I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 356
To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a minimum number
of oil and gas lease sales in certain areas, to prevent delays in oil
and gas leasing, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY13, 2023
Mr. C
ARL(for himself, Mr. GRAVESof Louisiana, Ms. FOXX, Mr.
R
OSENDALE, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. GUEST, Mr. ROGERSof Alabama,
Ms. L
ETLOW, Ms. VANDUYNE, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. MOORE
of Alabama, Mr. W
EBERof Texas, and Mr. JOHNSONof Louisiana) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Nat-
ural Resources
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a min-
imum number of oil and gas lease sales in certain areas,
to prevent delays in oil and gas leasing, 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. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unleashing American 4
Energy Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASING. 1
(a) G
ULF OFMEXICOREGIONANNUALLEASE 2
S
ALES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, be-3
ginning in fiscal year 2023, the Secretary of the Interior 4
shall annually conduct a minimum of 2 region-wide oil and 5
gas lease sales in the following planning areas of the Gulf 6
of Mexico region, as described in the 2017–2022 Outer 7
Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final 8
Program (November 2016): 9
(1) The Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 10
(2) The Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 11
(b) A
LASKAREGIONANNUALLEASESALES.—Not-12
withstanding any other provision of law, beginning in fis-13
cal year 2023, the Secretary of the Interior shall annually 14
conduct a minimum of 2 region-wide oil and gas lease 15
sales in the Alaska region of the Outer Continental Shelf, 16
as described in the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf 17
Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (November 18
2016). 19
(c) R
EQUIREMENTS.—In conducting lease sales 20
under subsections (a) and (b), the Secretary of the Inte-21
rior shall— 22
(1) issue such leases in accordance with the 23
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1332 24
et seq.); and 25
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•HR 356 IH
(2) include in each such lease sale all unleased 1
areas that are not subject to restrictions as of the 2
date of the lease sale. 3
(d) O
FFSHOREOIL ANDGASLEASINGDELAYS.— 4
Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 5
U.S.C. 1344) is amended— 6
(1) in subsection (a), in the first sentence of the 7
matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub-8
sections (c) and (d) of this section’’ and inserting 9
‘‘this section’’; 10
(2) by redesignating subsections (f) through (i) 11
as subsections (g) through (j), respectively; and 12
(3) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(f) U
NREASONABLEDELAYS.— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The President shall not, 16
through Executive order or any other administrative 17
procedure, unreasonably pause, cancel, delay, defer, 18
or otherwise impede or circumvent any Federal en-19
ergy mineral leasing processes under this Act, or a 20
related rulemaking process required by subchapter II 21
of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5, United States 22
Code (commonly known as the ‘Administrative Pro-23
cedure Act’), without congressional approval. 24
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‘‘(2) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION .—There shall 1
be a rebuttable presumption that any attempt by the 2
President to pause, cancel, delay, defer, or otherwise 3
impede or circumvent any Federal energy mineral 4
leasing process, or a related rulemaking process, de-5
scribed in paragraph (1), without congressional ap-6
proval, is considered unreasonable for purposes of 7
paragraph (1).’’. 8
Æ
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