[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 319 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 319
To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and
permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 9, 2023
Ms. Lummis (for herself, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Braun, Mrs. Britt, Mrs.
Capito, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Hoeven, Mr.
Johnson, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Lee, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Risch, Mr.
Tuberville, Mr. Wicker, and Mr. Mullin) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and
permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land.
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 ``Protecting Our Wealth of Energy
Resources Act of 2023'' or the ``POWER Act''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON MORATORIA OF NEW ENERGY LEASES ON CERTAIN
FEDERAL LAND AND ON WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND FROM
ENERGY DEVELOPMENT.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Federal land.--
(A) In general.--The term ``Federal land'' means--
(i) National Forest System land;
(ii) public lands (as defined in section
103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702));
(iii) the outer Continental Shelf (as
defined in section 2 of the Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331)); and
(iv) land managed by the Secretary of
Energy.
(B) Inclusion.--The term ``Federal land'' includes
land described in clauses (i) through (iv) of
subparagraph (A) for which the rights to the surface
estate or subsurface estate are owned by a non-Federal
entity.
(2) Mineral.--The term ``mineral'' means any mineral
subject to sections 2319 through 2344 of the Revised Statutes
(commonly known as the ``Mining Law of 1872'') (30 U.S.C. 22 et
seq.), and minerals located on ``lands acquired by the United
States'' (as defined in section 2 of the Mineral Leasing Act
for Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 351)).
(3) President.--The term ``President'' means the President
or any designee, including--
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture;
(B) the Secretary of Energy; and
(C) the Secretary of the Interior.
(b) Prohibitions.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the President shall not carry out any action that would
prohibit or substantially delay the issuance of any of the
following on Federal land, unless such an action has been
authorized by an Act of Congress:
(A) New oil and gas leases, drill permits,
approvals, or authorizations.
(B) New coal leases, permits, approvals, or
authorizations.
(C) New mineral patents, leases, permits,
approvals, or authorizations.
(2) Prohibition on withdrawal.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the President may not withdraw any Federal
land from forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the
public land laws, location, entry, and patent under the mining
laws, or disposition under laws pertaining to mineral and
geothermal leasing or mineral materials unless the withdrawal
has been authorized by an Act of Congress.
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