To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit preleasing, leasing, and related activities in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea Planning Areas unless certain conditions are met.

Summary: Polar Bear Seas Protection Act - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from offering or approving any new lease, or approving an exploration or development plan, within any area of the Chukchi or Beaufort Sea marine and coastal ecosystems until: (1) the National Research Council reports to Congress on certain missing information regarding the composition, distribution, status, and ecology of the living marine resources in such ecosystems; (2) the polar bear is listed as either an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and critical habitat is designated for it; (3) the Secretary performs an oil spill response gap analysis for proposed and existing arctic oil operations; and (4) the Secretary makes specified determinations, including that oil and gas exploration and development can be conducted in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea Planning Areas without posing a risk of substantial adverse impact to wildlife, or wildlife habitat and subsistence.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Polar Bear Seas Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Americans cherish healthy oceans and wildlife that 
        marine ecosystems support, and feel a strong moral 
        responsibility to protect these resources for the benefit of 
        current and future generations.
            (2) The marine ecosystems and coastal habitats of the 
        Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, along Alaska's northern and 
        northwestern shores, provide habitat for a large array of 
        wildlife, including endangered bowhead whales, beluga whales, 
        polar bears, threatened spectacled eiders, threatened Steller's 
        eiders, walrus, seals, and fish.
            (3) These ecosystems and wildlife they support are vital to 
        the survival of the subsistence cultures of the Alaska Native 
        peoples of the North Slope and have been for thousands upon 
        thousands of years.
            (4) There is a wide consensus among scientists that the 
        Arctic is undergoing dramatic changes due to climate change, 
        and that these changes are affecting vital sea ice habitat for 
        a number of species, including polar bears, walrus, and seals.
            (5) In January 2007, the United States Fish and Wildlife 
        Service proposed listing the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) as a 
        threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. 
        The polar bear depends on sea ice as a platform to hunt seals, 
        its primary food, and projected loss of sea ice due to global 
        warming was believed to jeopardize polar bears throughout their 
        range.
            (6) On January 9, 2008, the Department of the Interior 
        missed the legal deadline to make a final rule on whether to 
        provide Endangered Species Act of 1973 protections to the polar 
        bear.
            (7) On February 6, 2008, the Department of the Interior 
        moved forward with oil and gas leasing in the Chukchi Sea Lease 
        Sale 193 area, which contains about 29.4 million acres offshore 
        Alaska from north of Point Barrow to northwest of Cape 
        Lisburne, which is polar bear habitat.
            (8) On April 19, 2008, a United States District Court Judge 
        ruled that the Department of the Interior must make a decision 
        on whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species 
        Act of 1973 by May 15, 2008.
            (9) In September 2007, the United States Geological Survey 
        issued a series of reports that projected changes in future sea 
        ice conditions, if realized, will result in loss of 
        approximately \2/3\ of the world's current polar bear 
        population by the middle of the 21st century and extirpation of 
        polar bears in Alaska. The agency also concluded that because 
        the observed trajectory of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be 
        underestimated by currently available models, this assessment 
        of future polar bear status may be conservative.
            (10) While the major threat to polar bears is global 
        warming, resulting from continuing emissions of green house 
        gases, potential oil and gas development in the Beaufort and 
        Chukchi Seas poses additional risks to polar bears and other 
        marine life in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
            (11) There is currently no effective means to recover 
        spilled oil in the harsh environment of the Beaufort and 
        Chukchi Seas, especially during periods of solid and broken 
        ice.
            (12) The Minerals Management Service's 2007-2012 OCS 
        leasing plan anticipates offering 40 million acres of the 
        Chukchi Sea for lease and expanding leasing in the Beaufort Sea 
        to 33 million acres. All of this area overlaps with vital polar 
        bear habitat.
            (13) In the environmental impact statement for the first of 
        five lease sales planned for the current 5-year OCS leasing 
        plan in the Arctic Ocean, Lease Sale 193 in the Chukchi Sea, 
        the Minerals Management Service concludes that the effects of a 
        large oil spill, particularly during the broken-ice period, 
        could pose significant risks to the polar bear population, and 
        that a large oil spill could have significant impacts on other 
        marine mammals including whales and walruses. In the same 
        document the agency states that there was a lack of information 
        on marine mammal ecology, and habitat use.
            (14) In addition, onshore industrial development activities 
        necessary to support offshore oil and gas development can 
        damage important habitat and cause harmful disturbance of 
        denning polar bears, and other wildlife.
            (15) Because of the threats oil and gas development poses 
        to subsistence resources, public health, and survival of their 
        culture, tribal governments, including the Native Village of 
        Point Hope, the Native Village of Barrow, the Inupiat Community 
        of the Arctic Slope, and the Alaska Intertribal Council, have 
        expressed opposition to offshore oil and gas development in the 
        Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON LEASING IN BEAUFORT AND CHUKCHI SEA PLANNING 
              AREAS.

    Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(q) Prohibition on Leasing in Beaufort and Chukchi Sea Planning 
Areas.--
            ``(1) The Secretary shall not offer for or approve leasing, 
        preleasing, or any related activity (including approving any 
        seismic activity, offering any new lease, or approving an 
        exploration or development plan) within any area of the Chukchi 
        or Beaufort Sea marine and coastal ecosystems until-
                    ``(A) the National Research Council--
                            ``(i) identifies missing information on the 
                        composition, distribution, status and ecology 
                        of the living marine resources in the Beaufort 
                        and Chukchi Sea marine and coastal ecosystems 
                        that--
                                    ``(I) focuses on the changes caused 
                                and likely to be caused by climate 
                                changes; and
                                    ``(II) supports the establishment 
                                of baseline information and the 
                                determination of the potential impacts, 
                                including cumulative impacts, of all 
                                oil- and gas-related activities on 
                                plant and animal species, marine and 
                                coastal environments, and Alaskan 
                                Native communities and their 
                                subsistence activities;
                            ``(ii) reports on the adequacy of ongoing 
                        and completed environmental, public health, and 
                        cultural studies (including ongoing and 
                        completed studies conducted by the Alaska 
                        environmental studies program of the Minerals 
                        Management Service) in providing information 
                        described in clause (i); and
                            ``(iii) submits to Congress a report that--
                                    ``(I) identifies missing 
                                information;
                                    ``(II) evaluates the adequacy of 
                                ongoing and completed studies; and
                                    ``(III) makes recommendations on 
                                any additional studies or research that 
                                are required to provide missing 
                                information identified pursuant to 
                                clause (i);
                    ``(B)(i) the polar bear is listed as an endangered 
                species or a threatened species under the Endangered 
                Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and 
                critical habitat is designated for the species; or
                            ``(ii) the Secretary publishes a 
                        determination that such a listing is not 
                        warranted;
                    ``(C) the Secretary--
                            ``(i) performs an oil spill response gap 
                        analysis for proposed and existing arctic oil 
                        operations;
                            ``(ii)(I) using a public process that 
                        includes consultation with local governments, 
                        tribal governments, natural resource managers, 
                        and other stakeholders, sets a standard 
                        required of lessees to ensure that at least 85 
                        percent of the total volume of spilled oil can 
                        be recovered mechanically and removed from the 
                        environment within 30 days after the initial 
                        release in any ice condition or season of the 
                        year;
                            ``(II) demonstrates that the 85 percent 
                        recovery standard can be achieved prior to 
                        issuing any leases, and prior to approving any 
                        seismic exploration, exploration plans, or 
                        development and production plans; and
                            ``(III) requires that the oil spill 
                        response gap for activities under each lease 
                        ensures 85 percent oil recovery in any given 
                        ice condition or season of the year;
                            ``(iii) implements a procedure to close 
                        areas in whole or seasonally to oil and gas 
                        activity because of the existence of a response 
                        gap; and
                            ``(iv) establishes requirements for 
                        installing, operating, and maintaining oil 
                        spill prevention systems, or institutes 
                        operating restrictions to improve safety and 
                        minimize spill risks; and
                    ``(D) the Secretary determines that--
                            ``(i) all recommendations submitted by the 
                        National Research Council report under 
                        subparagraph (A)(iii)(III) are implemented;
                            ``(ii) oil and gas exploration and 
                        development activities can be conducted in the 
                        Beaufort and Chukchi Sea Planning Areas without 
                        posing a risk of substantial adverse impact to 
                        wildlife, or wildlife habitat and subsistence; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) any mitigation measures necessary 
                        to avoid such risks are identified and the 
                        efficacy of the measures is established.
            ``(2) In this subsection:
                    ``(A) The term `response gap' means a period of 
                time during which the oil spill recovery standard 
                established pursuant to paragraph (1)(C)(ii)(I) cannot 
                be achieved.
                    ``(B) The term `response gap analysis' means--
                            ``(i) a calculation of the response 
                        operating limits of spill response systems for 
                        a set of environmental factors, such as wind, 
                        sea state, sea ice, and visibility, and an 
                        analysis of the frequency, duration, and timing 
                        of conditions that would limit a response in a 
                        particular location, including an assessment of 
                        local response capabilities and oil spill 
                        contingency plans, using a methodology that 
                        accounts for the cumulative interplay between 
                        factors that would cause two or more variables 
                        that are individually within the system's 
                        limits to exceed those limits when combined;
                            ``(ii) based on such calculation, an 
                        assessment of the frequency, duration, and 
                        timing of occurrence of one or more limiting 
                        factors or limiting combinations that may 
                        preclude achieving the oil spill recovery 
                        standard established pursuant to paragraph 
                        (1)(C)(ii)(I) using either modeled or 
                        historical environmental and climate data for a 
                        given location or area; and
                            ``(iii) based on such calculation and 
                        assessment, a quantification of the percentage 
                        of time during which local conditions exceed 
                        the demonstrated limits of spill response 
                        systems to achieve achieving the oil spill 
                        recovery standard established pursuant to 
                        paragraph (1)(C)(ii)(I).''.