority 8
to a Federal court to vacate a lease.’’. 9
(b) T
ERM OFPERMITTODRILL.—Section 17 of the 10
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is further amended 11
by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(u) T
ERM OFPERMITTODRILL.—A permit to drill 13
issued under this section after the date of the enactment 14
of this subsection shall be valid for one four-year term 15
from the date that the permit is approved, or until the 16
lease regarding which the permit is issued expires, which-17
ever occurs first.’’. 18
SEC. 213. AMENDMENTS TO THE ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 19
2005. 20
Section 390 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 21
U.S.C. 15942) is amended to read as follows: 22
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‘‘SEC. 390. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT RE-1
VIEW. 2
‘‘(a) N
ATIONALENVIRONMENTAL POLICYACTRE-3
VIEW.—Action by the Secretary of the Interior, in man-4
aging the public lands, or the Secretary of Agriculture, 5
in managing National Forest System lands, with respect 6
to any of the activities described in subsection (c), shall 7
not be considered a major Federal action for the purposes 8
of section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 9
Act of 1969, if the activity is conducted pursuant to the 10
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) for the pur-11
pose of exploration or development of oil or gas. 12
‘‘(b) A
PPLICATION.—This section shall not apply to 13
an action of the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary 14
of Agriculture on Indian lands or resources managed in 15
trust for the benefit of Indian Tribes. 16
‘‘(c) A
CTIVITIESDESCRIBED.—The activities re-17
ferred to in subsection (a) are as follows: 18
‘‘(1) Reinstating a lease pursuant to section 31 19
of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 188). 20
‘‘(2) The following activities, provided that any 21
new surface disturbance is contiguous with the foot-22
print of the original authorization and does not ex-23
ceed 20 acres or the acreage has previously been 24
evaluated in a document previously prepared under 25
section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 26
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Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) with re-1
spect to such activity: 2
‘‘(A) Drilling an oil or gas well at a well 3
pad site at which drilling has occurred pre-4
viously. 5
‘‘(B) Expansion of an existing oil or gas 6
well pad site to accommodate an additional well. 7
‘‘(C) Expansion or modification of an ex-8
isting oil or gas well pad site, road, pipeline, fa-9
cility, or utility submitted in a sundry notice. 10
‘‘(3) Drilling of an oil or gas well at a new well 11
pad site, provided that the new surface disturbance 12
does not exceed 20 acres and the acreage evaluated 13
in a document previously prepared under section 14
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act 15
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) with respect to such 16
activity, whichever is greater. 17
‘‘(4) Construction or realignment of a road, 18
pipeline, or utility within an existing right-of-way or 19
within a right-of-way corridor established in a land 20
use plan. 21
‘‘(5) The following activities when conducted 22
from non-Federal surface into federally owned min-23
erals, provided that the operator submits to the Sec-24
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retary concerned certification of a surface use agree-1
ment with the non-Federal landowner: 2
‘‘(A) Drilling an oil or gas well at a well 3
pad site at which drilling has occurred pre-4
viously. 5
‘‘(B) Expansion of an existing oil or gas 6
well pad site to accommodate an additional well. 7
‘‘(C) Expansion or modification of an ex-8
isting oil or gas well pad site, road, pipeline, fa-9
cility, or utility submitted in a sundry notice. 10
‘‘(6) Drilling of an oil or gas well from non- 11
Federal surface and non-Federal subsurface into 12
Federal mineral estate. 13
‘‘(7) Construction of up to 1 mile of new road 14
on Federal or non-Federal surface, not to exceed 2 15
miles in total. 16
‘‘(8) Construction of up to 3 miles of individual 17
pipelines or utilities, regardless of surface owner-18
ship.’’. 19
SEC. 214. ACCESS TO FEDERAL ENERGY RESOURCES FROM 20
NON-FEDERAL SURFACE ESTATE. 21
(a) O
IL ANDGASPERMITS.—Section 17 of the Min-22
eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is further amended by 23
adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(v) NOFEDERALPERMITREQUIRED FOROIL AND 1
G
ASACTIVITIES ONCERTAINLAND.— 2
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not re-3
quire an operator to obtain a Federal drilling permit 4
for oil and gas exploration and production activities 5
conducted on non-Federal surface estate, provided 6
that— 7
‘‘(A) the United States holds an ownership 8
interest of less than 50 percent of the sub-9
surface mineral estate to be accessed by the 10
proposed action; and 11
‘‘(B) the operator submits to the Secretary 12
a State permit to conduct oil and gas explo-13
ration and production activities on the non-Fed-14
eral surface estate. 15
‘‘(2) N
O FEDERAL ACTION.—An oil and gas ex-16
ploration and production activity carried out under 17
paragraph (1)— 18
‘‘(A) shall not be considered a major Fed-19
eral action for the purposes of section 20
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 21
Act of 1969; 22
‘‘(B) shall require no additional Federal 23
action; 24
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‘‘(C) may commence 30 days after submis-1
sion of the State permit to the Secretary; and 2
‘‘(D) shall not be subject to— 3
‘‘(i) section 306108 of title 54, United 4
States Code (commonly known as the Na-5
tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966); 6
and 7
‘‘(ii) section 7 of the Endangered Spe-8
cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536). 9
‘‘(3) R
OYALTIES AND PRODUCTION ACCOUNT -10
ABILITY.—(A) Nothing in this subsection shall affect 11
the amount of royalties due to the United States 12
under this Act from the production of oil and gas, 13
or alter the Secretary’s authority to conduct audits 14
and collect civil penalties pursuant to the Federal 15
Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 16
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 17
‘‘(B) The Secretary may conduct onsite reviews 18
and inspections to ensure proper accountability, 19
measurement, and reporting of production of Fed-20
eral oil and gas, and payment of royalties. 21
‘‘(4) E
XCEPTIONS.—This subsection shall not 22
apply to actions on Indian lands or resources man-23
aged in trust for the benefit of Indian Tribes. 24
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‘‘(5) INDIAN LAND.—In this subsection, the 1
term ‘Indian land’ means— 2
‘‘(A) any land located within the bound-3
aries of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or 4
rancheria; and 5
‘‘(B) any land not located within the 6
boundaries of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or 7
rancheria, the title to which is held— 8
‘‘(i) in trust by the United States for 9
the benefit of an Indian tribe or an indi-10
vidual Indian; 11
‘‘(ii) by an Indian tribe or an indi-12
vidual Indian, subject to restriction against 13
alienation under laws of the United States; 14
or 15
‘‘(iii) by a dependent Indian commu-16
nity.’’. 17
(b) G
EOTHERMAL PERMITS.—The Geothermal 18
Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended 19
by adding at the end the following: 20
‘‘SEC. 30. NO FEDERAL PERMIT REQUIRED FOR GEO-21
THERMAL ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND. 22
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall not require 23
an operator to obtain a Federal drilling permit for geo-24
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thermal exploration and production activities conducted on 1
a non-Federal surface estate, provided that— 2
‘‘(1) the United States holds an ownership in-3
terest of less than 50 percent of the subsurface geo-4
thermal estate to be accessed by the proposed action; 5
and 6
‘‘(2) the operator submits to the Secretary a 7
State permit to conduct geothermal exploration and 8
production activities on the non-Federal surface es-9
tate. 10
‘‘(b) N
OFEDERALACTION.—A geothermal explo-11
ration and production activity carried out under para-12
graph (1)— 13
‘‘(1) shall not be considered a major Federal 14
action for the purposes of section 102(2)(C) of the 15
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; 16
‘‘(2) shall require no additional Federal action; 17
‘‘(3) may commence 30 days after submission 18
of the State permit to the Secretary; and 19
‘‘(4) shall not be subject to— 20
‘‘(A) section 306108 of title 54, United 21
States Code (commonly known as the National 22
Historic Preservation Act of 1966); and 23
‘‘(B) section 7 of the Endangered Species 24
Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536). 25
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‘‘(c) ROYALTIES AND PRODUCTION ACCOUNT-1
ABILITY.—(1) Nothing in this section shall affect the 2
amount of royalties due to the United States under this 3
Act from the production of electricity using geothermal re-4
sources (other than direct use of geothermal resources) or 5
the production of any byproducts. 6
‘‘(2) The Secretary may conduct onsite reviews and 7
inspections to ensure proper accountability, measurement, 8
and reporting of the production described in paragraph 9
(1), and payment of royalties. 10
‘‘(d) E
XCEPTIONS.—This section shall not apply to 11
actions on Indian lands or resources managed in trust for 12
the benefit of Indian Tribes. 13
‘‘(e) I
NDIANLAND.—In this section, the term ‘Indian 14
land’ means— 15
‘‘(1) any land located within the boundaries of 16
an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria; and 17
‘‘(2) any land not located within the boundaries 18
of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria, the 19
title to which is held— 20
‘‘(A) in trust by the United States for the 21
benefit of an Indian tribe or an individual In-22
dian; 23
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‘‘(B) by an Indian tribe or an individual 1
Indian, subject to restriction against alienation 2
under laws of the United States; or 3
‘‘(C) by a dependent Indian community.’’. 4
SEC. 215. SCOPE OF ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS FOR OIL 5
AND GAS LEASES. 6
An environmental review for an oil and gas lease or 7
permit prepared pursuant to the requirements of the Na-8
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 9
et seq.) and its implementing regulations— 10
(1) shall apply only to areas that are within or 11
immediately adjacent to the lease plot or plots and 12
that are directly affected by the proposed action; 13
and 14
(2) shall not require consideration of down-15
stream, indirect effects of oil and gas consumption. 16
SEC. 216. EXPEDITING APPROVAL OF GATHERING LINES. 17
Section 11318(b)(1) of the Infrastructure Investment 18
and Jobs Act (42 U.S.C. 15943(b)(1)) is amended by 19
striking ‘‘to be an action that is categorically excluded (as 20
defined in section 1508.1 of title 40, Code of Federal Reg-21
ulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 22
Act))’’ and inserting ‘‘to not be a major Federal action’’. 23
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SEC. 217. LEASE SALE LITIGATION. 1
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any oil 2
and gas lease sale held under section 17 of the Mineral 3
Leasing Act (26 U.S.C. 226) or the Outer Continental 4
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) shall not be 5
vacated and activities on leases awarded in the sale shall 6
not be otherwise limited, delayed, or enjoined unless the 7
court concludes allowing development of the challenged 8
lease will pose a risk of an imminent and substantial envi-9
ronmental harm and there is no other equitable remedy 10
available as a matter of law. No court, in response to an 11
action brought pursuant to the National Environmental 12
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. et seq.), may enjoin or issue 13
any order preventing the award of leases to a bidder in 14
a lease sale conducted pursuant to section 17 of the Min-15
eral Leasing Act (26 U.S.C. 226) or the Outer Continental 16
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) if the Depart-17
ment of the Interior has previously opened bids for such 18
leases or disclosed the high bidder for any tract that was 19
included in such lease sale. 20
SEC. 218. LIMITATION ON CLAIMS. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-22
sion of law, a claim arising under Federal law seeking ju-23
dicial review of a permit, license, or approval issued by 24
a Federal agency for a mineral project, energy facility, or 25
energy storage device shall be barred unless— 26
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(1) the claim is filed within 120 days after pub-1
lication of a notice in the Federal Register announc-2
ing that the permit, license, or approval is final pur-3
suant to the law under which the agency action is 4
taken, unless a shorter time is specified in the Fed-5
eral law pursuant to which judicial review is allowed; 6
and 7
(2) the claim is filed by a party that submitted 8
a comment during the public comment period for 9
such permit, license, or approval and such comment 10
was sufficiently detailed to put the agency on notice 11
of the issue upon which the party seeks judicial re-12
view. 13
(b) S
AVINGSCLAUSE.—Nothing in this section shall 14
create a right to judicial review or place any limit on filing 15
a claim that a person has violated the terms of a permit, 16
license, or approval. 17
(c) T
RANSPORTATION PROJECTS.—Subsection (a) 18
shall not apply to or supersede a claim subject to section 19
139(l)(1) of title 23, United States Code. 20
(d) M
INERALPROJECT.—In this section, the term 21
‘‘mineral project’’ means a project— 22
(1) located on— 23
(A) a mining claim, millsite claim, or tun-24
nel site claim for any mineral; 25
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(B) lands open to mineral entry; or 1
(C) a Federal mineral lease; and 2
(2) for the purposes of exploring for or pro-3
ducing minerals. 4
SEC. 219. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT 5
ON PERMITS TO DRILL. 6
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 7
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 8
United States shall issue a report detailing— 9
(1) the approval timelines for applications for 10
permits to drill issued by the Bureau of Land Man-11
agement from 2018 through 2022; 12
(2) the number of applications for permits to 13
drill that were not issued within 30 days of receipt 14
of a completed application; and 15
(3) the causes of delays resulting in applica-16
tions for permits to drill pending beyond the 30 day 17
deadline required under section 17(p)(2) of the Min-18
eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(p)(2)). 19
(b) R
ECOMMENDATIONS .—The report issued under 20
subsection (a) shall include recommendations with respect 21
to— 22
(1) actions the Bureau of Land Management 23
can take to streamline the approval process for ap-24
plications for permits to drill to approve applications 25
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for permits to drill within 30 days of receipt of a 1
completed application; 2
(2) aspects of the Federal permitting process 3
carried out by the Bureau of Land Management to 4
issue applications for permits to drill that can be 5
turned over to States to expedite approval of appli-6
cations for permits to drill; and 7
(3) legislative actions that Congress must take 8
to allow States to administer certain aspects of the 9
Federal permitting process described in paragraph 10
(2). 11
TITLE III—PERMITTING FOR 12
MINING NEEDS 13
SEC. 301. DEFINITIONS. 14
In this title: 15
(1) B
YPRODUCT.—The term ‘‘byproduct’’ has 16
the meaning given such term in section 7002(a) of 17
the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)). 18
(2) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 19
has the meaning given such term in section 4 of the 20
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 21
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 22
(3) M
INERAL.—The term ‘‘mineral’’ means any 23
mineral of a kind that is locatable (including, but 24
not limited to, such minerals located on ‘‘lands ac-25
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quired by the United States’’, as such term is de-1
fined in section 2 of the Mineral Leasing Act for Ac-2
quired Lands) under the Act of May 10, 1872 3
(Chapter 152; 17 Stat. 91). 4
(4) S
ECRETARY.—Except as otherwise provided, 5
the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the In-6
terior. 7
(5) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 8
(A) a State; 9
(B) the District of Columbia; 10
(C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 11
(D) Guam; 12
(E) American Samoa; 13
(F) the Commonwealth of the Northern 14
Mariana Islands; and 15
(G) the United States Virgin Islands. 16
SEC. 302. MINERALS SUPPLY CHAIN AND RELIABILITY. 17
Section 40206 of the Infrastructure Investment and 18
Jobs Act (30 U.S.C. 1607) is amended— 19
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘
CRIT-20
ICAL MINERALS ’’ and inserting ‘‘MINERALS’’; 21
(2) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol-22
lows: 23
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24
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‘‘(1) LEAD AGENCY.—The term ‘lead agency’ 1
means the Federal agency with primary responsi-2
bility for issuing a mineral exploration or mine per-3
mit or lease for a mineral project. 4
‘‘(2) M
INERAL.—The term ‘mineral’ has the 5
meaning given such term in section 301 of the 6
TAPP American Resources Act. 7
‘‘(3) M
INERAL EXPLORATION OR MINE PER -8
MIT.—The term ‘mineral exploration or mine permit’ 9
means— 10
‘‘(A) an authorization of the Bureau of 11
Land Management or the Forest Service, as ap-12
plicable, for exploration for minerals that re-13
quires analysis under the National Environ-14
mental Policy Act of 1969; 15
‘‘(B) a plan of operations for a mineral 16
project approved by the Bureau of Land Man-17
agement or the Forest Service; or 18
‘‘(C) any other Federal permit or author-19
ization for a mineral project. 20
‘‘(4) M
INERAL PROJECT.—The term ‘mineral 21
project’ means a project— 22
‘‘(A) located on— 23
‘‘(i) a mining claim, millsite claim, or 24
tunnel site claim for any mineral; 25
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‘‘(ii) lands open to mineral entry; or 1
‘‘(iii) a Federal mineral lease; and 2
‘‘(B) for the purposes of exploring for or 3
producing minerals.’’; 4
(3) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘critical’’ each 5
place such term appears; 6
(4) in subsection (c)— 7
(A) by striking ‘‘critical mineral production 8
on Federal land’’ and inserting ‘‘mineral 9
projects’’; 10
(B) by inserting ‘‘, and in accordance with 11
subsection (h)’’ after ‘‘to the maximum extent 12
practicable’’; 13
(C) by striking ‘‘shall complete the’’ and 14
inserting ‘‘shall complete such’’; 15
(D) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘critical 16
mineral-related activities on Federal land’’ and 17
inserting ‘‘mineral projects’’; 18
(E) in paragraph (8), by striking the 19
‘‘and’’ at the end; 20
(F) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘proce-21
dures.’’ and inserting ‘‘procedures; and’’; and 22
(G) by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(10) deferring to and relying on baseline data, 24
analyses, and reviews performed by State agencies 25
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with jurisdiction over the environmental or reclama-1
tion permits for the proposed mineral project.’’; 2
(5) in subsection (d)— 3
(A) by striking ‘‘critical’’ each place such 4
term appears; and 5
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘mineral- 6
related activities on Federal land’’ and inserting 7
‘‘mineral projects’’; 8
(6) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘critical’’; 9
(7) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘critical’’ each 10
place such term appears; 11
(8) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘critical’’ each 12
place such term appears; and 13
(9) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(h) O
THERREQUIREMENTS.— 15
‘‘(1) M
EMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT .—For pur-16
poses of maximizing efficiency and effectiveness of 17
the Federal permitting and review processes de-18
scribed under subsection (c), the lead agency in the 19
Federal permitting and review processes of a min-20
eral project shall (in consultation with any other 21
Federal agency involved in such Federal permitting 22
and review processes, and upon request of the 23
project applicant, an affected State government, 24
local government, or an Indian Tribe, or other entity 25
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such lead agency determines appropriate) enter into 1
a memorandum of agreement with a project appli-2
cant where requested by applicant to carry out the 3
activities described in subsection (c). 4
‘‘(2) T
IMELINES AND SCHEDULES FOR NEPA 5
REVIEWS.— 6
‘‘(A) E
XTENSION.—A project applicant 7
may enter into 1 or more agreements with a 8
lead agency to extend the deadlines described in 9
subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (h)(1) 10
of section 107 of title I of the National Envi-11
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 by, with respect 12
to each such agreement, not more than 6 13
months. 14
‘‘(B) A
DJUSTMENT OF TIMELINES .—At 15
the request of a project applicant, the lead 16
agency and any other entity which is a signa-17
tory to a memorandum of agreement under 18
paragraph (1) may, by unanimous agreement, 19
adjust— 20
‘‘(i) any deadlines described in sub-21
paragraph (A); and 22
‘‘(ii) any deadlines extended under 23
subparagraph (B). 24
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‘‘(3) EFFECT ON PENDING APPLICATIONS .— 1
Upon a written request by a project applicant, the 2
requirements of this subsection shall apply to any 3
application for a mineral exploration or mine permit 4
or mineral lease that was submitted before the date 5
of the enactment of the TAPP American Resources 6
Act.’’. 7
SEC. 303. FEDERAL REGISTER PROCESS IMPROVEMENT. 8
Section 7002(f) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 9
U.S.C. 1606(f)) is amended— 10
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘critical’’ both 11
places such term appears; and 12
(2) by striking paragraph (4). 13
SEC. 304. DESIGNATION OF MINING AS A COVERED SECTOR 14
FOR FEDERAL PERMITTING IMPROVEMENT 15
PURPOSES. 16
Section 41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 17
4370m(6)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘mineral produc-18
tion,’’ before ‘‘or any other sector’’. 19
SEC. 305. TREATMENT OF ACTIONS UNDER PRESIDENTIAL 20
DETERMINATION 2022–11 FOR FEDERAL PER-21
MITTING IMPROVEMENT PURPOSES. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided by subsection 23
(c), an action described in subsection (b) shall be— 24
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(1) treated as a covered project, as defined in 1
section 41001(6) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 2
4370m(6)), without regard to the requirements of 3
that section; and 4
(2) included in the Permitting Dashboard main-5
tained pursuant to section 41003(b) of that Act (42 6
13 U.S.C. 4370m–2(b)). 7
(b) A
CTIONSDESCRIBED.—An action described in 8
this subsection is an action taken by the Secretary of De-9
fense pursuant to Presidential Determination 2022–11 10
(87 Fed. Reg. 19775; relating to certain actions under 11
section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950) to 12
create, maintain, protect, expand, or restore sustainable 13
and responsible domestic production capabilities 14
through— 15
(1) supporting feasibility studies for mature 16
mining, beneficiation, and value-added processing 17
projects; 18
(2) byproduct and co-product production at ex-19
isting mining, mine waste reclamation, and other in-20
dustrial facilities; 21
(3) modernization of mining, beneficiation, and 22
value-added processing to increase productivity, envi-23
ronmental sustainability, and workforce safety; or 24
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(4) any other activity authorized under section 1
303(a)(1) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 15 2
(50 U.S.C. 4533(a)(1)). 3
(c) E
XCEPTION.—An action described in subsection 4
(b) may not be treated as a covered project or be included 5
in the Permitting Dashboard under subsection (a) if the 6
project sponsor (as defined in section 41001(18) of the 7
FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 21 4370m(18))) requests that the 8
action not be treated as a covered project. 9
SEC. 306. NOTICE FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES 10
WITH LIMITED SURFACE DISTURBANCE. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 15 days before 12
commencing an exploration activity with a surface disturb-13
ance of not more than 5 acres of public lands, the operator 14
of such exploration activity shall submit to the Secretary 15
concerned a complete notice of such exploration activity. 16
(b) I
NCLUSIONS.—Notice submitted under subsection 17
(a) shall include such information the Secretary concerned 18
may require, including the information described in sec-19
tion 3809.301 of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations (or 20
any successor regulation). 21
(c) R
EVIEW.—Not later than 15 days after the Sec-22
retary concerned receives notice submitted under sub-23
section (a), the Secretary concerned shall— 24
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(1) review and determine completeness of the 1
notice; and 2
(2) allow exploration activities to proceed if— 3
(A) the surface disturbance of such explo-4
ration activities on such public lands will not 5
exceed 5 acres; 6
(B) the Secretary concerned determines 7
that the notice is complete; and 8
(C) the operator provides financial assur-9
ance that the Secretary concerned determines is 10
adequate. 11
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 12
(1) E
XPLORATION ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘explo-13
ration activity’’— 14
(A) means creating surface disturbance 15
greater than casual use that includes sampling, 16
drilling, or developing surface or underground 17
workings to evaluate the type, extent, quantity, 18
or quality of mineral values present; 19
(B) includes constructing drill roads and 20
drill pads, drilling, trenching, excavating test 21
pits, and conducting geotechnical tests and geo-22
physical surveys; and 23
(C) does not include activities where mate-24
rial is extracted for commercial use or sale. 25
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(2) SECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-1
retary concerned’’ means— 2
(A) with respect to lands administered by 3
the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 4
the Interior; and 5
(B) with respect to National Forest Sys-6
tem lands, the Secretary of Agriculture. 7
SEC. 307. USE OF MINING CLAIMS FOR ANCILLARY ACTIVI-8
TIES. 9
Section 10101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation 10
Act of 1993 (30 U.S.C. 28f) is amended by adding at the 11
end the following: 12
‘‘(e) S
ECURITY OFTENURE.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A claimant shall have 15
the right to use, occupy, and conduct operations 16
on public land, with or without the discovery of 17
a valuable mineral deposit, if— 18
‘‘(i) such claimant makes a timely 19
payment of the location fee required by 20
section 10102 and the claim maintenance 21
fee required by subsection (a); or 22
‘‘(ii) in the case of a claimant who 23
qualifies for a waiver under subsection (d), 24
such claimant makes a timely payment of 25
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the location fee and complies with the re-1
quired assessment work under the general 2
mining laws. 3
‘‘(B) O
PERATIONS DEFINED .—For the 4
purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘oper-5
ations’ means— 6
‘‘(i) any activity or work carried out 7
in connection with prospecting, exploration, 8
processing, discovery and assessment, de-9
velopment, or extraction with respect to a 10
locatable mineral; 11
‘‘(ii) the reclamation of any disturbed 12
areas; and 13
‘‘(iii) any other reasonably incident 14
uses, whether on a mining claim or not, in-15
cluding the construction and maintenance 16
of facilities, roads, transmission lines, pipe-17
lines, and any other necessary infrastruc-18
ture or means of access on public land for 19
support facilities. 20
‘‘(2) F
ULFILLMENT OF FEDERAL LAND POLICY 21
AND MANAGEMENT ACT .—A claimant that fulfills 22
the requirements of this section and section 10102 23
shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of any 24
provision of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-25
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ment Act that requires the payment of fair market 1
value to the United States for use of public lands 2
and resources relating to use of such lands and re-3
sources authorized by the general mining laws. 4
‘‘(3) S
AVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub-5
section may be construed to diminish the rights of 6
entry, use, and occupancy, or any other right, of a 7
claimant under the general mining laws.’’. 8
SEC. 308. ENSURING CONSIDERATION OF URANIUM AS A 9
CRITICAL MINERAL. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 7002(a)(3)(B)(i) of the 11
Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)(3)(B)(i)) is 12
amended to read as follows: 13
‘‘(i) oil, oil shale, coal, or natural 14
gas;’’. 15
(b) U
PDATE.—Not later than 60 days after the date 16
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, acting 17
through the Director of the United States Geological Sur-18
vey, shall publish in the Federal Register an update to 19
the final list established in section 7002(c)(3) of the En-20
ergy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(c)(3)) in accordance 21
with subsection (a) of this section. 22
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TITLE IV—FEDERAL LAND USE 1
PLANNING 2
SEC. 401. FEDERAL LAND USE PLANNING AND WITH-3
DRAWALS. 4
(a) R
ESOURCEASSESSMENTSREQUIRED.—Federal 5
lands and waters may not be withdrawn from entry under 6
the mining laws or operation of the mineral leasing and 7
mineral materials laws unless— 8
(1) a quantitative and qualitative geophysical 9
and geological mineral resource assessment of the 10
impacted area has been completed during the 10- 11
year period ending on the date of such withdrawal; 12
(2) the Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-13
retary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and 14
the Secretary of Defense, conducts an assessment of 15
the economic, energy, strategic, and national secu-16
rity value of mineral deposits identified in such min-17
eral resource assessment; 18
(3) the Secretary conducts an assessment of the 19
reduction in future Federal revenues to the Treas-20
ury, States, the Land and Water Conservation 21
Fund, and the Historic Preservation Fund resulting 22
from the proposed mineral withdrawal; 23
(4) the Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-24
retary of Defense, conducts an assessment of mili-25
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tary readiness and training activities in the proposed 1
withdrawal area; and 2
(5) the Secretary submits a report to the Com-3
mittees on Natural Resources, Agriculture, Energy 4
and Commerce, and Foreign Affairs of the House of 5
Representatives and the Committees on Energy and 6
Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Foreign Affairs 7
of the Senate, that includes the results of the assess-8
ments completed pursuant to this subsection. 9
(b) L
ANDUSEPLANS.—Before a resource manage-10
ment plan under the Federal Land Policy and Manage-11
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) or a forest 12
management plan under the National Forest Management 13
Act is updated or completed, the Secretary or Secretary 14
of Agriculture, as applicable, in consultation with the Di-15
rector of the United States Geological Survey, shall— 16
(1) review any quantitative and qualitative min-17
eral resource assessment that was completed or up-18
dated during the 10-year period ending on the date 19
that the applicable land management agency pub-20
lishes a notice to prepare, revise, or amend a land 21
use plan by the Director of the United States Geo-22
logical Survey for the geographic area affected by 23
the applicable management plan; 24
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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; and 6
(3) submit a report to the Committees on Nat-7
ural Resources, Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, 8
and Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 9
and the Committees on Energy and Natural Re-10
sources, Agriculture, and Foreign Affairs of the Sen-11
ate, that includes the results of the assessment com-12
pleted pursuant to this subsection. 13
(c) N
EWINFORMATION.—The Secretary shall provide 14
recommendations to the President on appropriate meas-15
ures to reduce unnecessary impacts that a withdrawal of 16
Federal lands or waters from entry under the mining laws 17
or operation of the mineral leasing and mineral materials 18
laws may have on mineral exploration, development, and 19
other mineral activities (including authorizing exploration 20
and development of such mineral deposits) not later than 21
180 days after the Secretary has notice that a resource 22
assessment completed by the Director of the United States 23
Geological Survey, in coordination with the State geologi-24
cal surveys, determines that a previously undiscovered 25
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mineral deposit may be present in an area that has been 1
withdrawn from entry under the mining laws or operation 2
of the mineral leasing and mineral materials laws pursu-3
ant to— 4
(1) section 204 of the Federal Land Policy and 5
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1714), or 6
(2) chapter 3203 of title 54, United States 7
Code. 8
SEC. 402. PROHIBITIONS ON DELAY OF MINERAL DEVELOP-9
MENT OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LAND. 10
(a) P
ROHIBITIONS.—Notwithstanding any other pro-11
vision of law, the President shall not carry out any action 12
that would pause, restrict, or delay the process for or 13
issuance of any of the following on Federal land, unless 14
such lands are withdrawn from disposition under the min-15
eral leasing laws, including by administrative withdrawal: 16
(1) New oil and gas lease sales, oil and gas 17
leases, drill permits, or associated approvals or au-18
thorizations of any kind associated with oil and gas 19
leases. 20
(2) New coal leases (including leases by applica-21
tion in process, renewals, modifications, or expan-22
sions of existing leases), permits, approvals, or au-23
thorizations. 24
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(3) New leases, claims, permits, approvals, or 1
authorizations for development or exploration of 2
minerals. 3
(b) P
ROHIBITION ONRESCISSION OFLEASES, PER-4
MITS, ORCLAIMS.—The President, the Secretary, or Sec-5
retary of Agriculture as applicable, may not rescind any 6
existing lease, permit, or claim for the extraction and pro-7
duction of any mineral under the mining laws or mineral 8
leasing and mineral materials laws on National Forest 9
System land or land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau 10
of Land Management, unless specifically authorized by 11
Federal statute, or upon the lessee, permittee, or claim-12
ant’s failure to comply with any of the provisions of the 13
applicable lease, permit, or claim. 14
(c) M
INERALDEFINED.—In subsection (a)(3), the 15
term ‘‘mineral’’ means any mineral of a kind that is 16
locatable (including such minerals located on ‘‘lands ac-17
quired by the United States’’, as such term is defined in 18
section 2 of the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands) 19
under the Act of May 10, 1872 (Chapter 152; 17 Stat. 20
91). 21
SEC. 403. DEFINITIONS. 22
In this title: 23
(1) F
EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 24
means— 25
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(A) National Forest System land; 1
(B) public lands (as defined in section 103 2
of the Federal Land Policy and Management 3
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 4
(C) the outer Continental Shelf (as defined 5
in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf 6
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331)); and 7
(D) land managed by the Secretary of En-8
ergy. 9
(2) P
RESIDENT.—The term ‘‘President’’ 10
means— 11
(A) the President; and 12
(B) any designee of the President, includ-13
ing— 14
(i) the Secretary of Agriculture; 15
(ii) the Secretary of Commerce; 16
(iii) the Secretary of Energy; and 17
(iv) the Secretary of the Interior. 18
(3) P
REVIOUSLY UNDISCOVERED DEPOSIT .— 19
The term ‘‘previously undiscovered mineral deposit’’ 20
means— 21
(A) a mineral deposit that has been pre-22
viously evaluated by the United States Geologi-23
cal Survey and found to be of low mineral po-24
tential, but upon subsequent evaluation is de-25
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termined by the United States Geological Sur-1
vey to have significant mineral potential, or 2
(B) a mineral deposit that has not pre-3
viously been evaluated by the United States Ge-4
ological Survey. 5
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 6
the Secretary of the Interior. 7
TITLE V—ENSURING COMPETI-8
TIVENESS ON FEDERAL 9
LANDS 10
SEC. 501. INCENTIVIZING DOMESTIC PRODUCTION. 11
(a) O
FFSHOREOIL ANDGASROYALTYRATE.—Sec-12
tion 8(a)(1) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 13
U.S.C. 1337(a)(1)) is amended— 14
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘not less 15
than 16
2
⁄3percent, but not more than 18
3
⁄4percent, 16
during the 10-year period beginning on the date of 17
enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act to provide for 18
reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 19
14’, and not less than 16
2
⁄3percent thereafter,’’ 20
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘not less than 21
12.5 percent’’; 22
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘not less 23
than 16
2
⁄3percent, but not more than 18
3
⁄4percent, 24
during the 10-year period beginning on the date of 25
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enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act to provide for 1
reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 2
14’, and not less than 16
2
⁄3percent thereafter,’’ 3
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘not less than 4
12.5 percent’’; 5
(3) in subparagraph (F), 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’’; and 12
(4) in subparagraph (H), by striking ‘‘not less 13
than 16
2
⁄3percent, but not more than 18
3
⁄4percent, 14
during the 10-year period beginning on the date of 15
enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act to provide for 16
reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 17
14’, and not less than 16
2
⁄3percent thereafter,’’ and 18
inserting ‘‘not less than 12.5 percent’’. 19
(b) M
INERALLEASINGACT.— 20
(1) O
NSHORE OIL AND GAS ROYALTY RATES .— 21
(A) L
EASE OF OIL AND GAS LAND .—Sec-22
tion 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 23
226) is amended— 24
(i) in subsection (b)(1)(A)— 25
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(I) by striking ‘‘not less than 1
16
2
⁄3’’ and inserting ‘‘not less than 2
12.5’’; and 3
(II) by striking ‘‘or, in the case 4
of a lease issued during the 10-year 5
period beginning on the date of enact-6
ment of the Act titled ‘An Act to pro-7
vide for reconciliation pursuant to 8
title II of S. Con. Res. 14’, 16
2
⁄3per-9
cent in amount or value of the pro-10
duction removed or sold from the 11
lease’’; and 12
(ii) by striking ‘‘16
2
⁄3percent’’ each 13
place it appears and inserting ‘‘12.5 per-14
cent’’. 15
(B) C
ONDITIONS FOR REINSTATEMENT .— 16
Section 31(e)(3) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 17
U.S.C. 188(e)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘20’’ 18
inserting ‘‘16
2
⁄3’’. 19
(2) O
IL AND GAS MINIMUM BID .—Section 17(b) 20
of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(b)) is 21
amended— 22
(A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘$10 23
per acre during the 10-year period beginning on 24
the date of enactment of the Act titled ‘An Act 25
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to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II 1
of S. Con. Res. 14’.’’ and inserting ‘‘$2 per 2
acre for a period of 2 years from the date of 3
the enactment of the Federal Onshore Oil and 4
Gas Leasing Reform Act of 1987.’’; and 5
(B) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ‘‘$10 6
per acre’’ and inserting ‘‘$2 per acre’’. 7
(3) F
OSSIL FUEL RENTAL RATES .—Section 8
17(d) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 9
226(d)) is amended to read as follows: 10
‘‘(d) All leases issued under this section, as amended 11
by the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act 12
of 1987, shall be conditioned upon payment by the lessee 13
of a rental of not less than $1.50 per acre per year for 14
the first through fifth years of the lease and not less than 15
$2 per acre per year for each year thereafter. A minimum 16
royalty in lieu of rental of not less than the rental which 17
otherwise would be required for that lease year shall be 18
payable at the expiration of each lease year beginning on 19
or after a discovery of oil or gas in paying quantities on 20
the lands leased.’’. 21
(4) E
XPRESSION OF INTEREST FEE .—Section 22
17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is 23
further amended by repealing subsection (q). 24
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(5) ELIMINATION OF NONCOMPETITIVE LEAS -1
ING.—Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 2
U.S.C. 226) is further amended— 3
(A) in subsection (b)— 4
(i) in paragraph (1)(A)— 5
(I) in the first sentence, by strik-6
ing ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting 7
‘‘paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; and 8
(II) by adding at the end ‘‘Lands 9
for which no bids are received or for 10
which the highest bid is less than the 11
national minimum acceptable bid shall 12
be offered promptly within 30 days 13
for leasing under subsection (c) of this 14
section and shall remain available for 15
leasing for a period of 2 years after 16
the competitive lease sale.’’; and 17
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-18
lowing: 19
‘‘(3)(A) If the United States held a vested fu-20
ture interest in a mineral estate that, immediately 21
prior to becoming a vested present interest, was sub-22
ject to a lease under which oil or gas was being pro-23
duced, or had a well capable of producing, in paying 24
quantities at an annual average production volume 25
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per well per day of either not more than 15 barrels 1
per day of oil or condensate, or not more than 2
60,000 cubic feet of gas, the holder of the lease may 3
elect to continue the lease as a noncompetitive lease 4
under subsection (c)(1). 5
‘‘(B) An election under this paragraph is effec-6
tive— 7
‘‘(i) in the case of an interest which vested 8
after January 1, 1990, and on or before Octo-9
ber 24, 1992, if the election is made before the 10
date that is 1 year after October 24, 1992; 11
‘‘(ii) in the case of an interest which vests 12
within 1 year after October 24, 1992, if the 13
election is made before the date that is 2 years 14
after October 24, 1992; and 15
‘‘(iii) in any case other than those de-16
scribed in clause (i) or (ii), if the election is 17
made prior to the interest becoming a vested 18
present interest.’’; 19
(B) by striking subsection (c) and insert-20
ing the following: 21
‘‘(c) L
ANDSSUBJECT TOLEASINGUNDERSUB-22
SECTION(b); FIRSTQUALIFIEDAPPLICANT.— 23
‘‘(1) If the lands to be leased are not leased 24
under subsection (b)(1) of this section or are not 25
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subject to competitive leasing under subsection 1
(b)(2) of this section, the person first making appli-2
cation for the lease who is qualified to hold a lease 3
under this chapter shall be entitled to a lease of 4
such lands without competitive bidding, upon pay-5
ment of a non-refundable application fee of at least 6
$75. A lease under this subsection shall be condi-7
tioned upon the payment of a royalty at a rate of 8
12.5 percent in amount or value of the production 9
removed or sold from the lease. Leases shall be 10
issued within 60 days of the date on which the Sec-11
retary identifies the first responsible qualified appli-12
cant. 13
‘‘(2)(A) Lands (i) which were posted for sale 14
under subsection (b)(1) of this section but for which 15
no bids were received or for which the highest bid 16
was less than the national minimum acceptable bid 17
and (ii) for which, at the end of the period referred 18
to in subsection (b)(1) of this section no lease has 19
been issued and no lease application is pending 20
under paragraph (1) of this subsection, shall again 21
be available for leasing only in accordance with sub-22
section (b)(1) of this section. 23
‘‘(B) The land in any lease which is issued 24
under paragraph (1) of this subsection or under sub-25
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section (b)(1) of this section which lease terminates, 1
expires, is cancelled or is relinquished shall again be 2
available for leasing only in accordance with sub-3
section (b)(1) of this section.’’; and 4
(C) by striking subsection (e) and inserting 5
the following: 6
‘‘(e) P
RIMARYTERM.—Competitive and noncompeti-7
tive leases issued under this section shall be for a primary 8
term of 10 years: Provided, however, That competitive 9
leases issued in special tar sand areas shall also be for 10
a primary term of ten years. Each such lease shall con-11
tinue so long after its primary term as oil or gas is pro-12
duced in paying quantities. Any lease issued under this 13
section for land on which, or for which under an approved 14
cooperative or unit plan of development or operation, ac-15
tual drilling operations were commenced prior to the end 16
of its primary term and are being diligently prosecuted 17
at that time shall be extended for two years and so long 18
thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.’’. 19
(6) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 31 of 20
the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 188) is amend-21
ed— 22
(A) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘sec-23
tion 17(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b) or (c) 24
of section 17 of this Act’’; 25
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(B) in subsection (e)— 1
(i) in paragraph (2)— 2
(I) insert ‘‘either’’ after ‘‘rentals 3
and’’; and 4
(II) insert ‘‘or the inclusion in a 5
reinstated lease issued pursuant to the 6
provisions of section 17(c) of this Act 7
of a requirement that future rentals 8
shall be at a rate not less than $5 per 9
acre per year, all’’ before ‘‘as deter-10
mined by the Secretary’’; and 11
(ii) by amending paragraph (3) to 12
read as follows: 13
‘‘(3)(A) payment of back royalties and the in-14
clusion in a reinstated lease issued pursuant to the 15
provisions of section 17(b) of this Act of a require-16
ment for future royalties at a rate of not less than 17
16
2
⁄3percent computed on a sliding scale based 18
upon the average production per well per day, at a 19
rate which shall be not less than 4 percentage points 20
greater than the competitive royality schedule then 21
in force and used for royalty determination for com-22
petitive leases issued pursuant to such section as de-23
termined by the Secretary: Provided, That royalty on 24
such reinstated lease shall be paid on all production 25
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removed or sold from such lease subsequent to the 1
termination of the original lease; 2
‘‘(B) payment of back royalties and inclusion in 3
a reinstated lease issued pursuant to the provisions 4
of section 17(c) of this Act of a requirement for fu-5
ture royalties at a rate not less than 16
2
⁄3percent: 6
Provided, That royalty on such reinstated lease shall 7
be paid on all production removed or sold from such 8
lease subsequent to the cancellation or termination 9
of the original lease; and’’; 10
(C) in subsection (f)— 11
(i) in paragraph (1), strike ‘‘in the 12
same manner as the original lease issued 13
pursuant to section 17’’ and insert ‘‘as a 14
competitive or a noncompetitive oil and gas 15
lease in the same manner as the original 16
lease issued pursuant to subsection (b) or 17
(c) of section 17 of this Act’’; 18
(ii) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 19
and (3) as paragraphs (3) and (4), respec-20
tively; and 21
(iii) by inserting after paragraph (1) 22
the following: 23
‘‘(2) Except as otherwise provided in this sec-24
tion, the issuance of a lease in lieu of an abandoned 25
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patented oil placer mining claim shall be treated as 1
a noncompetitive oil and gas lease issued pursuant 2
to section 17(c) of this Act.’’; 3
(D) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘sub-4
section (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (d) and 5
(f)’’; 6
(E) by amending subsection (h) to read as 7
follows: 8
‘‘(h) R
OYALTYREDUCTIONS.— 9
‘‘(1) In acting on a petition to issue a non-10
competitive oil and gas lease, under subsection (f) of 11
this section or in response to a request filed after 12
issuance of such a lease, or both, the Secretary is 13
authorized to reduce the royalty on such lease if in 14
his judgment it is equitable to do so or the cir-15
cumstances warrant such relief due to uneconomic 16
or other circumstances which could cause undue 17
hardship or premature termination of production. 18
‘‘(2) In acting on a petition for reinstatement 19
pursuant to subsection (d) of this section or in re-20
sponse to a request filed after reinstatement, or 21
both, the Secretary is authorized to reduce the roy-22
alty in that reinstated lease on the entire leasehold 23
or any tract or portion thereof segregated for royalty 24
purposes if, in his judgment, there are uneconomic 25
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or other circumstances which could cause undue 1
hardship or premature termination of production; or 2
because of any written action of the United States, 3
its agents or employees, which preceded, and was a 4
major consideration in, the lessee’s expenditure of 5
funds to develop the property under the lease after 6
the rent had become due and had not been paid; or 7
if in the judgment of the Secretary it is equitable to 8
do so for any reason.’’; 9
(F) by redesignating subsections (f) 10
through (i) as subsections (g) through (j), re-11
spectively; and 12
(G) by inserting after subsection (e) the 13
following: 14
‘‘(f) I
SSUANCE OFNONCOMPETITIVEOIL ANDGAS 15
L
EASE; CONDITIONS.—Where an unpatented oil placer 16
mining claim validly located prior to February 24, 1920, 17
which has been or is currently producing or is capable of 18
producing oil or gas, has been or is hereafter deemed con-19
clusively abandoned for failure to file timely the required 20
instruments or copies of instruments required by section 21
1744 of title 43, and it is shown to the satisfaction of 22
the Secretary that such failure was inadvertent, justifi-23
able, or not due to lack of reasonable diligence on the part 24
of the owner, the Secretary may issue, for the lands cov-25
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ered by the abandoned unpatented oil placer mining claim, 1
a noncompetitive oil and gas lease, consistent with the pro-2
visions of section 17(e) of this Act, to be effective from 3
the statutory date the claim was deemed conclusively 4
abandoned. Issuance of such a lease shall be conditioned 5
upon— 6
‘‘(1) a petition for issuance of a noncompetitive 7
oil and gas lease, together with the required rental 8
and royalty, including back rental and royalty accru-9
ing from the statutory date of abandonment of the 10
oil placer mining claim, being filed with the 11
Secretary- (A) with respect to any claim deemed 12
conclusively abandoned on or before January 12, 13
1983, on or before the one hundred and twentieth 14
day after January 12, 1983, or (B) with respect to 15
any claim deemed conclusively abandoned after Jan-16
uary 12, 1983, on or before the one hundred and 17
twentieth day after final notification by the Sec-18
retary or a court of competent jurisdiction of the de-19
termination of the abandonment of the oil placer 20
mining claim; 21
‘‘(2) a valid lease not having been issued affect-22
ing any of the lands covered by the abandoned oil 23
placer mining claim prior to the filing of such peti-24
tion: Provided, however, That after the filing of a pe-25
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tition for issuance of a lease under this subsection, 1
the Secretary shall not issue any new lease affecting 2
any of the lands covered by such abandoned oil plac-3
er mining claim for a reasonable period, as deter-4
mined in accordance with regulations issued by him; 5
‘‘(3) a requirement in the lease for payment of 6
rental, including back rentals accruing from the 7
statutory date of abandonment of the oil placer min-8
ing claim, of not less than $5 per acre per year; 9
‘‘(4) a requirement in the lease for payment of 10
royalty on production removed or sold from the oil 11
placer mining claim, including all royalty on produc-12
tion made subsequent to the statutory date the claim 13
was deemed conclusively abandoned, of not less than 14
12
1
⁄2percent; and 15
‘‘(5) compliance with the notice and reimburse-16
ment of costs provisions of paragraph (4) of sub-17
section (e) but addressed to the petition covering the 18
conversion of an abandoned unpatented oil placer 19
mining claim to a noncompetitive oil and gas lease.’’. 20
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TITLE VI—ENERGY REVENUE 1
SHARING 2
SEC. 601. GULF OF MEXICO OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF 3
REVENUE. 4
(a) D
ISTRIBUTION OFOUTERCONTINENTALSHELF 5
R
EVENUE TOGULFPRODUCINGSTATES.—Section 105 of 6
the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (43 7
U.S.C. 1331 note) is amended— 8
(1) in subsection (a)— 9
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘50’’ and 10
inserting ‘‘37.5’’; and 11
(B) in paragraph (2)— 12
(i) by striking ‘‘50’’ and inserting 13
‘‘62.5’’; 14
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 15
‘‘75’’ and inserting ‘‘80’’; and 16
(iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 17
‘‘25’’ and inserting ‘‘20’’; and 18
(2) by striking subsection (f). 19
(b) 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 section 3
105(a)(2)(A) of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security 4
Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–432; 43 U.S.C. 1331 5
note) (014–5535–0–2–302).’’. 6
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by 7
this subsection shall apply to any sequestration 8
order issued under the Balanced Budget and Emer-9
gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et 10
seq.) on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 11
SEC. 602. PARITY IN OFFSHORE WIND REVENUE SHARING. 12
(a) P
AYMENTS ANDREVENUES.—Section 8(p)(2) of 13
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 14
1337(p)(2)) is amended— 15
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘(A) The 16
Secretary’’ and inserting the following: 17
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-18
graphs (B) and (C), the Secretary’’; 19
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘(B) The 20
Secretary’’ and inserting the following: 21
‘‘(B) D
ISPOSITION OF REVENUES FOR 22
PROJECTS LOCATED WITHIN 3 NAUTICAL MILES 23
SEAWARD OF STATE SUBMERGED LAND .—The 24
Secretary’’; and 25
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(3) by adding at the end the following: 1
‘‘(C) D
ISPOSITION OF REVENUES FOR OFF -2
SHORE WIND PROJECTS IN CERTAIN AREAS .— 3
‘‘(i) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subpara-4
graph: 5
‘‘(I) C
OVERED OFFSHORE WIND 6
PROJECT.—The term ‘covered off-7
shore wind project’ means a wind 8
powered electric generation project in 9
a wind energy area on the outer Con-10
tinental Shelf that is not wholly or 11
partially located within an area sub-12
ject to subparagraph (B). 13
‘‘(II) E
LIGIBLE STATE.—The 14
term ‘eligible State’ means a State a 15
point on the coastline of which is lo-16
cated within 75 miles of the geo-17
graphic center of a covered offshore 18
wind project. 19
‘‘(III) Q
UALIFIED OUTER CONTI -20
NENTAL SHELF REVENUES .—The 21
term ‘qualified outer Continental 22
Shelf revenues’ means all royalties, 23
fees, rentals, bonuses, or other pay-24
ments from covered offshore wind 25
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projects carried out pursuant to this 1
subsection on or after the date of en-2
actment of this subparagraph. 3
‘‘(ii) R
EQUIREMENT.— 4
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—The Sec-5
retary of the Treasury shall deposit— 6
‘‘(aa) 12.5 percent of quali-7
fied outer Continental Shelf reve-8
nues in the general fund of the 9
Treasury; 10
‘‘(bb) 37.5 percent of quali-11
fied outer Continental Shelf reve-12
nues in the North American Wet-13
lands Conservation Fund; and 14
‘‘(cc) 50 percent of qualified 15
outer Continental Shelf revenues 16
in a special account in the Treas-17
ury from which the Secretary 18
shall disburse to each eligible 19
State an amount determined pur-20
suant to subclause (II). 21
‘‘(II) A
LLOCATION.— 22
‘‘(aa) I
N GENERAL.—Sub-23
ject to item (bb), for each fiscal 24
year beginning after the date of 25
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enactment of this subparagraph, 1
the amount made available under 2
subclause (I)(cc) shall be allo-3
cated to each eligible State in 4
amounts (based on a formula es-5
tablished by the Secretary by 6
regulation) that are inversely 7
proportional to the respective dis-8
tances between the point on the 9
coastline of each eligible State 10
that is closest to the geographic 11
center of the applicable leased 12
tract and the geographic center 13
of the leased tract. 14
‘‘(bb) M
INIMUM ALLOCA -15
TION.—The amount allocated to 16
an eligible State each fiscal year 17
under item (aa) shall be at least 18
10 percent of the amounts made 19
available under subclause (I)(cc). 20
‘‘(cc) P
AYMENTS TO COAST -21
AL POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.— 22
‘‘(AA) I
N GENERAL.— 23
The Secretary shall pay 20 24
percent of the allocable 25
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share of each eligible State, 1
as determined pursuant to 2
item (aa), to the coastal po-3
litical subdivisions of the eli-4
gible State. 5
‘‘(BB) A
LLOCATION.— 6
The amount paid by the 7
Secretary to coastal political 8
subdivisions under subitem 9
(AA) shall be allocated to 10
each coastal political sub-11
division in accordance with 12
subparagraphs (B) and (C) 13
of section 31(b)(4) of this 14
Act. 15
‘‘(iii) T
IMING.—The amounts required 16
to be deposited under subclause (I) of 17
clause (ii) for the applicable fiscal year 18
shall be made available in accordance with 19
such subclause during the fiscal year im-20
mediately following the applicable fiscal 21
year. 22
‘‘(iv) A
UTHORIZED USES.— 23
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to 24
subclause (II), each eligible State 25
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shall use all amounts received under 1
clause (ii)(II) in accordance with all 2
applicable Federal and State laws, 3
only for 1 or more of the following 4
purposes: 5
‘‘(aa) Projects and activities 6
for the purposes of coastal pro-7
tection and resiliency, including 8
conservation, coastal restoration, 9
estuary management, beach 10
nourishment, hurricane and flood 11
protection, and infrastructure di-12
rectly affected by coastal wetland 13
losses. 14
‘‘(bb) Mitigation of damage 15
to fish, wildlife, or natural re-16
sources, including through fish-17
eries science and research. 18
‘‘(cc) Implementation of a 19
federally approved marine, coast-20
al, or comprehensive conservation 21
management plan. 22
‘‘(dd) Mitigation of the im-23
pact of outer Continental Shelf 24
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activities through the funding of 1
onshore infrastructure projects. 2
‘‘(ee) Planning assistance 3
and the administrative costs of 4
complying with this section. 5
‘‘(II) L
IMITATION.—Of the 6
amounts received by an eligible State 7
under clause (ii)(II), not more than 3 8
percent shall be used for the purposes 9
described in subclause (I)(ee). 10
‘‘(v) A
DMINISTRATION.—Subject to 11
clause (vi)(III), amounts made available 12
under items (aa) and (cc) of clause (ii)(I) 13
shall— 14
‘‘(I) be made available, without 15
further appropriation, in accordance 16
with this subparagraph; 17
‘‘(II) remain available until ex-18
pended; and 19
‘‘(III) be in addition to any 20
amount appropriated under any other 21
Act. 22
‘‘(vi) R
EPORTING REQUIREMENT .— 23
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—Not later 24
than 180 days after the end of each 25
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fiscal year, the Governor of each eligi-1
ble State that receives amounts under 2
clause (ii)(II) for the applicable fiscal 3
year shall submit to the Secretary a 4
report that describes the use of the 5
amounts by the eligible State during 6
the period covered by the report. 7
‘‘(II) P
UBLIC AVAILABILITY.—On 8
receipt of a report submitted under 9
subclause (I), the Secretary shall 10
make the report available to the pub-11
lic on the website of the Department 12
of the Interior. 13
‘‘(III) L
IMITATION.—If the Gov-14
ernor of an eligible State that receives 15
amounts under clause (ii)(II) fails to 16
submit the report required under sub-17
clause (I) by the deadline specified in 18
that subclause, any amounts that 19
would otherwise be provided to the eli-20
gible State under clause (ii)(II) for 21
the succeeding fiscal year shall be de-22
posited in the Treasury.’’. 23
(b) E
XEMPTION OFCERTAINPAYMENTSFROMSE-24
QUESTRATION.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 255(g)(1)(A) of the 1
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 2
Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 905(g)(1)(A)) is amended by 3
inserting after ‘‘Payments to Social Security Trust 4
Funds (28–0404–0–1–651).’’ the following: 5
‘‘Payments to States pursuant to subparagraph 6
(C)(ii)(I)(cc) of section 8(p)(2) of the Outer Conti-7
nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)(2)).’’. 8
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by 9
this subsection shall apply to any sequestration 10
order issued under the Balanced Budget and Emer-11
gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et 12
seq.) on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 13
SEC. 603. ELIMINATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE FEE UNDER 14
THE MINERAL LEASING ACT. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 35 of the Mineral Leasing 16
Act (30 U.S.C. 191) is amended— 17
(1) in subsection (a), in the first sentence, by 18
striking ‘‘and, subject to the provisions of subsection 19
(b),’’; 20
(2) by striking subsection (b); 21
(3) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 22
subsections (b) and (c), respectively; 23
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(4) in paragraph (3)(B)(ii) of subsection (b) (as 1
so redesignated), by striking ‘‘subsection (d)’’ and 2
inserting ‘‘subsection (c)’’; and 3
(5) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii) of subsection (c) (as 4
so redesignated), by striking ‘‘subsection (c)(2)(B)’’ 5
and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(2)(B)’’. 6
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 7
(1) Section 6(a) of the Mineral Leasing Act for 8
Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 355(a)) is amended— 9
(A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘Sub-10
ject to the provisions of section 35(b) of the 11
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191(b)), all’’ 12
and inserting ‘‘All’’; and 13
(B) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘of 14
the Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 450; 30 15
U.S.C. 191),’’ and inserting ‘‘of the Mineral 16
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191)’’. 17
(2) Section 20(a) of the Geothermal Steam Act 18
of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1019(a)) is amended, in the sec-19
ond sentence of the matter preceding paragraph (1), 20
by striking ‘‘the provisions of subsection (b) of sec-21
tion 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 22
191(b)) and section 5(a)(2) of this Act’’ and insert-23
ing ‘‘section 5(a)(2)’’. 24
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(3) Section 205(f) of the Federal Oil and Gas 1
Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 2
1735(f)) is amended— 3
(A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘this 4
Section’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; and 5
(B) by striking the fourth, fifth, and sixth 6
sentences. 7
Æ 
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