Sponsors
Need help making sense of this bill?
This is not an official government website.
Copyright © 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Requires federal agencies to keep the terms of expired offshore oil and gas permits in force for covered and similarly situated permittees until a new permit or a new biological opinion is issued. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to coordinate with other federal agencies, create joint working groups (with a 15-day notice requirement to Congress and the President), updates Clean Water Act permitting practice so EPA must continue expired permit terms when issuing similar new permits, and treats a specified 2020/2021 NMFS biological opinion as satisfying ESA and MMPA obligations for BOEM’s leasing program until it is superseded.
Defines "Offshore Energy Resource Development" as oil and gas leasing, exploration, and production activities conducted on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Defines "Secretary" to mean the Secretaries of the Interior and/or Commerce.
Defines "Administrator" to mean the Administrator or Acting Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Adds subsection (q) to Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require that if a previously issued permit required for offshore oil and gas production has expired, the Secretary shall, to the extent of his or her authority, ensure that all terms, conditions, and requirements of the expired permit remain in effect for any permittee previously covered and any similarly situated new or prospective permittee until a new permit is finalized and issued. The Secretary must consider consistency with federal laws, regulations, and protection of human life and the environment when determining equivalence or applicability.
Authorizes and directs the Secretary to coordinate with any other Federal agency having jurisdiction over an expiring or expired permit to ensure that the terms, conditions, and requirements of such permit remain in effect, consistent with applicable laws and regulations.
Who is affected and how:
Offshore oil and gas permittees and prospective permit applicants: They gain regulatory continuity because expired permit terms remain in effect until a new permit or biological opinion is issued. This reduces the risk of operational or contractual disruption while re-permitting or interagency review proceeds.
Federal agencies (Interior/BOEM, NOAA/NMFS, EPA, and others): Must maintain expired permit terms where applicable, coordinate across agencies, possibly create joint working groups, and meet a 15-day reporting requirement when such groups are formed. Agencies bear administrative duties but the Act does not provide new funding.
Commercial and recreational fishers and marine resource stakeholders: Continued use of an earlier biological opinion and retained permit terms could affect marine protections and species management until a new biological opinion or permit updates protections; stakeholders may experience prolonged exposure to prior mitigation measures rather than newer protective measures.
Coastal and shoreline communities: May see extended permitting stability for offshore activities (which can affect local economies and environmental risk profiles), but could also be concerned about delays in updating environmental safeguards.
Environmental groups and advocates: Likely to be affected procedurally and substantively because the Act prolongs reliance on a prior biological opinion and continued permit terms, which may limit new environmental review until updated analyses are completed.
Overall effect: The bill prioritizes permitting continuity and interagency coordination to avoid regulatory gaps, benefiting permit holders and reducing short-term administrative uncertainty, while potentially delaying application of updated environmental analyses and protections until new permits or biological opinions are issued. That tradeoff could prompt legal or public-policy disputes.
Adds a new subsection (q) establishing continuity of federal permits for offshore oil and gas production, requiring that terms of expired permits remain in effect for prior and similarly situated new/prospective permittees until a new permit is issued; directs coordination with other federal agencies; authorizes joint agency working groups and requires notification to Congress and the President within 15 days of establishment with specified content.
Inserts a new paragraph requiring that if the Administrator is issuing a new permit covering multiple similar permittees and the new permit is reasonably similar to an expired permit, the Administrator shall continue to apply the same terms, conditions, and requirements as the expired permit to existing and prospective permittees until the new permit is issued.
Expand sections to see detailed analysis
Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 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.
Introduced April 28, 2025 by Wesley Hunt · Last progress April 28, 2025
Referred to the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 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.
Introduced in House