Alaskan Energy for American Jobs Act
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 273.
Alaskan Energy for American Jobs Act - (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to implement a competitive leasing program for the exploration, development, and production of the oil and gas resources on the Coastal Plain of Alaska.
Amends the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to repeal the prohibition against leasing or other development leading to production of oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Deems oil and gas leasing programs and activities authorized by this Act to be in compliance with the purposes of ANWR, so that no further findings or decisions are required to implement this determination.
Deems the "Final Legislative Environmental Impact Statement" (April 1987), on the Coastal Plain, to satisfy requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) applicable to prelease activities under this Act, including actions authorized to be taken by the Secretary to promulgate regulations governing the establishment of a leasing program under this Act before the conduct of the first lease sale.
States that the Secretary: (1) is not required to identify nonleasing alternative courses of action or to analyze their environmental effects; (2) shall only identify a preferred action for such leasing and a single leasing alternative, and analyze their environmental effects and potential mitigation measures; and (3) shall only consider timely filed public comments that specifically address the Secretary's preferred action.
Deems compliance with this Act to satisfy all NEPA requirements for the analysis and consideration of the environmental effects of proposed leasing.
Authorizes the Secretary to designate as a Special Area up to 45,000 acres of the Coastal Plain, after consultation with the state of Alaska, the city of Kaktovik, and the North Slope Borough. Directs the Secretary to designate the Sadlerochit Spring area as a Special Area.
Authorizes the Secretary to exclude any Special Area from leasing.
Permits directional (horizontal) drilling in a Special Area.
The summary continues for 15 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House with amendment(s)" stage on February 9, 2012. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 9, 2012: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 273.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
DOC HASTINGS (R-WA) introduced it on November 14, 2011, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on November 14, 2011, 5461 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5374 days ago, on February 9, 2012.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers