118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 6285
AN ACT
To ratify and approve all authorizations, permits,
verifications, extensions, biological opinions, incidental
take statements, and any other approvals or orders
issued pursuant to Federal law necessary for the estab-
lishment and administration of the Coastal Plain oil and
gas leasing program, and for other purposes. 2
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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 ‘‘Alaska’s Right to 4
Produce Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds that— 7
(1) Congress provided clear authorization and 8
direction that the Secretary of the Interior ‘‘shall es-9
tablish and administer a competitive oil and gas pro-10
gram for the leasing, development, production, and 11
transportation of oil and gas in and from the Coast-12
al Plain’’ in section 20001 of Public Law 115–97 13
(16 U.S.C. 3143 note) (commonly known as the Tax 14
Cuts and Jobs Act); 15
(2) the timely administration of the Coastal 16
Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program is required and 17
in the national and public interest; 18
(3) the Department of the Interior’s cancelling 19
of the leases for the covered Coastal Plain lease 20
tracts represents a major decision of economic and 21
political significance that Congress did not delegate 22
to the Secretary; 23 3
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(4) the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production 1
Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.) requires that 2
the Bureau of Land Management— 3
(A) allow for the exploration, development, 4
and production of petroleum products in the 5
National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; and 6
(B) balance, to the extent consistent with 7
that Act, the protection of ecological and cul-8
tural values in the National Petroleum Reserve 9
in Alaska; and 10
(5) the proposed rule of the Bureau of Land 11
Management entitled ‘‘Management and Protection 12
of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’’ (88 13
Fed. Reg. 62025 (September 8, 2023)) fails to re-14
flect the intent of Congress for the Naval Petroleum 15
Reserves Production Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6501 16
et seq.). 17
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 18
In this Act: 19
(1) C
OASTAL PLAIN.—The term ‘‘Coastal 20
Plain’’ has the meaning given the term in section 21
20001(a) of Public Law 115–97 (16 U.S.C. 3143 22
note). 23
(2) C
OASTAL PLAIN OIL AND GAS LEASING PRO -24
GRAM.—The term ‘‘Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing 25 4
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program’’ means the program established under sec-1
tion 20001(b)(2)(A) of Public Law 115–97 (16 2
U.S.C. 3143 note). 3
(3) C
OVERED COASTAL PLAIN LEASE TRACT .— 4
The term ‘‘covered Coastal Plain lease tract’’ means 5
any of tracts 16, 17, 24, 26, 27, and 30 as listed 6
in exhibit B of the document published by the Bu-7
reau of Land Management entitled ‘‘Amendment to 8
the Detailed Statement of Sale’’ and dated Decem-9
ber 18, 2020 (relating to oil and gas leasing within 10
the Coastal Plain Alaska). 11
(4) R
ECORD OF DECISION.—The term ‘‘Record 12
of Decision’’ means the record of decision described 13
in the notice of availability of the Bureau of Land 14
Management entitled ‘‘Notice of Availability of the 15
Record of Decision for the Final Environmental Im-16
pact Statement for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas 17
Leasing Program, Alaska’’ (85 Fed. Reg. 51754 18
(August 21, 2020)). 19
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20
the Secretary of the Interior. 21
SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL OF ORDERS. 22
(a) M
ORATORIUM ON OIL ANDGASLEASING.—Any 23
order or action by the President or the Secretary that has 24
the effect of placing a moratorium on or otherwise sus-25 5
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pending or pausing oil and gas leasing in the Coastal Plain 1
shall have no force or effect. 2
(b) A
PPROVAL AND RATIFICATION OF EXISTING 3
D
OCUMENTATION AND AUTHORIZATIONS.—Notwith-4
standing any other provision of law, Congress— 5
(1) ratifies and approves all authorizations, per-6
mits, verifications, extensions, biological opinions, in-7
cidental take statements, and any other approvals or 8
orders issued pursuant to Federal law, as described 9
in the Record of Decision, necessary for the estab-10
lishment and administration of the Coastal Plain Oil 11
and Gas Leasing Program; and 12
(2) directs the Secretary, the Administrator of 13
the Environmental Protection Agency, and the heads 14
of other as applicable Federal departments and 15
agencies to process, reinstate, or continue to main-16
tain such authorizations, permits, verifications, ex-17
tensions, biological opinions, incidental take state-18
ments, and any other approvals or orders described 19
in paragraph (1). 20
(c) A
PPLICABILITY OF OTHERLAW.—Notwith-21
standing any other provision of law, the authorizations, 22
permits, verifications, extensions, biological opinions, inci-23
dental take statements, and any other approvals or orders 24 6
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described in subsection (b)(1) shall be considered to sat-1
isfy the requirements of— 2
(1) section 1002 of the Alaska National Inter-3
est Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3142); 4
(2) section 102(2)(c) of the National Environ-5
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(c)); 6
(3) section 20001 of Public Law 115–97 (16 7
U.S.C. 3143 note); 8
(4) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 9
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); and 10
(5) subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United 11
States Code, and chapter 7 of title 5, United States 12
Code. 13
SEC. 5. COASTAL PLAIN OIL AND GAS LEASING PROGRAM. 14
(a) R
EISSUANCE OFCANCELEDLEASES.— 15
(1) A
CCEPTANCE OF BIDS.—Not later than 30 16
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 17
Secretary shall, without modification or delay— 18
(A) accept the highest valid bid for each 19
covered Coastal Plain lease tract for which a 20
valid bid was received on January 6, 2021, pur-21
suant to the requirement to hold the first lease 22
sale in the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing 23
program; and 24 7
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(B) provide the appropriate lease form to 1
each winning bidder under subparagraph (A) to 2
execute and return to the Secretary. 3
(2) L
EASE ISSUANCE.—On receipt of an exe-4
cuted lease form under paragraph (1)(B) and pay-5
ment in accordance with that lease of the rental for 6
the first year, the balance of the bonus bid (unless 7
deferred), and any required bond or security from 8
the high bidder, the Secretary shall promptly issue 9
to the high bidder a fully executed lease, in accord-10
ance with— 11
(A) the applicable regulations, as in effect 12
on January 6, 2021; and 13
(B) the terms and conditions of the Record 14
of Decision. 15
(b) R
EQUIREMENT FOR FUTURELEASES.— 16
(1) S
ECOND LEASE SALE.—Not later than De-17
cember 22, 2024, the Secretary shall conduct the 18
second lease sale required by section 19
20001(c)(1)(B)(ii)(II) of Public Law 115–97 (16 20
U.S.C. 3143 note) in accordance with the Record of 21
Decision. 22
(2) E
XCEPTIONS FOR CANCELING A LEASE .— 23
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 24
President and the Secretary may not cancel a lease 25 8
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issued under the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing 1
program if the Secretary has previously opened bids 2
for such a lease or disclosed the high bidder for any 3
tract that was included in a lease sale under the 4
Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program unless the 5
lessee is in violation of the terms of the lease and 6
fails to cure the violation after a reasonable period 7
of time. 8
(c) A
PPLICABILITY OF PRIORRECORD OFDECI-9
SION.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law and 10
with respect to reissuing leases under subsection (a), the 11
Record of Decision shall be considered to satisfy the re-12
quirements of— 13
(1) section 1002 of the Alaska National Inter-14
est Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3142); 15
(2) section 102(2)(c) of the National Environ-16
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(c)); 17
(3) section 20001 of Public Law 115–97 (16 18
U.S.C. 3143 note); 19
(4) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Public 20
Law 93–205; 16 U.S.C. 1533); and 21
(5) subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United 22
States Code, and chapter 7 of title 5, United States 23
Code. 24 9
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(d) WITHDRAWAL OF SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRON-1
MENTALIMPACTSTATEMENT.—The Director of the Bu-2
reau of Land Management— 3
(1) shall withdraw the notice of availability en-4
titled ‘‘Notice of Availability of the Draft Coastal 5
Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Supplemental 6
Environmental Impact Statement’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 7
62104 (September 8, 2023)); and 8
(2) may not take any action to finalize, imple-9
ment, or enforce the supplemental environmental im-10
pact statement described in paragraph (1). 11
(e) J
UDICIALREVIEW.— 12
(1) J
UDICIAL PRECLUSION .—Notwithstanding 13
any other provision of law and except as provided in 14
paragraph (2), no court shall have jurisdiction to re-15
view any action taken by the Secretary, the Adminis-16
trator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a 17
State administrative agency, an Indian Tribe, or any 18
other Federal agency acting pursuant to Federal law 19
that grants an authorization, permit, verification, bi-20
ological opinion, incidental take statement, or other 21
approval described in section 4(b) for the Coastal 22
Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, whether issued 23
prior to, on, or after the date of enactment of this 24
Act, and including any lawsuit or any other action 25 10
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pending in a court as of the date of enactment of 1
this Act. 2
(2) F
ORUM EXCLUSIVITY.—The United States 3
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir-4
cuit shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction 5
over any claim regarding— 6
(A) the validity of this section; or 7
(B) the scope of authority conferred by 8
this section. 9
(3) R
IGHT TO PETITION.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para-11
graph (1), a lease holder may obtain a review 12
of an alleged failure by an agency to act in ac-13
cordance with section 20001 of Public Law 14
115–97 (16 U.S.C. 3143 note) or with any law 15
pertaining to the grant of an authorization, per-16
mit, verification, biological opinion, incidental 17
take statement, or other approval related to the 18
lease holder’s lease by filing a written petition 19
with a court of competent jurisdiction seeking 20
an order under subparagraph (B). 21
(B) D
EADLINES.—If a court of competent 22
jurisdiction finds that an agency has failed to 23
act in accordance with section 20001 of Public 24
Law 115–97 (16 U.S.C. 3143 note) or with any 25 11
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law pertaining to the grant of an authorization, 1
permit, verification, biological opinion, inci-2
dental take statement, or other approval related 3
to the lease holder’s lease, the court shall set a 4
schedule and deadline for the agency to act as 5
soon as practicable, which shall not exceed 90 6
days from the date on which the order of the 7
court is issued, unless the court determines a 8
longer time period is necessary to comply with 9
applicable law. 10
SEC. 6. NULLIFICATION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL AGENCY AC-11
TIONS. 12
(a) NPRA R
ULE.—The final rule based on the pro-13
posed rule of the Bureau of Land Management entitled 14
‘‘Management and Protection of the National Petroleum 15
Reserve in Alaska’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 62025 (September 8, 16
2023)) shall have no force or effect. 17
(b) E
XECUTIVEORDER13990.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 4 of Executive 19
Order 13990 (86 Fed. Reg. 7037; relating to pro-20
tecting public health and the environment and re-21
storing science to tackle the climate crisis) shall 22
have no force or effect. 23 12
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(2) FUNDING.—No Federal funds may be obli-1
gated or expended to carry out section 4 of the Ex-2
ecutive Order described in paragraph (1). 3
(c) S
ECRETARIALORDER3401.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Secretarial Order 3401 (re-5
lating to the Comprehensive Analysis and Tem-6
porary Halt on all Activities in the Arctic National 7
Wildlife Refuge Relating to the Coastal Plain Oil 8
and Gas Leasing Program), issued by the Secretary 9
on June 1, 2021, shall have no force or effect. 10
(2) F
UNDING.—No Federal funds may be obli-11
gated or expended to carry out the Secretarial Order 12
described in paragraph (1). 13
SEC. 7. DESIGNATION OF SPECIAL AREAS OF THE NA-14
TIONAL PETROLEUM RESERVE IN ALASKA. 15
Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the 16
Secretary may not designate any new Special Areas, add 17
resource values to existing Special Areas, or expand exist-18
ing Special Areas in the National Petroleum Reserve in 19
Alaska unless an Act of Congress enacted after the date 20 13
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of enactment of this Act specifically authorizes the Sec-1
retary to do so. 2
Passed the House of Representatives May 1, 2024.
Attest:
Clerk. 118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 6285
AN ACT
To ratify and approve all authorizations, permits,
verifications, extensions, biological opinions, inci-
dental take statements, and any other approvals
or orders issued pursuant to Federal law nec-
essary for the establishment and administration
of the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program,
and for other purposes.