[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 513 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 513
To nullify certain Presidential withdrawals of unleased offshore land,
amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to establish limits on the
authority of the President to withdraw unleased offshore land, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 16, 2025
Mr. Higgins of Louisiana (for himself, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Weber of Texas,
Mr. Burchett, Mr. Shreve, Mr. Meuser, Mr. Arrington, Mrs. Miller of
West Virginia, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Brecheen, Ms. Van Duyne, Mr. Perry,
Mr. Tiffany, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mr. Ogles, Mr. Burlison, Mr.
Clyde, Mr. Biggs of Arizona, Mr. Harris of Maryland, and Mr. Moore of
Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on
Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To nullify certain Presidential withdrawals of unleased offshore land,
amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to establish limits on the
authority of the President to withdraw unleased offshore land, 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 ``Offshore Lands Authorities Act of
2025''.
SEC. 2. NULLIFICATION OF PRESIDENTIAL WITHDRAWALS OF UNLEASED OFFSHORE
LAND.
The following Presidential withdrawals of unleased offshore land
shall have no force or effect:
(1) The Presidential Memorandum of December 20, 2016,
titled ``Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain Portions of the
United States Arctic Outer Continental Shelf From Mineral
Leasing'' (relating to the Chukchi Sea Planning Area and the
Beaufort Sea Planning Area).
(2) The Presidential Memorandum of December 16, 2014,
titled ``Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the
United States Outer Continental Shelf From Leasing
Disposition'' (relating to the North Aleutian Basin Planning
Area).
(3) Section 3 of Executive Order 13754 (81 Fed. Reg. 90669;
relating to Northern Bering Sea climate resilience).
(4) Section 4(b) of Executive Order 13990 (86 Fed. Reg.
7037; relating to reinstating Executive Order 13754 and the
Presidential Memorandum of December 20, 2016).
(5) The Presidential Memorandum of March 13, 2023, titled
``Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain Areas off the United
States Arctic Coast of the Outer Continental Shelf from Oil or
Gas Leasing'' (relating to the Beaufort Planning Area).
(6) The Presidential Memorandum of December 20, 2016,
titled ``Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain Areas off the
Atlantic Coast on the Outer Continental Shelf From Mineral
Leasing'' (relating to canyons and canyon complexes offshore
the Atlantic coast).
(7) The Presidential Memorandum of January 6, 2025, titled
``Memorandum on the Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the United
States Outer Continental Shelf from Oil or Natural Gas
Leasing'' (relating to the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic, and
Pacific areas).
(8) The Presidential Memorandum of January 6, 2025, titled
``Memorandum on the Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the United
States Outer Continental Shelf from Oil or Natural Gas
Leasing'' (relating to the Northern Bering Sea Climate
Resilience Area).
SEC. 3. LIMITATION OF AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT TO WITHDRAW UNLEASED
OFFSHORE LANDS.
Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C.
1341(a)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``(a)The President'' and inserting the
following:
``(a) Withdrawal of Unleased Lands by the President.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and
(3), the President'';
(2) by inserting ``Beginning on the date of enactment of
the Offshore Lands Authorities Act of 2025, the President shall
transmit a withdrawal made under the preceding sentence to the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives.'' after ``outer Continental Shelf.''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Limitations.--
``(A) Acres.--A withdrawal under paragraph (1) may
not exceed an area larger than 150,000 acres in total
or contiguous with any other withdrawal under such
paragraph.
``(B) Period.--A withdrawal under paragraph (1) may
not be made for a period longer than 20 years.
``(C) Cumulative withdrawals.--No President may,
under paragraph (1), withdraw more than 500,000 acres
cumulatively without obtaining Congressional approval.
``(3) Assessments required.--The President may not withdraw
unleased lands of the outer Continental Shelf under paragraph
(1) unless--
``(A) the Secretary completed a quantitative and
qualitative geophysical and geological mineral resource
assessment of the lands to be withdrawn during the 5-
year period ending on the date of such withdrawal;
``(B) the Secretary, in consultation with the
Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, the
Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Agriculture,
completed an assessment of the economic, energy, and
national security value of mineral deposits identified
in the mineral resource assessment completed under
subparagraph (A);
``(C) the Secretary completed an assessment of the
expected reduction in future Federal revenues resulting
from the proposed withdrawal to the Treasury, States
(including from allocations made under section 105 of
the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (43
U.S.C. 1331 note)), the Land and Water Conservation
Fund, and the Historic Preservation Fund; and
``(D) the Secretary submits to the Committees on
Natural Resources, Agriculture, Armed Services, Energy
and Commerce, and Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives and the Committees on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry, Armed Services, Energy and
Natural Resources, and Foreign Relations of the Senate
a report that includes the results of the assessments
completed under this subsection.
``(4) Congressional disapproval procedure.--
``(A) Joint resolution defined.--For the purposes
of this paragraph, the term `joint resolution' means
only a joint resolution, which may not have a preamble,
the matter after the resolving clause of which is as
follows: `That Congress disapproves the withdrawal made
under section 12(a)(1) of the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act on ____, relating to ____, and such
withdrawal shall have no force or effect.' (the blank
spaces being appropriately filled in).
``(B) Referral.--A joint resolution described in
subparagraph (A) shall be referred to the committees in
each House of Congress with jurisdiction.
``(C) Discharge.--In the Senate, if the committee
to which is referred a joint resolution described in
subparagraph (A) has not reported such joint resolution
(or a joint resolution aimed at the same Presidential
withdrawal) at the end of 20 calendar days after the
submission or introduction of legislation to disapprove
the withdrawal, such committee may be discharged from
further consideration of such joint resolution and
placed on the appropriate calendar of the Senate upon a
petition supported in writing by 30 Members of the
Senate.
``(D) Floor consideration.--
``(i) In general.--In the Senate, when the
committee to which a joint resolution is
referred has reported, or when a committee is
discharged (under subparagraph (C)) from
further consideration of, a joint resolution
described in subparagraph (A), it is at any
time thereafter in order (even though a
previous motion to the same effect has been
disagreed to) for a motion to proceed to the
consideration of the joint resolution, and all
points of order against the joint resolution
(and against consideration of joint resolution)
are waived. The motion is not subject to
amendment, to a motion to postpone, or to a
motion to proceed to the consideration of other
business. A motion to reconsider the vote by
which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to
shall not be in order. If a motion to proceed
to the consideration of the joint resolution is
agreed to, the joint resolution shall remain
the unfinished business of the Senate until
disposed of.
``(ii) Debate.--In the Senate, debate on
the joint resolution, and on all debatable
motions and appeals in connection therewith,
shall be limited to not more than 10 hours,
which shall be divided equally between those
favoring and those opposing the resolution. A
motion further to limit debate is in order and
not debatable. An amendment to, or a motion to
postpone, or a motion to proceed to the
consideration of other business, or a motion to
recommit the resolution is not in order.
``(iii) Final passage.--In the Senate,
immediately following the conclusion of the
debate on a resolution described in
subparagraph (A), and a single quorum call at
the conclusion of the debate if requested in
accordance with the rules of the Senate, the
vote on final passage of the resolution shall
occur.
``(iv) Appeals.--In the Senate, appeals
from the decisions of the Chair relating to the
application of the rules of the Senate to the
procedure relating to a resolution described in
subparagraph (A) shall be decided without
debate.
``(v) Treatment if other house has acted.--
If, before the passage by one House of a
resolution of that House described in
subparagraph (A), that House receives from the
other House a resolution described in
subparagraph (A), then the following procedures
shall apply:
``(I) Nonreferral.--The resolution
of the other House shall not be
referred to a committee.
``(II) Final passage.--With respect
to a resolution described in
subparagraph (A) of the House receiving
the resolution--
``(aa) the procedure in
that House shall be the same as
if no resolution had been
received from the other House;
but
``(bb) the vote on final
passage shall be on the
resolution of the other House.
``(vi) Debate on veto message.--In the
Senate, debate on a veto message from the
President on a joint resolution described in
subparagraph (A), including all debatable
motions and appeals in connection therewith,
shall be limited to not more than 10 hours,
equally divided between those favoring and
those opposing the resolution. A motion further
to limit debate is in order and not debatable.
No amendment to the veto message shall be in
order. The vote on passage of the joint
resolution following the veto message shall
occur immediately following the conclusion of
debate.
``(E) Constitutional authority.--Subparagraphs (A)
through (D) are enacted by Congress--
``(i) as an exercise of the rulemaking
power of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, respectively, and as such it
is deemed a part of the rules of each House,
respectively, but applicable only with respect
to procedure to be followed in this paragraph,
and it supersedes other rules only to the
extent that it is inconsistent with such rules;
and
``(ii) with full recognition of the
constitutional right of either House to change
the rules (so far as relating to the procedure
of that House) at any time, in the same manner,
and to the same extent as in the case of any
other rule of that House.
``(F) Lack of effect or continuance; substantially
similar withdrawals.--
``(i) Lack of effect or continuance.--A
withdrawal made under section 12(a)(1) of the
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act shall not
take effect (or continue), if the Congress
enacts a joint resolution of disapproval,
described under subparagraph (A), of the
withdrawal.
``(ii) Substantially similar withdrawals.--
A withdrawal that does not take effect (or does
not continue) under clause (i) may not be
reissued in substantially the same form, and a
new withdrawal that is substantially the same
as such a withdrawal may not be issued, unless
the reissued or new withdrawal is specifically
authorized by a law enacted after the date of
the joint resolution disapproving the original
withdrawal.
``(G) Judicial review.--No determination, finding,
action, or omission under this paragraph shall be
subject to judicial review.
``(H) Submission of covered agency action to
congress.--
``(i) Requirement to submit.--Any covered
agency action subject to the disapproval
procedures under this subsection shall be
submitted to Congress by the agency responsible
for the action. Such submission must include
the text of the agency action, a concise
summary of the action, and the date on which
the action was taken.
``(ii) Transmittal.--For purposes of this
subsection, the date of submission of the
covered agency action to Congress shall be the
later of--
``(I) the date on which the agency
submits the action to both the
President of the Senate and the Speaker
of the House of Representatives; or
``(II) the date on which the agency
makes the action publicly available in
the Federal Register or by another
publicly accessible method.
``(iii) Start of procedures.--The
submission of the covered agency action under
clause (i) shall trigger the expedited
parliamentary procedures set forth in this
subsection. No resolution under this subsection
may be considered in either chamber until such
submission has occurred.
``(iv) Notice of submission.--Upon receipt
of a covered agency action, the President of
the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives shall cause a notice of such
submission to be published in the Congressional
Record on the next calendar day of their
respective chambers.
``(5) Integration with 5-year oil and gas leasing
program.--The President may not make a withdrawal under
paragraph (1) that conflicts with areas included in a lease
sale scheduled under an oil and gas leasing program approved
under Section 18.''.
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