119-hr3231

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3231 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 3231

 To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to clarify the effect of a pending 
civil action on the processing of an application for a permit to drill, 
to require courts to remand lease sale Environmental Impact Statements 
to agencies to remedy when necessary, and to establish a term limit for 
 permits to drill.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 May 7, 2025

 Ms. Boebert (for herself, Mr. Hurd of Colorado, Mr. Ogles, Mr. Zinke, 
 Mr. Donalds, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Stauber, Mr. Biggs of Arizona, Mr. Gosar, 
 Mr. Crank, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Harrigan, Ms. Fedorchak, Mr. 
 Cline, and Mrs. Fischbach) introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to clarify the effect of a pending 
civil action on the processing of an application for a permit to drill, 
to require courts to remand lease sale Environmental Impact Statements 
to agencies to remedy when necessary, and to establish a term limit for 
 permits to drill.

 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 ``American Energy Act''.

SEC. 2. PROCESSING APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO DRILL.

    (a) Effect of Pending Civil Actions.--

Section 17

    (p) of the Mineral 
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226

    (p) ) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
 ``

    (4) Effect of pending civil action on processing 
 applications for permits to drill.--Pursuant to the 
 requirements of paragraph

    (2) , notwithstanding the existence of 
 any pending civil actions affecting the application or related 
 lease, the Secretary shall process an application for a permit 
 to drill or other authorizations or approvals under a valid 
 existing lease, unless a United States Federal court vacated 
 such lease. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as 
 providing authority to a Federal court to vacate a lease.''.

    (b) Term of Permit To Drill.--

Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act 
(30 U.S.C. 226) is further amended by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (r) Term of Permit To Drill.--A permit to drill issued under this 
section after the date of the enactment of this subsection shall be 
valid for one four-year term from the date that the permit is approved, 
or until the lease regarding which the permit is issued expires, 
whichever occurs first.''.

SEC. 3. LEASE SALE LITIGATION.

    (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any oil and gas 
lease sale held under 

section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 
226) or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) 
shall not be vacated and activities on leases awarded in the sale shall 
not be otherwise limited, delayed, or enjoined unless the court 
concludes allowing the development of the challenged lease will pose a 
risk of an imminent and substantial environmental harm and there is no 
other equitable remedy available as a matter of law.

    (b) No court, in response to an action brought pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), may 
enjoin or issue any order preventing the award of leases to a bidder in 
a lease sale conducted pursuant to 

section 17 of the Mineral Leasing 
Act (30 U.S.C. 226) or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
1331 et seq.) if the Department of the Interior has previously opened 
bids for such leases or disclosed the high bidder for any tract that 
was included in such lease sale.
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