Bill Details
View committees (2)
View cosponsors (1)
AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would make oil and gas leasing on federal offshore and onshore lands more open and more predictable. It would require the government to explain why some offshore bids are rejected, and it would tighten rules so court cases do not easily delay the issuing of leases or the review of later project approvals. In short, the bill is meant to give bidders more information, speed up leasing decisions, and limit court actions from stopping lease sales or slowing down related permit work.
- If the federal government rejects an offshore bid for not meeting fair market value, it must give the bidder a written report explaining why.
- For certain qualified bids, that report must also explain how the bid compared with specific pricing and value measures used in the government’s review.
- For onshore oil and gas leases, court orders would not be allowed to block the government from meeting the 60-day deadline to issue a lease unless a court finds that issuing the lease would break federal law.
- For offshore lease sales, lawsuits challenging a sale would not cancel leases already issued or automatically delay later steps like exploration plans, drilling permits, or other federal approvals. If a court finds a sale did not follow the law, the court would send it back to the Interior Department to fix the problem rather than stopping the sale or the leases.
Official Summaries
Federal Lands and Waters Leasing Transparency Act
This bill directs the Department of the Interior to provide explanations to the highest bidders when it rejects their bids for certain offshore oil and gas leases. The bill also prohibits courts from invalidating or delaying certain onshore and offshore oil and gas leases.
When Interior determines that the federal government will not receive the fair market value for offshore lease tracts on submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf from the highest bidder, then Interior must provide a report to the bidder that explains the basis for the determination. If the bid was subject to a resource and economic evaluation, the report must include information on how the bid compares to specified valuation metrics. These requirements apply to lease sales in which Interior received at least one bid and did not issue a lease to the highest bidder.
Additionally, courts may not prevent Interior from issuing certain onshore oil and gas leases by a 60-day statutory deadline unless the lease would violate federal law.
Further, the bill prohibits civil actions that challenge certain offshore oil and gas lease sales from (1) invalidating leases issued under such sales; and (2) delaying the consideration of plans, documents, or applications for a federal authorization or approval of activities for a lease. If a court finds that the sale was not carried out in compliance with federal law, the court must (1) remand the matter to Interior, and (2) direct Interior to correct the noncompliance.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1194 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1194
To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Mineral Leasing
Act to require reports on rejected bids, to clarify timelines for the
issuance of leases, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 11, 2025
Mr. Higgins of Louisiana (for himself and Ms. Hageman) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural
Resources, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Mineral Leasing
Act to require reports on rejected bids, to clarify timelines for the
issuance of leases, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Lands and Waters Leasing
Transparency Act''.
SEC. 2. REPORT ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE FAIR MARKET VALUE OF
OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASE BIDS.
Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C.
1344) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(j) Report on the Determination of the Fair Market Value of
Offshore Oil and Gas Lease Bids.--
``(1) Requirement.--If the Secretary determines pursuant to
subsection (a)(4) that the Federal Government will not receive
the fair market value from a bid for a covered lease tract, the
Secretary shall provide to the bidder a report that explains
the basis for such determination. If the bid was a qualified
bid that was subject to a resource and economic evaluation, the
report shall include information on how such qualified bid
relates to the Mean Range of Values, Delay-adjusted Mean Range
of Values, Adjusted Delayed Value, and Revised Arithmetic
Average Measure for the covered lease tract.
``(2) Covered lease tract.--In this subsection, The term
`covered lease tract' means a lease tract for which the
Secretary--
``(A) held a lease sale;
``(B) received at least one bid; and
``(C) did not issue a lease to the highest
responsible qualified bidder.''.
SEC. 3. EFFECT OF COURT ORDERS ON DEADLINE TO ISSUE ONSHORE OIL AND GAS
LEASES.
Section 17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C.
226(b)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ``No court order may prevent the
Secretary from issuing a lease by such 60 day deadline unless the court
finds that the issuance of the lease would violate a requirement of
Federal law.'' after ``first lease year.''.
SEC. 4. CIVIL ACTIONS CHALLENGING OFFSHORE LEASE SALES.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
civil action challenging an offshore oil and gas lease sale conducted
under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.)
shall not--
(1) affect the validity of any lease issued under such an
offshore lease sale; and
(2) cause a delay in the timelines for the consideration of
any exploration plan, development plan, development operations
coordination document, applications for permit to drill, or
other application for a Federal agency authorization or
approval for activities on a lease issued under such an
offshore lease sale.
(b) Remand; Processing of Approvals and Applications.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if, in a civil action
described in subsection (a), a court finds that the offshore lease sale
was not carried out in compliance with Federal law--
(1) the court shall not--
(A) set aside, vacate, or enjoin the offshore lease
sale;
(B) set aside, vacate, or enjoin the leases issued
pursuant to the offshore lease sale; or
(C) enjoin the Secretary of the Interior from
issuing leases to the highest bidders in the challenged
offshore lease sale;
(2) the court shall remand the matter to the Secretary of
the Interior and require the Secretary of the Interior to
correct the noncompliance; and
(3) the Secretary of the Interior shall continue to process
all exploration plans, development and production plans,
development operations coordination documents, applications for
permit to drill, and other applications for a Federal agency
authorization or other approval for activities requested under
any lease issued under the challenged offshore lease sale in
accordance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43
U.S.C. 1331 et seq.).
<all>