S. 76 – POWER Act of 2021

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Updated February 7, 2026 at 9:43 PM UTC

The POWER Act of 2021 aims to stop the President and designated officials from placing moratoria on new energy and mineral leases on federal lands. It bars the President from delaying or blocking new oil, gas, coal, hard‑rock, and critical‑mineral leases, and from withdrawing federal lands from energy development without a specific act of Congress. The bill affects the executive branch, federal land managers, and companies seeking energy and mineral leases.

Key Provisions

The President (or designees) may not prohibit or substantially delay new oil, gas, coal, hard‑rock, or critical‑mineral leases, permits, approvals, or authorizations on federal land unless Congress authorizes it.
The President may not withdraw any federal land from entry, appropriation, disposal, mining, or leasing activities unless authorized by an act of Congress.
The bill defines “critical mineral” based on the 2018 Interior Secretary list and defines “federal land” to include national forests, public lands, the outer continental shelf, and Energy Department‑managed lands.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action

SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Energy and Natural Resources Committee

January 28, 2021

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

January 28, 2021

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Energy and Natural Resources Committee

January 28, 2021

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued January 28, 2021

II

117th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 76

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

January 28, 2021

Ms. Lummis (for herself, Mr. Barrasso, Mrs. Blackburn, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Daines, Mr. Hoeven, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Lee, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Tuberville, Mr. Risch, Mr. Romney, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, and Mr. Lankford) 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, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Protecting Our Wealth of Energy Resources Act of 2021 or the POWER Act of 2021.

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)

Critical mineral

The term critical mineral means any mineral included on the list of critical minerals published in the notice of the Secretary of the Interior entitled Final List of Critical Minerals 2018 (83 Fed. Reg. 23295 (May 18, 2018)).

(2)

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.

(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, permits, approvals, or authorizations.

(B)

New coal leases, permits, approvals, or authorizations.

(C)

New hard rock leases, permits, approvals, or authorizations.

(D)

New critical minerals leases, permits, approvals, or authorizations.

(2)

Prohibition on withdrawal

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President shall 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.