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
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.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Federal Lands and Waters Leasing Transparency Act
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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.
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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.).