I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 49 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish and implement a competi-
tive oil and gas leasing program that will result in an environmentally 
sound program for the exploration, development, and production of the 
oil and gas resources of the Coastal Plain of Alaska, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2017 
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on 
Energy and Commerce, and Science, Space, and Technology, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish and 
implement a competitive oil and gas leasing program 
that will result in an environmentally sound program 
for the exploration, development, and production of the 
oil and gas resources of the Coastal Plain of Alaska, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Energy Inde-
pendence and Job Creation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COASTAL
PLAIN.—The term ‘‘Coastal 
Plain’’ means that area described in appendix I to 
part 37 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations. 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’, except 
as otherwise provided, means the Secretary of the 
Interior or the Secretary’s designee. 
SEC. 3. LEASING PROGRAM FOR LANDS WITHIN THE 
COASTAL PLAIN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall take such ac-
tions as are necessary— 
(1) to establish and implement, in accordance 
with this Act and acting through the Director of the 
Bureau of Land Management in consultation with 
the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service, a competitive oil and gas leasing program 
that will result in an environmentally sound program 
for the exploration, development, and production of 
the oil and gas resources of the Coastal Plain; and 
(2) to administer the provisions of this Act 
through regulations, lease terms, conditions, restric-
tions, prohibitions, stipulations, and other provisions 
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that ensure the oil and gas exploration, development, 
and production activities on the Coastal Plain will 
result in no significant adverse effect on fish and 
wildlife, their habitat, subsistence resources, and the 
environment, including, in furtherance of this goal, 
by requiring the application of the best commercially 
available technology for oil and gas exploration, de-
velopment, and production to all exploration, devel-
opment, and production operations under this Act in 
a manner that ensures the receipt of fair market 
value by the public for the mineral resources to be 
leased. 
(b) REPEAL.— 
(1) REPEAL.—Section 1003 of the Alaska Na-
tional Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (16 
U.S.C. 3143) is repealed. 
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 
contents in section 1 of such Act is amended by 
striking the item relating to section 1003. 
(c) COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS UNDER CER-
TAIN OTHER LAWS.— 
(1) COMPATIBILITY.—For purposes of the Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 
1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), the oil and gas 
leasing program and activities authorized by this 
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section in the Coastal Plain are deemed to be com-
patible with the purposes for which the Arctic Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge was established, and no fur-
ther findings or decisions are required to implement 
this determination. 
(2) ADEQUACY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE 
INTERIOR’S LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 
STATEMENT.—The 
‘‘Final 
Legislative 
Environ-
mental Impact Statement’’ (April 1987) on the 
Coastal Plain prepared pursuant to section 1002 of 
the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 
Act of 1980 (16 U.S.C. 3142) and section 102(2)(C) 
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) is deemed to satisfy the re-
quirements under the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969 that apply with respect to prelease ac-
tivities, including actions authorized to be taken by 
the Secretary to develop and promulgate the regula-
tions for the establishment of a leasing program au-
thorized by this Act before the conduct of the first 
lease sale. 
(3) COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA FOR OTHER AC-
TIONS.—Before conducting the first lease sale under 
this Act, the Secretary shall prepare an environ-
mental impact statement under the National Envi-
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ronmental Policy Act of 1969 with respect to the ac-
tions authorized by this Act that are not referred to 
in paragraph (2). Notwithstanding any other law, 
the Secretary is not required to identify nonleasing 
alternative courses of action or to analyze the envi-
ronmental effects of such courses of action. The Sec-
retary shall only identify a preferred action for such 
leasing and a single leasing alternative, and analyze 
the environmental effects and potential mitigation 
measures for those two alternatives. The identifica-
tion of the preferred action and related analysis for 
the first lease sale under this Act shall be completed 
within 18 months after the date of enactment of this 
Act. The Secretary shall only consider public com-
ments that specifically address the Secretary’s pre-
ferred action and that are filed within 20 days after 
publication of an environmental analysis. Notwith-
standing any other law, compliance with this para-
graph is deemed to satisfy all requirements for the 
analysis and consideration of the environmental ef-
fects of proposed leasing under this Act. 
(d) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND LOCAL AUTHOR-
ITY.—Nothing in this Act shall be considered to expand 
or limit State and local regulatory authority. 
(e) SPECIAL AREAS.— 
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(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary, after con-
sultation with the State of Alaska, the city of 
Kaktovik, and the North Slope Borough, may des-
ignate up to a total of 45,000 acres of the Coastal 
Plain as a Special Area if the Secretary determines 
that the Special Area is of such unique character 
and interest so as to require special management 
and regulatory protection. The Secretary shall des-
ignate as such a Special Area the Sadlerochit Spring 
area, comprising approximately 4,000 acres. 
(2) MANAGEMENT.—Each such Special Area 
shall be managed so as to protect and preserve the 
area’s unique and diverse character including its 
fish, wildlife, and subsistence resource values. 
(3) EXCLUSION
FROM
LEASING
OR
SURFACE 
OCCUPANCY.—The Secretary may exclude any Spe-
cial Area from leasing. If the Secretary leases a Spe-
cial Area, or any part thereof, for purposes of oil 
and gas exploration, development, production, and 
related activities, there shall be no surface occu-
pancy of the lands comprising the Special Area. 
(4) DIRECTIONAL DRILLING.—Notwithstanding 
the other provisions of this subsection, the Secretary 
may lease all or a portion of a Special Area under 
terms that permit the use of horizontal drilling tech-
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nology from sites on leases located outside the Spe-
cial Area. 
(f) LIMITATION
ON
CLOSED
AREAS.—The Sec-
retary’s sole authority to close lands within the Coastal 
Plain to oil and gas leasing and to exploration, develop-
ment, and production is that set forth in this Act. 
(g) REGULATIONS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pre-
scribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry 
out this Act, including rules and regulations relating 
to protection of the fish and wildlife, their habitat, 
subsistence resources, and environment of the Coast-
al Plain, by no later than 15 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act. 
(2) REVISION
OF
REGULATIONS.—The Sec-
retary shall periodically review and, if appropriate, 
revise the rules and regulations issued under sub-
section (a) to reflect any significant biological, envi-
ronmental, or engineering data that come to the Sec-
retary’s attention. 
SEC. 4. LEASE SALES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Lands may be leased pursuant to 
this Act to any person qualified to obtain a lease for depos-
its of oil and gas under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 
U.S.C. 181 et seq.). 
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(b) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall, by regula-
tion, establish procedures for— 
(1) receipt and consideration of sealed nomina-
tions for any area in the Coastal Plain for inclusion 
in, or exclusion (as provided in subsection (c)) from, 
a lease sale; 
(2) the holding of lease sales after such nomina-
tion process; and 
(3) public notice of and comment on designa-
tion of areas to be included in, or excluded from, a 
lease sale. 
(c) LEASE SALE BIDS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Bidding for leases under 
this Act shall be by sealed competitive cash bonus 
bids, except as provided in paragraph (2). 
(2) LEASE SALE BIDS.—Lease sales under this 
Act may be conducted through an Internet leasing 
program, if the Secretary determines that such a 
system will result in savings to the taxpayer, an in-
crease in the number of bidders participating, and 
higher returns than oral bidding or a sealed bidding 
system. 
(d) ACREAGE MINIMUM IN FIRST SALE.—In the first 
lease sale under this Act, the Secretary shall offer for lease 
those tracts the Secretary considers to have the greatest 
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potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons, taking into 
consideration nominations received pursuant to subsection 
(b)(1), but in no case less than 200,000 acres. 
(e) TIMING
OF
LEASE
SALES.—The Secretary 
shall— 
(1) conduct the first lease sale under this Act 
within 22 months after the date of the enactment of 
this Act; 
(2) evaluate the bids in such sale and issue 
leases resulting from such sale, within 90 days after 
the date of the completion of such sale; and 
(3) conduct additional sales so long as sufficient 
interest in development exists to warrant, in the Sec-
retary’s judgment, the conduct of such sales. 
SEC. 5. GRANT OF LEASES BY THE SECRETARY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may grant to the 
highest responsible qualified bidder in a lease sale con-
ducted pursuant to section 4 any lands to be leased on 
the Coastal Plain upon payment by the lessee of such 
bonus as may be accepted by the Secretary. 
(b) SUBSEQUENT
TRANSFERS.—No lease issued 
under this Act may be sold, exchanged, assigned, sublet, 
or otherwise transferred except with the approval of the 
Secretary. Prior to any such approval the Secretary shall 
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consult with, and give due consideration to the views of, 
the Attorney General. 
SEC. 6. LEASE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—An oil or gas lease issued pursu-
ant to this Act shall— 
(1) provide for the payment of a royalty of not 
less than 121⁄2 percent in amount or value of the 
production removed or sold from the lease, as deter-
mined by the Secretary under the regulations appli-
cable to other Federal oil and gas leases; 
(2) provide that the Secretary may close, on a 
seasonal basis, portions of the Coastal Plain to ex-
ploratory drilling activities as necessary to protect 
caribou calving areas and other species of fish and 
wildlife; 
(3) require that the lessee of lands within the 
Coastal Plain shall be fully responsible and liable for 
the reclamation of lands within the Coastal Plain 
and any other Federal lands that are adversely af-
fected in connection with exploration, development, 
production, or transportation activities conducted 
under the lease and within the Coastal Plain by the 
lessee or by any of the subcontractors or agents of 
the lessee; 
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