PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Apr 21, 2015
Protect Our Public Lands Act
This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to require a lease on public land for developing deposits of coal, petroleum, natural gas, and other hydrocarbons to prohibit a lessee from conducting hydraulic fracturing activity under the lease. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process to extract underground resources such as oil or gas from a geologic formation by injecting water, a propping agent (e.g., sand), and chemical additives into a well under enough pressure to fracture the geological formation. The bill excludes from hydraulic fracturing any enhanced secondary recovery, including water flooding, tertiary recovery, and other types of well stimulation operations.
The bill is applicable only upon the renewal or adjustment of a lease.
People & committees
Rep. Pocan, Mark [D-WI-2] · D–WI
Legislative record
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Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
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No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 12, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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