I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3694 

To establish judicial procedures for causes and claims relating to any action 

or decision by a Federal official regarding the leasing of Federal lands 

(including submerged lands) for the exploration, development, production, 

processing, or transmission of oil, natural gas, or any other source 

or form of energy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 1, 2009 

Mr. BROUN of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish judicial procedures for causes and claims relating to any action or decision by a Federal official regarding the leasing of Federal lands (including submerged 

lands) for the exploration, development, production, processing, or transmission of oil, natural gas, or any other 

source or form of energy, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Removing Excess Liti5 gation Involving Energy on Federal Lands Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘RELIEF Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the United States spends over $1 billion per 

4 day to import crude oil from foreign countries; 

5 (2) such expenditure represents the largest 

6 wealth transfer in history; 

7 (3) the United States has at least 86 billion 

8 barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural 

9 gas in the outer Continental Shelf; 

10 (4) environmental groups have legally chal11 lenged every lease in the Alaskan Outer Continental 

12 Shelf in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas; 

13 (5) environmental groups have legally chal14 lenged the entire 2007–2012 5-year national outer 

15 Continental Shelf leasing program; 

16 (6) such legal challenges significantly delay or 

17 ultimately prevent energy resources from reaching 

18 the American public; 

19 (7) these legal challenges come at a high cost 

20 to the American public and the American economy; 

21 and 

22 (8) Congress finds that expedited judicial re23 view is necessary to prevent this gross abuse of the 

24 United States judicial system. 


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1 SEC. 3. EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OVER CAUSES AND 

2 CLAIMS RELATING TO COVERED ENERGY 

3 PROJECTS. 

4 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 

5 United States District Court for the District of Columbia 

6 shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear all causes and 

7 claims under this Act or any other Act that arise from 

8 any covered energy project. 

9 SEC. 4. TIME FOR FILING COMPLAINT. 

10 All causes and claims referred to in section 3 must 

11 be filed not later than the end of the 60-day period begin12 ning on the date of the action or decision by a Federal 

13 official that constitutes the covered energy project con14 cerned. Any cause or claim not filed within that time pe15 riod shall be barred. 

16 SEC. 5. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

17 DEADLINE. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—All proceedings that are subject 

19 to section 3— 

20 (1) shall be resolved as expeditiously as pos21 sible, and in any event not more than 180 days after 

22 such cause or claim is filed; and 

23 (2) shall take precedence over all other pending 

24 matters before the district court. 

25 (b) FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH DEADLINE.—If an 

26 interlocutory or final judgment, decree, or order has not 


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1 been issued by the district court by the deadline described 

2 under this section, the cause or claim shall be dismissed 

3 with prejudice and all rights relating to such cause or 

4 claim shall be terminated. 

5 SEC. 6. ABILITY TO SEEK APPELLATE REVIEW. 

6 An interlocutory or final judgment, decree, or order 

7 of the district court may be reviewed by no other court 

8 except the Supreme Court. 

9 SEC. 7. DEADLINE FOR APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT. 

10 If a writ of certiorari has been granted by the Su11 preme Court pursuant to section 6, then— 

12 (1) the interlocutory or final judgment, decree, 

13 or order of the district court shall be resolved as ex14 peditiously as possible and in any event not more 

15 than 180 days after such interlocutory or final judg16 ment, decree, order of the district court is issued; 

17 and 

18 (2) all such proceedings shall take precedence 

19 over all other matters then before the Supreme 

20 Court. 

21 SEC. 8. LIMITATION ON SCOPE OF REVIEW AND RELIEF. 

22 (a) ADMINISTRATIVE FINDINGS AND CONCLU23 SIONS.—In any judicial review of any Federal action under 

24 this Act, any administrative findings and conclusions re25 lating to the challenged Federal action shall be presumed 


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1 to be correct unless shown otherwise by clear and con2 vincing evidence contained in the administrative record. 

3 (b) LIMITATION ON PROSPECTIVE RELIEF.—In any 

4 judicial review of any action, or failure to act, under this 

5 Act, the Court shall not grant or approve any prospective 

6 relief unless the Court finds that such relief is narrowly 

7 drawn, extends no further than necessary to correct the 

8 violation of a Federal law requirement, and is the least 

9 intrusive means necessary to correct the violation con10 cerned. 

11 SEC. 9. LEGAL FEES. 

12 Any person filing a petition seeking judicial review 

13 of any action, or failure to act, under this Act who is not 

14 a prevailing party shall pay to the prevailing parties (in15 cluding intervening parties), other than the United States, 

16 fees and other expenses incurred by that party in connec17 tion with the judicial review, unless the Court finds that 

18 the position of the person was substantially justified or 

19 that special circumstances make an award unjust. 

20 SEC. 10. EXCLUSION. 

21 This Act shall not apply with respect to disputes be22 tween the parties to a lease issued pursuant to an author23 izing leasing statute regarding the obligations of such 

24 lease or the alleged breach thereof. 


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1 SEC. 11. COVERED ENERGY PROJECT DEFINED. 

2 In this Act, the term ‘‘covered energy project’’ means 

3 any action or decision by a Federal official regarding— 

4 (1) the leasing of Federal lands (including sub5 merged lands) for the exploration, development, pro6 duction, processing, or transmission of oil, natural 

7 gas, or any other source or form of energy, including 

8 actions and decisions regarding the selection or of9 fering of Federal lands for such leasing; or 

10 (2) any action under such a lease. 

Æ 


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