I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1229 

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 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Mexico Back to Work Act’’. 

4 TITLE I—AMENDMENT TO THE 

5 OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF 

6 LANDS ACT 

7 SEC. 101. AMENDMENT TO OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF 

8 LANDS ACT. 

9 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 11(d) of the Outer Conti10 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1340(d)) is amended 

11 to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(d) DRILLING PERMITS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall by reg14 ulation require that any lessee operating under an 

15 approved exploration plan— 

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

17 any well in accordance with such plan; and 

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

19 drilling any well of a design that is significantly 

20 different than the design for which an existing 

21 permit was issued. 

22 ‘‘(2) SAFETY REVIEW REQUIRED.—The Sec23 retary shall not issue a permit under paragraph (1) 

24 without ensuring that the proposed drilling oper25 ations meet all— 


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1 ‘‘(A) critical safety system requirements, 

2 including blowout prevention; and 

3 ‘‘(B) oil spill response and containment re4 quirements. 

5 ‘‘(3) TIMELINE.— 

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

7 issue a permit under paragraph (1) within 30 

8 days after receiving an application for the per9 mit. The Secretary may extend such period for 

10 up to two periods of 15 days each, if the Sec11 retary has given written notice of the delay to 

12 the applicant. The notice shall be in the form 

13 of a letter from the Secretary or a designee of 

14 the Secretary, and shall include the names and 

15 titles of the persons processing the application, 

16 the specific reasons for the delay, and a specific 

17 date a final decision on the application is ex18 pected. 

19 ‘‘(B) If the application is denied, the Sec20 retary shall provide the applicant— 

21 ‘‘(i) in writing, clear and comprehen22 sive reasons why the application was not 

23 accepted and detailed information con24 cerning any deficiencies, and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) an opportunity to remedy any de2 ficiencies. 

3 ‘‘(C) If the Secretary has not made a deci4 sion on the application by the end of the 60-day 

5 period beginning on the date the application is 

6 received by the Secretary, the application is 

7 deemed approved.’’. 

8 (b) DEADLINE FOR CERTAIN PERMIT APPLICATIONS

9 UNDER EXISTING LEASES.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the amend11 ment made by subsection (a), a lease under which a 

12 covered application is submitted to the Secretary of 

13 the Interior shall be considered to be in directed sus14 pension during the period beginning May 27, 2010, 

15 and ending on the date the Secretary issues a final 

16 decision on the application, if the Secretary does not 

17 issue a final decision on the application— 

18 (A) before the end of the 30-day period be19 ginning on the date of enactment of this Act, 

20 in the case of a covered application submitted 

21 before such date of enactment; or 

22 (B) before the end of the 30-day period be23 ginning on the date the application is received 

24 by the Secretary, in the case of a covered appliVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:15 Mar 30, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1229.IH H1229

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1 cation submitted on or after such date of enact2 ment. 

3 (2) COVERED APPLICATION.—In this subsection 

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

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

6 the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act in effect on 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, that— 

8 (A) represents a resubmission of an ap9 proved permit to drill (including an application 

10 for a permit to sidetrack) that was approved by 

11 the Secretary before May 27, 2010; and 

12 (B) is received by the Secretary after Octo13 ber 12, 2010, and before the end of the 30-day 

14 period beginning on the date of enactment of 

15 this Act. 

16 TITLE II—JUDICIAL REVIEW OF 

17 AGENCY ACTIONS RELATING 

18 TO OUTER CONTINENTAL 

19 SHELF ACTIVITIES IN THE 

20 GULF OF MEXICO 

21 SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS FOR TITLE. 

22 In this title— 

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

24 action containing a claim under section 702 of title 

25 5, United States Code, regarding agency action (as 


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1 defined for the purposes of that section) affecting a 

2 covered energy project in the Gulf of Mexico; and 

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

4 the leasing of Federal lands of the Outer Conti5 nental Shelf (including submerged lands) for the ex6 ploration, development, production, processing, or 

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

8 source of energy in the Gulf of Mexico, and any ac9 tion under such a lease, except that the term does 

10 not include any disputes between the parties to a 

11 lease regarding the obligations under such lease, in12 cluding regarding any alleged breach of the lease. 

13 SEC. 202. EXCLUSIVE VENUE FOR CERTAIN CIVIL ACTIONS 

14 RELATING TO COVERED ENERGY PROJECTS 

15 IN THE GULF OF MEXICO. 

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

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

18 proper venue in any court within that circuit. 

19 SEC. 203. TIME LIMITATION ON FILING. 

20 A covered civil action is barred unless filed no later 

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

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


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1 SEC. 204. EXPEDITION IN HEARING AND DETERMINING THE 

2 ACTION. 

3 The court shall endeavor to hear and determine any 

4 covered civil action as expeditiously as possible. 

5 SEC. 205. STANDARD OF REVIEW. 

6 In any judicial review of a covered civil action, admin7 istrative findings and conclusions relating to the chal8 lenged Federal action or decision shall be presumed to be 

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

10 preponderance of the evidence contained in the adminis11 trative record. 

12 SEC. 206. LIMITATION ON PROSPECTIVE RELIEF. 

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

14 or approve any prospective relief unless the court finds 

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

16 necessary to correct the violation of a legal requirement, 

17 and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct that 

18 violation. 

19 SEC. 207. LIMITATION ON ATTORNEYS’ FEES. 

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

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

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

23 civil action, nor shall any party in such a covered civil ac24 tion receive payment from the Federal Government for 

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

Æ 


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