To require a temporary moratorium on leasing, exploration, and development on lands of the Outer Continental Shelf off the State of California, and for other purposes.

Declares a moratorium for the Planning Areas of Southern, Central, and Northern California, until certain peer-reviewed environmental studies are submitted to the Congress, during which period the Secretary of the Interior may neither conduct oil or gas preleasing or leasing activities under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act nor approve oil or gas exploration or development activities.

[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 262 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 262

    To require a temporary moratorium on leasing, exploration, and 
 development on lands of the Outer Continental Shelf off the State of 
                  California, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 30, 2001

Mr. Cunningham introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require a temporary moratorium on leasing, exploration, and 
 development on lands of the Outer Continental Shelf off the State of 
                  California, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PRELEASING AND LEASING ACTIVITIES.

    The Secretary of the Interior shall not conduct a lease sale or 
issue a lease for oil or gas under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 
Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) in the Southern California, Central 
California, or Northern California Planning Areas until the later of--
            (1) January 1, 2011; or
            (2) 45 days of continuous session of the Congress after the 
        issuance of the final environmental impact statement relating 
        to the second 5 year oil and gas leasing program prepared under 
        section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act after the 
        date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 2. EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Moratorium.--The Secretary of the Interior shall not approve 
any exploration plan, development and production plan, or application 
for permit to drill, or permit any drilling, for oil or gas under the 
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) on any lands 
of the Outer Continental Shelf in the Southern California, Central 
California, or Northern California Planning Areas until 45 days of 
continuous session of the Congress after submittal to the Congress of 
the completed studies described in subsection (b).
    (b) Studies.--
            (1) Description of studies required.--The studies required 
        under subsection (a) are studies with respect to the Southern 
        California, Central California, and Northern California 
        Planning Areas to acquire information found inadequate for 
        Outer Continental Shelf lands offshore California by the 
        National Research Council report entitled ``The Adequacy of 
        Environmental Information for Outer Continental Shelf Oil and 
        Gas Decisions: Florida and California'' issued in 1989 by the 
        National Research Council's Committee to Review the Outer 
        Continental Shelf Environmental Studies Program, and supported 
        by the President's Outer Continental Shelf Leasing and 
        Development Task Force through Department of the Interior 
        Contract No. 1435000130495.
            (2) Peer review requirement.--No study described in 
        paragraph (1) shall be considered completed unless such study 
        has been reviewed, before submittal to the Congress, by at 
        least 3 scientists who--
                    (A) shall be nominated by the Scripps Institute of 
                Oceanography and approved by the Secretary of the 
                Interior and the Governor of the State of California;
                    (B) are not employees of the Department of the 
                Interior; and
                    (C) are well qualified in the scientific 
                disciplines required for performance of the particular 
                study or studies they review.

SEC. 3. CONTINUOUS SESSION OF CONGRESS.

    In computing any 45-day period of continuous session of Congress 
under this Act--
            (1) continuity of session is broken only by an adjournment 
        of the Congress sine die; and
            (2) the days on which either House of Congress is not in 
        session because of an adjournment of more than 3 days to a day 
        certain are excluded.
                                 <all>