I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1032 

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 

MARCH 11, 2011 

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. TIME FOR FILING COMPLAINT. 

2 All causes and claims that arise from any covered en3 ergy project must be filed not later than the end of the 

4 60-day period beginning on the date of the action or deci5 sion by a Federal official that constitutes the covered en6 ergy project concerned. Any cause or claim not filed within 

7 that time period shall be barred. 

8 SEC. 4. DISTRICT COURT DEADLINE. 

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

10 to section 3— 

11 (1) shall be resolved as expeditiously as pos12 sible, and in any event not more than 180 days after 

13 such cause or claim is filed; and 

14 (2) shall take precedence over all other pending 

15 matters before the district court. 

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

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

18 been issued by the district court by the deadline described 

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

20 with prejudice and all rights relating to such cause or 

21 claim shall be terminated. 

22 SEC. 5. ABILITY TO SEEK APPELLATE REVIEW. 

23 An interlocutory or final judgment, decree, or order 

24 of the district court in a proceeding that is subject to sec25 tion 3 may be reviewed by no other court except the Su26 preme Court. 


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1 SEC. 6. DEADLINE FOR APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT. 

2 If a writ of certiorari has been granted by the Su3 preme Court pursuant to section 5, then— 

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

5 or order of the district court shall be resolved as ex6 peditiously as possible and in any event not more 

7 than 180 days after such interlocutory or final judg8 ment, decree, order of the district court is issued; 

9 and 

10 (2) all such proceedings shall take precedence 

11 over all other matters then before the Supreme 

12 Court. 

13 SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON SCOPE OF REVIEW AND RELIEF. 

14 (a) ADMINISTRATIVE FINDINGS AND CONCLU15 SIONS.—In any judicial review of any Federal action under 

16 this Act, any administrative findings and conclusions re17 lating to the challenged Federal action shall be presumed 

18 to be correct unless shown otherwise by clear and con19 vincing evidence contained in the administrative record. 

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

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

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

23 relief unless the Court finds that such relief is narrowly 

24 drawn, extends no further than necessary to correct the 

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


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1 intrusive means necessary to correct the violation con2 cerned. 

3 SEC. 8. LEGAL FEES. 

4 Any person filing a petition seeking judicial review 

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

6 a prevailing party shall pay to the prevailing parties (in7 cluding intervening parties), other than the United States, 

8 fees and other expenses incurred by that party in connec9 tion with the judicial review, unless the Court finds that 

10 the position of the person was substantially justified or 

11 that special circumstances make an award unjust. 

12 SEC. 9. EXCLUSION. 

13 This Act shall not apply with respect to disputes be14 tween the parties to a lease issued pursuant to an author15 izing leasing statute regarding the obligations of such 

16 lease or the alleged breach thereof. 

17 SEC. 10. COVERED ENERGY PROJECT DEFINED. 

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

19 any action or decision by a Federal official regarding— 

20 (1) the leasing of Federal lands (including sub21 merged lands) for the exploration, development, pro22 duction, processing, or transmission of oil, natural 

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

24 actions and decisions regarding the selection or of25 fering of Federal lands for such leasing; or 


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1 (2) any action under such a lease. 

Æ 


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