Fair Returns for Public Lands Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3330 To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to increase certain royalty rates, minimum bid amounts, and rental rates, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2020 Mr. UDALL (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources A BILL To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to increase certain roy- alty rates, minimum bid amounts, and rental rates, 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 ‘‘Fair Returns for Pub- 4 lic Lands Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. INCREASED ONSHORE OIL AND GAS ROYALTY 6 RATES. 7 Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 8 226) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3330.IS S3330 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3330 IS (1) by striking ‘‘12.5’’ each place it appears 1 and inserting ‘‘18.75’’; and 2 (2) by striking ‘‘121⁄2 per centum’’ each place 3 it appears and inserting ‘‘18.75 percent’’. 4 SEC. 3. INCREASED MINIMUM BID AMOUNT. 5 Section 17(b) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 6 226(b)) is amended— 7 (1) in paragraph (1)(B)— 8 (A) by striking the subparagraph designa- 9 tion and all that follows through the period at 10 the end of the first sentence and inserting the 11 following: 12 ‘‘(B) NATIONAL MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE 13 BID.— 14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro- 15 vided in clauses (ii) and (v), the national 16 minimum acceptable bid shall be $10 per 17 acre.’’; 18 (B) in the second sentence— 19 (i) by striking ‘‘Thereafter, the Sec- 20 retary’’ and inserting the following: 21 ‘‘(ii) ADJUSTMENT.—The Secretary’’; 22 (ii) by striking ‘‘is necessary: (i) to 23 enhance’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘is 24 necessary— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3330.IS S3330 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3330 IS ‘‘(I) to enhance’’; and 1 (iii) by striking ‘‘(ii) to promote’’ and 2 inserting the following: 3 ‘‘(II) to promote’’; 4 (C) in the third sentence, by striking 5 ‘‘Ninety days’’ and inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(iii) NOTIFICATION.—90 days’’; 7 (D) in the fourth sentence, by striking 8 ‘‘The proposal’’ and inserting the following: 9 ‘‘(iv) NEPA.—The proposal’’; and 10 (E) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(v) EXCEPTION.—To ensure a return 12 of fair market value, as determined by the 13 Secretary, the Secretary may establish in a 14 notice of competitive lease sale a minimum 15 acceptable bid applicable to the lease sale 16 or one or more parcels within the lease sale 17 that is higher than the national minimum 18 bid under clause (i).’’; and 19 (2) in subsection (b)(2)(C), by striking ‘‘$2 per 20 acre’’ and inserting ‘‘$10 per acre’’. 21 SEC. 4. INCREASED ONSHORE OIL AND GAS RENTAL RATES. 22 Section 17(d) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 23 226(d)) is amended, in the first sentence— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3330.IS S3330 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3330 IS (1) by striking ‘‘$1.50 per acre’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘$3 per acre’’; and 2 (2) by striking ‘‘$2 per acre’’ and inserting ‘‘$5 3 per acre’’. 4 SEC. 5. FEE FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST. 5 Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 6 226) is amended by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(q) FEE FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall charge 9 any person who submits, in accordance with proce- 10 dures established by the Secretary to carry out this 11 subsection, an expression of interest in leasing land 12 available for disposition under this section for explo- 13 ration for, and development of, oil or gas a fee, in 14 an amount determined by the Secretary under para- 15 graph (2). 16 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The fee authorized under para- 17 graph (1) shall be established by the Secretary in an 18 amount that is determined by the Secretary to be 19 appropriate to cover the aggregate cost of processing 20 an expression of interest under this subsection, but 21 not less than $15 per acre of the area covered by the 22 applicable expression of interest.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3330.IS S3330 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3330 IS SEC. 6. ADJUSTMENT. 1 Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 2 226) (as amended by section 5) is amended by adding at 3 the end the following: 4 ‘‘(r) ADJUSTMENT TO CERTAIN FEES.—The Sec- 5 retary shall— 6 ‘‘(1) not later than 4 years after the date of en- 7 actment of the Fair Returns for Public Lands Act 8 of 2020, and at least once every 4 years thereafter, 9 promulgate regulations adjusting each of the per- 10 acre dollar amounts of fees imposed under sub- 11 sections (b), (d), and (q) and subsections (e) and (f) 12 of section 31 to reflect the change in the Consumer 13 Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by 14 the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and 15 ‘‘(2) as the Secretary determines to be nec- 16 essary to enhance financial returns to the United 17 States or to promote more efficient management of 18 oil and gas resources on Federal land, promulgate 19 regulations adjusting any of the applicable per-acre 20 dollar amounts of fees imposed under subsection (b), 21 (d), or (q) or subsection (e) or (f) of section 31, as 22 applicable.’’. 23 SEC. 7. REINSTATEMENT OF COMPETITIVE LEASES. 24 Section 31 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 25 188) is amended— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3330.IS S3330 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3330 IS (1) in subsection (e)— 1 (A) by striking paragraph (2) and insert- 2 ing the following: 3 ‘‘(2) payment of back rentals and the inclusion 4 in a reinstated lease of a requirement for future 5 rentals at a rate of not less than $20 per acre per 6 year;’’; 7 (B) in paragraph (3)— 8 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 9 (I) by striking the subparagraph 10 designation; 11 (II) by striking ‘‘issued pursuant 12 to the provisions of section 17(b) of 13 this Act’’; 14 (III) by striking ‘‘162⁄3’’ and in- 15 serting ‘‘25’’; and 16 (IV) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the 17 semicolon; and 18 (ii) by striking subparagraph (B); and 19 (C) in the second sentence of the undesig- 20 nated matter following paragraph (4), by strik- 21 ing ‘‘, but not to exceed $500’’; and 22 (2) in subsection (f)— 23 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘$5’’ and 24 inserting ‘‘$10’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3330.IS S3330 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3330 IS (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘121⁄2’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘25’’. 2 SEC. 8. FISCAL REFORM STUDY AND REPORT. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 4 United States shall offer to enter into an arrangement 5 with the National Academy of Sciences under which the 6 National Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the 7 Comptroller General of the United States, shall conduct 8 a study evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of the 9 implementation of this Act and the amendments made by 10 this Act. 11 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—The study conducted under 12 subsection (a) shall include consideration of— 13 (1) the systems of the Department of the Inte- 14 rior for collecting and auditing payments under this 15 Act and the amendments made by this Act; 16 (2) the performance of the stewardship of the 17 Department of the Interior and the disposition of re- 18 ceipts by the Department of the Interior in carrying 19 out this Act and the amendments made by this Act; 20 and 21 (3) the performance of the valuation approach 22 carried out under this Act and the amendments 23 made by this Act, including a review of whether 24 other approaches could more fully capture foregone 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3330.IS S3330 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3330 IS revenue of leasing in low-market conditions in light 1 of other possible economic uses at different points in 2 the future. 3 (c) REPORT.—If the Comptroller General of the 4 United States enters into an arrangement with the Na- 5 tional Academy of Sciences under subsection (a), not ear- 6 lier than 3, but not later than 5, years after the date of 7 enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall sub- 8 mit to Congress a report that describes the results of the 9 study conducted under that subsection. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3330.IS S3330 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS