I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 678
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to improve the assessment of expression
of interest fees, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Ms. H
AGEMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to improve the assess-
ment of expression of interest fees, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Expression of Interest 4
Sensibility Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FEE FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST. 6
(a) D
EADLINE TOISSUELEASE.—Section 7
17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 8
226(b)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘the remainder of 9
the bonus bid, if any,’’ and inserting ‘‘, as applicable, the 10
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remainder of the bonus bid, the fee for the expression of 1
interest under subsection (q)(2)(B),’’. 2
(b) E
XPRESSIONS OFINTEREST.—Section 17(q) of 3
the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(q)) is amended— 4
(1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘F
EE FOR’’; 5
(2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para-6
graph (3); 7
(3) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol-8
lows: 9
‘‘(1) S
UBMISSION OF EXPRESSION OF INTER -10
EST.—A person may, in accordance with procedures 11
established by the Secretary to carry out this sub-12
section, submit an expression of interest in leasing 13
land available for disposition under this section for 14
exploration for, and development of, oil or gas. 15
‘‘(2) A
SSESSMENT OF FEES.— 16
‘‘(A) N
O BID.—If land covered by an ex-17
pression of interest submitted under paragraph 18
(1) is offered at a lease sale and no bid is re-19
ceived for such land, the Secretary shall assess 20
at the time of the sale a fee for the expression 21
of interest against the person that submitted 22
the first expression of interest for the land. 23
‘‘(B) S
UCCESSFUL BID.—If land covered 24
by an expression of interest submitted under 25
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paragraph (1) receives a successful bid at a 1
lease sale, the Secretary shall assess a fee for 2
the expression of interest against the successful 3
bidder.’’; 4
(4) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated, by 5
striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 6
(2)’’; and 7
(5) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(4) T
ERM.—An expression of interest sub-9
mitted under this section shall remain active for a 10
term of not less than 5 years unless the land covered 11
by the expression of interest is offered at a lease 12
sale.’’. 13
Æ
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