1.This Act may be cited as
the American Energy and Western Jobs
Act
.
2.Rescission of
certain instruction memorandaThe following are rescinded and shall have
no force or effect:
(1)The Bureau of Land Management Instruction
Memorandum entitled Oil and Gas Leasing Reform—Land Use Planning and
Lease Parcel Reviews
, numbered 2010–117, and dated May 17, 2010.
(2)The Bureau of Land Management Instruction
Memorandum entitled Energy Policy Act Section 390 Categorical Exclusion
Policy Revision
, numbered 2010–118, and dated May 17, 2010.
(3)Secretarial Order
No. 3310 issued by the Secretary of the Interior on December 22, 2010.
3.Amendments to
the Mineral Leasing Act
(a)Onshore oil and
gas lease issuance improvementSection 17(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing
Act (30 U.S.C. 226(b)(1)(A)) is amended in the seventh sentence, by striking
Leases shall be issued within 60 days following payment by the
successful bidder of the remainder of the bonus bid, if any, and the annual
rental for the first lease year
and inserting The Secretary of
the Interior shall automatically issue a lease 60 days after the date of the
payment by the successful bidder of the remainder of the bonus bid, if any, and
the annual rental for the first lease year, unless the Secretary of the
Interior is able to issue the lease before that date. The filing of any protest
to the sale or issuance of a lease shall not extend the date by which the lease
is to be issued
.
(b)Section 17 of the
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
(q)Any action seeking judicial review of the adequacy of any
program or site-specific environmental impact statement under section 102 of
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) concerning oil
and gas leasing for onshore Federal land shall be barred unless the action is
brought in the appropriate district court of the United States by the date that
is 60 days after the date on which there is published in the Federal Register
the notice of the availability of the environmental impact
statement.
.
(c)Determination
of impact of proposed policy modificationsThe Mineral Leasing Act is amended by
inserting after section 37 (30 U.S.C. 193) the following:
38.Determination
of impact of proposed policy modifications
(a)In
this section:
(1)The
term Department means the Department of the Interior.
(2)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
(b)
(1)Before the modification and implementation of any onshore
oil or natural gas preleasing or leasing and development policy (as in effect
as of January 1, 2010) or a policy relating to protecting the wilderness
characteristics of public land, the Secretary shall—
(A)complete an
economic impact assessment in accordance with paragraph (2); and
(B)issue a
determination that the proposed policy modification would have the effects
described in paragraph (2)(A).
(2)In
carrying out an assessment to determine the impact of a proposed policy
modification described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall—
(A)in consultation
with the appropriate officials of each State (including political subdivisions
of the State) in which 1 or more parcels of land subject to oil and natural gas
leasing are located and any other appropriate individuals or entities, as
determined by the Secretary—
(i)(I)carry out an economic
analysis of the impact of the policy modification on oil- and natural
gas-related employment opportunities and domestic reliance on foreign imports
of petroleum resources; and
(II)certify that the policy modification
would not result in a detrimental impact on employment opportunities relating
to oil- and natural gas-related development or contribute to an increase in the
domestic use of imported petroleum resources; and
(ii)carry out a
policy assessment to determine the manner by which the policy modification
would impact—
(I)revenues from oil
and natural gas receipts to the general fund of the Treasury, including a
certification that the modification would, for the 10-year period beginning on
the date of implementation of the modification, not contribute to an aggregate
loss of oil and natural gas receipts; and
(II)revenues to the
treasury of each affected State that shares oil and natural gas receipts with
the Federal Government, including a certification that the modification would,
for the 10-year period beginning on the date of implementation of the
modification, not contribute to an aggregate loss of oil and natural gas
receipts; and
(B)provide notice to
the public of, and an opportunity to comment on, the policy modification in a
manner consistent with subchapter II of chapter 5 and chapter 7 of title 5,
United States Code (commonly known as the Administrative Procedure
Act
).
.
4.Annual report on
revenues generated from multiple use of public land
(a)As part of the annual
agency budget, the Secretary of the Interior (acting through the Director of
the Bureau of Land Management) and the Secretary of Agriculture (acting through
the Chief of the Forest Service) shall submit an annual report detailing, for
each field office, the revenues generated by each use of public land.
(b)The report shall include—
(1)a line item for each use of public land,
including use for—
(A)grazing;
(B)recreation;
(C)timber;
(D)leasable
minerals, including a distinct accounting for each of oil, natural gas, coal,
and geothermal development;
(E)locatable
minerals;
(F)renewable energy
sources, including a distinct accounting for each of wind and solar
energy;
(G)the sale of land;
and
(H)transmission;
and
(2)identification of
the total acres designated as wilderness, wilderness study areas, and wild
lands.
(c)The
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall make the
report prepared under this section publicly available on the applicable agency
website.
5.Federal onshore
oil and natural gas production goal
(a)The Secretary of the
Interior shall establish a domestic strategic production goal for the
development of oil and natural gas managed by the Federal Government.
(b)In establishing the goal under subsection
(a), the Secretary shall—
(1)ensure that the
United States maintains or increases production of Federal onshore oil and
natural gas;
(2)ensure that the
10-year production outlook for Federal onshore oil and natural gas be provided
annually;
(3)examine steps to
streamline the permitting process to meet the goal;
(4)include the goal
in each resource management plan; and
(5)analyze each
proposed policy of the Department of the Interior for the potential impact of
the policy on achieving the goal before implementation of the policy.
6.
(a)Additional
research and development lease salesNot later than 180 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall
hold a lease sale in which the Secretary of the Interior shall offer an
additional 10 parcels for lease for research, development, and demonstration of
oil shale resources in accordance with the terms offered in the solicitation of
bids for the leases described in the notice entitled “Potential for Oil Shale
Development; Call for Nominations—Oil Shale Research, Development, and
Demonstration (R, D, and D) Program” (74 Fed. Reg. 2611).
(b)Application of
regulationsThe final rule entitled “Oil Shale
Management—General” (73 Fed. Reg. 69414), shall apply to all commercial leasing
for the management of federally owned oil shale and any associated minerals
located on Federal land.