I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9696 
To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Mineral Leasing 
Act to require reports on rejected bids, to clarify timelines for the 
issuance of leases, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 
Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana (for himself and Ms. HAGEMAN) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, 
and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the 
Mineral Leasing Act to require reports on rejected bids, 
to clarify timelines for the issuance of leases, and for 
other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Federal Lands and 
Waters Leasing Transparency Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REPORT ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE FAIR 
MARKET VALUE OF OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS 
LEASE BIDS. 
Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 
(43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(j) REPORT ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE FAIR 
MARKET VALUE OF OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASE 
BIDS.— 
‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—If the Secretary deter-
mines pursuant to subsection (a)(4) that the Federal 
Government will not receive the fair market value 
from a bid for a covered lease tract, the Secretary 
shall provide to the bidder a report that explains the 
basis for such determination. If the bid was a quali-
fied bid that was subject to a resource and economic 
evaluation, the report shall include information on 
how such qualified bid relates to the Mean Range of 
Values, Delay-adjusted Mean Range of Values, Ad-
justed Delayed Value, and Revised Arithmetic Aver-
age Measure for the covered lease tract. 
‘‘(2) COVERED
LEASE
TRACT.—In this sub-
section, The term ‘covered lease tract’ means a lease 
tract for which the Secretary— 
‘‘(A) held a lease sale; 
‘‘(B) received at least one bid; and 
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‘‘(C) did not issue a lease to the highest 
responsible qualified bidder.’’. 
SEC. 3. EFFECT OF COURT ORDERS ON DEADLINE TO ISSUE 
ONSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASES. 
Section 17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 
U.S.C. 226(b)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘No court 
order may prevent the Secretary from issuing a lease by 
such 60 day deadline unless the court finds that the 
issuance of the lease would violate a requirement of Fed-
eral law.’’ after ‘‘first lease year.’’. 
SEC. 4. CIVIL ACTIONS CHALLENGING OFFSHORE LEASE 
SALES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, a civil action challenging an offshore oil and 
gas lease sale conducted under the Outer Continental 
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) shall not— 
(1) affect the validity of any lease issued under 
such an offshore lease sale; and 
(2) cause a delay in the timelines for the con-
sideration of any exploration plan, development plan, 
development operations coordination document, ap-
plications for permit to drill, or other application for 
a Federal agency authorization or approval for ac-
tivities on a lease issued under such an offshore 
lease sale. 
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(b) REMAND; PROCESSING OF APPROVALS AND AP-
PLICATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
if, in a civil action described in subsection (a), a court 
finds that the offshore lease sale was not carried out in 
compliance with Federal law— 
(1) the court shall not— 
(A) set aside, vacate, or enjoin the offshore 
lease sale; 
(B) set aside, vacate, or enjoin the leases 
issued pursuant to the offshore lease sale; or 
(C) enjoin the Secretary of the Interior 
from issuing leases to the highest bidders in the 
challenged offshore lease sale; 
(2) the court shall remand the matter to the 
Secretary of the Interior and require the Secretary 
of the Interior to correct the noncompliance; and 
(3) the Secretary of the Interior shall continue 
to process all exploration plans, development and 
production plans, development operations coordina-
tion documents, applications for permit to drill, and 
other applications for a Federal agency authoriza-
tion or other approval for activities requested under 
any lease issued under the challenged offshore lease 
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