I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2265 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to issue an oil and gas leasing 
program under section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 
for the 5-year period 2016 through 2020, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 5, 2013 
Mr. BRADY of Texas (for himself, Mr. WITTMAN, and Mr. SHIMKUS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
Resources 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to issue an oil and 
gas leasing program under section 18 of the Outer Conti-
nental Shelf Lands Act for the 5-year period 2016 
through 2020, 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 ‘‘More Energy More 
Jobs Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) More than 85 percent of all offshore areas 
remain off-limits to oil and gas exploration. The cur-
rent plan for offshore oil and gas development under 
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
1331 et seq.), the Five-Year OCS Oil and Gas Leas-
ing Program for 2012–2017, scales back on previous 
draft plans by removing the Eastern Gulf of Mexico 
and areas in the Atlantic. It also excludes the entire 
Atlantic Coast, the entire Pacific Coast, and nearly 
all of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, which have been 
little explored. 
(2) Many State governments have expressed a 
desire to proceed with oil and gas exploration and 
development off their coasts, but have not had the 
support of the Federal Government. 
(3) The Congress delegated its authority over 
Federal lands of the outer Continental Shelf (as that 
term is defined in the Outer Continental Shelf 
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.)), including for 
the offshore oil and gas leasing process, to the Sec-
retary of the Interior under that Act. The Congress 
has the authority to enlarge the role of interested 
State governments. 
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SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO ISSUE NEW 5-YEAR OIL AND GAS 
LEASING PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 24 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of the Interior shall issue an oil and gas leas-
ing program under section 18 of the Outer Conti-
nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) for the 
subsequent 5-year period. 
(2) TERMINATION
OF
EXISTING
PROGRAM.— 
The Five-Year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program 
for 2012–2017 shall have no force or effect after the 
issuance of an oil and gas leasing program under 
this section. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF NEW 
LEASING PROGRAMS.—Section 18(c) of the Outer Conti-
nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344(c)) is amended 
by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs 
(5) and (6), and by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT
OF
PROGRAM.—In pre-
paring each leasing program under this section, the 
Secretary shall— 
‘‘(A) allow the Governor of a coastal State 
to nominate for leasing under such program 
areas of the outer Continental Shelf (as that 
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term is used in that Act) that are adjacent to 
the waters of that State; 
‘‘(B) include each area nominated under 
subparagraph (A) in the draft leasing program 
under this section and consider leasing of such 
areas as an alternative Federal action; and 
‘‘(C) include in development of the pro-
gram resource estimates that are available, and 
develop resource estimates for the areas for 
which such data are not available including for 
the areas nominated under subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(3) 
INCLUSION
OF
STATE-NOMINATED 
AREAS.—The Secretary shall include in the final 
program issued under this section each area nomi-
nated by a State under paragraph (2), unless the 
Secretary determines that the impacts of oil and gas 
development in a particular area cannot be effec-
tively mitigated and the development is not in the 
national economic interest. If the Secretary omits 
any area nominated under paragraph (2), the Sec-
retary shall submit to the Governor that nominated 
the area and the Committee on Natural Resources 
of the House of Representatives a report detailing 
why oil and gas development in such area is not in 
the national economic interest or why the impact of 
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