I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 923
To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting
energy and minerals on certain Federal land.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY9, 2023
Ms. H
AGEMAN(for herself, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. GOSAR,
Mr. H
IGGINSof Louisiana, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. FULCHER,
Mr. N
EHLS, Mr. ZINKE, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr. STEWART, Mr.
O
WENS, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. ROY, and Mr. OGLES) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources,
and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be sub-
sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of
such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing
and permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land.
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 ‘‘Protecting Our Wealth 4
of Energy Resources Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘POWER Act 5
of 2023’’. 6
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON MORATORIA OF NEW ENERGY 1
LEASES ON CERTAIN FEDERAL LAND AND ON 2
WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND FROM EN-3
ERGY DEVELOPMENT. 4
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 5
(1) F
EDERAL LAND.— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Federal 7
land’’ means— 8
(i) National Forest System land; 9
(ii) public lands (as defined in section 10
103 of the Federal Land Policy and Man-11
agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 12
(iii) the outer Continental Shelf (as 13
defined in section 2 of the Outer Conti-14
nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331)); 15
and 16
(iv) land managed by the Secretary of 17
Energy. 18
(B) I
NCLUSION.—The term ‘‘Federal 19
land’’ includes land described in clauses (i) 20
through (iv) of subparagraph (A) for which the 21
rights to the surface estate or subsurface estate 22
are owned by a non-Federal entity. 23
(2) M
INERAL.—The term ‘‘mineral’’ means any 24
mineral subject to sections 2319 through 2344 of 25
the Revised Statutes (commonly known as the ‘‘Min-26
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•HR 923 IH
ing Law of 1872’’) (30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.), and min-1
erals located on ‘‘lands acquired by the United 2
States’’ (as defined in section 2 of the Mineral Leas-3
ing Act for Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 351)). 4
(3) P
RESIDENT.—The term ‘‘President’’ means 5
the President or any designee, including— 6
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture; 7
(B) the Secretary of Energy; and 8
(C) the Secretary of the Interior. 9
(b) P
ROHIBITIONS.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 11
provision of law, the President shall not carry out 12
any action that would prohibit or substantially delay 13
the issuance of any of the following on Federal land, 14
unless such an action has been authorized by an Act 15
of Congress: 16
(A) New oil and gas leases, drill permits, 17
approvals, or authorizations. 18
(B) New coal leases, permits, approvals, or 19
authorizations. 20
(C) New mineral patents, leases, permits, 21
approvals, or authorizations. 22
(2) P
ROHIBITION ON WITHDRAWAL .—Notwith-23
standing any other provision of law, the President 24
may not withdraw any Federal land from forms of 25
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entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public 1
land laws, location, entry, and patent under the min-2
ing laws, or disposition under laws pertaining to 3
mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials 4
unless the withdrawal has been authorized by an Act 5
of Congress. 6
Æ
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