IB 

Union Calendar No. 35 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1229 

[Report No. 112–67, Part I] 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to facilitate the safe 

and timely production of American energy resources from the Gulf of Mexico. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2011 

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington (for himself, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. 

LANDRY, Mr. FLORES, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. DUNCAN of South 

Carolina, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. 

GOHMERT, Mr. DENHAM, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mr. NUNES, Mr. 

BOUSTANY, Mr. GRIMM, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. ROSS of Florida, Mr. GRAVES

of Missouri, Mrs. MYRICK, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. 

POMPEO, Mr. OLSON, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. LONG, 

Mr. SIMPSON, Ms. JENKINS, Mr. KELLY, Mr. RIGELL, Mr. HELLER, 

Mrs. HARTZLER, and Mr. POSEY) 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 

MAY 2, 2011 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. STIVERS, Mrs. NOEM, Mr. TERRY, 

Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. LEWIS of California, Mr. NUNNELEE, 

Mr. MCKEON, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. KLINE, Mr. GOODLATTE, 

Mr. REHBERG, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. CANSECO, Mr. WOODALL, Mr. 

ROE of Tennessee, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. THOMPSON of 

Pennsylvania, Mr. FINCHER, Mr. PAUL, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. 

FORBES, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. PENCE, Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. 

DOLD, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. BRADY of Texas, 

Mr. CARTER, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mrs. ELLMERS, Mr. 

AKIN, and Mr. CALVERT


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MAY 2, 2011 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment 

[Insert the part printed in italic] 

MAY 2, 2011 

Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee on the 

Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to facilitate the safe and timely production of American energy 

resources from the Gulf of Mexico. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Putting the Gulf of 

5 Mexico Back to Work Act’’. 

6 TITLE I—AMENDMENT TO THE 

7 OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF 

8 LANDS ACT 

9 SEC. 101. AMENDMENT TO OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF 

10 LANDS ACT. 

11 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 11(d) of the Outer Conti12 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1340(d)) is amended 

13 to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘(d) DRILLING PERMITS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall by reg16 ulation require that any lessee operating under an 

17 approved exploration plan— 

18 ‘‘(A) must obtain a permit before drilling 

19 any well in accordance with such plan; and 

20 ‘‘(B) must obtain a new permit before 

21 drilling any well of a design that is significantly 

22 different than the design for which an existing 

23 permit was issued. 

24 ‘‘(2) SAFETY REVIEW REQUIRED.—The Sec25 retary shall not issue a permit under paragraph (1) 


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1 without ensuring that the proposed drilling oper2 ations meet all— 

3 ‘‘(A) critical safety system requirements, 

4 including blowout prevention; and 

5 ‘‘(B) oil spill response and containment re6 quirements. 

7 ‘‘(3) TIMELINE.— 

8 ‘‘(A) The Secretary shall decide whether to 

9 issue a permit under paragraph (1) within 30 

10 days after receiving an application for the per11 mit. The Secretary may extend such period for 

12 up to two periods of 15 days each, if the Sec13 retary has given written notice of the delay to 

14 the applicant. The notice shall be in the form 

15 of a letter from the Secretary or a designee of 

16 the Secretary, and shall include the names and 

17 titles of the persons processing the application, 

18 the specific reasons for the delay, and a specific 

19 date a final decision on the application is ex20 pected. 

21 ‘‘(B) If the application is denied, the Sec22 retary shall provide the applicant— 

23 ‘‘(i) in writing, clear and comprehen24 sive reasons why the application was not 


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1 accepted and detailed information con2 cerning any deficiencies, and 

3 ‘‘(ii) an opportunity to remedy any de4 ficiencies. 

5 ‘‘(C) If the Secretary has not made a deci6 sion on the application by the end of the 60-day 

7 period beginning on the date the application is 

8 received by the Secretary, the application is 

9 deemed approved.’’. 

10 (b) DEADLINE FOR CERTAIN PERMIT APPLICATIONS

11 UNDER EXISTING LEASES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the amend13 ment made by subsection (a), a lease under which a 

14 covered application is submitted to the Secretary of 

15 the Interior shall be considered to be in directed sus16 pension during the period beginning May 27, 2010, 

17 and ending on the date the Secretary issues a final 

18 decision on the application, if the Secretary does not 

19 issue a final decision on the application— 

20 (A) before the end of the 30-day period be21 ginning on the date of enactment of this Act, 

22 in the case of a covered application submitted 

23 before such date of enactment; or 

24 (B) before the end of the 30-day period be25 ginning on the date the application is received 


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1 by the Secretary, in the case of a covered appli2 cation submitted on or after such date of enact3 ment. 

4 (2) COVERED APPLICATION.—In this subsection 

5 the term ‘‘covered application’’ means an application 

6 for a permit to drill under an oil and gas lease under 

7 the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act in effect on 

8 the date of enactment of this Act, that— 

9 (A) represents a resubmission of an ap10 proved permit to drill (including an application 

11 for a permit to sidetrack) that was approved by 

12 the Secretary before May 27, 2010; and 

13 (B) is received by the Secretary after Octo14 ber 12, 2010, and before the end of the 30-day 

15 period beginning on the date of enactment of 

16 this Act. 

17 SEC. 102. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN OUTER CONTINENTAL 

18 SHELF LEASES. 

19 (a) DEFINITION OF COVERED LEASE.—In this section, 

20 the term ‘‘covered lease’’ means each oil and gas lease for 

21 the Gulf of Mexico outer Continental Shelf region issued 

22 under section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

23 (43 U.S.C. 1337) that— 

24 (1)(A) was not producing as of April 30, 2010; 

25 or 


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1 (B) was suspended from operations, permit proc2 essing, or consideration, in accordance with the mora3 torium set forth in the Minerals Management Service 

4 Notice to Lessees and Operators No. 2010–N04, dated 

5 May 30, 2010, or the decision memorandum of the 

6 Secretary of the Interior entitled ‘‘Decision memo7 randum regarding the suspension of certain offshore 

8 permitting and drilling activities on the Outer Conti9 nental Shelf’’ and dated July 12, 2010; and 

10 (2) by its terms would expire on or before De11 cember 31, 2011. 

12 (b) EXTENSION OF COVERED LEASES.—The Secretary 

13 of the Interior shall extend the term of a covered lease by 

14 1 year. 

15 (c) EFFECT ON SUSPENSIONS OF OPERATIONS OR

16 PRODUCTION.—The extension of covered leases under this 

17 section is in addition to any suspension of operations or 

18 suspension of production granted by the Minerals Manage19 ment Service or Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 

20 Regulation and Enforcement after May 1, 2010. 


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1 TITLE II—JUDICIAL REVIEW OF 

2 AGENCY ACTIONS RELATING 

3 TO OUTER CONTINENTAL 

4 SHELF ACTIVITIES IN THE 

5 GULF OF MEXICO 

6 SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS FOR TITLE. 

7 In this title— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘covered civil action’’ means a civil 

9 action containing a claim under section 702 of title 

10 5, United States Code, regarding agency action (as 

11 defined for the purposes of that section) affecting a 

12 covered energy project in the Gulf of Mexico; and 

13 (2) the term ‘‘covered energy project’’ means 

14 the leasing of Federal lands of the Outer Conti15 nental Shelf (including submerged lands) for the ex16 ploration, development, production, processing, or 

17 transmission of oil, natural gas, wind, or any other 

18 source of energy in the Gulf of Mexico, and any ac19 tion under such a lease, except that the term does 

20 not include any disputes between the parties to a 

21 lease regarding the obligations under such lease, in22 cluding regarding any alleged breach of the lease. 


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1 SEC. 202. EXCLUSIVE VENUE FOR CERTAIN CIVIL ACTIONS 

2 RELATING TO COVERED ENERGY PROJECTS 

3 IN THE GULF OF MEXICO. 

4 Venue for any covered civil action shall not lie in any 

5 district court not within the 5th circuit unless there is no 

6 proper venue in any court within that circuit. 

7 SEC. 203. TIME LIMITATION ON FILING. 

8 A covered civil action is barred unless filed no later 

9 than the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date 

10 of the final Federal agency action to which it relates. 

11 SEC. 204. EXPEDITION IN HEARING AND DETERMINING THE 

12 ACTION. 

13 The court shall endeavor to hear and determine any 

14 covered civil action as expeditiously as possible. 

15 SEC. 205. STANDARD OF REVIEW. 

16 In any judicial review of a covered civil action, admin17 istrative findings and conclusions relating to the chal18 lenged Federal action or decision shall be presumed to be 

19 correct, and the presumption may be rebutted only by the 

20 preponderance of the evidence contained in the adminis21 trative record. 

22 SEC. 206. LIMITATION ON PROSPECTIVE RELIEF. 

23 In a covered civil action, the court shall not grant 

24 or approve any prospective relief unless the court finds 

25 that such relief is narrowly drawn, extends no further than 

26 necessary to correct the violation of a legal requirement, 


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1 and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct that 

2 violation. 

3 SEC. 207. LIMITATION ON ATTORNEYS’ FEES. 

4 Sections 504 of title 5, United States Code, and 2412 

5 of title 28, United States Code (together commonly called 

6 the Equal Access to Justice Act) do not apply to a covered 

7 civil action, nor shall any party in such a covered civil ac8 tion receive payment from the Federal Government for 

9 their attorneys’ fees, expenses, and other court costs. 


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Union Calendar No. 35 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1229 

[Report No. 112–67, Part I] 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

ico. American energy resources from the Gulf of Mexto facilitate the safe and timely production of 

MAY 2, 2011 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with 

M

an amendment 

AY 2, 2011 

Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed to the 

Union and ordered to be printed Committee on the Whole House on the State of the 


emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS