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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.
Summary
This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to streamline oil and gas permitting by requiring the Secretary of Interior to process permit to drill applications even when pending civil actions exist, unless a federal court has specifically vacated the underlying lease. It establishes that permits to drill are valid for one four-year term from approval or until the lease expires, whichever occurs first. The bill restricts judicial authority over lease sales by preventing courts from vacating lease sales or enjoining drilling activities except when the court concludes the development poses an imminent and substantial environmental harm with no other equitable remedy available. It also prohibits courts from blocking lease awards under the National Environmental Policy Act if the Department of Interior has already opened bids or disclosed the high bidder for any tract in the sale.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
16 cosponsors
- Rep. Biggs, Andy [R-AZ-5] (R-AZ)
- Rep. Cline, Ben [R-VA-6] (R-VA)
- Rep. Clyde, Andrew S. [R-GA-9] (R-GA)
- Rep. Crank, Jeff [R-CO-5] (R-CO)
- Rep. Donalds, Byron [R-FL-19] (R-FL)
- Rep. Fedorchak, Julie [R-ND-At Large] (R-ND)
- Rep. Fischbach, Michelle [R-MN-7] (R-MN)
- Rep. Gosar, Paul A. [R-AZ-9] (R-AZ)
- Rep. Harrigan, Pat [R-NC-10] (R-NC)
- Rep. Hurd, Jeff [R-CO-3] (R-CO)
- Rep. Miller, Mary E. [R-IL-15] (R-IL)
- Rep. Moore, Barry [R-AL-1] (R-AL)
- Rep. Nehls, Troy E. [R-TX-22] (R-TX)
- Rep. Ogles, Andrew [R-TN-5] (R-TN)
- Rep. Stauber, Pete [R-MN-8] (R-MN)
- Rep. Zinke, Ryan K. [R-MT-1] (R-MT)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Lauren Boebert’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $284,644
- WATERVALLEY $9,900
- BETTERIT LAND & TITLE HOLDING $6,950
- ENERGY TRANSFER COMPANY $6,600
- LIBERTY MEDIA $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Lauren Boebert → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- May 7, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. · house
- May 7, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
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. <all>
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