[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4103 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4103

To require the Secretary of the Interior to submit an annual report to 
Congress on certain statistics related to applications for a permit to 
           drill an oil or gas well, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 24, 2017

Mr. Lowenthal (for himself, Mr. Grijalva, and Ms. Barragan) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of the Interior to submit an annual report to 
Congress on certain statistics related to applications for a permit to 
           drill an oil or gas well, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Having Open Access to Relevant Data 
Act'' or the ``HOARD Act''.

SEC. 2. REPORT REQUIRED.

    (a) Report on APDs.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than January 1 of each year, the 
        Secretary of the Interior shall submit to Congress a report on 
        the following statistics:
                    (A) The number of APDs approved by the BLM during 
                the previous fiscal year for which the applicant has 
                not begun drilling by the end of such year.
                    (B) The number of APDs approved by the BLM during 
                any fiscal year for which the applicant has not begun 
                drilling by the end of the previous fiscal year.
                    (C) With respect to APDs approved by the BLM during 
                the previous fiscal year, the average number of days 
                between receipt of an APD by the BLM and the approval 
                of such APD, disaggregated by the average number of 
                such days--
                            (i) the APD was being processed by BLM; and
                            (ii) the BLM was waiting on additional 
                        information from the applicant.
                    (D) With respect to APDs approved by the BLM during 
                the previous fiscal year, the average cost of approving 
                an APD.
            (2) Disaggregation.--The Secretary of the Interior shall 
        disaggregate each statistic required under paragraph (1) by the 
        location of the site for which the APD was requested, including 
        by--
                    (A) the State in which such site is located;
                    (B) the BLM field office that administers the land 
                upon which such site is located;
                    (C) whether or not the site is located on Federal 
                land; and
                    (D) whether or not the site is located on Indian 
                land.
    (b) Discouraging Hoarding and Speculation.--
            (1) Limitation on federal funds used for streamlining 
        processing of apds.--No Federal funds may be used to streamline 
        BLM processing of APDs during a fiscal year if, on the last day 
        of the previous fiscal year, the number of APDs approved by the 
        BLM during any fiscal year, but for which the applicant has not 
        begun drilling, is greater than twice the number of APDs 
        received by the BLM during any fiscal year for which the BLM 
        has neither approved nor requested more information from the 
        applicant.
            (2) Limitation on number of outstanding apds per 
        applicant.--If any applicant, including its affiliates, has 
        received greater than 100 approved APDs from the BLM for which 
        such applicant, including its affiliates, has not begun 
        drilling, then such applicant, including its affiliates, shall 
        not be eligible to participate in the competitive and 
        noncompetitive bidding processes for oil and gas exploration 
        and production under the Minerals Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et 
        seq.) during the 5-year period beginning on the first day of 
        the next fiscal year.
    (c) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Affiliate.--With respect to an applicant, the term 
        ``affiliate'' means any person that controls, is controlled by, 
        or is under common control with the applicant.
            (2) APD.--The term ``APD'' means an application received by 
        the BLM for a permit to drill an oil or gas well.
            (3) BLM.--The term ``BLM'' means the Bureau of Land 
        Management.
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