American Energy Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3231 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3231

  To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to clarify the effect of a pending
civil action on the processing of an application for a permit to drill,
to require courts to remand lease sale Environmental Impact Statements
to agencies to remedy when necessary, and to establish a term limit for
                           permits to drill.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 7, 2025

 Ms. Boebert (for herself, Mr. Hurd of Colorado, Mr. Ogles, Mr. Zinke,
 Mr. Donalds, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Stauber, Mr. Biggs of Arizona, Mr. Gosar,
   Mr. Crank, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Harrigan, Ms. Fedorchak, Mr.
  Cline, and Mrs. Fischbach) introduced the following bill; which was
             referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to clarify the effect of a pending
civil action on the processing of an application for a permit to drill,
to require courts to remand lease sale Environmental Impact Statements
to agencies to remedy when necessary, and to establish a term limit for
                           permits to drill.

    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 ``American Energy Act''.

SEC. 2. PROCESSING APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO DRILL.

    (a) Effect of Pending Civil Actions.--Section 17(p) of the Mineral
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(p)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
            ``(4) Effect of pending civil action on processing
        applications for permits to drill.--Pursuant to the
        requirements of paragraph (2), notwithstanding the existence of
        any pending civil actions affecting the application or related
        lease, the Secretary shall process an application for a permit
        to drill or other authorizations or approvals under a valid
        existing lease, unless a United States Federal court vacated
        such lease. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as
        providing authority to a Federal court to vacate a lease.''.
    (b) Term of Permit To Drill.--Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act
(30 U.S.C. 226) is further amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(r) Term of Permit To Drill.--A permit to drill issued under this
section after the date of the enactment of this subsection shall be
valid for one four-year term from the date that the permit is approved,
or until the lease regarding which the permit is issued expires,
whichever occurs first.''.

SEC. 3. LEASE SALE LITIGATION.

    (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any oil and gas
lease sale held under section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C.
226) or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.)
shall not be vacated and activities on leases awarded in the sale shall
not be otherwise limited, delayed, or enjoined unless the court
concludes allowing the development of the challenged lease will pose a
risk of an imminent and substantial environmental harm and there is no
other equitable remedy available as a matter of law.
    (b) No court, in response to an action brought pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), may
enjoin or issue any order preventing the award of leases to a bidder in
a lease sale conducted pursuant to section 17 of the Mineral Leasing
Act (30 U.S.C. 226) or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C.
1331 et seq.) if the Department of the Interior has previously opened
bids for such leases or disclosed the high bidder for any tract that
was included in such lease sale.
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