II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 3289
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 establishment
and administration of the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
NOVEMBER9, 2023
Mr. S
ULLIVAN(for himself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
A BILL
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.
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
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SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 1
Congress finds that— 2
(1) Congress provided clear authorization and 3
direction that the Secretary of the Interior ‘‘shall es-4
tablish and administer a competitive oil and gas pro-5
gram for the leasing, development, production, and 6
transportation of oil and gas in and from the Coast-7
al Plain’’ in section 20001 of Public Law 115–97 8
(16 U.S.C. 3143 note) (commonly known as the Tax 9
Cuts and Jobs Act); 10
(2) the timely administration of the Coastal 11
Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program is required and 12
in the national and public interest; 13
(3) the Department of the Interior’s cancelling 14
of the leases for the covered Coastal Plain lease 15
tracts represents a major decision of economic and 16
political significance that Congress did not delegate 17
to the Secretary; 18
(4) the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production 19
Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.) requires that 20
the Bureau of Land Management— 21
(A) allow for the exploration, development, 22
and production of petroleum products in the 23
National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; and 24
(B) equally balance, to the extent con-25
sistent with that Act, the protection of ecologi-26
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cal and cultural values in the National Petro-1
leum Reserve in Alaska; and 2
(5) the proposed rule of the Bureau of Land 3
Management entitled ‘‘Management and Protection 4
of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’’ (88 5
Fed. Reg. 62025 (September 8, 2023)) fails to re-6
flect the intent of Congress for the Naval Petroleum 7
Reserves Production Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6501 8
et seq.). 9
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 10
In this Act: 11
(1) C
OASTAL PLAIN.—The term ‘‘Coastal 12
Plain’’ has the meaning given the term in section 13
20001(a) of Public Law 115–97 (16 U.S.C. 3143 14
note). 15
(2) C
OASTAL PLAIN OIL AND GAS LEASING PRO -16
GRAM.—The term ‘‘Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing 17
program’’ means the program established under sec-18
tion 20001(b)(2)(A) of Public Law 115–97 (16 19
U.S.C. 3143 note). 20
(3) C
OVERED COASTAL PLAIN LEASE TRACT .— 21
The term ‘‘covered Coastal Plain lease tract’’ means 22
any of tracts 16, 17, 24, 26, 27, and 30 as listed 23
in exhibit B of the document published by the Bu-24
reau of Land Management entitled ‘‘Amendment to 25
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the Detailed Statement of Sale’’ and dated Decem-1
ber 18, 2020 (relating to oil and gas leasing within 2
the Coastal Plain Alaska). 3
(4) R
ECORD OF DECISION.—The term ‘‘Record 4
of Decision’’ means the record of decision described 5
in the notice of availability of the Bureau of Land 6
Management entitled ‘‘Notice of Availability of the 7
Record of Decision for the Final Environmental Im-8
pact Statement for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas 9
Leasing Program, Alaska’’ (85 Fed. Reg. 51754 10
(August 21, 2020)). 11
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12
the Secretary of the Interior. 13
SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL OF ORDERS. 14
(a) M
ORATORIUM ON OIL ANDGASLEASING.—Any 15
order or action by the President or the Secretary that has 16
the effect of placing a moratorium on or otherwise sus-17
pending or pausing oil and gas leasing in the Coastal Plain 18
shall have no force or effect. 19
(b) A
PPROVAL AND RATIFICATION OF EXISTING 20
D
OCUMENTATION AND AUTHORIZATIONS.—Notwith-21
standing any other provision of law, Congress— 22
(1) ratifies and approves all authorizations, per-23
mits, verifications, extensions, biological opinions, in-24
cidental take statements, and any other approvals or 25
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orders issued pursuant to Federal law, as described 1
in the Record of Decision, necessary for the estab-2
lishment and administration of the Coastal Plain Oil 3
and Gas Leasing Program; and 4
(2) directs the Secretary, the Administrator of 5
the Environmental Protection Agency, and the heads 6
of other as applicable Federal departments and 7
agencies to process, reinstate, or continue to main-8
tain such authorizations, permits, verifications, ex-9
tensions, biological opinions, incidental take state-10
ments, and any other approvals or orders described 11
in paragraph (1). 12
(c) A
PPLICABILITY OF OTHERLAW.—Notwith-13
standing any other provision of law, the authorizations, 14
permits, verifications, extensions, biological opinions, inci-15
dental take statements, and any other approvals or orders 16
described in subsection (b)(1) shall be considered to sat-17
isfy the requirements of— 18
(1) section 1002 of the Alaska National Inter-19
est Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3142); 20
(2) section 102(2)(c) of the National Environ-21
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(c)); 22
(3) section 20001 of Public Law 115–97 (16 23
U.S.C. 3143 note); 24
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(4) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 1
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); and 2
(5) subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United 3
States Code, and chapter 7 of title 5, United States 4
Code. 5
SEC. 5. COASTAL PLAIN OIL AND GAS LEASING PROGRAM. 6
(a) R
EISSUANCE OFCANCELEDLEASES.— 7
(1) A
CCEPTANCE OF BIDS.—Not later than 30 8
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 9
Secretary shall, without modification or delay— 10
(A) accept the highest valid bid for each 11
covered Coastal Plain lease tract for which a 12
valid bid was received on January 6, 2021, pur-13
suant to the requirement to hold the first lease 14
sale in the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing 15
program; and 16
(B) provide the appropriate lease form to 17
each winning bidder under subparagraph (A) to 18
execute and return to the Secretary. 19
(2) L
EASE ISSUANCE.—On receipt of an exe-20
cuted lease form under paragraph (1)(B) and pay-21
ment in accordance with that lease of the rental for 22
the first year, the balance of the bonus bid (unless 23
deferred), and any required bond or security from 24
the high bidder, the Secretary shall promptly issue 25
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to the high bidder a fully executed lease, in accord-1
ance with— 2
(A) the applicable regulations, as in effect 3
on January 6, 2021; and 4
(B) the terms and conditions of the Record 5
of Decision. 6
(b) R
EQUIREMENT FOR FUTURELEASES.— 7
(1) S
ECOND LEASE SALE.—Not later than De-8
cember 22, 2024, the Secretary shall conduct the 9
second lease sale required by section 10
20001(c)(1)(B)(ii)(II) of Public Law 115–97 (16 11
U.S.C. 3143 note) in accordance with the Record of 12
Decision. 13
(2) E
XCEPTIONS FOR CANCELING A LEASE .— 14
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 15
President and the Secretary may not cancel a lease 16
issued under the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing 17
program if the Secretary has previously opened bids 18
for such a lease or disclosed the high bidder for any 19
tract that was included in a lease sale under the 20
Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program unless the 21
lessee is in violation of the terms of the lease and 22
fails to cure the violation after a reasonable period 23
of time. 24
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(c) APPLICABILITY OF PRIORRECORD OFDECI-1
SION.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law and 2
with respect to reissuing leases under subsection (a), the 3
Record of Decision shall be considered to satisfy the re-4
quirements of— 5
(1) section 1002 of the Alaska National Inter-6
est Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3142); 7
(2) section 102(2)(c) of the National Environ-8
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(c)); 9
(3) section 20001 of Public Law 115–97 (16 10
U.S.C. 3143 note); 11
(4) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Public 12
Law 93–205; 16 U.S.C. 1533); and 13
(5) subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United 14
States Code, and chapter 7 of title 5, United States 15
Code. 16
(d) W
ITHDRAWAL OF SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRON-17
MENTALIMPACTSTATEMENT.—The Director of the Bu-18
reau of Land Management— 19
(1) shall withdraw the notice of availability en-20
titled ‘‘Notice of Availability of the Draft Coastal 21
Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Supplemental 22
Environmental Impact Statement’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 23
62104 (September 8, 2023)); and 24
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(2) may not take any action to finalize, imple-1
ment, or enforce the supplemental environmental im-2
pact statement described in paragraph (1). 3
(e) J
UDICIALREVIEW.— 4
(1) J
UDICIAL PRECLUSION .—Notwithstanding 5
any other provision of law and except as provided in 6
paragraph (2), no court shall have jurisdiction to re-7
view any action taken by the Secretary, the Adminis-8
trator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a 9
State administrative agency, an Indian Tribe, or any 10
other Federal agency acting pursuant to Federal law 11
that grants an authorization, permit, verification, bi-12
ological opinion, incidental take statement, or other 13
approval described in section 4(b) for the Coastal 14
Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, whether issued 15
prior to, on, or after the date of enactment of this 16
Act, and including any lawsuit or any other action 17
pending in a court as of the date of enactment of 18
this Act. 19
(2) F
ORUM EXCLUSIVITY.—The United States 20
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir-21
cuit shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction 22
over any claim regarding— 23
(A) the validity of this section; or 24
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(B) the scope of authority conferred by 1
this section. 2
(3) R
IGHT TO PETITION.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para-4
graph (1), a lease holder may obtain a review 5
of an alleged failure by an agency to act in ac-6
cordance with section 20001 of Public Law 7
115–97 (16 U.S.C. 3143 note) or with any law 8
pertaining to the grant of an authorization, per-9
mit, verification, biological opinion, incidental 10
take statement, or other approval related to the 11
lease holder’s lease by filing a written petition 12
with a court of competent jurisdiction seeking 13
an order under subparagraph (B). 14
(B) D
EADLINES.—If a court of competent 15
jurisdiction finds that an agency has failed to 16
act in accordance with section 20001 of Public 17
Law 115–97 (16 U.S.C. 3143 note) or with any 18
law pertaining to the grant of an authorization, 19
permit, verification, biological opinion, inci-20
dental take statement, or other approval related 21
to the lease holder’s lease, the court shall set a 22
schedule and deadline for the agency to act as 23
soon as practicable, which shall not exceed 90 24
days from the date on which the order of the 25
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court is issued, unless the court determines a 1
longer time period is necessary to comply with 2
applicable law. 3
SEC. 6. NULLIFICATION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL AGENCY AC-4
TIONS. 5
(a) NPRA R
ULE.—The Secretary, acting through the 6
Director of the Bureau of Land Management— 7
(1) shall withdraw the proposed rule of the Bu-8
reau of Land Management entitled ‘‘Management 9
and Protection of the National Petroleum Reserve in 10
Alaska’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 62025 (September 8, 2023)); 11
and 12
(2) may not take any action to finalize, imple-13
ment, administer, or enforce the proposed rule de-14
scribed in paragraph (1) or any substantially similar 15
rule. 16
(b) E
XECUTIVEORDER13990.— 17
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 4 of Executive 18
Order 13990 (86 Fed. Reg. 7037; relating to pro-19
tecting public health and the environment and re-20
storing science to tackle the climate crisis) shall 21
have no force or effect. 22
(2) F
UNDING.—No Federal funds may be obli-23
gated or expended to carry out section 4 of the Ex-24
ecutive Order described in paragraph (1). 25
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(c) SECRETARIALORDER3401.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Secretarial Order 3401 (re-2
lating to the Comprehensive Analysis and Tem-3
porary Halt on all Activities in the Arctic National 4
Wildlife Refuge Relating to the Coastal Plain Oil 5
and Gas Leasing Program), issued by the Secretary 6
on June 1, 2021, shall have no force or effect. 7
(2) F
UNDING.—No Federal funds may be obli-8
gated or expended to carry out the Secretarial Order 9
described in paragraph (1). 10
Æ
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