Sec. 501 Short title
This title may be cited as the “National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Access Act”.
Title V — Expeditious oil and gas leasing program in National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska
V Expeditious oil and gas leasing program in National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska
Sec. 502 Sense of Congress reaffirming national policy regarding National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska
It is the sense of Congress that—
the National Petroleum Reserve in the State of Alaska (referred to in this title as the Reserve) remains explicitly designated, both in name and legal status, for purposes of providing oil and natural gas resources to the United States; and
accordingly, the national policy is to actively advance oil and gas development within the Reserve by facilitating the expeditious exploration, production, and transportation of oil and natural gas from and through the Reserve.
Sec. 503 Competitive leasing of oil and gas
Section 107 of the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6506a) is amended by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:
“(a) Competitive leasing
“(1) In general—The Secretary shall conduct an expeditious program of competitive leasing of oil and gas in the Reserve in accordance with this Act.
“(2) Inclusions—The program under this subsection shall include at least 1 lease sale annually in each area of the Reserve that is most likely to produce commercial quantities of oil and natural gas for each of calendar years 2013 through 2023.”
Sec. 504 Planning and permitting pipeline and road construction
In general— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, shall facilitate and ensure permits, in an environmentally responsible manner, for all surface development activities, including for the construction of pipelines and roads, necessary—
to develop and bring into production any areas within the Reserve that are subject to oil and gas leases; and
to transport oil and gas from and through the Reserve to existing transportation or processing infrastructure on the North Slope of Alaska.
Timelines— The Secretary shall ensure that any Federal permitting agency shall issue permits in accordance with the following timelines:
Existing leases— Each permit for construction relating to the transportation of oil and natural gas produced under existing Federal oil and gas leases with respect to which the Secretary of the Interior has issued a permit to drill shall be approved by not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
Requested permits— Each permit for construction for transportation of oil and natural gas produced under Federal oil and gas leases shall be approved by not later than 180 days after the date of submission to the Secretary of a request for a permit to drill.
Plan— To ensure timely future development of the Reserve, not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to Congress a plan for approved rights-of-way for a plan for pipeline, road, and any other surface infrastructure that may be necessary infrastructure to ensure that all leasable tracts in the Reserve are located within 25 miles of an approved road and pipeline right-of-way that can serve future development of the Reserve.
Sec. 505 Departmental accountability for development
In general— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall promulgate regulations to establish clear requirements to ensure that the Department of the Interior is supporting development of oil and gas leases in the Reserve.
Deadlines— At a minimum, the regulations promulgated pursuant to this section shall—
require the Secretary of the Interior to respond, acknowledging receipt of any permit application for development, by not later than 5 business days after the date of receipt of the application; and
establish a timeline for the processing of each such application that—
specifies deadlines for decisions and actions regarding permit applications; and
provides that the period for issuing each permit after the date of submission of the application shall not exceed 60 days, absent the concurrence of the applicant.
Actions required for failure To comply with deadlines— If the Secretary of the Interior fails to comply with any deadline described in subsection (b) with respect to a permit application, the Secretary shall notify the applicant not less frequently than once every 5 days with specific information regarding—
the reasons for the permit delay;
the name of each specific office of the Department of the Interior responsible for—
issuing the permit; or
monitoring the permit delay; and
an estimate of the date on which the permit will be issued.
Additional infrastructure— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior, after consultation with the State of Alaska and after providing notice and an opportunity for public comment, shall approve right-of-way corridors for the construction of 2 separate additional bridges and pipeline rights-of-way to help facilitate timely oil and gas development of the Reserve.
Sec. 506 Updated resource assessment
In general— The Secretary of the Interior shall complete a comprehensive assessment of all technically recoverable fossil fuel resources within the Reserve, including all conventional and unconventional oil and natural gas.
Cooperation and consultation— The resource assessment under subsection (a) shall be carried out by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation and consultation with the State of Alaska and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
Timing— The resource assessment under subsection (a) shall be completed by not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
Funding— In carrying out this section, the United States Geological Survey may cooperatively use resources and funds provided by the State of Alaska.
Sec. 507 Colville River Delta designation
The designation by the Environmental Protection Agency of the Colville River Delta as an aquatic resource of national importance shall have no force or effect on this title or an amendment made by this title.