Outer Continental Shelf Energy Relief Act - Declares that all provisions of existing federal law prohibiting the spending of appropriated funds to conduct natural gas leasing and preleasing activities for any area of the Outer Continental Shelf have no force or effect.
Revokes all existing withdrawals made by the President under the authority of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).
States such withdrawals are no longer in effect with respect to natural gas leasing, exploration, development or production.
Amends the OCSLA leasing program to instruct the Secretary, in each five-year program, to include lease sales that when viewed as a whole propose to offer for gas leasing at least 75% of the available unleased acreage within each OCS Planning Area.
Prescribes guidelines for sharing with certain coastal states bonus bid and royalty revenues received from existing and future federal gas leases on lands located within state seaward boundaries.
Authorizes the Secretary to issue leases for development and production only of natural gas and associated condensate (natural gas-only leasing).
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3918 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3918
To terminate the effect of all provisions of existing Federal law
prohibiting the spending of appropriated funds to conduct natural gas
leasing and preleasing activities, to revoke Presidential withdrawals
from disposition of areas of the Outer Continental Shelf with respect
to natural gas, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 27, 2005
Mr. Peterson of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. Cole of Oklahoma, Mr.
Doolittle, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Regula, Mr. King of Iowa, Mrs. Emerson,
Mr. Bishop of Utah, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Osborne, Mr. Edwards,
Mrs. Cubin, Mr. Istook, Mr. Pearce, Mr. Flake, Mr. Young of Alaska, Mr.
Mica, and Mr. Gene Green of Texas) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To terminate the effect of all provisions of existing Federal law
prohibiting the spending of appropriated funds to conduct natural gas
leasing and preleasing activities, to revoke Presidential withdrawals
from disposition of areas of the Outer Continental Shelf with respect
to natural gas, 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. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Outer Continental Shelf Energy
Relief Act''.
SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF LAWS PROHIBITING EXPENDITURES FOR NATURAL GAS
LEASING AND PRELEASING ACTIVITIES REGARDING AREAS OF THE
OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.
All provisions of existing Federal law prohibiting the spending of
appropriated funds to conduct natural gas leasing and preleasing
activities for any area of the Outer Continental Shelf shall have no
force or effect.
SEC. 3. REVOCATION OF EXISTING PRESIDENTIAL WITHDRAWALS WITH RESPECT TO
NATURAL GAS.
All existing withdrawals by the President under the authority of
section 12 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1341)
are hereby revoked and are no longer in effect with respect to the
leasing of areas for exploration for, and development and production
of, natural gas.
SEC. 4. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LEASING PROGRAM.
Section 18(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C.
1344(a)) is amended by inserting after the second sentence the
following: ``The Secretary shall, in each 5-year program, include lease
sales that when viewed as a whole propose to offer for gas leasing at
least 75 percent of the available unleased acreage within each OCS
Planning Area, as such OCS Planning Areas are established as of the
date of enactment of this Act.''.
SEC. 5. SHARING OF REVENUES.
Effective October 1, 2006, bonus bid and royalty revenues received
from existing and future Federal gas leases on lands that are located
within the State seaward boundaries established under section 4 of the
Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1312) shall be handled as follows:
(1) The Secretary shall share 50 percent of all such bids
and royalties derived from any leased tract that lies wholly
within the expanded seaward boundary of any coastal State or,
in the case where a leased tract lies partially within the
seaward boundary, a percentage of bonus bids and royalties
derived from such tract equal to the percentage of surface
acreage of the tract that lies within such seaward boundary
with the coastal state.
(2) The remaining 50 percent of such bonus bids and
royalties shall be transmitted simultaneously to the
miscellaneous receipts account of the Treasury of the United
States.
SEC. 6. NATURAL GAS-ONLY LEASING.
Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337)
is amended by adding at the end the following subsection:
``(p) Natural Gas-Only Leasing.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary may issue leases under
this section that authorize development and production only of
natural gas and associated condensate in accordance with
regulations promulgated under paragraph (2).
``(2) Regulations.--Before issuing any lease under
paragraph (1), the Secretary must promulgate regulations that--
``(A) define what constitutes natural gas,
condensate, and oil;
``(B) establish the lessee's rights and obligations
regarding condensate produced in association with
natural gas;
``(C) prescribe procedures and requirements that
the lessee of a lease issued under this subsection must
follow if the lessee discovers oil deposits in the
course of exploration or development; and
``(D) establish such other requirements for natural
gas-only leases as the Secretary considers appropriate.
``(3) Application of other laws.--All provisions of this
Act or any other Federal law or regulations that apply to oil
and natural gas leases for the outer Continental Shelf shall
apply to natural gas-only leases authorized under this
subsection.
``(4) Existing leases.--At the request of the lessee of an
oil and gas lease in effect under this section on the date of
enactment of this subsection, and under the requirements
prescribed in regulations promulgated under paragraph (2), the
Secretary may restrict development under such a lease to
natural gas and associated condensate only.
``(5) Oil and gas leasing programs.--
``(A) Program for 2002-2007.--The Secretary may
issue a natural gas-only lease in accordance with this
subsection before June 30, 2007, without amending the
outer Continental shelf leasing program that applies
for the period beginning on the date of the enactment
of this subsection and ending June 30, 2007, if the
Secretary provides public notice and an opportunity to
comment on the proposed notice of sale.
``(B) Program for 2007-2012.--The Secretary may
include provisions regarding issuance of natural gas-
only leases in the outer Continental shelf leasing
program that applies for the 5-year period beginning in
2007, notwithstanding any draft proposal for such
program issued before the date of the enactment of this
subsection.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Resources.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H9948-9950, H9951, H9952, H9953-9954)
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H10017-10022)
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