Title: Federal Land Freedom Act
Policy area: Energy

Summary:
Federal Land Freedom Act
This bill authorizes a state with an oil and gas leasing program to take responsibility from the federal government for leasing and regulating the exploration and development of oil, gas, and other forms of energy on federal land in the state.
A state must submit to the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture a regulatory program which demonstrates that it has the capability to take responsibility from the federal government, including that it has a state law which provides sanctions for violations of state laws, regulations, or conditions of permits concerning oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3565 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3565

To achieve domestic energy independence by empowering States to control 
  the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas on all 
            available Federal land, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2017

Mrs. Black (for herself, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Kustoff of Tennessee, Mr. 
Sessions, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, Mr. Roe 
 of Tennessee, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mr. Duncan of Tennessee) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To achieve domestic energy independence by empowering States to control 
  the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas on all 
            available Federal land, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Land Freedom Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) as of the date of the enactment of this Act--
                    (A) 113,000,000 acres of onshore Federal land are 
                open and accessible for oil and gas development; and
                    (B) approximately 166,000,000 acres of onshore 
                Federal land are off-limits or inaccessible for oil and 
                gas development;
            (2) despite the recent oil and gas boom in the United 
        States, the number of acres of Federal land leased for oil and 
        gas exploration has decreased by 31 percent since 2008;
            (3) in 2015, the Federal Government leased only 36,000,000 
        acres of Federal land, in contrast to the 131,000,000 acres 
        that were leased in 1984;
            (4) the reduction in leasing of Federal land harms economic 
        growth and Federal revenues;
            (5) in 2015, it took, on average, 220 days to process 
        applications for permits to drill on Federal land; and
            (6) States have extensive and sufficient regulatory 
        frameworks for permitting oil and gas development.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Available federal land.--The term ``available Federal 
        land'' means any Federal land that, as of May 31, 2017--
                    (A) is located within the boundaries of a State;
                    (B) is not held by the United States in trust for 
                the benefit of a federally recognized Indian tribe;
                    (C) is not a unit of the National Park System;
                    (D) is not a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge 
                System;
                    (E) is not Congressionally approved wilderness area 
                under the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.); and
                    (F) has been identified as land available for lease 
                for the exploration, development, and production of oil 
                or gas--
                            (i) by the Bureau of Land Management under 
                        a Resource Management Plan pursuant to the 
                        process provided for in the Federal Land 
                        Management and Policy Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
                        1701 et seq.); or
                            (ii) by the Forest Service under a Forest 
                        Management Plan pursuant to the process 
                        provided for in the National Forest Management 
                        Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.).
            (2) State.--The term ``State'' means--
                    (A) one of the several States; and
                    (B) the District of Columbia.
            (3) State regulatory program.--The term ``State regulatory 
        program'' means a program established pursuant to State law 
        that regulates oil and gas exploration, development, and 
        production on land located in the State.

SEC. 4. STATE CONTROL OF OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND 
              PRODUCTION ON ALL AVAILABLE FEDERAL LAND.

    (a) Submission of State Regulatory Program.--Each State in which 
there may be the leasing, permitting, or regulating of oil and gas 
exploration, development, and production activities on available 
Federal lands, and which wishes to assume exclusive jurisdiction over 
the leasing, permitting, and regulation of such oil and gas activities, 
shall submit to the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture a State 
regulatory program which demonstrates that such State has the 
capability of carrying out the provisions of this Act and meeting its 
purposes through--
            (1) a State law which provides for the leasing, regulation 
        and permitting of oil and gas exploration, development, and 
        production activities;
            (2) a State law which provides sanctions for violations of 
        State laws, regulations, or conditions of permits concerning 
        oil and gas exploration, development, and production 
        activities;
            (3) a State regulatory authority with sufficient 
        administrative and technical personnel, and sufficient funding 
        to enable the State to lease, regulate and permit oil and gas 
        exploration, development, and production activities; and
            (4) a State law which provides for the effective 
        implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of a permit system 
        for oil and gas exploration, development, and production 
        activities on available Federal lands within the State.
    (b) Approval of State Regulatory Program.--
            (1) In general.--The State regulatory program submitted 
        under subsection (a) shall be deemed approved, unless, not 
        later than 60 days after submission, the Secretaries of the 
        Interior and Agriculture--
                    (A) find approval of a State regulatory program 
                would result in decreased royalty payments to the 
                Federal Government; or
                    (B) determine that the State Regulatory Program 
                submitted under subsection (a) does not have the 
                capability to carry out the provisions of this Act.
            (2) Adverse determination.--For any adverse determination 
        by the Secretaries, the Secretaries shall--
                    (A) notify, in writing, the State applicant of the 
                reason for the withholding of approval; and
                    (B) provide any additional information, data, or 
                analysis upon which such determination is based.
    (c) Effect of Approval of State Regulatory Program.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, on approval of a State 
regulatory program under subsection (b), the State shall assume the 
Federal leasing, permitting and regulatory responsibilities for oil and 
gas exploration, development, and production on available Federal land 
located in the State in accordance with the approved plan.
    (d) Effect of State Action.--Any action by a State to lease, 
permit, or regulate oil and gas exploration, development, and 
production in accordance with an approved State regulatory program 
shall not be subject to, or considered a Federal action, Federal 
permit, or Federal license under--
            (1) subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5, 
        United States Code (commonly known as the ``Administrative 
        Procedure Act'');
            (2) chapter 3001 of title 54, United States Code;
            (3) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
        seq.); or
            (4) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
        U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
    (e) Reassumption of Regulatory Authority by the Secretary.--
            (1) Voluntary surrender of authority.--If a State 
        regulatory program has been approved under subsection (b), such 
        state may voluntarily revoke such approval, and relinquish the 
        duties under subsection (c) upon providing a 60-day notice to 
        the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture. Upon the 
        expiration of the 60-day period, the state shall no longer be 
        permitted to lease, regulate, or permit oil and gas 
        exploration, development, and production activities on 
        available Federal lands.
            (2) Involuntary surrender of authority.--If the Secretaries 
        of the Interior or Agriculture determine a State regulatory 
        program has resulted in a 20-percent decrease in royalties to 
        the Federal government from the preceding year, the Secretaries 
        shall notify the state of such decrease. Such notified state 
        shall have 180 days to address the royalty deficiency. If a 
        state fails to improve the amount of royalties paid to the 
        federal government, then the Secretaries of the Interior and 
        Agriculture may jointly determine to revoke the approval of the 
        state regulatory program under subsection (b).

SEC. 5. NO EFFECT ON FEDERAL REVENUES.

    (a) In General.--Any lease or permit issued by a State under 
section 4 shall include provisions for the collection of royalties or 
other revenues in an amount equal to the amount of royalties or 
revenues that would have been collected if the lease or permit had been 
issued by the Federal Government.
    (b) Disposition of Revenues.--Any revenues collected under a lease 
or permit issued by a State under section 4 shall be deposited in the 
same Federal account in which the revenues would have been deposited if 
the lease or permit had been issued by the Federal Government.
    (c) Effect on State Processing Fees.--Nothing in this Act prohibits 
a State from collecting and retaining a fee from an applicant to cover 
the administrative costs of processing an application for a lease or 
permit.
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