Iran Sanctions Implementation Act of 2013
Key claim: This 2013 Senate bill would have required the President to keep opening federal lands to oil production—under state rules and without court or NEPA review—until those lands produced 1.25 million barrels a day to replace Iranian oil.
Abstract
(S965 · 113th Congress) Iran Sanctions Implementation Act of 2013 - Directs the President to designate any appropriate area of federal land, including any necessary for transportation of the oil produced there to market, as an Iranian Oil Replacement Zone. Requires the President to keep making such designations until the total daily production of oil from all the Zones reaches 1.25 million barrels per day. Subjects each Zone (including each portion of a multi-state Zone) to the rules and regulations of the state in which it is located. Exempts any such designation from judicial review, including review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Latest action (2013-05-15): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Why this matters
Sanctions-driven energy legislation has periodically been used as a vehicle to reshape federal land management, including by suspending environmental review. This 2013 bill is an early example of tying a barrel-per-day production target on public lands to a categorical NEPA waiver and preemption of federal leasing rules by state law — a template that reappears in later proposals to narrow NEPA scope for priority energy actions.