30 U.S.C. § 301
Section 301 · Authorization for lease of oil and gas deposits; by and to whom leased
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case MacDonald v. United States (1941)
Most recently applied in 136 F. Supp. 3d 1317 - Wyoming v. United States Department of the Interior (September 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whenever the Secretary of the Interior shall deem it to be consistent with the public interest he is authorized to lease deposits of oil and gas in or under lands embraced in railroad or other rights of way acquired under any law of the United States, whether the same be a base fee or mere easement: Provided, That, except as hereinafter authorized, no lease shall be executed hereunder except to the municipality, corporation, firm, association, or individual by whom such right of way was acquired, or to the lawful successor, assignee, or transferee of such municipality, corporation, firm, association, or individual.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Cross References
Submerged lands, mineral rights generally, see section 1301 et seq. of Title 43, Public Lands.