Let America Build Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Senator Barrasso, John [R-WY]
Introduced
Summary
This bill would speed energy and mineral permitting and limit litigation delays across oil, gas, mining, and LNG projects. It focuses on faster leasing, tighter court timelines, and more state authority over permitting.
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- On leasing and litigation: It would require the Secretary of the Interior to resolve lease-sale protests within 60 days and impose a 60-day deadline to file most legal challenges. Courts would generally remand NEPA violations without vacating leases and allow leaseholders to pause lease timelines up to 90 days after notice.
- On state delegation and hydraulic fracturing: It would allow delegation of drilling-permit authority for "available Federal land" to qualified States, with a 180-day window for approval, public notice, and a required memorandum of understanding. It would defer to State fracking rules for federal land in those States while excluding tribal trust lands.
- On LNG, natural gas, and minerals: It would set a 45-day deadline for final LNG decisions after NEPA review and treat imports and certain exports up to 51.8 billion cubic feet per year as presumptively in the public interest. It would add minerals to FAST Act permitting reforms and impose NEPA timelines of 1 year for environmental assessments and 2 years for environmental impact statements.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Faster energy permits and LNG approvals
If enacted, the bill would set firm NEPA review deadlines for mineral and energy projects: 1 year for environmental assessments and 2 years for environmental impact statements. Lead agencies would have to issue final decisions and other federal permits within 90 days after the EA or EIS is published, and may adopt applicant-prepared NEPA documents that meet standards. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would lead and set schedules for certain natural gas and power filings, naming participating agencies within 60 days and posting schedules and contacts publicly. The Energy Secretary would have 45 days after NEPA ends (or after enactment) to decide LNG export applications, and a missed deadline would cause the application to be deemed approved. The bill would also speed small LNG exports (up to 51,750,000,000 cubic feet per year) and raise some judicial standards and timing rules that favor permit applicants.
More state control over federal leases
If enacted, the bill would let the Interior Secretary delegate exclusive drilling-permit (APD) authority to States and require the Secretary to approve or deny a State request within 180 days. Delegated States could collect APD fees and must use 100% of fees to run their program, and they must keep processing permits even if related federal NEPA or ESA reviews are pending. The bill would bar the Secretary from requiring federal permits, bonds, or entering non-federal surface in some mixed-ownership situations when federal mineral ownership is under 50 percent. It would limit lease litigation and protests by shortening filing windows to 60 days, fixing venue, requiring prompt protest resolution, and generally preventing sale cancellations based only on courts' NEPA findings. For coal, the bill would treat a named BLM EA as satisfying NEPA, require at least four lease offerings per year, require offering new leases within 90 days of a qualified request, and set a 45-day fair-market-value decision window. The bill would also require Congress to approve land withdrawals by joint resolution at least 90 days before they take effect and would bar agencies from creating new statutory-sounding land-designation categories. Land-use plans would have to review mineral studies from the prior 10 years and consult Energy and Defense about mineral significance.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Barrasso, John [R-WY]
WY • R
Cosponsors
Sen. Lummis, Cynthia M. [R-WY]
WY • R
Sponsored 6/11/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov