Conservation Funding Protection Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 522 To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require annual lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico region of the outer Continental Shelf, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mr. CRENSHAW (for himself, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. PFLUGER, Mr. JACKSON, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. GOODEN of Texas, Mr. GUEST, Mr. CARL, and Mr. GOHMERT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require annual lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico region of the outer Continental Shelf, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Conservation Funding 4 Protection Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H522.IH H522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 522 IH SEC. 2. ANNUAL LEASE SALES IN GULF OF MEXICO REGION. 1 Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 2 (43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended by adding at the end the 3 following: 4 ‘‘(i) ANNUAL LEASE SALES IN GULF OF MEXICO RE- 5 GION.— 6 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 7 ‘‘(A) CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO PLAN- 8 NING AREA.—The term ‘Central Gulf of Mexico 9 Planning Area’ has the meaning given the term 10 ‘Central Planning Area’ in section 102 of the 11 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 12 (43 U.S.C. 1331 note; Public Law 109–432). 13 ‘‘(B) WESTERN GULF OF MEXICO PLAN- 14 NING AREA.—The term ‘Western Gulf of Mex- 15 ico Planning Area’ means the Western Gulf of 16 Mexico Planning Area of the outer Continental 17 Shelf, as designated in the document entitled 18 ‘Draft Proposed Program Outer Continental 19 Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2007– 20 2012’ and dated February 2006. 21 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL LEASE SALES.—Notwithstanding 22 any other provision of law, beginning in fiscal year 23 2022, the Secretary shall hold a minimum of 2 re- 24 gion-wide lease sales annually in the Gulf of Mexico 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H522.IH H522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 522 IH pursuant to this Act, each of which shall include 1 areas in— 2 ‘‘(A) the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning 3 Area; and 4 ‘‘(B) the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning 5 Area. 6 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the 8 lease sales under paragraph (2), the Secretary 9 shall issue leases to the highest responsible 10 qualified bidder or bidders. 11 ‘‘(B) AREAS INCLUDED IN LEASE SALES.— 12 In carrying out the lease sales under paragraph 13 (2), the Secretary shall include in each lease 14 sale all unleased areas that are not subject to 15 restrictions as of the date of the lease sale. 16 ‘‘(4) ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to each 18 lease sale required under paragraph (2), the 19 Secretary shall conduct any environmental re- 20 views required by the National Environmental 21 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 22 ‘‘(B) DEADLINE.— 23 ‘‘(i) INDIVIDUAL REVIEW.—If the Sec- 24 retary conducts environmental reviews with 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H522.IH H522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 522 IH respect to a lease sale under subparagraph 1 (A) for each individual lease included in 2 the lease sale, the Secretary shall complete 3 all environmental reviews for the lease sale, 4 including by issuing a finding of no signifi- 5 cant impact or a record of decision, if ap- 6 plicable, in less than 365 calendar days. 7 ‘‘(ii) PROGRAMMATIC REVIEW.—If the 8 Secretary conducts a programmatic envi- 9 ronmental review with respect to a lease 10 sale under subparagraph (A) for all leases 11 under the lease sale, the Secretary shall 12 complete the programmatic environmental 13 review, including by issuing a finding of no 14 significant impact or a record of decision, 15 if applicable, in less than 180 calendar 16 days. 17 ‘‘(j) PERMITTING.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to sovereign con- 19 tracting rights and obligations, the Secretary shall 20 review and grant or deny in accordance with para- 21 graph (2) any application for a permit or other ap- 22 proval for offshore oil and natural gas exploration, 23 development, and production activities under a lease 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H522.IH H522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 522 IH issued pursuant to this Act by not later than the 1 earlier of— 2 ‘‘(A) 75 calendar days after the date on 3 which the application is received by the Bureau 4 of Ocean Energy Management or the Bureau of 5 Safety and Environmental Enforcement; or 6 ‘‘(B) any other applicable deadline re- 7 quired by law. 8 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL OR DENIAL.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Absent clear grounds 10 for denial of an application for a permit or 11 other approval described in paragraph (1), the 12 Secretary shall grant the permit or approval. 13 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—If the Secretary de- 14 nies an application for a permit or other ap- 15 proval under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 16 shall provide to the applicant written notice ex- 17 plaining the grounds for the denial.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Feb 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H522.IH H522 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS