Congress’s H.R. 6 could be a final Constitutional Law examination so replete is it with infirmities such as breach of contract, takings without “just compensation,” denial of equal protection and due process, and a bill of attainder. Should it become law, given its scope—it applies to anyone with “direct or indirect interest in, or who derives a benefit from” a targeted lease—hundreds must rush to court to seek, not only a declaration that the law is unconstitutional, but also a restraining order barring the DOI from issuing leases. One official testified that, over a decade, a three-year delay in issuing leases will cost the government $13 billion in bonus and royalty revenues and the nation the energy equivalent of 1.6 billion barrels of oil, not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars industry would have spent on new jobs and equipment to discover and produce that energy.
Plus, barred from operating in America’s most productive offshore region, just as Congress compelled the development of resources at risk of being drained by China’s drilling offshore Cuba, American companies will search for oil and gas elsewhere—Russia for example. Or, they will go on shore, to Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, at a time when environmental groups clamor about “too much” energy development there.
The duty to “bear true faith and allegiance” to the Constitution applies to all officials, not just those who wear black robes. Congress’s failure to take that duty seriously usually impacts only those forced to defend their rights in court. With H.R. 6, Congress may have discovered a way to spread the misery.