IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 538 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 19, 2015 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

AN ACT 

To facilitate the development of energy on Indian lands by 

reducing Federal regulations that impede tribal development of Indian lands, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American En3 ergy Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. APPRAISALS. 

5 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title XXVI of the Energy Policy 

6 Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) is amended by add7 ing at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 2607. APPRAISAL REFORMS. 

9 ‘‘(a) OPTIONS TO INDIAN TRIBES.—With respect to 

10 a transaction involving Indian land or the trust assets of 

11 an Indian tribe that requires the approval of the Sec12 retary, any appraisal relating to fair market value required 

13 to be conducted under applicable law, regulation, or policy 

14 may be completed by— 

15 ‘‘(1) the Secretary; 

16 ‘‘(2) the affected Indian tribe; or 

17 ‘‘(3) a certified, third-party appraiser pursuant 

18 to a contract with the Indian tribe. 

19 ‘‘(b) TIME LIMIT ON SECRETARIAL REVIEW AND AC20 TION.—Not later than 30 days after the date on which 

21 the Secretary receives an appraisal conducted by or for 

22 an Indian tribe pursuant to paragraphs (2) or (3) of sub23 section (a), the Secretary shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) review the appraisal; and 

25 ‘‘(2) provide to the Indian tribe a written notice 

26 of approval or disapproval of the appraisal. 


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1 ‘‘(c) FAILURE OF SECRETARY TO APPROVE OR DIS2 APPROVE.—If, after 60 days, the Secretary has failed to 

3 approve or disapprove any appraisal received, the ap4 praisal shall be deemed approved. 

5 ‘‘(d) OPTION TO INDIAN TRIBES TO WAIVE AP6 PRAISAL.— 

7 ‘‘(1) An Indian tribe wishing to waive the re8 quirements of subsection (a), may do so after it has 

9 satisfied the requirements of paragraphs (2) and 

10 (3). 

11 ‘‘(2) An Indian tribe wishing to forego the ne12 cessity of a waiver pursuant to this section must 

13 provide to the Secretary a written resolution, state14 ment, or other unambiguous indication of tribal in15 tent, duly approved by the governing body of the In16 dian tribe. 

17 ‘‘(3) The unambiguous indication of intent pro18 vided by the Indian tribe to the Secretary under 

19 paragraph (2) must include an express waiver by the 

20 Indian tribe of any claims for damages it might have 

21 against the United States as a result of the lack of 

22 an appraisal undertaken. 

23 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this subsection, 

24 the term ‘appraisal’ includes appraisals and other esti25 mates of value. 


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1 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall develop 

2 regulations for implementing this section, including stand3 ards the Secretary shall use for approving or disapproving 

4 an appraisal.’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con6 tents of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 13201 

7 note) is amended by adding at the end of the items relat8 ing to title XXVI the following: 

‘‘Sec. 2607. Appraisal reforms.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. STANDARDIZATION. 

10 As soon as practicable after the date of the enactment 

11 of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall implement 

12 procedures to ensure that each agency within the Depart13 ment of the Interior that is involved in the review, ap14 proval, and oversight of oil and gas activities on Indian 

15 lands shall use a uniform system of reference numbers and 

16 tracking systems for oil and gas wells. 

17 SEC. 4. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS OF MAJOR FEDERAL 

18 ACTIONS ON INDIAN LANDS. 

19 Section 102 of the National Environmental Policy 

20 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) is amended by inserting 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before the first sentence, and by 

22 adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(b) REVIEW OF MAJOR FEDERAL ACTIONS ON IN24 DIAN LANDS.— 

25 ‘‘(1) REVIEW AND COMMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 subparagraph (B), the statement required 

3 under subsection (a)(2)(C) for a major Federal 

4 action regarding an activity on Indian lands of 

5 an Indian tribe shall only be available for re6 view and comment by the members of the In7 dian tribe, other individuals residing within the 

8 affected area, and State, federally recognized 

9 tribal, and local governments within the af10 fected area. 

11 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) 

12 shall not apply to a statement for a major Fed13 eral action regarding an activity on Indian 

14 lands of an Indian tribe related to gaming 

15 under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. 

16 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The Chairman of the 

17 Council on Environmental Quality shall develop reg18 ulations to implement this section, including descrip19 tions of affected areas for specific major Federal ac20 tions, in consultation with Indian tribes. 

21 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, each of 

22 the terms ‘Indian land’ and ‘Indian tribe’ has the 

23 meaning given that term in section 2601 of the En24 ergy Policy Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501). 


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1 ‘‘(4) CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITY.—Nothing 

2 in the Native American Energy Act, except section 

3 6 of that Act, shall give the Secretary any additional 

4 authority over energy projects on Alaska Native 

5 Claims Settlement Act lands.’’. 

6 SEC. 5. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 

7 (a) TIME FOR FILING COMPLAINT.—Any energy re8 lated action must be filed not later than the end of the 

9 60-day period beginning on the date of the final agency 

10 action. Any energy related action not filed within this time 

11 period shall be barred. 

12 (b) DISTRICT COURT VENUE AND DEADLINE.—All 

13 energy related actions— 

14 (1) shall be brought in the United States Dis15 trict Court for the District of Columbia; and 

16 (2) shall be resolved as expeditiously as pos17 sible, and in any event not more than 180 days after 

18 such cause of action is filed. 

19 (c) APPELLATE REVIEW.—An interlocutory order or 

20 final judgment, decree or order of the district court in an 

21 energy related action may be reviewed by the United 

22 States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir23 cuit. The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals 

24 shall resolve such appeal as expeditiously as possible, and 

25 in any event not more than 180 days after such interlocuVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:18 Oct 19, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H538.RFS H538

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1 tory order or final judgment, decree or order of the district 

2 court was issued. 

3 (d) LIMITATION ON CERTAIN PAYMENTS.—Notwith4 standing section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, no 

5 award may be made under section 504 of title 5, United 

6 States Code, or under section 2412 of title 28, United 

7 States Code, and no amounts may be obligated or ex8 pended from the Claims and Judgment Fund of the 

9 United States Treasury to pay any fees or other expenses 

10 under such sections, to any person or party in an energy 

11 related action. 

12 (e) LEGAL FEES.—In any energy related action in 

13 which the plaintiff does not ultimately prevail, the court 

14 shall award to the defendant (including any intervenor15 defendants), other than the United States, fees and other 

16 expenses incurred by that party in connection with the en17 ergy related action, unless the court finds that the position 

18 of the plaintiff was substantially justified or that special 

19 circumstances make an award unjust. Whether or not the 

20 position of the plaintiff was substantially justified shall be 

21 determined on the basis of the administrative record, as 

22 a whole, which is made in the energy related action for 

23 which fees and other expenses are sought. 

24 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section, 

25 the following definitions apply: 


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1 (1) AGENCY ACTION.—The term ‘‘agency ac2 tion’’ has the same meaning given such term in sec3 tion 551 of title 5, United States Code. 

4 (2) INDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian Land’’ 

5 has the same meaning given such term in section 

6 203(c)(3) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public 

7 Law 109–58; 25 U.S.C. 3501), including lands 

8 owned by Native Corporations under the Alaska Na9 tive Claims Settlement Act (Public Law 92–203; 43 

10 U.S.C. 1601). 

11 (3) ENERGY RELATED ACTION.—The term ‘‘en12 ergy related action’’ means a cause of action that— 

13 (A) is filed on or after the effective date of 

14 this Act; and 

15 (B) seeks judicial review of a final agency 

16 action to issue a permit, license, or other form 

17 of agency permission allowing: 

18 (i) any person or entity to conduct ac19 tivities on Indian Land, which activities in20 volve the exploration, development, produc21 tion or transportation of oil, gas, coal, 

22 shale gas, oil shale, geothermal resources, 

23 wind or solar resources, underground coal 

24 gasification, biomass, or the generation of 

25 electricity; or 


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1 (ii) any Indian Tribe, or any organiza2 tion of two or more entities, at least one 

3 of which is an Indian tribe, to conduct ac4 tivities involving the exploration, develop5 ment, production or transportation of oil, 

6 gas, coal, shale gas, oil shale, geothermal 

7 resources, wind or solar resources, under8 ground coal gasification, biomass, or the 

9 generation of electricity, regardless of 

10 where such activities are undertaken. 

11 (4) ULTIMATELY PREVAIL.—The phrase ‘‘ulti12 mately prevail’’ means, in a final enforceable judg13 ment, the court rules in the party’s favor on at least 

14 one cause of action which is an underlying rationale 

15 for the preliminary injunction, administrative stay, 

16 or other relief requested by the party, and does not 

17 include circumstances where the final agency action 

18 is modified or amended by the issuing agency unless 

19 such modification or amendment is required pursu20 ant to a final enforceable judgment of the court or 

21 a court-ordered consent decree. 

22 SEC. 6. TRIBAL BIOMASS DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. 

23 The Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 is amended 

24 by inserting after section 2 (25 U.S.C. 3115a) the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 3. TRIBAL BIOMASS DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For each of fiscal years 2016 

3 through 2020, the Secretary shall enter into stewardship 

4 contracts or other agreements, other than agreements that 

5 are exclusively direct service contracts, with Indian tribes 

6 to carry out demonstration projects to promote biomass 

7 energy production (including biofuel, heat, and electricity 

8 generation) on Indian forest land and in nearby commu9 nities by providing reliable supplies of woody biomass from 

10 Federal land. 

11 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—The definitions in section 2 

12 shall apply to this section. 

13 ‘‘(c) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—In each fiscal 

14 year for which projects are authorized, the Secretary shall 

15 enter into contracts or other agreements described in sub16 section (a) to carry out at least 4 new demonstration 

17 projects that meet the eligibility criteria described in sub18 section (d). 

19 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—To be eligible to enter 

20 into a contract or other agreement under this subsection, 

21 an Indian tribe shall submit to the Secretary an applica22 tion— 

23 ‘‘(1) containing such information as the Sec24 retary may require; and 

25 ‘‘(2) that includes a description of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the Indian forest land or rangeland 

2 under the jurisdiction of the Indian tribe; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the demonstration project proposed 

4 to be carried out by the Indian tribe. 

5 ‘‘(e) SELECTION.—In evaluating the applications 

6 submitted under subsection (c), the Secretary— 

7 ‘‘(1) shall take into consideration the factors set 

8 forth in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 2(e) of 

9 Public Law 108–278; and whether a proposed dem10 onstration project would— 

11 ‘‘(A) increase the availability or reliability 

12 of local or regional energy; 

13 ‘‘(B) enhance the economic development of 

14 the Indian tribe; 

15 ‘‘(C) improve the connection of electric 

16 power transmission facilities serving the Indian 

17 tribe with other electric transmission facilities; 

18 ‘‘(D) improve the forest health or water19 sheds of Federal land or Indian forest land or 

20 rangeland; or 

21 ‘‘(E) otherwise promote the use of woody 

22 biomass; and 

23 ‘‘(2) shall exclude from consideration any mer24 chantable logs that have been identified by the Sec25 retary for commercial sale. 


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1 ‘‘(f) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary shall— 

2 ‘‘(1) ensure that the criteria described in sub3 section (c) are publicly available by not later than 

4 120 days after the date of enactment of this section; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(2) to the maximum extent practicable, consult 

7 with Indian tribes and appropriate intertribal orga8 nizations likely to be affected in developing the ap9 plication and otherwise carrying out this section. 

10 ‘‘(g) REPORT.—Not later than one year subsequent 

11 to the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary 

12 shall submit to Congress a report that describes, with re13 spect to the reporting period— 

14 ‘‘(1) each individual tribal application received 

15 under this section; and 

16 ‘‘(2) each contract and agreement entered into 

17 pursuant to this section. 

18 ‘‘(h) INCORPORATION OF MANAGEMENT PLANS.—In 

19 carrying out a contract or agreement under this section, 

20 on receipt of a request from an Indian tribe, the Secretary 

21 shall incorporate into the contract or agreement, to the 

22 extent practicable, management plans (including forest 

23 management and integrated resource management plans) 

24 in effect on the Indian forest land or rangeland of the re25 spective Indian tribe. 


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1 ‘‘(i) TERM.—A stewardship contract or other agree2 ment entered into under this section— 

3 ‘‘(1) shall be for a term of not more than 20 

4 years; and 

5 ‘‘(2) may be renewed in accordance with this 

6 section for not more than an additional 10 years. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 4. TRIBAL FOREST MANAGEMENT DEMONSTRATION 

8 PROJECT. 

9 ‘‘The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 

10 Agriculture may carry out demonstration projects by 

11 which federally recognized Indian tribes or tribal organiza12 tions may contract to perform administrative, manage13 ment, and other functions of programs of the Tribal For14 est Protection Act of 2004 (25 U.S.C. 3115a et seq.) 

15 through contracts entered into under the Indian Self-De16 termination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450 

17 et seq.).’’. 

18 SEC. 7. TRIBAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLANS. 

19 Unless otherwise explicitly exempted by Federal law 

20 enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act, any 

21 activity conducted or resources harvested or produced pur22 suant to a tribal resource management plan or an inte23 grated resource management plan approved by the Sec24 retary of the Interior under the National Indian Forest 

25 Resources Management Act (25 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) or 


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1 the American Indian Agricultural Resource Management 

2 Act (25 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.), shall be considered a sus3 tainable management practice for purposes of any Federal 

4 standard, benefit, or requirement that requires a dem5 onstration of such sustainability. 

6 SEC. 8. LEASES OF RESTRICTED LANDS FOR THE NAVAJO 

7 NATION. 

8 Subsection (e)(1) of the first section of the Act of 

9 August 9, 1955 (25 U.S.C. 415(e)(1); commonly referred 

10 to as the ‘‘Long-Term Leasing Act’’), is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘, except a lease for’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘, including leases for’’; 

13 (2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘25’’ the 

14 first place it appears and all that follows and insert15 ing ‘‘99 years;’’; 

16 (3) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

17 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

18 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(C) in the case of a lease for the exploration, 

20 development, or extraction of mineral resources, in21 cluding geothermal resources, 25 years, except that 

22 any such lease may include an option to renew for 

23 one additional term not to exceed 25 years.’’. 


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1 SEC. 9. NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN RULES. 

2 No rule promulgated by the Department of the Inte3 rior regarding hydraulic fracturing used in the develop4 ment or production of oil or gas resources shall have any 

5 effect on any land held in trust or restricted status for 

6 the benefit of Indians except with the express consent of 

7 the beneficiary on whose behalf such land is held in trust 

8 or restricted status. 

Passed the House of Representatives October 8, 

2015. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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