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Expression of Interest Sensibility Act
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to improve the assessment of expression of interest fees, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to modify how expression of interest fees are assessed for federal oil and gas leasing. Parties may submit expressions of interest in leasing federal land for oil and gas exploration and development. If land with an expression of interest receives no bid at a lease sale, the Secretary assesses the fee against the person who submitted the first expression of interest; if the land receives a successful bid, the fee is assessed against the winning bidder. Expressions of interest remain active for at least 5 years unless the land is offered at a lease sale.
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Sponsor (1)
Actions (2)
- Jan 23, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. · house
- Jan 23, 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.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 23, 2025
Ms. Hageman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to improve the assessment of expression of interest fees, 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 “Expression of Interest Sensibility Act”.
SEC. 2. FEE FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST.
(a) Deadline To Issue Lease.—Section 17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(b)(1)(A)) is amended by striking “the remainder of the bonus bid, if any,” and inserting “, as applicable, the remainder of the bonus bid, the fee for the expression of interest under subsection (q)(2)(B),”.
(b) Expressions of Interest.—Section 17(q) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(q)) is amended—
(1) in the heading, by striking “Fee for”;
(2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3);
(3) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
“(1) Submission of expression of interest.—A person may, in accordance with procedures established by the Secretary to carry out this subsection, submit an expression of interest in leasing land available for disposition under this section for exploration for, and development of, oil or gas.
“(2) Assessment of fees.—
“(A) No bid.—If land covered by an expression of interest submitted under paragraph (1) is offered at a lease sale and no bid is received for such land, the Secretary shall assess at the time of the sale a fee for the expression of interest against the person that submitted the first expression of interest for the land.
“(B) Successful bid.—If land covered by an expression of interest submitted under paragraph (1) receives a successful bid at a lease sale, the Secretary shall assess a fee for the expression of interest against the successful bidder.”;
(4) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated, by striking “paragraph (1)” and inserting “paragraph (2)”; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
“(4) Term.—An expression of interest submitted under this section shall remain active for a term of not less than 5 years unless the land covered by the expression of interest is offered at a lease sale.”. <all>
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