119-hr1194

[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.).
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