Let America Build Act of 2026

The Let America Build Act of 2026 makes changes to energy development and permitting for oil, gas, minerals, and natural gas on federal and non-federal land. It sets deadlines for lease sales and permit decisions, limits environmental reviews, and gives states more authority over hydraulic fracturing. It also changes how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission handles natural gas and electricity projects.

Title I, Oil and Gas Leasing and Permitting: Subtitle A requires the Interior Secretary to resolve protests to onshore lease sales within 60 days and says leases are not affected by litigation over environmental reviews. For offshore leases, it limits the Secretary's ability to cancel a lease or permit, except by agreement or for specific reasons, and says a lease cannot be cancelled due to a court finding that the environmental review violated NEPA.

Title I, Subtitle B: Section 1201 creates a cooperative federalism process for oil and gas drilling permits on available federal land, defining terms like APD and available federal land. Section 1202 says the Interior Secretary cannot require a federal permit to drill on non-federal land if the federal government owns less than 50% of the minerals or the well is on non-federal land but enters federal minerals. Section 1203 says the Secretary cannot enforce federal hydraulic fracturing rules on any land in a state that has its own rules, and must defer to state regulations on federal land.

Title I, Subtitle C: Section 1301 requires the Energy Secretary to issue a final decision on an application to export liquefied natural gas within 45 days after NEPA review is done. Section 1302 says applications to export up to 51.75 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year, or to a free trade agreement country, are considered in the public interest and must be granted without modification or delay, except to sanctioned nations.

Title II, Mineral Leasing and Permitting: Section 2001 requires land use plans to review a mineral resource assessment from the last 10 years and determine the significance of minerals to energy, national, and economic security. Section 2002 says a withdrawal of public land from mining laws terminates if Congress does not approve it by joint resolution within 90 days before its effective date. Section 2003 prohibits federal land management agencies from creating new categories of land designations not authorized by statute. Section 2004 deems a specific environmental assessment sufficient for new coal leases and requires the Interior Secretary to offer coal leases within 90 days of a request or at least 4 times a year. Section 2005 changes the definition of critical material to include fuel minerals and critical mineral to exclude oil, oil shale, coal (except metallurgical coal), and natural gas, and adds significant projected domestic production decline as a designation criterion. Section 2006 expands a minerals supply chain program to cover all minerals, not just critical minerals.

Title III, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Section 3001 limits the FERC's NEPA review of natural gas projects to consider only physical changes to the human environment that are reasonably foreseeable and have a close causal relationship. Section 3002 applies the same NEPA review limits to electric transmission projects under the Federal Power Act. Section 3003 requires FERC to coordinate with other agencies and set deadlines for environmental reviews of natural gas projects. Section 3004 extends the time to seek rehearing of a FERC order under the Natural Gas Act from 30 to 60 days. Section 3005 does the same for the Federal Power Act. Section 3006 says court review of civil penalties under the Natural Gas Act follows the same rules as for the Federal Power Act. Section 3007 says a court must set aside a FERC order if it is not supported by clear and convincing evidence.