Expedited Appeals Review Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in favor of my bill, H.R. 677, the Expedited Appeals Review Act, or EARA. This bill addresses the backlog of appeals before the Interior Board of Land Appeals, or IBLA.

The IBLA is an appellant review board within the Department of the Interior, and it is tasked with resolving disputes involving public lands and natural resources under the Department's jurisdiction. This includes appeals involving the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Office of Natural Resources Revenue, and Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

It considers appeals dealing with grazing, mining, energy development, wildfire management, timber harvesting, trespass, and more.

The IBLA's stated mission is: ``to provide an impartial forum within the Department of the Interior for the fair resolution of disputes involving public lands and natural resources under the Department's jurisdiction.''

There are, however, longstanding inefficiencies in the appeals process. When combined with the high volume of cases, it has resulted in a backlog of over 650 pending appeals dating all the way back to 2014.

The IBLA receives on average 290 appeals per fiscal year. Of those cases that are not resolved on jurisdictional or procedural grounds, only 2 percent are decided in favor of the appellant and against the agency.

As instituted, the IBLA is not only falling short of its stated mission for impartiality, but creating further burdens through its extensive backlog.

The EARA creates an alternative path for expedited review, allowing stakeholders to request an accelerated decision of their appeals within 6 months of such a request. Failure to meet this deadline then makes the decision immediately eligible for de novo judicial review outside of the Department.

This bill will alleviate the backlog in the IBLA, put the appealing entities on a level playing field with the Department and promote efficiency.

I am proud that this bill passed out of committee by unanimous consent, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

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