POWER Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 543 To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Ms. HERRELL (for herself, Mr. MCCARTHY, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. MOORE of Utah, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. OWENS, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. BRADY, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. STEWART, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CURTIS, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. ROY, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. CALVERT, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. MOONEY, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. HERN, Mrs. BOEBERT, and Mr. AMODEI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agri- culture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land, 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 ‘‘Protecting Our Wealth 4 of Energy Resources Act’’ or the ‘‘POWER Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H543.IH H543 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 543 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON MORATORIA OF NEW ENERGY 1 LEASES ON CERTAIN FEDERAL LAND AND ON 2 WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND FROM EN- 3 ERGY DEVELOPMENT. 4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 (1) CRITICAL MINERAL.—The term ‘‘critical 6 mineral’’ means any mineral included on the list of 7 critical minerals published in the notice of the Sec- 8 retary of the Interior entitled ‘‘Final List of Critical 9 Minerals 2018’’ (83 Fed. Reg. 23295 (May 18, 10 2018)). 11 (2) FEDERAL LAND.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Federal 13 land’’ means— 14 (i) National Forest System land; 15 (ii) public lands (as defined in section 16 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Man- 17 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 18 (iii) the outer Continental Shelf (as 19 defined in section 2 of the Outer Conti- 20 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331)); 21 and 22 (iv) land managed by the Secretary of 23 Energy. 24 (B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘‘Federal 25 land’’ includes land described in clauses (i) 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H543.IH H543 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 543 IH through (iv) of subparagraph (A) for which the 1 rights to the surface estate or subsurface estate 2 are owned by a non-Federal entity. 3 (3) PRESIDENT.—The term ‘‘President’’ means 4 the President or any designee, including— 5 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture; 6 (B) the Secretary of Energy; and 7 (C) the Secretary of the Interior. 8 (b) PROHIBITIONS.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 10 provision of law, the President shall not carry out 11 any action that would prohibit or substantially delay 12 the issuance of any of the following on Federal land, 13 unless such an action has been authorized by an Act 14 of Congress: 15 (A) New oil and gas leases, drill permits, 16 approvals, or authorizations. 17 (B) New coal leases, permits, approvals, or 18 authorizations. 19 (C) New hard rock leases, permits, approv- 20 als, or authorizations. 21 (D) New critical minerals leases, permits, 22 approvals, or authorizations. 23 (2) PROHIBITION ON WITHDRAWAL.—Notwith- 24 standing any other provision of law, the President 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H543.IH H543 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 543 IH shall not withdraw any Federal land from forms of 1 entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public 2 land laws, location, entry, and patent under the min- 3 ing laws, or disposition under laws pertaining to 4 mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials 5 unless the withdrawal has been authorized by an Act 6 of Congress. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H543.IH H543 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS