II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 750 

To prohibit drilling in the outer Continental Shelf, to prohibit coal leases 

on Federal land, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2017 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. WARREN, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. 

LEAHY, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To prohibit drilling in the outer Continental Shelf, to prohibit 

coal leases on Federal land, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keep It in the Ground 

5 Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

8 (1) from 1880 through 2015, global tempera9 tures have increased by about 1.06 degrees Celsius; 


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1 (2) the vast majority of global warming that 

2 has occurred over the past 50 years was due to 

3 human activities, primarily the burning of fossil 

4 fuels; 

5 (3) emissions of greenhouse gases and atmos6 pheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continue 

7 to rise, which results in a continued warming trend; 

8 (4) global warming already has a significant im9 pact on the economy, including the farming, fishing, 

10 forestry, and recreation industries; 

11 (5) the significant impacts of global warming 

12 that are already occurring will be amplified by a 

13 global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius, 

14 which will lead to increased droughts, rising seas, 

15 mass extinctions, heat waves, desertification, wild16 fires, acidifying oceans, significant economic disrup17 tion, and security threats; 

18 (6) to avoid exceeding 2 degrees Celsius warm19 ing, at least 80 percent of carbon from proven fossil 

20 fuel reserves must be kept in the ground; 

21 (7) the potential emissions resulting from ex22 tracting and burning all fossil fuels on Federal land 

23 and waters amounts to a significant percentage of 

24 the greenhouse gas emissions limit; and 


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1 (8) ending new leases for fossil fuels will pre2 vent the release of 90 percent of the potential emis3 sions from Federal fossil fuels. 

4 (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 

5 United States that— 

6 (1) Federal land and waters should be managed 

7 for the benefit of the people of the United States— 

8 (A) to avoid the most dangerous impacts 

9 of climate change; and 

10 (B) to promote a rapid transition to a 

11 clean energy economy by keeping fossil fuels in 

12 the ground; and 

13 (2) the Federal Government should pursue 

14 management of Federal land and waters for the ben15 efit of the people of the United States by not issuing 

16 any new lease or renewing any nonproducing lease 

17 for coal, oil, or natural gas in any Federal land or 

18 waters. 

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) EXTEND.—The term ‘‘extend’’ means the 

22 act of extending a lease under the Mineral Leasing 

23 Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) beyond the existing term 

24 of the lease. 


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1 (2) NONPRODUCING LEASE.—The term ‘‘non2 producing lease’’ means any lease under which no 

3 coal, oil, gas, oil shale, tar sands, or other fossil fuel 

4 approved in the lease contract has been extracted for 

5 commercial use. 

6 (3) REINSTATE.—The term ‘‘reinstate’’ means 

7 the act of reinstating a lease under the Mineral 

8 Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) after a violation 

9 of any term of the lease that resulted in suspension 

10 or cancellation of the lease. 

11 (4) RENEW.—The term ‘‘renew’’ means the act 

12 of renewing a lease under the Mineral Leasing Act 

13 (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) for a term that is not longer 

14 than the maximum renewal term for a lease under 

15 that Act. 

16 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of the Interior. 

18 SEC. 4. STOPPING NEW OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASES IN 

19 THE GULF OF MEXICO AND THE PACIFIC, AT20 LANTIC, AND ARCTIC OCEANS. 

21 (a) PROHIBITION ON NEW OIL AND GAS LEASING ON

22 THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.—Section 8 of the 

23 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337) is 

24 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(q) PROHIBITION ON NEW OIL AND GAS LEASING

2 ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.— 

3 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

4 ‘‘(A) EXTEND.— 

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘extend’ 

6 means the act of extending a lease under 

7 this Act beyond the existing term of the 

8 lease. 

9 ‘‘(ii) INCLUSION.—The term ‘extend’ 

10 includes the act of extending a lease fol11 lowing a suspension under this Act. 

12 ‘‘(B) NONPRODUCING LEASE.—The term 

13 ‘nonproducing lease’ means any lease under 

14 which no coal, oil, gas, oil shale, tar sands, or 

15 other fossil fuel approved in the lease contract 

16 has been extracted. 

17 ‘‘(C) REINSTATE.—The term ‘reinstate’ 

18 means the act of reinstating a lease under this 

19 Act after a violation of any term of the lease 

20 that resulted in suspension or cancellation of 

21 the lease. 

22 ‘‘(D) RENEW.—The term ‘renew’ means 

23 the act of renewing a lease under this Act for 

24 a term that is not longer than the maximum re25 newal term for a lease under this Act. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other 

2 provision of this Act or any other law, the Secretary 

3 of the Interior shall not issue a new lease, renew, re4 instate, or extend any nonproducing lease, or issue 

5 any other authorization for the exploration, develop6 ment, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other 

7 fossil fuel in— 

8 ‘‘(A) the Arctic Ocean; 

9 ‘‘(B) the Atlantic Ocean, including the 

10 Straits of Florida; 

11 ‘‘(C) the Pacific Ocean; 

12 ‘‘(D) the Gulf of Mexico; or 

13 ‘‘(E) any other area of the outer Conti14 nental Shelf.’’. 

15 (b) CANCELLATION OF EXISTING LEASES.—Notwith16 standing any other provision of law, not later than 60 days 

17 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

18 cancel any lease issued under section 8 of the Outer Conti19 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337) on or before the 

20 date of enactment of this Act in the Beaufort Sea, Cook 

21 Inlet, or Chukchi Sea. 


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1 SEC. 5. STOPPING NEW COAL, OIL, TAR SANDS, FRACKED 

2 GAS, AND OIL SHALE LEASES ON FEDERAL 

3 LAND. 

4 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec5 retary shall not conduct any lease sale, enter into any new 

6 lease, reoffer for lease any land covered by an expiring 

7 lease, or renew, reinstate, or extend any nonproducing 

8 lease in existence on or before the date of enactment of 

9 this Act for onshore fossil fuels, including coal, oil, tar 

10 sands, oil shale, and gas on land subject to the Mineral 

11 Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.). 

12 SEC. 6. EXCEPTIONS. 

13 (a) NATIONAL SECURITY.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

15 the Secretary may exempt any provision of this Act 

16 or an amendment made by this Act for a lease if the 

17 Secretary determines, on the record and based on 

18 available information, that— 

19 (A) there is an imminent national security 

20 threat; and 

21 (B) issuing an exemption for the lease 

22 would significantly reduce the imminent na23 tional security threat. 

24 (2) DURATION.—An exemption under para25 graph (1) shall continue only for as long as the im26 minent national security threat persists. 


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1 (b) BREACH OF CONTRACT.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

3 the Secretary may allow a nonproducing lease to be 

4 renewed or extended if— 

5 (A) the nonproducing lease contract was 

6 signed before the date of enactment of this Act; 

7 and 

8 (B) the Secretary determines that giving 

9 effect to any provision of this Act or an amend10 ment made by this Act is likely to lead to a 

11 court with jurisdiction ruling that there was a 

12 material breach of the nonproducing lease con13 tract. 

14 (2) DURATION.—A renewal or extension under 

15 paragraph (1) shall be for the shortest time prac16 ticable, consistent with the terms of the nonpro17 ducing lease contract. 

18 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 

19 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 

20 this Act, or the application of such a provision or amend21 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid 

22 or unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amend23 ments made by this Act, and the application of those proVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Mar 30, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S750.IS S750

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1 visions and amendments to any person or circumstance 

2 shall not be affected. 

Æ 


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