[House Report 113-199]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


113th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    113-199

======================================================================



 
                PLANNING FOR AMERICAN ENERGY ACT OF 2013

                                _______
                                

 September 10, 2013.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
            the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                             together with

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

                        [To accompany H.R. 1394]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred 
the bill (H.R. 1394) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to 
establish goals for an all-of-the-above energy production plan 
strategy on a 4-year basis on all onshore Federal lands managed 
by the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service, 
having considered the same, report favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

                          Purpose of the Bill

    The purpose of H.R. 1394 is to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to establish goals for an all-of-the-above energy 
production plan strategy on a 4-year basis on all onshore 
Federal lands managed by the Department of the Interior and the 
Forest Service.

                  Background and Need for Legislation

    Under current law, every 5 years, the Administration must 
submit to Congress a plan that will be the basis for the 
offshore oil and gas leasing program over the next five years. 
It identifies the areas to be leased during that period and 
establishes the schedule for individual lease sales. While this 
has been effective in ensuring a continuous forward path for 
offshore energy development, plans for definitive onshore 
energy development have been largely ignored.
    Historically, there has been no clear path towards 
increasing energy production on public land. Despite having an 
abundance of natural resources, and with emerging technologies 
providing a variety of new sources of energy, the Department of 
the Interior has failed to capitalize on resources to secure 
America's energy needs and advance the production of energy on 
public lands. Furthermore, irregular leasing programs, 
permitting backlogs, sky-rocketing costs and unreliable and 
inconsistent development policies have significantly stifled 
companies' ability to produce energy on federal land.
    The current Administration has made energy and minerals 
development on federal lands so burdensome and so undesirable 
that companies consistently seek out state and private lands 
for development rather than deal with the lengthy and uncertain 
federal regulatory process. The Administration has consistently 
taken steps to delay and halt production on federal lands, such 
as delaying the issuing of a permit by months or even years, 
removing swaths of land from previously announced lease sales, 
restricting areas prospective for solar and wind energy 
development, and withdrawing areas prospective for economic 
mineral deposits from mineral entry. As a result, federal 
onshore production has been decreasing every year.

                      ONSHORE OIL AND NATURAL GAS

    Recent numbers show that the Administration's energy 
policies are being reflected as total fossil fuel production 
has dropped by 7 percent since President Obama took office and 
13 percent since 2003. From 2010 to 2011, total federal onshore 
oil and natural gas production is down 13 percent and 10 
percent, respectively. While the Administration claims that 
production is increasing, this is attributed solely to 
increased production on state and private lands. Since 2000, 
oil production on private and state lands has risen by 11 
percent and natural gas production has risen by 40 percent.
    Each year, thousands of acres of federal land are nominated 
for energy development. It is the responsibility of the 
Administration to lease those lands consistent with the goal of 
expanding American energy production. The current 
Administration has leased decreasing numbers of acres for 
development, in some states choosing to lease zero acres for 
new development.
    The Administration continues to take steps to decrease 
energy development on public lands. More specifically, it has 
proposed and implemented multiple sets of burdensome and 
duplicative regulations, withdrawn leases after they have been 
sold and paid for, and delays and backlogs continue to stifle 
development sometimes by years.
    Additionally, with fluctuating gas prices that have nearly 
reached five dollars a gallon, the Administration has no plan 
to increase American oil and natural gas production to decrease 
our dependence on foreign oil and ease gas prices for 
Americans.

                            RENEWABLE ENERGY

Solar

    The United States has some of the most promising areas for 
solar energy development in the world. More than 119,000 
Americans work in the solar energy industry, employed at 6,500 
locations in every state. Currently, the U.S. has over 8,500 
megawatts of cumulative installed solar electric capacity, 
enough to power more than 1.3 million American homes. Despite 
this growth, the solar industry is stifled by bureaucratic 
delays, conflicting agency decisions, and unclear regulations.
    While opponents argue that the Obama Administration has 
opened wide swaths of land for renewable energy development, in 
reality, the exact opposite is true. The Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) is responsible for 245 million acres of 
surface estate. However, the solar energy zones encompass .1 
percent of BLM land, or 285,000 acres. Although the BLM 
contends there is the potential for 20 million acres of solar 
energy development outside of the solar energy zones (a mere 8 
percent) significant questions remain regarding permitting 
times, transmission availability and obstacles in the 
development process outside BLM's proposed solar energy zones. 
Many in the solar energy industry have expressed concerns 
regarding the limitations these zones place on solar energy 
development and the transmission that is required to support 
solar energy deployment.

Wind

    The U.S. wind industry currently totals 60,000 megawatts of 
installed wind capacity, or 45,100 utility-scale wind turbines, 
which power the equivalent of over 15 million American homes. 
In the past four years, the wind industry added over 35% of all 
new generating capacity in the United States. The U.S. is the 
world's largest wind market, as wind installations in 2012 grew 
by 12.3 percent compared with 2011, and the American continent 
represented 35.2 percent of the global wind market in 2012.
    Unfortunately, due to unstable and unreliable policies, the 
United States has developed only a fraction of its wind energy 
potential. Wind farms have faced obstacles such as land-use 
laws, airspace regulations and competition with other uses for 
the land whose uses may be more highly valued than electricity 
generation. Regulatory uncertainty highlights the impacts and 
unpredictability of development on public lands which is 
discouraging developers from investing in such projects.

                            Committee Action

    H.R. 1394 was introduced on March 21, 2013, by Congressman 
Scott Tipton (R-CO). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 
on Energy and Mineral Resources. On May 22, 2013, the 
Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On July 24, 2013, the 
full Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The 
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources was discharged by 
unanimous consent. Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA) offered an 
amendment designated .001 to the bill; the amendment was not 
adopted by a roll call vote of 16 to 25, as follows:


    Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) offered an amendment 
designated .002 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a 
bipartisan roll call vote of 14 to 27, as follows:


    Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) offered an amendment 
designated .003 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a 
bipartisan roll call vote of 14 to 27, as follows:


    No further amendments were offered, and the bill was then 
adopted and ordered favorably reported to the House of 
Representatives by a bipartisan roll call vote of 27 to 14, as 
follows:


            Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

                    Compliance With House Rule XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) 
of that Rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has 
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

H.R. 1394--Planning for American Energy Act of 2013

    H.R. 1394 would require the Secretary of the Interior, 
every four years, to prepare an onshore energy production 
strategy for developing resources owned by the federal 
government. The bill also would require the Secretary to 
develop a national programmatic environmental impact statement 
(PETS) for all onshore energy resources owned by the federal 
government. Based on information provided by the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM), CBO estimates that implementing the 
legislation would cost $15 million over the 2014-2018 period, 
assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Enacting the 
bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, 
pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
    As part of the onshore energy production strategy, the 
Secretary would be directed to establish production objectives 
for oil, natural gas, coal, oil shale, and certain other 
minerals, as well as energy from wind, solar, biomass, 
hydropower, and geothermal resources. Based on information 
provided by the Department of the Interior about the cost of 
similar reports, CBO estimates that developing the initial 
four-year strategy and commencing work on the subsequent 
strategy would cost $7 million over the 2014-2018 period, 
assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts.
    Based on information provided by BLM regarding the cost of 
similar analyses, CBO estimates that completing the PETS would 
cost $8 million over the 2014-2015 period, assuming 
appropriation of the necessary amounts. Based on information 
from affected agencies, CBO expects that, while those agencies 
would continue to conduct site-specific environmental impact 
statements, they would use information obtained during 
preparation of the PEIS leading to a small savings when 
agencies prepare future environmental impact statements.
    H.R. 1394 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The 
estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.
    2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required 
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures. Based on information provided by 
the Bureau of Land Management, CBO estimates that implementing 
the legislation would cost $15 million over the 2014-2018 
period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or 
objective of this bill is to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to establish goals for an all-of-the-above energy 
production plan strategy on a 4-year basis on all onshore 
Federal lands managed by the Department of the Interior and the 
Forest Service.

                           Earmark Statement

    This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined 
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives.

                    Compliance With Public Law 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                       Compliance With H. Res. 5

    Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that 
this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any 
specific rule-making proceedings.
    Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not 
establish a program of the federal government known to be 
duplicative of another program. It also does not reauthorize a 
program of a federal government known to be duplicative of 
another program, but it will include in the four-year onshore 
public lands energy strategy under the bill elements of the 
Department of the Interior's renewable energy program for wind 
on public lands. This renewable energy program was included in 
a 2013 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) 
to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139. The 
GAO identified program elements include the Bureau of Land 
Management's Recovery Act Renewable Energy Efforts, Renewable 
Energy Coordination Offices Implementation, Wind Energy 
Authorizations and Operations on Bureau of Land Management 
Public Lands; the Bureau of Reclamation's Desalination and 
Water Purification Research and Development Program and Science 
and Technology Program; the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Minerals 
and Mining Program: Renewable Energy Projects; and the Office 
of Insular Affairs' Insular Plan for Alternative and Renewable 
Energy. However, by including the wind energy program on a 
Department of the Interior-wide basis in this onshore energy 
plan, duplication and overlap should be reduced and 
efficiencies gained.

                Preemption of State, Local or Tribal Law

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

  In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

MINERAL LEASING ACT

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



SEC. 44. QUADRENNIAL STRATEGIC FEDERAL ONSHORE ENERGY PRODUCTION 
                    STRATEGY.

  (a) In General.--
          (1) The Secretary of the Interior (hereafter in this 
        section referred to as ``Secretary''), in consultation 
        with the Secretary of Agriculture with regard to lands 
        administered by the Forest Service, shall develop and 
        publish every 4 years a Quadrennial Federal Onshore 
        Energy Production Strategy. This Strategy shall direct 
        Federal land energy development and department resource 
        allocation in order to promote the energy and national 
        security of the United States in accordance with Bureau 
        of Land Management's mission of promoting the multiple 
        use of Federal lands as set forth in the Federal Land 
        Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et 
        seq.).
          (2) In developing this Strategy, the Secretary shall 
        consult with the Administrator of the Energy 
        Information Administration on the projected energy 
        demands of the United States for the next 30-year 
        period, and how energy derived from Federal onshore 
        lands can put the United States on a trajectory to meet 
        that demand during the next 4-year period. The 
        Secretary shall consider how Federal lands will 
        contribute to ensuring national energy security, with a 
        goal for increasing energy independence and production, 
        during the next 4-year period.
          (3) The Secretary shall determine a domestic 
        strategic production objective for the development of 
        energy resources from Federal onshore lands. Such 
        objective shall be--
                  (A) the best estimate, based upon commercial 
                and scientific data, of the expected increase 
                in domestic production of oil and natural gas 
                from the Federal onshore mineral estate, with a 
                focus on lands held by the Bureau of Land 
                Management and the Forest Service;
                  (B) the best estimate, based upon commercial 
                and scientific data, of the expected increase 
                in domestic coal production from Federal lands;
                  (C) the best estimate, based upon commercial 
                and scientific data, of the expected increase 
                in domestic production of strategic and 
                critical energy minerals from the Federal 
                onshore mineral estate;
                  (D) the best estimate, based upon commercial 
                and scientific data, of the expected increase 
                in megawatts for electricity production from 
                each of the following sources: wind, solar, 
                biomass, hydropower, and geothermal energy 
                produced on Federal lands administered by the 
                Bureau of Land Management and the Forest 
                Service;
                  (E) the best estimate, based upon commercial 
                and scientific data, of the expected increase 
                in unconventional energy production, such as 
                oil shale;
                  (F) the best estimate, based upon commercial 
                and scientific data, of the expected increase 
                in domestic production of oil, natural gas, 
                coal, and other renewable sources from tribal 
                lands for any federally recognized Indian tribe 
                that elects to participate in facilitating 
                energy production on its lands; and
                  (G) the best estimate, based upon commercial 
                and scientific data, of the expected increase 
                in production of helium on Federal lands 
                administered by the Bureau of Land Management 
                and the Forest Service.
          (4) The Secretary shall consult with the 
        Administrator of the Energy Information Administration 
        regarding the methodology used to arrive at its 
        estimates for purposes of this section.
          (5) The Secretary has the authority to expand the 
        energy development plan to include other energy 
        production technology sources or advancements in energy 
        on Federal lands.
  (b) Tribal Objectives.--It is the sense of Congress that 
federally recognized Indian tribes may elect to set their own 
production objectives as part of the Strategy under this 
section. The Secretary shall work in cooperation with any 
federally recognized Indian tribe that elects to participate in 
achieving its own strategic energy objectives designated under 
this subsection.
  (c) Execution of the Strategy.--The relevant Secretary shall 
have all necessary authority to make determinations regarding 
which additional lands will be made available in order to meet 
the production objectives established by strategies under this 
section. The Secretary shall also take all necessary actions to 
achieve these production objectives unless the President 
determines that it is not in the national security and economic 
interests of the United States to increase Federal domestic 
energy production and to further decrease dependence upon 
foreign sources of energy. In administering this section, the 
relevant Secretary shall only consider leasing Federal lands 
available for leasing at the time the lease sale occurs.
  (d) State, Federally Recognized Indian Tribes, Local 
Government, and Public Input.--In developing each strategy, the 
Secretary shall solicit the input of affected States, federally 
recognized Indian tribes, local governments, and the public.
  (e) Reporting.--The Secretary shall report annually to the 
Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 
on the progress of meeting the production goals set forth in 
the strategy. The Secretary shall identify in the report 
projections for production and capacity installations and any 
problems with leasing, permitting, siting, or production that 
will prevent meeting the goal. In addition, the Secretary shall 
make suggestions to help meet any shortfalls in meeting the 
production goals.
  (f) Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.--Not later 
than 12 months after the date of enactment of this section, in 
accordance with section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), the Secretary shall 
complete a programmatic environmental impact statement. This 
programmatic environmental impact statement will be deemed 
sufficient to comply with all requirements under that Act for 
all necessary resource management and land use plans associated 
with the implementation of the strategy.
  (g) Congressional Review.--At least 60 days prior to 
publishing a proposed strategy under this section, the 
Secretary shall submit it to the President and the Congress, 
together with any comments received from States, federally 
recognized Indian tribes, and local governments. Such 
submission shall indicate why any specific recommendation of a 
State, federally recognized Indian tribe, or local government 
was not accepted.
  (h) Strategic and Critical Energy Minerals Defined.--For 
purposes of this section, the term ``strategic and critical 
energy minerals'' means those that are necessary for the 
Nation's energy infrastructure including pipelines, refining 
capacity, electrical power generation and transmission, and 
renewable energy production and those that are necessary to 
support domestic manufacturing, including but not limited to, 
materials used in energy generation, production, and 
transportation.

SEC. [44.] 45. SHORT TITLE.

  This Act may be cited as the ``Mineral Leasing Act''.

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

    The justifications for H.R. 1394 offered by the Majority 
are at odds with the facts and attempts to downplay the real 
harm this bill would do to our public lands are misleading. 
House Republicans have repeatedly offered these extreme 
drilling schemes and each time the Senate, the Administration 
and the public have rejected them; H.R. 1394 should fail as 
well.
    The talking points used by House Republicans to justify 
this irresponsible legislation are willfully out of date. 
Domestic oil production, both on and off-shore, reached a 20-
year high in 2012 and domestic production of natural gas 
reached an all-time high. More permits to drill on public lands 
were approved during the first four years of the Obama 
Administration than during the first term of the Bush 
Administration. Energy companies are warehousing nearly 7,000 
approved permits to drill, covering more than 25 million acres 
of public land, waiting for energy prices to rise even further. 
Domestic energy production under the current Administration and 
governed by existing law is robust and responsible; the 
Majority is straining to distort that reality in an attempt to 
justify an unwise and unwarranted drilling frenzy on our public 
lands.
    The alleged benefits of such a plan are non-existent. In 
response to the increase in our domestic energy production, 
OPEC nations have reduced output; the price of gasoline for 
American consumers continues to fluctuate beyond our ability to 
control it.
    While the alleged benefits are not real, the danger this 
legislation poses to our public lands is very real. The federal 
government has managed public lands pursuant to a balanced, 
multiple-use mandate instituted by Congress in 1976 through the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Land managers 
have used a flexible, public process to manage energy 
development on public lands pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
    H.R. 1394 would gut NEPA and destroy FLPMA's multiple-use 
mandate. The bill would require that energy production trump 
all other uses of public lands, including conservation, 
hunting, fishing and gazing, and truncate NEPA reviews critical 
to balanced resource management. In testimony on the bill, the 
Department of Interior stated that H.R. 1394 ``would direct 
Federal land managers to manage lands for the primary purpose 
of energy development rather than make thoughtful decisions on 
balanced multiple-use management through a public process based 
on site specific analysis and consideration.'' This ``drilling 
above all'' plan is short-sighted and would prevent 
sustainable, long-term stewardship of our public lands.
    During consideration of H.R. 1394, the Majority rejected 
common-sense amendments from Ranking Member DeFazio to 
encourage development on idle leases and discourage speculation 
in energy markets. The Majority also rejected a reasonable 
proposal from Mr. Huffman to protect hunting and fishing on 
public lands.
    H.R. 1394 is a reconstituted package of old, discredited 
ideas based on old, discredited arguments; this legislation has 
been repeatedly rejected and should be again.

                                   Peter DeFazio.
                                   Rush Holt.

                                  
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