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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9696 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9696

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

                           September 19, 2024

 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>
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