“To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct certain offshore lease sales, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct, in addition to lease sales under section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), not fewer than 26 offshore oil and gas lease sales during the 10-year period beginning on the date of enactment—including 20 in the Gulf of America (one on or before each semiannual date from August 31, 2025, through March 31, 2035) and 6 in the Cook Inlet Planning Area (on or before August 31, 2025; March 31, 2027; August 31, 2028; March 31, 2030; August 31, 2032; and March 31, 2034)—offering at least 80 million acres (or all unleased acres if fewer) in the Gulf from areas in the 2017–2022 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program and at least 1 million acres (or all unleased acres if fewer) in Cook Inlet from areas within that planning area boundary. These lease sales must use the lease form, terms, economic conditions, and stipulations from Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 254 (85 Fed. Reg. 8010) or Cook Inlet Lease Sale 244 (82 Fed. Reg. 23291); allow the Secretary to waive any OCSLA requirement delaying final approval; and, for tracts receiving acceptable bids (per Bureau of Ocean Energy Management procedures), result in lease issuance to the highest bidder within 90 days of the sale. This section directs the Secretary to approve applications for commingling wells from multiple reservoirs in a common wellbore on the Outer Continental Shelf within 45 days of receipt. This section amends OCSLA section 8(a)(1) (43 U.S.C. 1337(a)(1)) by revising the royalty rate range for cash bonus bidding systems in subparagraphs (A) and (C)—lowering the minimum to 12.5 percent (from not less than 16⅔ percent during the 10-year period beginning August 16, 2022, and not less than 16⅔ percent thereafter)—while retaining the maximum of 18¾ percent. (Thus, these systems, which award leases to the highest cash bonus bidder with a fixed royalty rate set by the Secretary, now allow a broader royalty range to potentially increase bidding flexibility.)
This section deems compliance with specified environmental laws for each lease sale held, lease issued, and associated activity in the Gulf of America (i.e., Gulf of Mexico) pursuant to section 3 of the Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), or section 50264 of P.L. 117-169 (Inflation Reduction Act of 2022) that requires federal authorization, during the period from enactment through two years after the last lease sale required under section 3. Specifically, (1) compliance with the National Marine Fisheries Service biological opinion titled “Biological Opinion on the Federally Regulated Oil and Gas Program Activities in the Gulf of Mexico” (March 12, 2020; updated April 26, 2021) and its incidental take statement is deemed compliance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.); (2) the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management document titled “Gulf of Mexico OCS Lease Sales 259 and 261 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement” (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2023–001; January 2023) and documents tiered to or incorporated therein are deemed sufficient for the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. subtitle III, division A); and (3) consistency determinations prepared by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management under section 307 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1456) for Lease Sale 261 for Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are deemed sufficient to comply with that section (which generally requires federal activities affecting coastal zones to be consistent, to the maximum extent practicable, with approved state coastal management programs). Separately, this section provides that, notwithstanding the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, any reasonable and prudent alternatives or mitigation measures for Bryde's whale (Balaenoptera ricei) have no force or effect for oil and gas operations in the Gulf of America, including those authorized under the specified statutes.
This section establishes a judicial enforcement mechanism allowing a potential responsible bidder to bring a civil action under section 23(c)(2) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA; 43 U.S.C. 1349(c)(2)) if the Secretary of the Interior fails to hold a lease sale required under section 3 within 10 days of the required date, notwithstanding OCSLA section 18 (43 U.S.C. 1344) on the five-year leasing program. If the court finds noncompliance, it must order the Secretary to hold the sale no later than 120 days after the original required date, may appoint a special master to monitor compliance (with powers including oversight of advertising, Federal Register notices, and lease issuance), and must impose fines starting 30 days after noncompliance unless excused by circumstances beyond the Secretary's control (with a possible 30-day extension). Costs of a special master are paid from funds available to the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. Actions must be filed within 30 days of the required sale date. This section further limits judicial review of section 3 activities by prohibiting challenges from invalidating leases or delaying their processing or related authorizations (e.g., exploration plans, permits to drill); requires remand without vacatur or injunction for noncompliance; mandates security under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c) for injunctive relief against sales or lease issuance; and subjects section 4 to OCSLA section 23(c)(2) review. (Thus, the provision streamlines enforcement of mandatory lease sales while protecting them from delay through litigation.)
This section establishes a continuous oil and gas leasing program under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) (43 U.S.C. 1344) to prevent lapses between five-year OCS oil and gas leasing programs. (As background: The OCSLA requires the Secretary of the Interior to prepare and periodically revise a five-year schedule of proposed OCS lease sales—covering federal waters seaward of state jurisdiction—to best meet national energy needs while considering economic, social, environmental, and other factors.) It directs the Secretary, for each five-year program beginning on or after enactment, to (1) publish a draft proposed program no later than 24 months before the prior program's expiration and (2) approve the final program no later than 120 days before that expiration. If the Secretary fails to meet the 120-day deadline, a default five-year schedule immediately applies, requiring (1) two annual region-wide lease sales in the Gulf of America Region—one in the Central Planning Area and one in the Western Planning Area—and (2) one annual region-wide lease sale in the Alaska Region, with each sale offering all unleased acres as identified in Figure 1-2 of the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (81 Fed. Reg. 84612). Lease sales under this default schedule require no additional National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis, deeming reviews under section 4(a)(2) of the BRIDGE Production Act of 2025 sufficient (Thus, enabling faster leasing in high-potential Gulf and Alaska areas.). The Secretary must issue leases for acceptable bids (per Bureau of Ocean Energy Management procedures) within 90 days of such default sales.
This section establishes a minimum requirement under the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act for the Secretary of the Interior to approve a five-year oil and gas leasing program only if it schedules at least 15 offshore lease sales, beginning with programs approved on or after January 1, 2035. (As background, the OCS leasing program requires the Secretary to schedule proposed oil and gas lease sales over five years, balancing national energy needs with economic, social, environmental, and other factors.) If a court determines a program fails to meet this requirement, it is immediately replaced by a mandatory schedule of (1) 10 lease sales in the Gulf of America region (2 per year), each offering all unleased acres identified in Figure S–1 of the 2017–2022 OCS Leasing Proposed Final Program (81 Fed. Reg. 84612), using lease terms from Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 254 (85 Fed. Reg. 8010) with a maximum net royalty rate of 18.75%, the first sale within 6 months of the five-year period's start and subsequent sales every 7 months thereafter; and (2) 5 region-wide lease sales on the Alaska OCS, each offering all unleased acres identified in Figure 1–2 of the 2017–2022 program, using lease terms from Cook Inlet Lease Sale 244 (82 Fed. Reg. 23163) with a maximum net royalty rate of 16.67%, the first sale within 12 months of the period's start and subsequent sales every 11 months thereafter. The section further provides that lease sales under the replacement schedule are exempt from additional requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, or tribal consultation laws (deeming specified reviews under the BRIDGE Production Act of 2025 sufficient); authorizes the Secretary to waive any delaying requirements; and requires lease issuance within 90 days for any adequate bid.