The Let America Build Act of 2026 streamlines federal permitting for oil, gas, and mineral development on public lands while significantly limiting legal challenges to these projects. The bill expedites onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing by imposing strict 60-day deadlines for protests and lawsuits, preventing lease cancellations even when courts find environmental violations, and allowing states to assume federal permitting authority over drilling on certain federal lands with minimal oversight. For mining development, the bill compresses environmental review timelines to one to two years, allows limited mineral exploration to proceed within 15 days, and restricts mining permit challenges to 60 days with narrow grounds for blocking permits. The legislation also restructures permitting for natural gas infrastructure by designating the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as the sole lead agency for environmental review, requiring coordinated reviews from other agencies within 90 days, and raising the evidentiary standard for permit approval. Additionally, the bill redefines "critical minerals" to include more fuel sources and establishes new criteria for mineral assessments based on national energy and defense needs, effectively prioritizing resource extraction over environmental protections and limiting opportunities for public input and judicial review throughout the development process.
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