IB 
Union Calendar No. 189 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1548 
[Report No. 113–263] 
To facilitate the development of energy on Indian lands by reducing Federal 
regulations that impede tribal development of Indian lands, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 12, 2013 
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
NOVEMBER 12, 2013 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 12, 2013] 
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A BILL 
To facilitate the development of energy on Indian lands by 
reducing Federal regulations that impede tribal develop-
ment of Indian lands, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American Energy 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
Sec. 3. Appraisals. 
Sec. 4. Standardization. 
Sec. 5. Environmental reviews of major Federal actions on Indian lands. 
Sec. 6. BLM oil and gas fees. 
Sec. 7. Bonding requirements and nonpayment of attorneys’ fees to promote In-
dian energy projects. 
Sec. 8. Tribal biomass demonstration project. 
Sec. 9. Tribal resource management plans. 
Sec. 10. Leases of restricted lands for the Navajo Nation. 
Sec. 11. Nonapplicability of certain rules. 
SEC. 3. APPRAISALS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Title XXVI of the Energy Policy 
Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 2607. APPRAISAL REFORMS. 
‘‘(a) OPTIONS TO INDIAN TRIBES.—With respect to a 
transaction involving Indian land or the trust assets of an 
Indian tribe that requires the approval of the Secretary, 
any appraisal relating to fair market value required to be 
conducted under applicable law, regulation, or policy may 
be completed by— 
‘‘(1) the Secretary; 
‘‘(2) the affected Indian tribe; or 
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‘‘(3) a certified, third-party appraiser pursuant 
to a contract with the Indian tribe. 
‘‘(b) TIME LIMIT ON SECRETARIAL REVIEW AND AC-
TION.—Not later than 30 days after the date on which the 
Secretary receives an appraisal conducted by or for an In-
dian tribe pursuant to paragraphs (2) or (3) of subsection 
(a), the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) review the appraisal; and 
‘‘(2) provide to the Indian tribe a written notice 
of approval or disapproval of the appraisal. 
‘‘(c) FAILURE OF SECRETARY TO APPROVE OR DIS-
APPROVE.—If, after 60 days, the Secretary has failed to ap-
prove or disapprove any appraisal received, the appraisal 
shall be deemed approved. 
‘‘(d) OPTION
TO INDIAN TRIBES TO WAIVE AP-
PRAISAL.— 
‘‘(1) An Indian tribe wishing to waive the re-
quirements of subsection (a), may do so after it has 
satisfied the requirements of subsections (2) and (3) 
below. 
‘‘(2) An Indian tribe wishing to forego the neces-
sity of a waiver pursuant to this section must provide 
to the Secretary a written resolution, statement, or 
other unambiguous indication of tribal intent, duly 
approved by the governing body of the Indian tribe. 
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‘‘(3) The unambiguous indication of intent pro-
vided by the Indian tribe to the Secretary under 
paragraph (2) must include an express waiver by the 
Indian tribe of any claims for damages it might have 
against the United States as a result of the lack of an 
appraisal undertaken. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this subsection, the 
term ‘appraisal’ includes appraisals and other estimates of 
value. 
‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall develop regu-
lations for implementing this section, including standards 
the Secretary shall use for approving or disapproving an 
appraisal.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 13201 note) 
is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to 
title XXVI the following: 
‘‘Sec. 2607. Appraisal reforms.’’. 
SEC. 4. STANDARDIZATION. 
As soon as practicable after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall implement 
procedures to ensure that each agency within the Depart-
ment of the Interior that is involved in the review, ap-
proval, and oversight of oil and gas activities on Indian 
lands shall use a uniform system of reference numbers and 
tracking systems for oil and gas wells. 
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SEC. 5. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS OF MAJOR FEDERAL AC-
TIONS ON INDIAN LANDS. 
Section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) is amended by inserting ‘‘(a) IN 
GENERAL.—’’ before the first sentence, and by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(b) REVIEW OF MAJOR FEDERAL ACTIONS ON INDIAN 
LANDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For any major Federal ac-
tion on Indian lands of an Indian tribe requiring the 
preparation 
of 
a 
statement 
under 
subsection 
(a)(2)(C), the statement shall only be available for re-
view and comment by the members of the Indian tribe 
and by any other individual residing within the af-
fected area. 
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The Chairman of the 
Council on Environmental Quality shall develop reg-
ulations to implement this section, including descrip-
tions of affected areas for specific major Federal ac-
tions, in consultation with Indian tribes. 
‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, each of 
the terms ‘Indian land’ and ‘Indian tribe’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 2601 of the En-
ergy Policy Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501). 
‘‘(4) CLARIFICATION
OF
AUTHORITY.—Nothing 
in the Native American Energy Act, except section 7 
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of that Act, shall give the Secretary any additional 
authority over energy projects on Alaska Native 
Claims Settlement Act lands.’’. 
SEC. 6. BLM OIL AND GAS FEES. 
The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bu-
reau of Land Management, shall not collect any fee for any 
of the following: 
(1) For an application for a permit to drill on 
Indian land. 
(2) To conduct any oil or gas inspection activity 
on Indian land. 
(3) On any oil or gas lease for nonproducing 
acreage on Indian land. 
SEC. 7. BONDING REQUIREMENTS AND NONPAYMENT OF 
ATTORNEYS’ FEES TO PROMOTE INDIAN EN-
ERGY PROJECTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—A plaintiff who obtains a prelimi-
nary injunction or administrative stay in an energy related 
action, but does not ultimately prevail on the merits of the 
energy related action, shall be liable for damages sustained 
by a defendant who— 
(1) opposed the preliminary injunction or ad-
ministrative stay; and 
(2) was harmed by the preliminary injunction 
or administrative stay. 
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(b) BOND.—Unless otherwise specifically exempted by 
Federal law, a court may not issue a preliminary injunc-
tion and an agency may not grant an administrative stay 
in an energy related action until the plaintiff posts with 
the court or the agency a surety bond or cash equivalent— 
(1) in an amount the court or agency decides is 
30 percent of that amount that the court or agency 
considers is sufficient to compensate each defendant 
opposing the preliminary injunction or administra-
tive stay for damages, including but not limited to 
preliminary development costs, additional develop-
ment costs, and reasonable attorney fees, that each de-
fendant may sustain as a result of the preliminary 
injunction or administrative stay; 
(2) written by a surety licensed to do business in 
the State in which the Indian Land or other land 
where the activities are undertaken is situated; and 
(3) payable to each defendant opposing the pre-
liminary injunction or administrative stay, in the 
event that the plaintiff does not prevail on the merits 
of the energy related action, Provided, that, if there 
is more than one plaintiff, the court or agency shall 
establish the amount of the bond required by this sub-
section for each plaintiff in a fair and equitable man-
ner. 
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(c) LIMITATION
ON CERTAIN PAYMENTS.—Notwith-
standing section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, no 
award may be made under section 504 of title 5, United 
States Code, or under section 2412 of title 28, United States 
Code, and no amounts may be obligated or expended from 
the Claims and Judgment Fund of the United States Treas-
ury to pay any fees or other expenses under such sections 
to any plaintiff related to an energy related action. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section, the 
following definitions apply: 
(1) ADMINISTRATIVE STAY.—The term ‘‘Admin-
istrative Stay’’ means a stay or other temporary rem-
edy issued by a Federal agency, including the Depart-
ment of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, 
the Department of Energy, the Department of Com-
merce, and the Environmental Protection Agency. 
(2) INDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian Land’’ has 
the same meaning given such term in section 
203(c)(3) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public 
Law 109–58; 25 U.S.C. 3501), including lands owned 
by Native Corporations under the Alaska Native 
Claims Settlement Act (Public Law 92–203; 43 
U.S.C. 1601). 
(3) ENERGY RELATED ACTION.—The term ‘‘en-
ergy related action’’ means a cause of action that— 
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(A) is filed on or after the effective date of 
this Act; and 
(B) seeks judicial review of a final agency 
action (as defined in section 702 of title 5, 
United States Code), to issue a permit, license, 
or other form of agency permission allowing: 
(i) any person or entity to conduct ac-
tivities on Indian Land, which activities 
involve the exploration, development, pro-
duction or transportation of oil, gas, coal, 
shale gas, oil shale, geothermal resources, 
wind or solar resources, underground coal 
gasification, biomass, or the generation of 
electricity, or 
(ii) any Indian Tribe, or any organi-
zation of two or more entities, at least one 
of which is an Indian tribe, to conduct ac-
tivities involving the exploration, develop-
ment, production or transportation of oil, 
gas, coal, shale gas, oil shale, geothermal re-
sources, wind or solar resources, under-
ground coal gasification, biomass, or the 
generation of electricity, regardless of where 
such activities are undertaken. 
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