I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2120 

To provide for exploration, development, and production activities for mineral 

resources on the outer Continental Shelf, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 27, 2009 

Mrs. MYRICK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on 

Science and Technology and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide for exploration, development, and production activities for mineral resources on the outer Continental 

Shelf, 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 ‘‘Deep Ocean Energy 

5 Resources Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. POLICY. 

7 It is the policy of the United States that— 


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1 (1) the United States is blessed with abundant 

2 energy resources on the outer Continental Shelf and 

3 has developed a comprehensive framework of envi4 ronmental laws and regulations and fostered the de5 velopment of state-of-the-art technology that allows 

6 for the responsible development of these resources 

7 for the benefit of its citizenry; 

8 (2) adjacent States are required by the cir9 cumstances to commit significant resources in sup10 port of exploration, development, and production ac11 tivities for mineral resources on the outer Conti12 nental Shelf, and it is fair and proper for a portion 

13 of the receipts from such activities to be shared with 

14 Adjacent States and their local coastal governments; 

15 (3) the existing laws governing the leasing and 

16 production of the mineral resources of the outer 

17 Continental Shelf have reduced the production of 

18 mineral resources, have preempted Adjacent States 

19 from being sufficiently involved in the decisions re20 garding the allowance of mineral resource develop21 ment, and have been harmful to the national inter22 est; 

23 (4) the national interest is served by granting 

24 the Adjacent States more options related to whether 


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1 or not mineral leasing should occur in the outer 

2 Continental Shelf within their Adjacent Zones; 

3 (5) it is not reasonably foreseeable that explo4 ration of a leased tract located more than 25 miles 

5 seaward of the coastline, development and produc6 tion of a natural gas discovery located more than 25 

7 miles seaward of the coastline, or development and 

8 production of an oil discovery located more than 50 

9 miles seaward of the coastline will adversely affect 

10 resources near the coastline; 

11 (6) transportation of oil from a leased tract 

12 might reasonably be foreseen, under limited cir13 cumstances, to have the potential to adversely affect 

14 resources near the coastline if the oil is within 50 

15 miles of the coastline, but such potential to adversely 

16 affect such resources is likely no greater, and prob17 ably less, than the potential impacts from tanker 

18 transportation because tanker spills usually involve 

19 large releases of oil over a brief period of time; and 

20 (7) among other bodies of inland waters, the 

21 Great Lakes, Long Island Sound, Delaware Bay, 

22 Chesapeake Bay, Albemarle Sound, San Francisco 

23 Bay, and Puget Sound are not part of the outer 

24 Continental Shelf, and are not subject to leasing by 

25 the Federal Government for the exploration, developVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 ment, and production of any mineral resources that 

2 might lie beneath them. 

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS UNDER THE SUBMERGED LANDS ACT. 

4 Section 2 of the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

5 1301) is amended— 

6 (1) in subparagraph (2) of paragraph (a) by 

7 striking all after ‘‘seaward to a line’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘twelve nautical miles distant from the coast line of 

9 such State;’’; 

10 (2) by striking out paragraph (b) and redesig11 nating the subsequent paragraphs in order as para12 graphs (b) through (g); 

13 (3) by striking the period at the end of para14 graph (g) (as so redesignated) and inserting ‘‘; 

15 and’’; 

16 (4) by adding the following: ‘‘(i) The term ‘Sec17 retary’ means the Secretary of the Interior.’’; and 

18 (5) by defining ‘‘State’’ as it is defined in Sec19 tion 2(r) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

20 (43 U.S.C. 1331(r)). 

21 SEC. 4. SEAWARD BOUNDARIES OF STATES. 

22 Section 4 of the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

23 1312) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the first sentence by striking ‘‘original’’, 

2 and in the same sentence by striking ‘‘three geo3 graphical’’ and inserting ‘‘twelve nautical’’; and 

4 (2) by striking all after the first sentence and 

5 inserting the following: ‘‘Extension and delineation 

6 of lateral offshore State boundaries under the provi7 sions of this Act shall follow the lines used to deter8 mine the Adjacent Zones of coastal States under the 

9 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to the extent 

10 such lines extend twelve nautical miles for the near11 est coastline.’’ 

12 SEC. 5. EXCEPTIONS FROM CONFIRMATION AND ESTAB13 LISHMENT OF STATES’ TITLE, POWER, AND 

14 RIGHTS. 

15 Section 5 of the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

16 1313) is amended— 

17 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (a) through (c) 

18 in order as paragraphs (1) through (3); 

19 (2) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘There is ex20 cepted’’; and 

21 (3) by inserting at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION OF OIL AND GAS MINERAL

23 RIGHTS.—There is excepted from the operation of sections 

24 3 and 4 all of the oil and gas mineral rights for lands 

25 beneath the navigable waters that are located within the 


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1 expanded offshore State seaward boundaries established 

2 under this Act. These oil and gas mineral rights shall re3 main Federal property and shall be considered to be part 

4 of the Federal outer Continental Shelf for purposes of the 

5 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et 

6 seq.) and subject to leasing under the authority of that 

7 Act and to laws applicable to the leasing of the oil and 

8 gas resources of the Federal outer Continental Shelf. All 

9 existing Federal oil and gas leases within the expanded 

10 offshore State seaward boundaries shall continue un11 changed by the provisions of this Act, except as otherwise 

12 provided herein. However, a State may exercise all of its 

13 sovereign powers of taxation within the entire extent of 

14 its expanded offshore State boundaries.’’. 

15 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS UNDER THE OUTER CONTINENTAL 

16 SHELF LANDS ACT. 

17 Section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

18 (43 U.S.C. 1331) is amended— 

19 (1) by amending paragraph (f) to read as fol20 lows: 

21 ‘‘(f) The term ‘affected State’ means the ‘Adjacent 

22 State’.’’; 

23 (2) by striking the semicolon at the end of each 

24 of paragraphs (a) through (o) and inserting a pe25 riod; 


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1 (3) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of paragraph 

2 (p) and inserting a period; 

3 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(r) The term ‘Adjacent State’ means, with respect 

5 to any program, plan, lease sale, leased tract or other ac6 tivity, proposed, conducted, or approved pursuant to the 

7 provisions of this Act, any State the laws of which are 

8 declared, pursuant to section 4(a)(2), to be the law of the 

9 United States for the portion of the outer Continental 

10 Shelf on which such program, plan, lease sale, leased tract 

11 or activity appertains or is, or is proposed to be, con12 ducted. For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘State’ 

13 includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Common14 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Is15 lands, American Samoa, Guam, and the other Territories 

16 of the United States. 

17 ‘‘(s) The term ‘Adjacent Zone’ means, with respect 

18 to any program, plan, lease sale, leased tract, or other ac19 tivity, proposed, conducted, or approved pursuant to the 

20 provisions of this Act, the portion of the outer Continental 

21 Shelf for which the laws of a particular Adjacent State 

22 are declared, pursuant to section 4(a)(2), to be the law 

23 of the United States. 

24 ‘‘(t) The term ‘miles’ means statute miles. 


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1 ‘‘(u) The term ‘coastline’ has the same meaning as 

2 the term ‘coast line’ as defined in section 2(c) of the Sub3 merged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1301(c)). 

4 ‘‘(v) The term ‘Neighboring State’ means a coastal 

5 State having a common boundary at the coastline with the 

6 Adjacent State.’’; and 

7 (5) in paragraph (a), by inserting after ‘‘con8 trol’’ the following: ‘‘or lying within the United 

9 States exclusive economic zone adjacent to the Terri10 tories of the United States’’. 

11 SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF ADJACENT ZONES AND PLAN12 NING AREAS. 

13 Section 4(a)(2)(A) of the Outer Continental Shelf 

14 Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1333(a)(2)(A)) is amended in the 

15 first sentence by striking ‘‘, and the President’’ and all 

16 that follows through the end of the sentence and inserting 

17 the following: ‘‘. The lines extending seaward and defining 

18 each State’s Adjacent Zone, and each OCS Planning Area, 

19 are as indicated on the maps for each outer Continental 

20 Shelf region entitled ‘Alaska OCS Region State Adjacent 

21 Zone and OCS Planning Areas’, ‘Pacific OCS Region 

22 State Adjacent Zones and OCS Planning Areas’, ‘Gulf of 

23 Mexico OCS Region State Adjacent Zones and OCS Plan24 ning Areas’, and ‘Atlantic OCS Region State Adjacent 

25 Zones and OCS Planning Areas’, all of which are dated 


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1 September 2005 and on file in the Office of the Director, 

2 Minerals Management Service.’’. 

3 SEC. 8. ADMINISTRATION OF LEASING. 

4 Section 5 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

5 (43 U.S.C. 1334) is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(k) VOLUNTARY PARTIAL RELINQUISHMENT OF A

8 LEASE.—Any lessee of a producing lease may relinquish 

9 to the Secretary any portion of a lease that the lessee has 

10 no interest in producing and that the Secretary finds is 

11 geologically prospective. In return for any such relinquish12 ment, the Secretary shall provide to the lessee a royalty 

13 incentive for the portion of the lease retained by the lessee, 

14 in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Sec15 retary to carry out this subsection. The Secretary shall 

16 publish final regulations implementing this subsection 

17 within 365 days after the date of the enactment of the 

18 Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009. 

19 ‘‘(l) NATURAL GAS LEASE REGULATIONS.—Not later 

20 than July 1, 2011, the Secretary shall publish a final regu21 lation that shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) establish procedures for entering into nat23 ural gas leases; 

24 ‘‘(2) ensure that natural gas leases are only 

25 available for tracts on the outer Continental Shelf 


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1 that are wholly within 100 miles of the coastline 

2 within an area withdrawn from disposition by leas3 ing on the day after the date of enactment of the 

4 Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009; 

5 ‘‘(3) provide that natural gas leases shall con6 tain the same rights and obligations established for 

7 oil and gas leases, except as otherwise provided in 

8 the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009; 

9 ‘‘(4) provide that, in reviewing the adequacy of 

10 bids for natural gas leases, the value of any crude 

11 oil estimated to be contained within any tract shall 

12 be excluded; 

13 ‘‘(5) provide that any crude oil produced from 

14 a well and reinjected into the leased tract shall not 

15 be subject to payment of royalty, and that the Sec16 retary shall consider, in setting the royalty rates for 

17 a natural gas lease, the additional cost to the lessee 

18 of not producing any crude oil; and 

19 ‘‘(6) provide that any Federal law that applies 

20 to an oil and gas lease on the outer Continental 

21 Shelf shall apply to a natural gas lease unless other22 wise clearly inapplicable.’’. 

23 SEC. 9. GRANT OF LEASES BY SECRETARY. 

24 Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

25 (43 U.S.C. 1337) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)(1) by inserting after the 

2 first sentence the following: ‘‘Further, the Secretary 

3 may grant natural gas leases in a manner similar to 

4 the granting of oil and gas leases and under the var5 ious bidding systems available for oil and gas 

6 leases.’’; 

7 (2) by adding at the end of subsection (b) the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘The Secretary may issue more than one lease for 

10 a given tract if each lease applies to a separate and dis11 tinct range of vertical depths, horizontal surface area, or 

12 a combination of the two. The Secretary may issue regula13 tions that the Secretary determines are necessary to man14 age such leases consistent with the purposes of this Act.’’; 

15 (3) by amending subsection (p)(2)(B) to read 

16 as follows: 

17 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall provide for the 

18 payment to coastal States, and their local coast19 al governments, of 75 percent of Federal re20 ceipts from projects authorized under this sec21 tion located partially or completely within the 

22 area extending seaward of State submerged 

23 lands out to 4 marine leagues from the coast24 line, and the payment to coastal States of 50 

25 percent of the receipts from projects completely 


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1 located in the area more than 4 marine leagues 

2 from the coastline. Payments shall be based on 

3 a formula established by the Secretary by rule4 making no later than 180 days after the date 

5 of the enactment of the Deep Ocean Energy 

6 Resources Act of 2009 that provides for equi7 table distribution, based on proximity to the 

8 project, among coastal States that have coast9 line that is located within 200 miles of the geo10 graphic center of the project.’’. 

11 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(q) NATURAL GAS LEASES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) RIGHT TO PRODUCE NATURAL GAS.—A 

14 lessee of a natural gas lease shall have the right to 

15 produce the natural gas from a field on a natural 

16 gas leased tract if the Secretary estimates that the 

17 discovered field has at least 40 percent of the eco18 nomically recoverable Btu content of the field con19 tained within natural gas and such natural gas is ec20 onomical to produce. 

21 ‘‘(2) CRUDE OIL.—A lessee of a natural gas 

22 lease may not produce crude oil from the lease un23 less the Governor of the Adjacent State agrees to 

24 such production. 


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1 ‘‘(3) ESTIMATES OF BTU CONTENT.—The Sec2 retary shall make estimates of the natural gas Btu 

3 content of discovered fields on a natural gas lease 

4 only after the completion of at least one exploration 

5 well, the data from which has been tied to the re6 sults of a three-dimensional seismic survey of the 

7 field. The Secretary may not require the lessee to 

8 further delineate any discovered field prior to mak9 ing such estimates. 

10 ‘‘(4) DEFINITION OF NATURAL GAS.—For pur11 poses of a natural gas lease, natural gas means nat12 ural gas and all substances produced in association 

13 with gas, including, but not limited to, hydrocarbon 

14 liquids (other than crude oil) that are obtained by 

15 the condensation of hydrocarbon vapors and sepa16 rate out in liquid form from the produced gas 

17 stream. 

18 ‘‘(r) REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS ON JOINT BIDDING

19 IN CERTAIN AREAS OF THE OUTER CONTINENTAL

20 SHELF.—Restrictions on joint bidders shall no longer 

21 apply to tracts located in the Alaska OCS Region. Such 

22 restrictions shall not apply to tracts in other OCS regions 

23 determined to be ‘frontier tracts’ or otherwise ‘high cost 

24 tracts’ under final regulations that shall be published by 

25 the Secretary by not later than 365 days after the date 


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1 of the enactment of the Deep Ocean Energy Resources 

2 Act of 2009. 

3 ‘‘(s) ROYALTY SUSPENSION PROVISIONS.—After the 

4 date of the enactment of the Deep Ocean Energy Re5 sources Act of 2009, price thresholds shall apply to any 

6 royalty suspension volumes granted by the Secretary. Un7 less otherwise set by Secretary by regulation or for a par8 ticular lease sale, the price thresholds shall be $40.50 for 

9 oil (January 1, 2006, dollars) and $6.75 for natural gas 

10 (January 1, 2006, dollars). 

11 ‘‘(t) CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES FEES.—Not 

12 later than one year after the date of the enactment of the 

13 Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009, the Secretary 

14 by regulation shall establish a conservation of resources 

15 fee for nonproducing leases that will apply to new and ex16 isting leases which shall be set at $3.75 per acre per year. 

17 This fee shall apply from and after October 1, 2009, and 

18 shall be treated as offsetting receipts.’’; 

19 (5) by striking subsection (a)(3)(A) and redes20 ignating the subsequent subparagraphs as subpara21 graphs (A) and (B), respectively; 

22 (6) in subsection (a)(3)(A) (as so redesignated) 

23 by striking ‘‘In the Western’’ and all that follows 

24 through ‘‘the Secretary’’ the first place it appears 

25 and inserting ‘‘The Secretary’’; and 


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1 (7) effective October 1, 2009, in subsection 

2 (g)— 

3 (A) by striking all after ‘‘(g)’’, except para4 graph (3); 

5 (B) by striking the last sentence of para6 graph (3); and 

7 (C) by striking ‘‘(3)’’. 

8 SEC. 10. DISPOSITION OF RECEIPTS. 

9 Section 9 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

10 (43 U.S.C. 1338) is amended— 

11 (1) by designating the existing text as sub12 section (a); 

13 (2) in subsection (a) (as so designated) by in14 serting ‘‘, if not paid as otherwise provided in this 

15 title’’ after ‘‘receipts’’; and 

16 (3) by adding the following: 

17 ‘‘(b) TREATMENT OF OCS RECEIPTS FROM TRACTS

18 COMPLETELY WITHIN 100 MILES OF THE COASTLINE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) DEPOSIT.—The Secretary shall deposit 

20 into a separate account in the Treasury the portion 

21 of OCS Receipts for each fiscal year that will be 

22 shared under paragraphs (2), (3), and (4). 

23 ‘‘(2) PHASED-IN RECEIPTS SHARING.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) Beginning October 1, 2009, the Sec2 retary shall share OCS Receipts derived from 

3 the following areas: 

4 ‘‘(i) Lease tracts located on portions 

5 of the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region com6 pletely beyond 4 marine leagues from any 

7 coastline and completely within 100 miles 

8 of any coastline that were available for 

9 leasing under the 2002–2007 5-Year OCS 

10 Oil and Gas Leasing Program. 

11 ‘‘(ii) Lease tracts in production prior 

12 to October 1, 2009, completely beyond 4 

13 marine leagues from any coastline and 

14 completely within 100 miles of any coast15 line located on portions of the OCS that 

16 were not available for leasing under the 

17 2002–2007 5-Year OCS Oil and Gas Leas18 ing Program. 

19 ‘‘(iii) Lease tracts for which leases are 

20 issued prior to October 1, 2009, located in 

21 the Alaska OCS Region completely beyond 

22 4 marine leagues from any coastline and 

23 completely within 100 miles of the coast24 line. 


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1 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall share the fol2 lowing percentages of OCS Receipts from the 

3 leases described in subparagraph (A) derived 

4 during the fiscal year indicated: 

5 ‘‘(i) For fiscal year 2010, 5 percent. 

6 ‘‘(ii) For fiscal year 2011, 8 percent. 

7 ‘‘(iii) For fiscal year 2012, 11 per8 cent. 

9 ‘‘(iv) For fiscal year 2013, 14 percent. 

10 ‘‘(v) For fiscal year 2014, 17 percent. 

11 ‘‘(vi) For fiscal year 2015, 20 percent. 

12 ‘‘(vii) For fiscal year 2016, 23 per13 cent. 

14 ‘‘(viii) For fiscal year 2017, 26 per15 cent. 

16 ‘‘(ix) For fiscal year 2018, 29 percent. 

17 ‘‘(x) For fiscal year 2019, 32 percent. 

18 ‘‘(xi) For fiscal year 2020, 35 percent. 

19 ‘‘(xii) For fiscal year 2021 and each 

20 subsequent fiscal year, 37.5 percent. 

21 ‘‘(C) The provisions of this paragraph shall 

22 not apply to leases that could not have been 

23 issued but for section 5(k) of this Act or section 

24 6(2) of the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act 

25 of 2009. 


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1 ‘‘(3) IMMEDIATE RECEIPTS SHARING.—Begin2 ning October 1, 2009, the Secretary shall share 

3 37.50 percent of OCS Receipts derived from all 

4 leases located completely beyond 4 marine leagues 

5 from any coastline and completely within 100 miles 

6 of any coastline not included within the provisions of 

7 paragraph (2). 

8 ‘‘(4) RECEIPTS SHARING FROM TRACTS WITHIN

9 4 MARINE LEAGUES OF ANY COASTLINE.— 

10 ‘‘(A) AREAS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH

11 (2).—Beginning October 1, 2009, and con12 tinuing through September 30, 2011, the Sec13 retary shall share 25 percent of OCS Receipts 

14 derived from all leases located within 4 marine 

15 leagues from any coastline within areas de16 scribed in paragraph (2). For each fiscal year 

17 after September 30, 2011, the Secretary shall 

18 increase the percent shared in 5 percent incre19 ments each fiscal year until the sharing rate for 

20 all leases located within 4 marine leagues from 

21 any coastline within areas described in para22 graph (2) becomes 75 percent. 

23 ‘‘(B) AREAS NOT DESCRIBED IN PARA24 GRAPH (2).—Beginning October 1, 2009, the 

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1 ceipts derived from all leases located completely 

2 or partially within 4 marine leagues from any 

3 coastline within areas not described paragraph 

4 (2). 

5 ‘‘(5) ALLOCATIONS.—The Secretary shall allo6 cate the OCS Receipts deposited into the separate 

7 account established by paragraph (1) that are 

8 shared under paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) as follows: 

9 ‘‘(A) BONUS BIDS.—Deposits derived from 

10 bonus bids from a leased tract, including inter11 est thereon, shall be allocated at the end of 

12 each fiscal year to the Adjacent State. 

13 ‘‘(B) ROYALTIES.—Deposits derived from 

14 royalties from a leased tract, including interest 

15 thereon, shall be allocated at the end of each 

16 fiscal year to the Adjacent State and any other 

17 producing State or States with a leased tract 

18 within its Adjacent Zone within 100 miles of its 

19 coastline that generated royalties during the fis20 cal year, if the other producing or States have 

21 a coastline point within 300 miles of any por22 tion of the leased tract, in which case the 

23 amount allocated for the leased tract shall be— 

24 ‘‘(i) one-third to the Adjacent State; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) two-thirds to each producing 

2 State, including the Adjacent State, in3 versely proportional to the distance be4 tween the nearest point on the coastline of 

5 the producing State and the geographic 

6 center of the leased tract. 

7 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF OCS RECEIPTS FROM TRACTS

8 PARTIALLY OR COMPLETELY BEYOND 100 MILES OF THE

9 COASTLINE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) DEPOSIT.—The Secretary shall deposit 

11 into a separate account in the Treasury the portion 

12 of OCS Receipts for each fiscal year that will be 

13 shared under paragraphs (2) and (3). 

14 ‘‘(2) PHASED-IN RECEIPTS SHARING.— 

15 ‘‘(A) Beginning October 1, 2009, the Sec16 retary shall share OCS Receipts derived from 

17 the following areas: 

18 ‘‘(i) Lease tracts located on portions 

19 of the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region partially 

20 or completely beyond 100 miles of any 

21 coastline that were available for leasing 

22 under the 2002–2007 5-Year OCS Oil and 

23 Gas Leasing Program. 

24 ‘‘(ii) Lease tracts in production prior 

25 to October 1, 2008, partially or completely 


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1 beyond 100 miles of any coastline located 

2 on portions of the OCS that were not 

3 available for leasing under the 2002–2007 

4 5-Year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Pro5 gram. 

6 ‘‘(iii) Lease tracts for which leases are 

7 issued prior to October 1, 2009, located in 

8 the Alaska OCS Region partially or com9 pletely beyond 100 miles of the coastline. 

10 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall share the fol11 lowing percentages of OCS Receipts from the 

12 leases described in subparagraph (A) derived 

13 during the fiscal year indicated: 

14 ‘‘(i) For fiscal year 2010, 5 percent. 

15 ‘‘(ii) For fiscal year 2011, 8 percent. 

16 ‘‘(iii) For fiscal year 2012, 11 per17 cent. 

18 ‘‘(iv) For fiscal year 2013, 14 percent. 

19 ‘‘(v) For fiscal year 2014, 17 percent. 

20 ‘‘(vi) For fiscal year 2015, 20 percent. 

21 ‘‘(vii) For fiscal year 2016, 23 per22 cent. 

23 ‘‘(viii) For fiscal year 2017, 26 per24 cent. 

25 ‘‘(ix) For fiscal year 2018, 29 percent. 


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1 ‘‘(x) For fiscal year 2019, 32 percent. 

2 ‘‘(xi) For fiscal year 2020, 35 percent. 

3 ‘‘(xii) For fiscal year 2021 and each 

4 subsequent fiscal year, 37.5 percent. 

5 ‘‘(C) The provisions of this paragraph shall 

6 not apply to leases that could not have been 

7 issued but for section 5(k) of this Act or section 

8 6(2) of the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act 

9 of 2009. 

10 ‘‘(3) IMMEDIATE RECEIPTS SHARING.—Begin11 ning October 1, 2009, the Secretary shall share 37.5 

12 percent of OCS Receipts derived on and after Octo13 ber 1, 2008, from all leases located partially or com14 pletely beyond 100 miles of any coastline not in15 cluded within the provisions of paragraph (2), except 

16 that the Secretary shall only share 25 percent of 

17 such OCS Receipts derived from all such leases 

18 within a State’s Adjacent Zone if no leasing is al19 lowed within any portion of that State’s Adjacent 

20 Zone located completely within 100 miles of any 

21 coastline. 

22 ‘‘(4) ALLOCATIONS.—The Secretary shall allo23 cate the OCS Receipts deposited into the separate 

24 account established by paragraph (1) that are 

25 shared under paragraphs (2) and (3) as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(A) BONUS BIDS.—Deposits derived from 

2 bonus bids from a leased tract, including inter3 est thereon, shall be allocated at the end of 

4 each fiscal year to the Adjacent State. 

5 ‘‘(B) ROYALTIES.—Deposits derived from 

6 royalties from a leased tract, including interest 

7 thereon, shall be allocated at the end of each 

8 fiscal year to the Adjacent State and any other 

9 producing State or States with a leased tract 

10 within its Adjacent Zone partially or completely 

11 beyond 100 miles of its coastline that generated 

12 royalties during the fiscal year, if the other pro13 ducing State or States have a coastline point 

14 within 300 miles of any portion of the leased 

15 tract, in which case the amount allocated for 

16 the leased tract shall be— 

17 ‘‘(i) one-third to the Adjacent State; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(ii) two-thirds to each producing 

20 State, including the Adjacent State, in21 versely proportional to the distance be22 tween the nearest point on the coastline of 

23 the producing State and the geographic 

24 center of the leased tract. 

25 ‘‘(d) TRANSMISSION OF ALLOCATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

2 after the end of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall 

3 transmit— 

4 ‘‘(A) to each State 60 percent of such 

5 State’s allocations under subsections (b)(5)(A), 

6 (b)(5)(B), (c)(4)(A), and (c)(4)(B) for the im7 mediate prior fiscal year; 

8 ‘‘(B) to each coastal county-equivalent and 

9 municipal political subdivisions of such State a 

10 total of 40 percent of such State’s allocations 

11 under subsections (b)(5)(A), (b)(5)(B), 

12 (c)(4)(A), and (c)(4)(B), together with all ac13 crued interest thereon; and 

14 ‘‘(C) the remaining allocations under sub15 sections (b)(5) and (c)(4), together with all ac16 crued interest thereon. 

17 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATIONS TO COASTAL COUNTY18 EQUIVALENT POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.—The Sec19 retary shall make an initial allocation of the OCS 

20 Receipts to be shared under paragraph (1)(B) as fol21 lows: 

22 ‘‘(A) 25 percent shall be allocated to coast23 al county-equivalent political subdivisions that 

24 are completely more than 25 miles landward of 

25 the coastline and at least a part of which lies 


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1 not more than 75 miles landward from the 

2 coastline, with the allocation among such coast3 al county-equivalent political subdivisions based 

4 on population. 

5 ‘‘(B) 75 percent shall be allocated to coast6 al county-equivalent political subdivisions that 

7 are completely or partially less than 25 miles 

8 landward of the coastline, with the allocation 

9 among such coastal county-equivalent political 

10 subdivisions to be further allocated as follows: 

11 ‘‘(i) 25 percent shall be allocated 

12 based on the ratio of such coastal county13 equivalent political subdivision’s population 

14 to the coastal population of all coastal 

15 county-equivalent political subdivisions in 

16 the State. 

17 ‘‘(ii) 25 percent shall be allocated 

18 based on the ratio of such coastal county19 equivalent political subdivision’s coastline 

20 miles to the coastline miles of all coastal 

21 county-equivalent political subdivisions in 

22 the State as calculated by the Secretary. 

23 In such calculations, coastal county-equiva24 lent political subdivisions without a coast25 line shall be considered to have 50 percent 


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1 of the average coastline miles of the coast2 al county-equivalent political subdivisions 

3 that do have coastlines. 

4 ‘‘(iii) 25 percent shall be allocated to 

5 all coastal county-equivalent political sub6 divisions having a coastline point within 

7 300 miles of the leased tract for which 

8 OCS Receipts are being shared based on a 

9 formula that allocates the funds based on 

10 such coastal county-equivalent political 

11 subdivision’s relative distance from the 

12 leased tract. 

13 ‘‘(iv) 25 percent shall be allocated to 

14 all coastal county-equivalent political sub15 divisions having a coastline point within 

16 300 miles of the leased tract for which 

17 OCS Receipts are being shared based on 

18 the relative level of outer Continental Shelf 

19 oil and gas activities in a coastal political 

20 subdivision compared to the level of outer 

21 Continental Shelf activities in all coastal 

22 political subdivisions in the State. The Sec23 retary shall define the term ‘outer Conti24 nental Shelf oil and gas activities’ for pur25 poses of this subparagraph to include, but 


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1 not be limited to, construction of vessels, 

2 drillships, and platforms involved in explo3 ration, production, and development on the 

4 outer Continental Shelf; support and sup5 ply bases, ports, and related activities; of6 fices of geologists, geophysicists, engineers, 

7 and other professionals involved in support 

8 of exploration, production, and develop9 ment of oil and gas on the outer Conti10 nental Shelf; pipelines and other means of 

11 transporting oil and gas production from 

12 the outer Continental Shelf; and processing 

13 and refining of oil and gas production from 

14 the outer Continental Shelf. For purposes 

15 of this subparagraph, if a coastal county16 equivalent political subdivision does not 

17 have a coastline, its coastal point shall be 

18 the point on the coastline closest to it. 

19 ‘‘(3) ALLOCATIONS TO COASTAL MUNICIPAL PO20 LITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.—The initial allocation to 

21 each coastal county-equivalent political subdivision 

22 under paragraph (2) shall be further allocated to the 

23 coastal county-equivalent political subdivision and 

24 any coastal municipal political subdivisions located 

25 partially or wholly within the boundaries of the 


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1 coastal county-equivalent political subdivision as fol2 lows: 

3 ‘‘(A) One-third shall be allocated to the 

4 coastal county-equivalent political subdivision. 

5 ‘‘(B) Two-thirds shall be allocated on a per 

6 capita basis to the municipal political subdivi7 sions and the county-equivalent political sub8 division, with the allocation to the latter based 

9 upon its population not included within the 

10 boundaries of a municipal political subdivision. 

11 ‘‘(e) INVESTMENT OF DEPOSITS.—Amounts depos12 ited under this section shall be invested by the Secretary 

13 of the Treasury in securities backed by the full faith and 

14 credit of the United States having maturities suitable to 

15 the needs of the account in which they are deposited and 

16 yielding the highest reasonably available interest rates as 

17 determined by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

18 ‘‘(f) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of funds under this 

19 section may use the funds for one or more of the following: 

20 ‘‘(1) To reduce in-State college tuition at public 

21 institutions of higher learning and otherwise support 

22 public education, including career technical edu23 cation. 

24 ‘‘(2) To make transportation infrastructure im25 provements. 


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1 ‘‘(3) To reduce taxes. 

2 ‘‘(4) To promote, fund, and provide for— 

3 ‘‘(A) coastal or environmental restoration; 

4 ‘‘(B) fish, wildlife, and marine life habitat 

5 enhancement; 

6 ‘‘(C) waterways construction and mainte7 nance; 

8 ‘‘(D) levee construction and maintenance 

9 and shore protection; and 

10 ‘‘(E) marine and oceanographic education 

11 and research. 

12 ‘‘(5) To promote, fund, and provide for— 

13 ‘‘(A) infrastructure associated with energy 

14 production activities conducted on the outer 

15 Continental Shelf; 

16 ‘‘(B) energy demonstration projects; 

17 ‘‘(C) supporting infrastructure for shore18 based energy projects; 

19 ‘‘(D) State geologic programs, including 

20 geologic mapping and data storage programs, 

21 and State geophysical data acquisition; 

22 ‘‘(E) State seismic monitoring programs, 

23 including operation of monitoring stations; 

24 ‘‘(F) development of oil and gas resources 

25 through enhanced recovery techniques; 


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1 ‘‘(G) alternative energy development, in2 cluding bio fuels, coal-to-liquids, oil shale, tar 

3 sands, geothermal, geopressure, wind, waves, 

4 currents, hydro, and other renewable energy; 

5 ‘‘(H) energy efficiency and conservation 

6 programs; and 

7 ‘‘(I) front-end engineering and design for 

8 facilities that produce liquid fuels from hydro9 carbons and other biological matter. 

10 ‘‘(6) To promote, fund, and provide for— 

11 ‘‘(A) historic preservation programs and 

12 projects; 

13 ‘‘(B) natural disaster planning and re14 sponse; and 

15 ‘‘(C) hurricane and natural disaster insur16 ance programs. 

17 ‘‘(7) For any other purpose as determined by 

18 State law. 

19 ‘‘(g) NO ACCOUNTING REQUIRED.—No recipient of 

20 funds under this section shall be required to account to 

21 the Federal Government for the expenditure of such 

22 funds, except as otherwise may be required by law. How23 ever, States may enact legislation providing for accounting 

24 for and auditing of such expenditures. Further, funds allo25 cated under this section to States and political subdiviVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 sions may be used as matching funds for other Federal 

2 programs. 

3 ‘‘(h) EFFECT OF FUTURE LAWS.—Enactment of any 

4 future Federal statute that has the effect, as determined 

5 by the Secretary, of restricting any Federal agency from 

6 spending appropriated funds, or otherwise preventing it 

7 from fulfilling its pre-existing responsibilities as of the 

8 date of enactment of the statute, unless such responsibil9 ities have been reassigned to another Federal agency by 

10 the statute with no prevention of performance, to issue 

11 any permit or other approval impacting on the OCS oil 

12 and gas leasing program, or any lease issued thereunder, 

13 or to implement any provision of this Act shall automati14 cally prohibit any sharing of OCS Receipts under this sec15 tion directly with the States, and their coastal political 

16 subdivisions, for the duration of the restriction. The Sec17 retary shall make the determination of the existence of 

18 such restricting effects within 30 days of a petition by any 

19 outer Continental Shelf lessee or producing State. 

20 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 ‘‘(1) COASTAL COUNTY-EQUIVALENT POLITICAL

22 SUBDIVISION.—The term ‘coastal county-equivalent 

23 political subdivision’ means a political jurisdiction 

24 immediately below the level of State government, in25 cluding a county, parish, borough in Alaska, indeVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 pendent municipality not part of a county, parish, or 

2 borough in Alaska, or other equivalent subdivision of 

3 a coastal State, that lies within the coastal zone. 

4 ‘‘(2) COASTAL MUNICIPAL POLITICAL SUBDIVI5 SION.—The term ‘coastal municipal political subdivi6 sion’ means a municipality located within and part 

7 of a county, parish, borough in Alaska, or other 

8 equivalent subdivision of a State, all or part of which 

9 coastal municipal political subdivision lies within the 

10 coastal zone. 

11 ‘‘(3) COASTAL POPULATION.—The term ‘coastal 

12 population’ means the population of all coastal coun13 ty-equivalent political subdivisions, as determined by 

14 the most recent official data of the Census Bureau. 

15 ‘‘(4) COASTAL ZONE.—The term ‘coastal zone’ 

16 means that portion of a coastal State, including the 

17 entire territory of any coastal county-equivalent po18 litical subdivision at least a part of which lies, within 

19 75 miles landward from the coastline, or a greater 

20 distance as determined by State law enacted to im21 plement this section. 

22 ‘‘(5) BONUS BIDS.—The term ‘bonus bids’ 

23 means all funds received by the Secretary to issue 

24 an outer Continental Shelf minerals lease. 


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1 ‘‘(6) ROYALTIES.—The term ‘royalties’ means 

2 all funds received by the Secretary from production 

3 of oil or natural gas, or the sale of production taken 

4 in-kind, from an outer Continental Shelf minerals 

5 lease. 

6 ‘‘(7) PRODUCING STATE.—The term ‘producing 

7 State’ means an Adjacent State having an Adjacent 

8 Zone containing leased tracts from which OCS Re9 ceipts were derived. 

10 ‘‘(8) OCS RECEIPTS.—The term ‘OCS Receipts’ 

11 means bonus bids, royalties, and conservation of re12 sources fees.’’. 

13 SEC. 11. RESERVATION OF LANDS AND RIGHTS. 

14 Section 12 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

15 (43 U.S.C. 1341) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a) by adding at the end the 

17 following: ‘‘The President may partially or com18 pletely revise or revoke any prior withdrawal made 

19 by the President under the authority of this section. 

20 The President may not revise or revoke a withdrawal 

21 that is extended by a State under subsection (h), nor 

22 may the President withdraw from leasing any area 

23 for which a State failed to prohibit, or petition to 

24 prohibit, leasing under subsection (g). Further, in 

25 the area of the outer Continental Shelf more than 


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1 100 miles from any coastline, not more than 25 per2 cent of the acreage of any OCS Planning Area may 

3 be withdrawn from leasing under this section at any 

4 point in time. A withdrawal by the President may be 

5 for a term not to exceed 10 years. When considering 

6 potential uses of the outer Continental Shelf, to the 

7 maximum extent possible, the President shall accom8 modate competing interests and potential uses.’’; 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(g) AVAILABILITY FOR LEASING WITHIN CERTAIN

11 AREAS OF THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.— 

12 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION AGAINST LEASING.— 

13 ‘‘(A) UNAVAILABLE FOR LEASING WITH14 OUT STATE REQUEST.—Except as otherwise 

15 provided in this subsection, from and after en16 actment of the Deep Ocean Energy Resources 

17 Act of 2009, the Secretary shall not offer for 

18 leasing for oil and gas, or natural gas, any area 

19 within 50 miles of the coastline that was with20 drawn from disposition by leasing in the Atlan21 tic OCS Region or the Pacific OCS Region, or 

22 the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region Eastern Plan23 ning Area, as depicted on the maps referred to 

24 in this subparagraph, under the ‘Memorandum 

25 on Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the United 


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1 States Outer Continental Shelf from Leasing 

2 Disposition’, 34 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 

3 1111, dated June 12, 1998, or any area within 

4 50 miles of the coastline not withdrawn under 

5 that Memorandum that is included within the 

6 Gulf of Mexico OCS Region Eastern Planning 

7 Area as indicated on the map entitled ‘Gulf of 

8 Mexico OCS Region State Adjacent Zones and 

9 OCS Planning Areas’ or the Florida Straits 

10 Planning Area as indicated on the map entitled 

11 ‘Atlantic OCS Region State Adjacent Zones and 

12 OCS Planning Areas’, both of which are dated 

13 September 2005 and on file in the Office of the 

14 Director, Minerals Management Service. 

15 ‘‘(B) AREAS BETWEEN 50 AND 100 MILES

16 FROM THE COASTLINE.—Unless an Adjacent 

17 State petitions under subsection (h) within one 

18 year after the date of the enactment of the 

19 Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009 for 

20 natural gas leasing or by June 30, 2011, for oil 

21 and gas leasing, the Secretary shall offer for 

22 leasing any area more than 50 miles but less 

23 than 100 miles from the coastline that was 

24 withdrawn from disposition by leasing in the 

25 Atlantic OCS Region, the Pacific OCS Region, 


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1 or the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region Eastern 

2 Planning Area, as depicted on the maps re3 ferred to in this subparagraph, under the 

4 ‘Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain Areas 

5 of the United States Outer Continental Shelf 

6 from Leasing Disposition’, 34 Weekly Comp. 

7 Pres. Doc. 1111, dated June 12, 1998, or any 

8 area more than 50 miles but less than 100 

9 miles of the coastline not withdrawn under that 

10 Memorandum that is included within the Gulf 

11 of Mexico OCS Region Eastern Planning Area 

12 as indicated on the map entitled ‘Gulf of Mexico 

13 OCS Region State Adjacent Zones and OCS 

14 Planning Areas’ or within the Florida Straits 

15 Planning Area as indicated on the map entitled 

16 ‘Atlantic OCS Region State Adjacent Zones and 

17 OCS Planning Areas’, both of which are dated 

18 September 2005 and on file in the Office of the 

19 Director, Minerals Management Service. 

20 ‘‘(2) REVOCATION OF WITHDRAWAL.—The pro21 visions of the ‘Memorandum on Withdrawal of Cer22 tain Areas of the United States Outer Continental 

23 Shelf from Leasing Disposition’, 34 Weekly Comp. 

24 Pres. Doc. 1111, dated June 12, 1998, are hereby 

25 revoked and are no longer in effect. Any tract only 


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1 partially added to the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region 

2 Central Planning Area by this Act shall be eligible 

3 for leasing of the part of such tract that is included 

4 within the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region Central Plan5 ning Area, and the remainder of such tract that lies 

6 outside of the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region Central 

7 Planning Area may be developed and produced by 

8 the lessee of such partial tract using extended reach 

9 or similar drilling from a location on a leased area. 

10 Further, any area in the OCS withdrawn from leas11 ing may be leased, and thereafter developed and pro12 duced by the lessee using extended reach or similar 

13 drilling from a location on a leased area located in 

14 an area available for leasing. 

15 ‘‘(3) PETITION FOR LEASING.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Governor of the 

17 State, upon concurrence of its legislature, may 

18 submit to the Secretary a petition requesting 

19 that the Secretary make available any area that 

20 is within the State’s Adjacent Zone, included 

21 within the provisions of paragraph (1), and that 

22 (i) is greater than 25 miles from any point on 

23 the coastline of a Neighboring State for the 

24 conduct of offshore leasing, pre-leasing, and re25 lated activities with respect to natural gas leasVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 ing; or (ii) is greater than 50 miles from any 

2 point on the coastline of a Neighboring State 

3 for the conduct of offshore leasing, pre-leasing, 

4 and related activities with respect to oil and gas 

5 leasing. The Adjacent State may also petition 

6 for leasing any other area within its Adjacent 

7 Zone if leasing is allowed in the similar area of 

8 the Adjacent Zone of the applicable Neigh9 boring State, or if not allowed, if the Neigh10 boring State, acting through its Governor, ex11 presses its concurrence with the petition. The 

12 Secretary shall only consider such a petition 

13 upon making a finding that leasing is allowed 

14 in the similar area of the Adjacent Zone of the 

15 applicable Neighboring State or upon receipt of 

16 the concurrence of the Neighboring State. The 

17 date of receipt by the Secretary of such concur18 rence by the Neighboring State shall constitute 

19 the date of receipt of the petition for that area 

20 for which the concurrence applies. 

21 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS ON LEASING.—In its 

22 petition, a State with an Adjacent Zone that 

23 contains leased tracts may condition new leas24 ing for oil and gas, or natural gas for tracts 

25 within 25 miles of the coastline by— 


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1 ‘‘(i) requiring a net reduction in the 

2 number of production platforms; 

3 ‘‘(ii) requiring a net increase in the 

4 average distance of production platforms 

5 from the coastline; 

6 ‘‘(iii) limiting permanent surface occu7 pancy on new leases to areas that are more 

8 than 10 miles from the coastline; 

9 ‘‘(iv) limiting some tracts to being 

10 produced from shore or from platforms lo11 cated on other tracts; or 

12 ‘‘(v) other conditions that the Adja13 cent State may deem appropriate as long 

14 as the Secretary does not determine that 

15 production is made economically or tech16 nically impracticable or otherwise impos17 sible. 

18 ‘‘(C) ACTION BY SECRETARY.—Not later 

19 than 90 days after receipt of a petition under 

20 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall approve 

21 the petition, unless the Secretary determines 

22 that leasing the area would probably cause seri23 ous harm or damage to the marine resources of 

24 the State’s Adjacent Zone. Prior to approving 

25 the petition, the Secretary shall complete an enVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 vironmental assessment that documents the an2 ticipated environmental effects of leasing in the 

3 area included within the scope of the petition. 

4 ‘‘(D) FAILURE TO ACT.—If the Secretary 

5 fails to approve or deny a petition in accordance 

6 with subparagraph (C) the petition shall be con7 sidered to be approved 90 days after receipt of 

8 the petition. 

9 ‘‘(E) AMENDMENT OF THE 5-YEAR LEAS10 ING PROGRAM.—Notwithstanding section 18, 

11 within 180 days of the approval of a petition 

12 under subparagraph (C) or (D), after the expi13 ration of the time limits in paragraph (1)(B), 

14 and within 180 days after the enactment of the 

15 Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009 for 

16 the areas made available for leasing under 

17 paragraph (2), the Secretary shall amend the 

18 current 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and 

19 Gas Leasing Program to include a lease sale or 

20 sales for at least 75 percent of the associated 

21 areas, unless there are, from the date of ap22 proval, expiration of such time limits, or enact23 ment, as applicable, fewer than 12 months re24 maining in the current 5-Year Leasing Program 

25 in which case the Secretary shall include the asVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 sociated areas within lease sales under the next 

2 5-Year Leasing Program. For purposes of 

3 amending the 5-Year Program in accordance 

4 with this section, further consultations with 

5 States shall not be required. For purposes of 

6 this section, an environmental assessment per7 formed under the provisions of the National 

8 Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to assess the 

9 effects of approving the petition shall be suffi10 cient to amend the 5-Year Leasing Program. 

11 ‘‘(h) OPTION TO EXTEND WITHDRAWAL FROM

12 LEASING WITHIN CERTAIN AREAS OF THE OUTER CON13 TINENTAL SHELF.—A State, through its Governor and 

14 upon the concurrence of its legislature, may extend for a 

15 period of time of up to 5 years for each extension the with16 drawal from leasing for all or part of any area within the 

17 State’s Adjacent Zone located more than 50 miles, but less 

18 than 100 miles, from the coastline that is subject to sub19 section (g)(1)(B). A State may extend multiple times for 

20 any particular area but not more than once per calendar 

21 year for any particular area. A State must prepare sepa22 rate extensions, with separate votes by its legislature, for 

23 oil and gas leasing and for natural gas leasing. An exten24 sion by a State may affect some areas to be withdrawn 


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1 from all leasing and some areas to be withdrawn only from 

2 one type of leasing. 

3 ‘‘(i) EFFECT OF OTHER LAWS.—Adoption by any 

4 Adjacent State of any constitutional provision, or enact5 ment of any State statute, that has the effect, as deter6 mined by the Secretary, of restricting either the Governor 

7 or the Legislature, or both, from exercising full discretion 

8 related to subsection (g) or (h), or both, shall automati9 cally (1) prohibit any sharing of OCS Receipts under this 

10 Act with the Adjacent State, and its coastal political sub11 divisions, and (2) prohibit the Adjacent State from exer12 cising any authority under subsection (h), for the duration 

13 of the restriction. The Secretary shall make the determina14 tion of the existence of such restricting constitutional pro15 vision or State statute within 30 days of a petition by any 

16 outer Continental Shelf lessee or coastal State. 

17 ‘‘(j) PROHIBITION ON LEASING EAST OF THE MILI18 TARY MISSION LINE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of 

20 law, from and after the enactment of the Deep 

21 Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009, prior to Janu22 ary 1, 2023, no area of the outer Continental Shelf 

23 located in the Gulf of Mexico east of the military 

24 mission line may be offered for leasing for oil and 

25 gas or natural gas unless a waiver is issued by the 


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1 Secretary of Defense. If such a waiver is granted, 

2 62.5 percent of the OCS Receipts from a lease with3 in such area issued because of such waiver shall be 

4 paid annually to the National Guards of all States 

5 having a point within 1000 miles of such a lease, al6 located among the States on a per capita basis using 

7 the entire population of such States. 

8 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘military mis9 sion line’ means a line located at 86 degrees, 41 

10 minutes West Longitude, and extending south from 

11 the coast of Florida to the outer boundary of United 

12 States territorial waters in the Gulf of Mexico.’’. 

13 SEC. 12. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LEASING PROGRAM. 

14 Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

15 (43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end of 

17 paragraph (3) the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall, in 

18 each 5-year program, include lease sales that when 

19 viewed as a whole propose to offer for oil and gas 

20 or natural gas leasing at least 75 percent of the 

21 available unleased acreage within each OCS Plan22 ning Area. Available unleased acreage is that portion 

23 of the outer Continental Shelf that is not under 

24 lease at the time of the proposed lease sale, and has 


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1 not otherwise been made unavailable for leasing by 

2 law.’’; 

3 (2) in subsection (c), by striking so much as 

4 precedes paragraph (3) and inserting the following: 

5 ‘‘(c)(1) During the preparation of any proposed leas6 ing program under this section, the Secretary shall con7 sider and analyze leasing throughout the entire outer Con8 tinental Shelf without regard to any other law affecting 

9 such leasing. During this preparation the Secretary shall 

10 invite and consider suggestions from any interested Fed11 eral agency, including the Attorney General, in consulta12 tion with the Federal Trade Commission, and from the 

13 Governor of any coastal State. The Secretary may also in14 vite or consider any suggestions from the executive of any 

15 local government in a coastal State that have been pre16 viously submitted to the Governor of such State, and from 

17 any other person. Further, the Secretary shall consult 

18 with the Secretary of Defense regarding military oper19 ational needs in the outer Continental Shelf. The Sec20 retary shall work with the Secretary of Defense to resolve 

21 any conflicts that might arise regarding offering any area 

22 of the outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas or natural 

23 gas leasing. If the Secretaries are not able to resolve all 

24 such conflicts, any unresolved issues shall be elevated to 

25 the President for resolution. 


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1 ‘‘(2) After the consideration and analysis required by 

2 paragraph (1), including the consideration of the sugges3 tions received from any interested Federal agency, the 

4 Federal Trade Commission, the Governor of any coastal 

5 State, any local government of a coastal State, and any 

6 other person, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal 

7 Register a proposed leasing program accompanied by a 

8 draft environmental impact statement prepared pursuant 

9 to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. After 

10 the publishing of the proposed leasing program and during 

11 the comment period provided for on the draft environ12 mental impact statement, the Secretary shall submit a 

13 copy of the proposed program to the Governor of each af14 fected State for review and comment. The Governor may 

15 solicit comments from those executives of local govern16 ments in the Governor’s State that the Governor, in the 

17 discretion of the Governor, determines will be affected by 

18 the proposed program. If any comment by such Governor 

19 is received by the Secretary at least 15 days prior to sub20 mission to the Congress pursuant to paragraph (3) and 

21 includes a request for any modification of such proposed 

22 program, the Secretary shall reply in writing, granting or 

23 denying such request in whole or in part, or granting such 

24 request in such modified form as the Secretary considers 

25 appropriate, and stating the Secretary’s reasons therefor. 


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1 All such correspondence between the Secretary and the 

2 Governor of any affected State, together with any addi3 tional information and data relating thereto, shall accom4 pany such proposed program when it is submitted to the 

5 Congress.’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(i) PROJECTION OF STATE ADJACENT ZONE RE8 SOURCES AND STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SHARES

9 OF OCS RECEIPTS.—Concurrent with the publication of 

10 the scoping notice at the beginning of the development of 

11 each 5-year outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing 

12 program, or as soon thereafter as possible, the Secretary 

13 shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) provide to each Adjacent State a current 

15 estimate of proven and potential oil and gas re16 sources located within the State’s Adjacent Zone; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(2) provide to each Adjacent State, and coast19 al political subdivisions thereof, a best-efforts projec20 tion of the OCS Receipts that the Secretary expects 

21 will be shared with each Adjacent State, and its 

22 coastal political subdivisions, using the assumption 

23 that the unleased tracts within the State’s Adjacent 

24 Zone are fully made available for leasing, including 

25 long-term projected OCS Receipts. In addition, the 


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1 Secretary shall include a macroeconomic estimate of 

2 the impact of such leasing on the national economy 

3 and each State’s economy, including investment, 

4 jobs, revenues, personal income, and other cat5 egories.’’. 

6 SEC. 13. COORDINATION WITH ADJACENT STATES. 

7 Section 19 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

8 (43 U.S.C. 1345) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a) in the first sentence by in10 serting ‘‘, for any tract located within the Adjacent 

11 State’s Adjacent Zone,’’ after ‘‘government’’; and 

12 (2) by adding the following: 

13 ‘‘(f)(1) No Federal agency may permit or otherwise 

14 approve, without the concurrence of the Adjacent State, 

15 the construction of a crude oil or petroleum products (or 

16 both) pipeline within the part of the Adjacent State’s Ad17 jacent Zone that is withdrawn from oil and gas or natural 

18 gas leasing, except that such a pipeline may be approved, 

19 without such Adjacent State’s concurrence, to pass 

20 through such Adjacent Zone if at least 50 percent of the 

21 production projected to be carried by the pipeline within 

22 its first 10 years of operation is from areas of the Adja23 cent State’s Adjacent Zone. 

24 ‘‘(2) No State may prohibit the construction within 

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1 line that will transport natural gas produced from the 

2 outer Continental Shelf. However, an Adjacent State may 

3 prevent a proposed natural gas pipeline landing location 

4 if it proposes two alternate landing locations in the Adja5 cent State, acceptable to the Adjacent State, located with6 in 50 miles on either side of the proposed landing loca7 tion.’’. 

8 SEC. 14. ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES. 

9 Section 20(d) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

10 Act (43 U.S.C. 1346) is amended— 

11 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(d)’’; and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(2) For all programs, lease sales, leases, and 

14 actions under this Act, the following shall apply re15 garding the application of the National Environ16 mental Policy Act of 1969: 

17 ‘‘(A) Granting or directing lease suspen18 sions and the conduct of all preliminary activi19 ties on outer Continental Shelf tracts, including 

20 seismic activities, are categorically excluded 

21 from the need to prepare either an environ22 mental assessment or an environmental impact 

23 statement, and the Secretary shall not be re24 quired to analyze whether any exceptions to a 


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1 categorical exclusion apply for activities con2 ducted under the authority of this Act. 

3 ‘‘(B) The environmental impact statement 

4 developed in support of each 5-year oil and gas 

5 leasing program provides the environmental 

6 analysis for all lease sales to be conducted 

7 under the program and such sales shall not be 

8 subject to further environmental analysis. 

9 ‘‘(C) Exploration plans shall not be subject 

10 to any requirement to prepare an environmental 

11 impact statement, and the Secretary may find 

12 that exploration plans are eligible for categor13 ical exclusion due to the impacts already being 

14 considered within an environmental impact 

15 statement or due to mitigation measures in16 cluded within the plan. 

17 ‘‘(D) Within each OCS Planning Area, 

18 after the preparation of the first development 

19 and production plan environmental impact 

20 statement for a leased tract within the Area, fu21 ture development and production plans for 

22 leased tracts within the Area shall only require 

23 the preparation of an environmental assessment 

24 unless the most recent development and produc25 tion plan environmental impact statement withVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 in the Area was finalized more than 10 years 

2 prior to the date of the approval of the plan, in 

3 which case an environmental impact statement 

4 shall be required.’’. 

5 SEC. 15. FEDERAL ENERGY NATURAL RESOURCES EN6 HANCEMENT ACT OF 2009. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Energy and minerals exploration, develop9 ment, and production on Federal onshore and off10 shore lands, including bio-based fuel, natural gas, 

11 minerals, oil, geothermal, and power from wind, 

12 waves, currents, and thermal energy, involves signifi13 cant outlays of funds by Federal and State wildlife, 

14 fish, and natural resource management agencies for 

15 environmental studies, planning, development, moni16 toring, and management of wildlife, fish, air, water, 

17 and other natural resources. 

18 (2) State wildlife, fish, and natural resource 

19 management agencies are funded primarily through 

20 permit and license fees paid to the States by the 

21 general public to hunt and fish, and through Federal 

22 excise taxes on equipment used for these activities. 

23 (3) Funds generated from consumptive and rec24 reational uses of wildlife, fish, and other natural re25 sources currently are inadequate to address the natVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 ural resources related to energy and minerals devel2 opment on Federal onshore and offshore lands. 

3 (4) Funds available to Federal agencies respon4 sible for managing Federal onshore and offshore 

5 lands and Federal-trust wildlife and fish species and 

6 their habitats are inadequate to address the natural 

7 resources related to energy and minerals develop8 ment on Federal onshore and offshore lands. 

9 (5) Receipts derived from sales, bonus bids, and 

10 royalties under the mineral leasing laws of the 

11 United States are paid to the Treasury through the 

12 Minerals Management Service of the Department of 

13 the Interior. 

14 (6) None of the receipts derived from sales, 

15 bonus bids, and royalties under the minerals leasing 

16 laws of the United States are paid to the Federal or 

17 State agencies to examine, monitor, and manage 

18 wildlife, fish, air, water, and other natural resources 

19 related to natural gas, oil, and mineral exploration 

20 and development. 

21 (b) PURPOSES.—It is the purpose of this section to— 

22 (1) authorize expenditures for the monitoring 

23 and management of wildlife and fish, and their habi24 tats, and air, water, and other natural resources reVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 lated to energy and minerals development on Fed2 eral onshore and offshore lands; 

3 (2) authorize expenditures for each fiscal year 

4 to the Secretary of the Interior and the States; and 

5 (3) use the appropriated funds to secure the 

6 necessary trained workforce or contractual services 

7 to conduct environmental studies, planning, develop8 ment, monitoring, and post-development manage9 ment of wildlife and fish and their habitats and air, 

10 water, and other natural resources that may be re11 lated to bio-based fuel, gas, mineral, oil, wind, or 

12 other energy exploration, development, transpor13 tation, transmission, and associated activities on 

14 Federal onshore and offshore lands, including, but 

15 not limited to— 

16 (A) pertinent research, surveys, and envi17 ronmental analyses conducted to identify any 

18 impacts on wildlife, fish, air, water, and other 

19 natural resources from energy and mineral ex20 ploration, development, production, and trans21 portation or transmission; 

22 (B) projects to maintain, improve, or en23 hance wildlife and fish populations and their 

24 habitats or air, water, or other natural reVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 sources, including activities under the Endan2 gered Species Act of 1973; 

3 (C) research, surveys, environmental anal4 yses, and projects that assist in managing, in5 cluding mitigating either onsite or offsite, or 

6 both, the impacts of energy and mineral activi7 ties on wildlife, fish, air, water, and other nat8 ural resources; and 

9 (D) projects to teach young people to live 

10 off the land. 

11 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 (1) ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘En13 hancement Program’’ means the Federal Energy 

14 Natural Resources Enhancement Program estab15 lished by this section. 

16 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the Gov17 ernor of the State. 

18 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to carry out the Enhance20 ment Program $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and 

21 each fiscal year thereafter. 

22 (e) ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL ENERGY NAT23 URAL RESOURCES ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established the 

2 Federal Energy Natural Resources Enhancement 

3 Program. 

4 (2) PAYMENT TO SECRETARY OF THE INTE5 RIOR.—Beginning with fiscal year 2010, and in each 

6 fiscal year thereafter, one-third of amounts appro7 priated for the Enhancement Program shall be avail8 able to the Secretary of the Interior for use for the 

9 purposes described in subsection (b)(3). 

10 (3) PAYMENT TO STATES.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with fiscal 

12 year 2010, and in each fiscal year thereafter, 

13 two-thirds of amounts appropriated for the En14 hancement Program shall be available to the 

15 States for use for the purposes described in 

16 (b)(3). 

17 (B) USE OF PAYMENTS BY STATE.—Each 

18 State shall use the payments made under this 

19 paragraph only for carrying out projects and 

20 programs for the purposes described in (b)(3). 

21 (C) ENCOURAGE USE OF PRIVATE FUNDS

22 BY STATE.—Each State shall use the payments 

23 made under this paragraph to leverage private 

24 funds for carrying out projects for the purposes 

25 described in (b)(3). 


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1 (f) LIMITATION ON USE.—Amounts made available 

2 under this section may not be used for the purchase of 

3 any interest in land. 

4 (g) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year 

6 2011 and continuing for each fiscal year thereafter, 

7 the Secretary of the Interior and each State receiv8 ing funds from the Enhancement Fund shall submit 

9 a report to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

10 Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Re11 sources of the House of Representatives. 

12 (2) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—Reports sub13 mitted to the Congress by the Secretary of the Inte14 rior and States under this subsection shall include 

15 the following information regarding expenditures 

16 during the previous fiscal year: 

17 (A) A summary of pertinent scientific re18 search and surveys conducted to identify im19 pacts on wildlife, fish, and other natural re20 sources from energy and mineral developments. 

21 (B) A summary of projects planned and 

22 completed to maintain, improve or enhance 

23 wildlife and fish populations and their habitats 

24 or other natural resources. 


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1 (C) A list of additional actions that assist, 

2 or would assist, in managing, including miti3 gating either onsite or offsite, or both, the im4 pacts of energy and mineral development on 

5 wildlife, fish, and other natural resources. 

6 (D) A summary of private (non-Federal) 

7 funds used to plan, conduct, and complete the 

8 plans and programs identified in paragraphs 

9 (2)(A) and (2)(B). 

10 SEC. 16. TERMINATION OF EFFECT OF LAWS PROHIBITING 

11 THE SPENDING OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS 

12 FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES. 

13 All provisions of existing Federal law prohibiting the 

14 spending of appropriated funds to conduct oil and natural 

15 gas leasing and preleasing activities, or to issue a lease 

16 to any person, for any area of the outer Continental Shelf 

17 shall have no force or effect. 

18 SEC. 17. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF INCOMPATIBLE USE. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—No Federal agency may permit 

20 construction or operation (or both) of any facility, or des21 ignate or maintain a restricted transportation corridor or 

22 operating area on the Federal outer Continental Shelf or 

23 in State waters, that will be incompatible with, as deter24 mined by the Secretary of the Interior, oil and gas or nat25 ural gas leasing and substantially full exploration and proVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 duction of tracts that are geologically prospective for oil 

2 or natural gas (or both). 

3 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 

4 any facility, transportation corridor, or operating area the 

5 construction, operation, designation, or maintenance of 

6 which is or will be— 

7 (1) located in an area of the outer Continental 

8 Shelf that is unavailable for oil and gas or natural 

9 gas leasing by operation of law; 

10 (2) used for a military readiness activity (as de11 fined in section 315(f) of Public Law 107–314; 16 

12 U.S.C. 703 note); or 

13 (3) required in the national interest, as deter14 mined by the President. 

15 SEC. 18. REPURCHASE OF CERTAIN LEASES. 

16 (a) AUTHORITY TO REPURCHASE AND CANCEL CER17 TAIN LEASES.—The Secretary of the Interior shall repur18 chase and cancel any Federal oil and gas, geothermal, 

19 coal, oil shale, tar sands, or other mineral lease, whether 

20 onshore or offshore, but not including any outer Conti21 nental Shelf oil and gas leases that were subject to litiga22 tion in the Court of Federal Claims on January 1, 2006, 

23 if the Secretary finds that such lease qualifies for repur24 chase and cancellation under the regulations authorized 

25 by this section. 


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1 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 365 days after 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

3 publish a final regulation stating the conditions under 

4 which a lease referred to in subsection (a) would qualify 

5 for repurchase and cancellation, and the process to be fol6 lowed regarding repurchase and cancellation. Such regula7 tion shall include, but not be limited to, the following: 

8 (1) The Secretary shall repurchase and cancel 

9 a lease after written request by the lessee upon a 

10 finding by the Secretary that— 

11 (A) a request by the lessee for a required 

12 permit or other approval complied with applica13 ble law, except the Coastal Zone Management 

14 Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.), and 

15 terms of the lease and such permit or other ap16 proval was denied; 

17 (B) a Federal agency failed to act on a re18 quest by the lessee for a required permit, other 

19 approval, or administrative appeal within a reg20 ulatory or statutory time-frame associated with 

21 the requested action, whether advisory or man22 datory, or if none, within 180 days; or 

23 (C) a Federal agency attached a condition 

24 of approval, without agreement by the lessee, to 

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1 dition of approval was not mandated by Federal 

2 statute or regulation in effect on the date of 

3 lease issuance, or was not specifically allowed 

4 under the terms of the lease. 

5 (2) A lessee shall not be required to exhaust ad6 ministrative remedies regarding a permit request, 

7 administrative appeal, or other required request for 

8 approval for the purposes of this section. 

9 (3) The Secretary shall make a final agency de10 cision on a request by a lessee under this section 

11 within 180 days of request. 

12 (4) Compensation to a lessee to repurchase and 

13 cancel a lease under this section shall be the amount 

14 that a lessee would receive in a restitution case for 

15 a material breach of contract. 

16 (5) Compensation shall be in the form of a 

17 check or electronic transfer from the Department of 

18 the Treasury from funds deposited into miscella19 neous receipts under the authority of the same Act 

20 that authorized the issuance of the lease being re21 purchased. 

22 (6) Failure of the Secretary to make a final 

23 agency decision on a request by a lessee under this 

24 section within 180 days of request shall result in a 


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1 10 percent increase in the compensation due to the 

2 lessee if the lease is ultimately repurchased. 

3 (c) NO PREJUDICE.—This section shall not be inter4 preted to prejudice any other rights that the lessee would 

5 have in the absence of this section. 

6 SEC. 19. OFFSITE ENVIRONMENTAL MITIGATION. 

7 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any per8 son conducting activities under the Mineral Leasing Act 

9 (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the Geothermal Steam Act (30 

10 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), the Mineral Leasing Act for Ac11 quired Lands (30 U.S.C. 351 et seq.), the Weeks Act (16 

12 U.S.C. 552 et seq.), the General Mining Act of 1872 (30 

13 U.S.C. 22 et seq.), the Materials Act of 1947 (30 U.S.C. 

14 601 et seq.), or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

15 (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), may in satisfying any mitigation 

16 requirements associated with such activities propose miti17 gation measures on a site away from the area impacted 

18 and the Secretary of the Interior shall accept these pro19 posed measures if the Secretary finds that they generally 

20 achieve the purposes for which mitigation measures apper21 tained. 

22 SEC. 20. MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE. 

23 The bureau known as the ‘‘Minerals Management 

24 Service’’ in the Department of the Interior shall be known 

25 as the ‘‘National Ocean Resources and Royalty Service’’. 


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1 SEC. 21. AUTHORITY TO USE DECOMMISSIONED OFFSHORE 

2 OIL AND GAS PLATFORMS AND OTHER FA3 CILITIES FOR ARTIFICIAL REEF, SCIENTIFIC 

4 RESEARCH, OR OTHER USES. 

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

6 ‘‘Rigs to Reefs Act of 2009’’. 

7 (b) IN GENERAL.—The Outer Continental Shelf 

8 Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.) is amended by insert9 ing after section 9 the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 10. USE OF DECOMMISSIONED OFFSHORE OIL AND 

11 GAS PLATFORMS AND OTHER FACILITIES 

12 FOR ARTIFICIAL REEF, SCIENTIFIC RE13 SEARCH, OR OTHER USES. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall issue regula15 tions under which the Secretary may authorize use of an 

16 offshore oil and gas platform or other facility that is de17 commissioned from service for oil and gas purposes for 

18 an artificial reef, scientific research, or any other use au19 thorized under section 8(p) or any other applicable Fed20 eral law. 

21 ‘‘(b) TRANSFER REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 

22 shall not allow the transfer of a decommissioned offshore 

23 oil and gas platform or other facility to another person 

24 unless the Secretary is satisfied that the transferee is suf25 ficiently bonded, endowed, or otherwise financially able to 

26 fulfill its obligations, including but not limited to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) ongoing maintenance of the platform or 

2 other facility; 

3 ‘‘(2) any liability obligations that might arise; 

4 ‘‘(3) removal of the platform or other facility if 

5 determined necessary by the Secretary; and 

6 ‘‘(4) any other requirements and obligations 

7 that the Secretary may deem appropriate by regula8 tion. 

9 ‘‘(c) PLUGGING AND ABANDONMENT.—The Sec10 retary shall ensure that plugging and abandonment of 

11 wells is accomplished at an appropriate time. 

12 ‘‘(d) POTENTIAL TO PETITION TO OPT-OUT OF REG13 ULATIONS.—An Adjacent State acting through a resolu14 tion of its legislature, with concurrence of its Governor, 

15 may preliminarily petition to opt-out of the application of 

16 regulations promulgated under this section to platforms 

17 and other facilities located in the area of its Adjacent Zone 

18 within 12 miles of the coastline. Upon receipt of the pre19 liminary petition, the Secretary shall complete an environ20 mental assessment that documents the anticipated envi21 ronmental effects of approving the petition. The Secretary 

22 shall provide the environmental assessment to the State, 

23 which then has the choice of no action or confirming its 

24 petition by further action of its legislature, with the con25 currence of its Governor. The Secretary is authorized to 


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1 except such area from the application of such regulations, 

2 and shall approve any confirmed petition. 

3 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY.—A person that had 

4 used an offshore oil and gas platform or other facility for 

5 oil and gas purposes and that no longer has any ownership 

6 or control of the platform or other facility shall not be 

7 liable under Federal law for any costs or damages arising 

8 from such platform or other facility after the date the plat9 form or other facility is used for any purpose under sub10 section (a), unless such costs or damages arise from— 

11 ‘‘(1) use of the platform or other facility by the 

12 person for development or production of oil or gas; 

13 or 

14 ‘‘(2) another act or omission of the person. 

15 ‘‘(f) OTHER LEASING AND USE NOT AFFECTED.— 

16 This section, and the use of any offshore oil and gas plat17 form or other facility for any purpose under subsection 

18 (a), shall not affect— 

19 ‘‘(1) the authority of the Secretary to lease any 

20 area under this Act; or 

21 ‘‘(2) any activity otherwise authorized under 

22 this Act.’’. 

23 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of 

24 the Interior shall issue regulations under subsection (b) 


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1 by not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

2 of this Act. 

3 (d) STUDY AND REPORT ON EFFECTS OF REMOVAL

4 OF PLATFORMS.—Not later than one year after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior, 

6 in consultation with other Federal agencies as the Sec7 retary deems advisable, shall study and report to the Con8 gress regarding how the removal of offshore oil and gas 

9 platforms and other facilities from the outer Continental 

10 Shelf would affect existing fish stocks and coral popu11 lations. 

12 SEC. 22. REPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO CONDUCT COM13 PREHENSIVE INVENTORY OF OCS OIL AND 

14 NATURAL GAS RESOURCES. 

15 The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109– 

16 58) is amended— 

17 (1) by repealing section 357 (119 Stat. 720; 42 

18 U.S.C. 15912); and 

19 (2) in the table of contents in section 1(b), by 

20 striking the item relating to such section 357. 

21 SEC. 23. MINING AND PETROLEUM SCHOOLS. 

22 (a) MAINTENANCE AND RESTORATION OF EXISTING

23 AND HISTORIC PETROLEUM AND MINING ENGINEERING

24 PROGRAMS.—Public Law 98–409 (30 U.S.C. 1221 et 

25 seq.) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 ‘‘This Act may be cited as the ‘Energy and Mineral 

3 Schools Reinvestment Act’. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 2. POLICY. 

5 ‘‘(a) The Secretary of the Interior (in this Act re6 ferred to as the ‘Secretary’) shall provide funds to historic 

7 and existing State-chartered recognized petroleum or min8 ing schools to assist such schools, universities, and institu9 tions in maintaining programs in petroleum, mining, and 

10 mineral engineering education and research. All funds 

11 shall be directed only to these programs and shall be sub12 ject to the conditions of this section. Such funds shall not 

13 be less than 25 percent of the annual outlay of funds au14 thorized by section 23(d) of the Deep Ocean Energy Re15 sources Act of 2009. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 3. MAINTAINING AND RESTORING HISTORIC AND EX17 ISTING PETROLEUM AND MINING ENGINEER18 ING EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 

19 ‘‘(a) The Secretary of the Interior (in this Act re20 ferred to as the ‘Secretary’) shall provide funds to historic 

21 and existing State-chartered recognized petroleum or min22 ing schools to assist such schools, universities, and institu23 tions in maintaining programs in petroleum, mining, and 

24 mineral engineering education and research. All funds 

25 shall be directed only to these programs and shall be sub26 ject to the conditions of this section. Such funds shall not 


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1 be less than 25 percent of the annual outlay of funds au2 thorized by section 23(d) of the Deep Ocean Energy Re3 sources Act of 2009. 

4 ‘‘(b) In this Act the term ‘historic and existing State5 chartered recognized petroleum or mining school’ means 

6 a school, university, or educational institution with the 

7 presence of an engineering program meeting the specific 

8 program criteria, established by the member societies of 

9 ABET, Inc., for petroleum, mining, or mineral engineer10 ing and that is accredited on the date of enactment of 

11 the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009 by ABET, 

12 Inc. 

13 ‘‘(c) It shall be the duty of each school, university, 

14 or institution receiving funds under this section to provide 

15 for and enhance the training of undergraduate and grad16 uate petroleum, mining, and mineral engineers through re17 search, investigations, demonstrations, and experiments. 

18 All such work shall be carried out in a manner that will 

19 enhance undergraduate education. 

20 ‘‘(d) Each school, university, or institution receiving 

21 funds under this Act shall maintain the program for which 

22 the funds are provided for 10 years after the date of the 

23 first receipt of such funds and take steps described in its 

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1 grams of study in petroleum, mining, and mineral engi2 neering. 

3 ‘‘(e) The research, investigation, demonstration, ex4 periment, and training authorized by this section may in5 clude development and production of conventional and 

6 non-conventional fuel resources, the production of metallic 

7 and non-metallic mineral resources including industrial 

8 mineral resources, and the production of stone, sand, and 

9 gravel. In all cases the work carried out with funds made 

10 available under this Act shall include a significant oppor11 tunity for participation by undergraduate students. 

12 ‘‘(f) Research funded by this Act related to energy 

13 and mineral resource development and production may in14 clude— 

15 ‘‘(1) studies of petroleum, mining, and mineral 

16 extraction and immediately related beneficiation 

17 technology; 

18 ‘‘(2) mineral economics, reclamation technology, 

19 and practices for active operations; 

20 ‘‘(3) the development of re-mining systems and 

21 technologies to facilitate reclamation that fosters the 

22 ultimate recovery of resources at abandoned petro23 leum, mining, and aggregate production sites; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) research on ways to extract petroleum and 

2 mineral resources that reduce the environmental im3 pact of those activities. 

4 ‘‘(g) Grants for basic science and engineering studies 

5 and research shall not require additional participation by 

6 funding partners. Grants for studies to demonstrate the 

7 proof of concept for science and engineering or the dem8 onstration of feasibility and implementation shall include 

9 participation by industry and may include funding from 

10 other Federal agencies. 

11 ‘‘(h)(1) No funds made available under this section 

12 shall be applied to the acquisition by purchase or lease 

13 of any land or interests therein, or the rental, purchase, 

14 construction, preservation, or repair of any building. 

15 ‘‘(2) Funding made available under this section may 

16 be used with the express approval of the Secretary for pro17 posals that will provide for maintaining or upgrading of 

18 existing laboratories and laboratory equipment. Funding 

19 for such maintenance shall not be used for university over20 head expenses. 

21 ‘‘(3) Funding made available under this Act may be 

22 used for maintaining and upgrading mines and oil and gas 

23 drilling rigs owned by a school, university, or institution 

24 described in this section that are used for undergraduate 

25 and graduate training and worker safety training. All reVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 quests for funding such mines and oil and gas drilling rigs 

2 must demonstrate that they have been owned by the 

3 school, university, or institution for 5 years prior to the 

4 date of enactment of the Deep Ocean Energy Resources 

5 Act of 2009 and have been actively used for instructional 

6 or training purposes during that time. 

7 ‘‘(4) Any funding made available under this section 

8 for research, investigation, demonstration, experiment, or 

9 training shall not be used for university overhead charges 

10 in excess of 10 percent of the amount authorized by the 

11 Secretary. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 4. FORMER AND NEW PETROLEUM AND MINING ENGI13 NEERING PROGRAMS. 

14 ‘‘(a) A school, university, or educational institution 

15 that formerly met the requirements of section 3(b) imme16 diately before the date of the enactment of the Deep Ocean 

17 Energy Resources Act of 2009, or that seeks to establish 

18 a new program described in section 3(b), shall be eligible 

19 for funding under this Act only if it— 

20 ‘‘(1) establishes a petroleum, mining, or mineral 

21 engineering program that meets the specific program 

22 criteria and is accredited as such by ABET, Inc., 

23 with particular consideration awarded to establishing 

24 programs and minority serving institutions; 


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1 ‘‘(2) agrees to the conditions of subsections (c) 

2 through (h) of section 3 and the Secretary deter3 mines that the program will strengthen and increase 

4 the number of nationally available, well-qualified fac5 ulty members in petroleum, mining, and mineral en6 gineering; and 

7 ‘‘(3) agrees to maintain the accredited program 

8 for 10 years after the date of the first receipt of 

9 funds under this Act. 

10 ‘‘(b) The Secretary shall seek the advice of the Com11 mittee established pursuant to section 11 in determining 

12 the criteria used to carry out this section. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 5. FUNDING OF CONSORTIA OF HISTORIC AND EXIST14 ING SCHOOLS. 

15 ‘‘Where appropriate, the Secretary may make funds 

16 available to consortia of schools, universities, or institu17 tions described in sections 3, 4, and 6, including those con18 sortia that include schools, universities, or institutions 

19 that are ineligible for funds under this Act if those schools, 

20 universities, or institutions, respectively, have skills, pro21 grams, or facilities specifically identified as needed by the 

22 consortia to meet the necessary expenses for purposes of— 

23 ‘‘(1) specific energy and mineral research 

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1 ning and coordinating regional petroleum, geo2 thermal, mining, and mineral engineering or 

3 beneficiation projects by two or more schools; and 

4 ‘‘(2) research into any aspects of petroleum, 

5 geothermal, mining, or mineral engineering or 

6 beneficiation problems, including but not limited to 

7 exploration, that are related to the mission of the 

8 Department of the Interior. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 6. SUPPORT FOR SCHOOLS WITH ENERGY AND MIN10 ERAL RESOURCE PROGRAMS IN PETROLEUM 

11 AND MINERAL EXPLORATION GEOLOGY, PE12 TROLEUM GEOPHYSICS, OR MINING GEO13 PHYSICS. 

14 ‘‘(a) Twelve percent of the annual outlay of funds au15 thorized by section 23(d) of the Deep Ocean Energy Re16 sources Act of 2009 may be granted to schools, univer17 sities, and institutions other than those described in sec18 tions 3 and 4, with particular consideration awarded to 

19 minority serving institutions. 

20 ‘‘(b) The Secretary shall determine the eligibility of 

21 a college or university to receive funding under this Act 

22 using criteria that include— 

23 ‘‘(1) the presence of a substantial program of 

24 undergraduate and graduate geoscience instruction 

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1 ties: petroleum geology, geothermal geology, mineral 

2 exploration geology, economic geology, industrial 

3 minerals geology, mining geology, petroleum geo4 physics, mining geophysics, geological engineering, 

5 or geophysical engineering that has a demonstrated 

6 history of achievement; 

7 ‘‘(2) evidence of institutional commitment for 

8 the purposes of this Act that includes a significant 

9 opportunity for participation by undergraduate stu10 dents in research; 

11 ‘‘(3) evidence that such school, university, or in12 stitution has or can obtain significant industrial co13 operation in activities within the scope of this Act; 

14 ‘‘(4) agreement by the school, university, or in15 stitution to maintain the programs for which the 

16 funding is sought for the 10-year period beginning 

17 on the date the school, university, or institution first 

18 receives such funds; and 

19 ‘‘(5) requiring that such funding shall be for 

20 the purposes set forth in subsections (c) through (h) 

21 of section 3 and subject to the conditions set forth 

22 in section 3(h). 

23 ‘‘(c) The Secretary shall seek the advice of the Com24 mittee established pursuant to section 11 in determining 

25 the criteria used to carry out this section. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 7. DESIGNATION OF FUNDS FOR SCHOLARSHIPS AND 

2 FELLOWSHIPS. 

3 ‘‘(a) The Secretary shall utilize 10 percent of the an4 nual outlay of funds authorized by section 23(d) of the 

5 Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2009 for the pur6 pose of providing merit-based scholarships for undergrad7 uate education, graduate fellowships, and postdoctoral fel8 lowships. 

9 ‘‘(b) In order to receive a scholarship or a graduate 

10 fellowship, an individual student must be a lawful perma11 nent resident of the United States or a United States cit12 izen and must agree in writing to complete a course of 

13 studies and receive a degree in petroleum, mining, or min14 eral engineering, petroleum geology, geothermal geology, 

15 mining and economic geology, petroleum and mining geo16 physics, or mineral economics. 

17 ‘‘(c) The regulations required by section 9 shall re18 quire that an individual, in order to retain a scholarship 

19 or graduate fellowship, must continue in one of the course 

20 of studies listed in subsection (b) of this section, must re21 main in good academic standing, as determined by the 

22 school, institution, or university and must allow for rein23 statement of the scholarship or graduate fellowship by the 

24 Secretary, upon the recommendation of the school or insti25 tution. Such regulations may also provide for recovery of 

26 funds from an individual who fails to complete any of the 


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1 courses of study listed in subsection (b) of this section 

2 after notice that such completion is a requirement of re3 ceipt funding under this Act. 

4 ‘‘(d) To carry out this section, the Secretary shall 

5 award grants to schools, universities, and institutions that 

6 are eligible to receive funding under sections 3, 4 or 6. 

7 A school, university, or institution receiving funding under 

8 this subsection shall be responsible for enforcing the re9 quirements of this section for scholarship or fellowship 

10 students and shall return to the Secretary any funds re11 covered from an individual under subsection (c). An insti12 tution seeking funds under this subsection shall describe, 

13 in its application to the Secretary for funding, the number 

14 of students that would be awarded scholarships or fellow15 ships if the application is approved, how such students 

16 would be selected, and how the provisions of this section 

17 will be enforced. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 8. FUNDING CRITERIA FOR INSTITUTIONS. 

19 ‘‘(a) Each application to the Secretary for funds 

20 under this Act shall state, among other things, the nature 

21 of the project to be undertaken; the period during which 

22 it will be pursued; the qualifications of the personnel who 

23 will direct and conduct it; the estimated costs; the impor24 tance of the project to the Nation, region, or States con25 cerned; its relation to other known research projects thereVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:41 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00074 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 tofore pursued or being pursued; the extent to which the 

2 proposed project will maximize the opportunity for the 

3 training of undergraduate petroleum, mining, and mineral 

4 engineers; geologists and geophysicists; and the extent of 

5 participation by nongovernmental sources in the project. 

6 ‘‘(b) No funds shall be made available under this Act 

7 except for an application approved by the Secretary. All 

8 funds shall be made available upon the basis of merit of 

9 the application, the need for the knowledge that it is ex10 pected to produce when completed, and the opportunity 

11 it provides for the undergraduate training of individuals 

12 as petroleum, mining, and mineral engineers, geologists, 

13 and geophysicists. The Secretary may use competitive re14 view by nongovernmental experts in relevant fields to de15 termine which applications to approve, to the extent prac16 ticable. 

17 ‘‘(c) Funds available under this Act shall be paid at 

18 such times and in such amounts during each fiscal year 

19 as determined by the Secretary, and upon vouchers ap20 proved by the Secretary. Each school, university, or insti21 tution that receives funds under this Act shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) establish its plan to provide for the train23 ing of individuals as petroleum, mining, and mineral 

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1 riculum appropriate to the field of mineral resources 

2 and mineral engineering and related fields; 

3 ‘‘(2) establish policies and procedures that as4 sure that Federal funds made available under this 

5 Act for any fiscal year will supplement and, to the 

6 extent practicable, increase the level of funds that 

7 would, in the absence of such Federal funds, be 

8 made available for purposes of this Act, and in no 

9 case supplant such funds; and 

10 ‘‘(3) have an officer appointed by its governing 

11 authority who shall receive and account for all funds 

12 paid under this Act and shall make an annual report 

13 to the Secretary on or before the first day of Sep14 tember of each year, on work accomplished and the 

15 status of projects underway, together with a detailed 

16 statement of the amounts received under this Act 

17 during the preceding fiscal year, and of its disburse18 ments on schedules prescribed by the Secretary. 

19 ‘‘(d) If any of the funds received by the authorized 

20 receiving officer of a program under this Act are found 

21 by the Secretary to have been improperly diminished, lost, 

22 or misapplied, such funds shall be recovered by the Sec23 retary. 

24 ‘‘(e) Schools, universities, and institutions receiving 

25 funds under this Act are authorized and encouraged to 


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1 plan and conduct programs under this Act in cooperation 

2 with each other and with such other agencies, business en3 terprises and individuals. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 9. DUTIES OF SECRETARY. 

5 ‘‘(a) The Secretary, acting through the Assistant Sec6 retary for Land and Minerals Management, shall admin7 ister this Act and shall prescribe such rules and regula8 tions as may be necessary to carry out its provisions not 

9 later than 1 year after the enactment of the Deep Ocean 

10 Energy Resources Act of 2009. 

11 ‘‘(b)(1) There is established in the Department of the 

12 Interior, under the supervision of the Assistant Secretary 

13 for Land and Minerals Management, an office to be known 

14 as the Office of Petroleum and Mining Schools (hereafter 

15 in this Act referred to as the ‘Office’) to administer the 

16 provisions of this Act. There shall be a Director of the 

17 Office who shall be a member of the Senior Executive 

18 Service. The position of the Director shall be allocated 

19 from among the existing Senior Executive Service posi20 tions at the Department of the Interior and shall be a 

21 career reserved position as defined in section 3132(a)(8) 

22 of title 5, United States Code. 

23 ‘‘(2) The Director is authorized to appoint a Deputy 

24 Director and to employ such officers and employees as 

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1 tions. Such appointments shall be made from existing po2 sitions at the Department of the Interior, and shall be sub3 ject to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, gov4 erning appointments in the competitive service. Such posi5 tions shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of 

6 chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title 

7 relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates. 

8 ‘‘(3) In carrying out his or her functions, the Director 

9 shall assist and advise the Secretary and the Committee 

10 pursuant to section 11 of this Act by— 

11 ‘‘(A) providing professional and administrative 

12 staff support for the Committee including record13 keeping and maintaining minutes of all Committee 

14 and subcommittee meetings; 

15 ‘‘(B) coordinating the activities of the Com16 mittee with Federal agencies and departments, and 

17 the schools, universities, and institutions to which 

18 funds are provided under this Act; 

19 ‘‘(C) maintaining accurate records of funds dis20 bursed for all scholarship and fellowship grants, re21 search grants, and grants for career technical edu22 cation purposes; 

23 ‘‘(D) preparing any regulations required to im24 plement this Act; 


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1 ‘‘(E) conducting site visits at schools, univer2 sities, and institutions receiving funding under this 

3 Act; and 

4 ‘‘(F) serving as a central repository for reports 

5 and clearing house for public information on re6 search funded by this Act. 

7 ‘‘(4) The Director or an employee of the Office shall 

8 be present at each meeting of the Committee pursuant to 

9 section 11 or a subcommittee of such Committee. 

10 ‘‘(5) The Director is authorized to contract with pub11 lic or private agencies, institutions, and organizations and 

12 with individuals without regard to section 3324(a) and (b) 

13 of title 31, United States Code, and section 5 of title 41, 

14 United States Code, in carrying out his or her functions. 

15 ‘‘(6) As needed the Director shall ascertain whether 

16 the requirements of this Act have been met by schools, 

17 universities, institutions, and individuals. 

18 ‘‘(c) The Secretary, acting through the Office of Pe19 troleum and Mining Schools, shall furnish such advice and 

20 assistance as will best promote the purposes of this Act, 

21 shall participate in coordinating research, investigations, 

22 demonstrations, and experiments initiated under this Act, 

23 shall indicate to schools, universities, and institutions re24 ceiving funds under this Act such lines of inquiry that 

25 seem most important, and shall encourage and assist in 


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1 the establishment and maintenance of cooperation between 

2 such schools, universities, and institutions, other research 

3 organizations, the Department of the Interior, and other 

4 Federal agencies. 

5 ‘‘(d) The Secretary shall establish procedures— 

6 ‘‘(1) to ensure that each employee and con7 tractor of the Office established by this section and 

8 each member of the Committee pursuant to section 

9 11 of this Act shall disclose to the Secretary any fi10 nancial interests in or financial relationships with 

11 schools, universities, institutions or individuals re12 ceiving funds, scholarships or fellowships under this 

13 Act; 

14 ‘‘(2) to require any employee, contractor, or 

15 member of the Committee with a financial relation16 ship disclosed under paragraph (1) to recuse them17 selves from— 

18 ‘‘(A) any recommendation or decision re19 garding the awarding of funds, scholarships or 

20 fellowships; or 

21 ‘‘(B) any review, report, analysis or inves22 tigation regarding compliance with the provi23 sions of this Act by a school, university, institu24 tion or any individual. 


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1 ‘‘(e) On or before the first day of July of each year 

2 beginning after the date of enactment of this sentence, 

3 schools, universities, and institutions receiving funds 

4 under this Act shall certify compliance with this Act and 

5 upon request of the Director of the office established by 

6 this section provide documentation of such compliance. 

7 ‘‘(f) An individual granted a scholarship or fellowship 

8 with funds provided under this Act shall through their re9 spective school, university, or institution, advise the Direc10 tor of the office established by this Act of progress towards 

11 completion of the course of studies and upon the awarding 

12 of the degree within 30 days after the award. 

13 ‘‘(g) The regulations required by this section shall in14 clude a preference for veterans and servicemembers who 

15 have received or will receive either the Afghanistan Cam16 paign Medal or the Iraq Campaign Medal as authorized 

17 by Public Law 108–234, and Executive Order No. 13363. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 10. COORDINATION. 

19 ‘‘(a) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impair 

20 or modify the legal relationship existing between any of 

21 the schools, universities, and institutions under whose di22 rection a program is established with funds provided under 

23 this Act and the government of the State in which it is 

24 located. Nothing in this Act shall in any way be construed 


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1 to authorize Federal control or direction of education at 

2 any school, university, or institution. 

3 ‘‘(b) The programs authorized by this Act are in4 tended to enhance the Nation’s petroleum, mining, and 

5 mineral engineering education programs and to enhance 

6 educational programs in petroleum and mining exploration 

7 and to increase the number of individuals enrolled in and 

8 completing these programs. To achieve this intent, the 

9 Secretary and the Committee pursuant to section 11 shall 

10 receive the continuing advice and cooperation of all agen11 cies of the Federal Government concerned with the identi12 fication, exploration, and development of energy and min13 eral resources. 

14 ‘‘(c) Nothing in this Act is intended to give or shall 

15 be construed as giving the Secretary any authority over 

16 mining and mineral resources research conducted by any 

17 agency of the Federal Government, or as repealing or di18 minishing existing authorities or responsibilities of any 

19 agency of the Federal Government to plan and conduct, 

20 contract for, or assist in research in its area of responsi21 bility and concern with regard to mining and mineral re22 sources. 

23 ‘‘(d) The schools, universities, and institutions receiv24 ing funding under this Act shall make detailed reports to 

25 the Office of Petroleum and Mining Schools on projects 


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1 completed, in progress, or planned with funds provided 

2 under this Act. All such reports shall be available to the 

3 public on not less than an annual basis through the Office 

4 of Petroleum and Mining Schools. All uses, products, proc5 esses, and other developments resulting from any re6 search, demonstration, or experiment funded in whole or 

7 in part under this Act shall be made available promptly 

8 to the general public, subject to exception or limitation, 

9 if any, as the Secretary may find necessary in the interest 

10 of national security, and subject to the applicable Federal 

11 law governing patents. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 11. COMMITTEE ON PETROLEUM, MINING, AND MIN13 ERAL ENGINEERING AND ENERGY AND MIN14 ERAL RESOURCE EDUCATION. 

15 ‘‘(a) The Secretary shall appoint a Committee on Pe16 troleum, Mining, and Mineral Engineering and Energy 

17 and Mineral Resource Education composed of— 

18 ‘‘(1) the Assistant Secretary of the Interior re19 sponsible for land and minerals management and 

20 not more than 16 other persons who are knowledge21 able in the fields of mining and mineral resources re22 search, including 2 university administrators one of 

23 whom shall be from historic and existing petroleum 

24 and mining schools; a community, technical, or tribal 

25 college administrator; a career technical education 


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1 educator; 6 representatives equally distributed from 

2 the petroleum, mining, and aggregate industries; a 

3 working miner; a working oilfield worker; a rep4 resentative of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact 

5 Commission; a representative from the Interstate 

6 Mining Compact Commission; a representative from 

7 the Western Governors Association; a representative 

8 of the State geologists, and a representative of a 

9 State mining and reclamation agency. In making 

10 these 16 appointments, the Secretary shall consult 

11 with interested groups. 

12 ‘‘(2) The Assistant Secretary for Land and 

13 Minerals Management, in the capacity of the Chair14 man of the Committee, may have present during 

15 meetings of the Committee representatives of Fed16 eral agencies with responsibility for energy and min17 erals resources management, energy and mineral re18 source investigations, energy and mineral commodity 

19 information, international trade in energy and min20 eral commodities, mining safety regulation and mine 

21 safety research, and research into the development, 

22 production, and utilization of energy and mineral 

23 commodities. These representatives shall serve as 

24 technical advisors to the committee and shall have 

25 no voting responsibilities. 


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1 ‘‘(b) The Committee shall consult with, and make rec2 ommendations to, the Secretary on policy matters relating 

3 to carrying out this Act. The Secretary shall consult with 

4 and carefully consider recommendations of the Committee 

5 in such matters. 

6 ‘‘(c) Committee members, other than officers or em7 ployees of Federal, State, or local governments, shall be, 

8 for each day (including traveltime) during which they are 

9 performing Committee business, paid at a rate fixed by 

10 the Secretary but not in excess of the daily equivalent of 

11 the maximum rate of pay for level IV of the Executive 

12 Schedule under section 5136 of title 5, United States 

13 Code, and shall be fully reimbursed for travel, subsistence, 

14 and related expenses. 

15 ‘‘(d) The Committee shall be chaired by the Assistant 

16 Secretary of the Interior responsible for land and minerals 

17 management. There shall also be elected a Vice Chairman 

18 by the Committee from among the members referred to 

19 in this section. The Vice Chairman shall perform such du20 ties as are determined to be appropriate by the committee, 

21 except that the Chairman of the Committee must person22 ally preside at all meetings of the full Committee. The 

23 Committee may organize itself into such subcommittees as 

24 the Committee may deem appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘(e) Following completion of the report required by 

2 section 385 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Com3 mittee shall consider the recommendations of the report, 

4 ongoing efforts in the schools, universities, and institu5 tions receiving funding under this Act, the Federal and 

6 State Governments, and the private sector, and shall for7 mulate and recommend to the Secretary a national plan 

8 for a program utilizing the fiscal resources provided under 

9 this Act. The Committee shall submit such plan to the 

10 Secretary for approval. Upon approval, the plan shall 

11 guide the Secretary and the Committee in their actions 

12 under this Act. 

13 ‘‘(f) Section 10 of the Federal Advisory Committee 

14 Act (5 U.S.C. App. 2) shall not apply to the Committee. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 12. CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

16 ‘‘(a) Up to 25 percent of the annual outlay of funds 

17 authorized by section 23(d) of the Deep Ocean Energy Re18 sources Act of 2009 may be granted to schools or institu19 tions including, but not limited to, colleges, universities, 

20 community colleges, tribal colleges and universities, tech21 nical institutes, secondary schools, other than those de22 scribed in sections 3, 4, 5, and 6, and jointly sponsored 

23 apprenticeship and training programs that are authorized 

24 by Federal law. 


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1 ‘‘(b) The Secretary shall determine the eligibility of 

2 a school or institution to receive funding under this section 

3 using criteria that include— 

4 ‘‘(1) the presence of a State-approved program 

5 in mining engineering technology, petroleum engi6 neering technology, industrial engineering tech7 nology, or industrial technology that— 

8 ‘‘(A) is focused on technology and its use 

9 in energy and mineral production and related 

10 maintenance, operational safety, or energy in11 frastructure protection and security; 

12 ‘‘(B) prepares students for advanced or su13 pervisory roles in the mining industry or the pe14 troleum industry; and 

15 ‘‘(C) grants either an associate’s degree or 

16 a baccalaureate degree in one of the subjects 

17 listed in subparagraph (A); 

18 ‘‘(2) the presence of a program, including a sec19 ondary school vocational education program or ca20 reer academy, that provides training for individuals 

21 entering the petroleum, coal mining, or mineral min22 ing industries; or 

23 ‘‘(3) the presence of a State-approved program 

24 of career technical education at a secondary school, 


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1 offered cooperatively with a community college in 

2 one of the industrial sectors of— 

3 ‘‘(A) agriculture, forestry, or fisheries; 

4 ‘‘(B) utilities; 

5 ‘‘(C) construction; 

6 ‘‘(D) manufacturing; and 

7 ‘‘(E) transportation and warehousing. 

8 ‘‘(c) Schools or institutions receiving funds under this 

9 section must show evidence of an institutional commit10 ment for the purposes of career technical education and 

11 provide evidence that the school or institution has received 

12 or will receive industry cooperation in the form of equip13 ment, employee time, or donations of funds to support the 

14 activities that are within the scope of this section. 

15 ‘‘(d) Schools or institutions receiving funds under 

16 this section must agree to maintain the programs for 

17 which the funding is sought for a period of 10 years begin18 ning on the date the school or institution receives such 

19 funds, unless the Secretary finds that a shorter period of 

20 time is appropriate for the local labor market or is re21 quired by State authorities. 

22 ‘‘(e) Schools or institutions receiving funds under this 

23 section may combine these funds with State funds, and 

24 other Federal funds where allowed by law, to carry out 

25 programs described in this section, however the use of the 


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1 funds received under this section must be reported to the 

2 Secretary not less than annually. 

3 ‘‘(f) The Secretary shall seek the advice of the Com4 mittee established pursuant to section 11 in determining 

5 the criteria used to carry out this section. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 13. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WORKFORCE EN7 HANCEMENT. 

8 ‘‘(a) PHYSICAL SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECH9 NOLOGY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.— 

10 ‘‘(1) From the amount of funds available to 

11 carry out this section, the Secretary shall use 30 

12 percent of that amount to provide financial assist13 ance for education in physical sciences, engineering, 

14 and engineering or industrial technology and dis15 ciplines that, as determined by the Secretary, are 

16 critical to the functions of the Department of the In17 terior and are needed in the Department of the Inte18 rior workforce. 

19 ‘‘(2) The Secretary of the Interior may award 

20 a scholarship in accordance with this section to a 

21 person who— 

22 ‘‘(A) is a citizen of the United States; 

23 ‘‘(B) is pursuing an undergraduate or ad24 vanced degree in a critical skill or discipline deVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:26 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00089 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 scribed in paragraph (1) at an institution of 

2 higher education; and 

3 ‘‘(C) enters into a service agreement with 

4 the Secretary of the Interior as described in 

5 subsection (e). 

6 ‘‘(3) The amount of the financial assistance 

7 provided under a scholarship awarded to a person 

8 under this subsection shall be the amount deter9 mined by the Secretary of the Interior as being nec10 essary to pay all educational expenses incurred by 

11 that person, including tuition, fees, cost of books, 

12 laboratory expenses, and expenses of room and 

13 board. The expenses paid, however, shall be limited 

14 to those educational expenses normally incurred by 

15 students at the institution of higher education in16 volved. 

17 ‘‘(b) SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS AT18 TENDING MINORITY SERVING HIGHER EDUCATION INSTI19 TUTIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) From the amount of funds available to 

21 carry out this section, the Secretary shall use 35 

22 percent of that amount to award scholarships in ac23 cordance with this section to persons who— 

24 ‘‘(A) are enrolled in a Minority Serving 

25 Higher Education Institutions. 


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1 ‘‘(B) are citizens or nationals of the 

2 United States; 

3 ‘‘(C) are pursuing an undergraduate or ad4 vanced degree in agriculture, engineering, engi5 neering or industrial technology, or physical 

6 sciences, or other discipline that is found by the 

7 Secretary to be critical to the functions of the 

8 Department of the Interior and are needed in 

9 the Department of the Interior workforce; and 

10 ‘‘(D) enter into a service agreement with 

11 the Secretary of the Interior as described in 

12 subsection (e). 

13 ‘‘(2) The amount of the financial assistance 

14 provided under a scholarship awarded to a person 

15 under this subsection shall be the amount deter16 mined by the Secretary of the Interior as being nec17 essary to pay all educational expenses incurred by 

18 that person, including tuition, fees, cost of books, 

19 laboratory expenses, and expenses of room and 

20 board. The expenses paid, however, shall be limited 

21 to those educational expenses normally incurred by 

22 students at the institution of higher education in23 volved. 

24 ‘‘(c) EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS WITH MINORITY

25 SERVING HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) The Secretary shall require the director of 

2 each Bureau and Office, to foster the participation 

3 of Minority Serving Higher Education Institutions 

4 in any regulatory activity, land management activity, 

5 science activity, engineering or industrial technology 

6 activity, or engineering activity carried out by the 

7 Department of the Interior. 

8 ‘‘(2) From the amount of funds available to 

9 carry out this section, the Secretary shall use 35 

10 percent of that amount to support activities at Mi11 nority Serving Higher Education Institutions by— 

12 ‘‘(A) funding faculty and students in these 

13 institutions in collaborative research projects 

14 that are directly related to the Departmental or 

15 Bureau missions; 

16 ‘‘(B) allowing equipment transfer to Mi17 nority Serving Higher Education Institutions as 

18 a part of a collaborative research program di19 rectly related to a Departmental or Bureau mis20 sion; 

21 ‘‘(C) allowing faculty and students at these 

22 Minority Serving Higher Education Institutions 

23 to participate Departmental and Bureau train24 ing activities; 


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1 ‘‘(D) funding paid internships in Depart2 mental and Bureau facilities for students at Mi3 nority Serving Higher Education Institutions; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(E) assigning Departmental and Bureau 

6 personnel to positions located at Minority Serv7 ing Higher Educational Institutions to serve as 

8 mentors to students interested in a science, 

9 technology or engineering disciplines related to 

10 the mission of the Department or the Bureaus. 

11 ‘‘(d) SERVICE AGREEMENT FOR RECIPIENTS OF AS12 SISTANCE.— 

13 ‘‘(1) To receive financial assistance under sub14 section (a) or (b) of this section— 

15 ‘‘(A) in the case of an employee of the De16 partment of the Interior, the employee shall 

17 enter into a written agreement to continue in 

18 the employment of the department for the pe19 riod of obligated service determined under para20 graph (2); and 

21 ‘‘(B) in the case of a person not an em22 ployee of the Department of the Interior, the 

23 person shall enter into a written agreement to 

24 accept and continue employment in the DepartVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:41 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00093 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 ment of the Interior for the period of obligated 

2 service determined under paragraph (2). 

3 ‘‘(2) For the purposes of this section, the period 

4 of obligated service for a recipient of a scholarship 

5 under this section shall be the period determined by 

6 the Secretary of the Interior as being appropriate to 

7 obtain adequate service in exchange for the financial 

8 assistance provided under the scholarship. In no 

9 event may the period of service required of a recipi10 ent be less than the total period of pursuit of a de11 gree that is covered by the scholarship. The period 

12 of obligated service is in addition to any other period 

13 for which the recipient is obligated to serve in the 

14 civil service of the United States. 

15 ‘‘(3) An agreement entered into under this sub16 section by a person pursuing an academic degree 

17 shall include any terms and conditions that the Sec18 retary of the Interior determines necessary to pro19 tect the interests of the United States or otherwise 

20 appropriate for carrying out this section. 

21 ‘‘(e) REFUND FOR PERIOD OF UNSERVED OBLI22 GATED SERVICE.— 

23 ‘‘(1) A person who voluntarily terminates serv24 ice before the end of the period of obligated service 

25 required under an agreement entered into under 


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1 subsection (d) shall refund to the United States an 

2 amount determined by the Secretary of the Interior 

3 as being appropriate to obtain adequate service in 

4 exchange for financial assistance. 

5 ‘‘(2) An obligation to reimburse the United 

6 States imposed under paragraph (1) is for all pur7 poses a debt owed to the United States. 

8 ‘‘(3) The Secretary of the Interior may waive, 

9 in whole or in part, a refund required under para10 graph (1) if the Secretary determines that recovery 

11 would be against equity and good conscience or 

12 would be contrary to the best interests of the United 

13 States. 

14 ‘‘(4) A discharge in bankruptcy under title 11, 

15 United States Code, that is entered less than five 

16 years after the termination of an agreement under 

17 this section does not discharge the person signing 

18 such agreement from a debt arising under such 

19 agreement or under this subsection. 

20 ‘‘(f) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PROGRAMS.—The 

21 Secretary of the Interior shall coordinate the provision of 

22 financial assistance under the authority of this section 

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1 efits derived by the Department of Interior from the exer2 cise of all such authorities. 

3 ‘‘(g) REPORT.—Not later than September 1 of each 

4 year, the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to the Con5 gress a report on the status of the assistance program car6 ried out under this section. The report shall describe the 

7 programs within the Department designed to recruit and 

8 retain a workforce on a short-term basis and on a long9 term basis. 

10 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

11 ‘‘(1) The term ‘Minority Serving Higher Edu12 cation Institutions’ means a Hispanic-serving insti13 tution, historically Black college or university, Alas14 ka Native-serving institution, tribal college or uni15 versity, or insular area school. 

16 ‘‘(2) The term ‘Hispanic-serving institution’ has 

17 the meaning given the term in section 502(a) of the 

18 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

19 1101a(a)). 

20 ‘‘(3) The term ‘historically Black college or uni21 versity’ has the meaning given the term ‘part B in22 stitution’ in section 322 of the Higher Education 

23 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 

24 ‘‘(4) The term ‘tribal college or university’ has 

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1 versity’ in section 316(b) of the Higher Education 

2 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)). 

3 ‘‘(5) The term ‘institution of higher education’ 

4 has the meaning given such term in section 101 of 

5 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

6 1001). 

7 ‘‘(6) The term ‘Alaska Native-serving institu8 tion’ has the meaning given the term in section 317 

9 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

10 1059d). 

11 ‘‘(7) The term ‘insular area school’ means an 

12 academic institution or university in American 

13 Samoa, Guam, The Northern Mariana Islands, 

14 Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, or any other 

15 territory or possession of the United States. 

16 ‘‘(i) FUNDING.—To implement this section, the Sec17 retary shall use 3 percent of the annual outlay authorized 

18 by section 23(d) of the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act 

19 of 2009.’’. 

20 (b) FUNDING FOR ENERGY RESEARCH.— 

21 (1) Using 20 percent of the funds authorized by 

22 subsection (d), the Secretary of Energy, through the 

23 energy supply research and development programs of 

24 the Department of Energy, and in consultation with 

25 the Office of Science of the Department of Energy, 


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1 shall carry out a program to award grants to institu2 tions of higher education on the basis of competitive, 

3 merit-based review, for the purpose of conducting re4 search on advanced energy technologies with the po5 tential to transform the energy systems of the 

6 United States so as to— 

7 (A) reduce dependence on foreign energy 

8 supplies; 

9 (B) reduce or eliminate emissions of green10 house gases; 

11 (C) reduce negative environmental effects 

12 associated with energy production, storage, and 

13 use; and 

14 (D) enhance the competitiveness of United 

15 States energy technology exports. 

16 (2) Awards made under this subsection may in17 clude funding for— 

18 (A) energy efficiency; 

19 (B) renewable energy, including solar, 

20 wind, and biofuels; and 

21 (C) nuclear, hydrogen, and any other en22 ergy research that could accomplish the purpose 

23 set forth in paragraph (1). 

24 (3) The Secretary of Energy may require or au25 thorize grantees under this subsection to partner 


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1 with industry, but only to the extent that such a re2 quirement does not prevent long-range, potentially 

3 pathbreaking research from being funded under this 

4 subsection. 

5 (4) An institution of higher education seeking 

6 funding under this subsection shall submit an appli7 cation at such time, in such manner, and containing 

8 such information as the Secretary of Energy may re9 quire. 

10 (5) In this subsection, the term ‘‘institution of 

11 higher education’’ has the meaning given that term 

12 in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 

13 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

14 (c) FUNDING FOR ENERGY SCHOLARSHIPS.— 

15 (1) Using 5 percent of the funds authorized by 

16 subsection (d), the Secretary of Energy, through the 

17 energy supply research and development programs of 

18 the Department of Energy, and in consultation with 

19 the Office of Science of the Department of Energy, 

20 shall carry out a program to award grants to institu21 tions of higher education on the basis of competitive, 

22 merit-based review, to grant graduate traineeships to 

23 Ph.D. students who are citizens of the United States 

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1 nologies to accomplish the purpose set forth in sub2 section (c)(1). 

3 (2) Awards made under this subsection may in4 clude funding for— 

5 (A) energy efficiency; 

6 (B) renewable energy, including solar, 

7 wind, and biofuels; and 

8 (C) nuclear, hydrogen, and any other en9 ergy research that would accomplish the pur10 pose set forth in subsection (c)(1) that is not el11 igible for funding under section 7 of the Energy 

12 and Mineral Schools Reinvestment Act. 

13 (3) An institution of higher education seeking 

14 funding under this subsection shall submit an appli15 cation at such time, in such manner, and containing 

16 such information as the Secretary of Energy may re17 quire. 

18 (4) In this subsection, the term ‘‘institution of 

19 higher education’’ has the meaning given that term 

20 in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 

21 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

22 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

24 $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and each fiscal year 

25 thereafter. 


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1 SEC. 24. ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE MINERAL LEASE FEES. 

2 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Depart3 ment of the Interior is prohibited from charging fees appli4 cable to bidding or actions on Federal onshore and off5 shore oil and gas, coal, geothermal, and other mineral 

6 leases, including transportation of any production from 

7 such leases, if such fees were not established in final regu8 lations prior to the date of issuance of the lease. 

9 SEC. 25. OCS REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS. 

10 Not later than July 1, 2011, the Secretary of the In11 terior shall establish the headquarters for the Atlantic 

12 OCS Region, the headquarters for the Gulf of Mexico OCS 

13 Region, and the headquarters for the Pacific OCS Region 

14 within a State bordering the Atlantic OCS Region, a State 

15 bordering the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, and a State 

16 bordering the Pacific OCS Region, respectively, from 

17 among the States bordering those Regions, that petitions 

18 by no later than January 1, 2011, for leasing, for oil and 

19 gas or natural gas, covering at least 40 percent of the area 

20 of its Adjacent Zone within 100 miles of the coastline. 

21 Such Atlantic and Pacific OCS Regions headquarters shall 

22 be located within 25 miles of the coastline and each MMS 

23 OCS regional headquarters shall be the permanent duty 

24 station for all Minerals Management Service personnel 

25 that on a daily basis spend on average 60 percent or more 

26 of their time in performance of duties in support of the 


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1 activities of the respective Region, except that the Min2 erals Management Service may house regional inspection 

3 staff in other locations. Each OCS Region shall each be 

4 led by a Regional Director who shall be an employee with5 in the Senior Executive Service. 

6 SEC. 26. NATIONAL GEO FUND ACT OF 2009. 

7 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

8 ‘‘National Geo Fund Act of 2009’’. 

9 (b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this section is to 

10 provide for the management of geologic programs, geologic 

11 mapping, geophysical and other seismic studies, seismic 

12 monitoring programs, and the preservation and use of geo13 logic and geophysical data, geothermal and geopressure 

14 energy resource management, unconventional energy re15 sources management, and renewable energy management 

16 associated with ocean wave, current, and thermal re17 sources. 

18 (c) STATE DEFINED.—In this section the term 

19 ‘‘State’’ means the agency of a State designated by its 

20 Governor or State law to perform the functions and activi21 ties described in subsection (b). 

22 (d) STRATEGIC UNCONVENTIONAL RESOURCES.— 

23 (1) PROGRAM.—The Secretary of the Interior 

24 shall establish a program for production of fuels 

25 from strategic unconventional resources, and producVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:41 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00102 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 tion of oil and gas resources using CO2 enhanced re2 covery. The program shall focus initially on activities 

3 and domestic resources most likely to result in sig4 nificant production in the near future, and shall in5 clude work necessary to improve extraction tech6 niques, including surface and in situ operations. The 

7 program shall include characterization and assess8 ment of potential resources, a sampling program, 

9 appropriate laboratory and other analyses and test10 ing, and assessment of methods for exploration and 

11 development of these strategic unconventional re12 sources. 

13 (2) PILOT PROJECTS.—The program created in 

14 paragraph (1) shall include, but not be limited to, 

15 pilot projects on (A) the Maverick Basin heavy oil 

16 and tar sands formations of Texas, including the 

17 San Miguel deposits, (B) the Greater Green River 

18 Basin heavy oil, oil shale, tar sands, and coal depos19 its of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, (C) the shale, 

20 tar sands, heavy oil, and coal deposits in the Ala21 bama-Mississippi-Tennessee region, (D) the shale, 

22 tar sands, heavy oil, and coal deposits in the Ohio 

23 River valley, and (E) strategic unconventional re24 sources in California. The Secretary shall identify 

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1 ter recovery of unconventional fuels by private indus2 try within the United States. Such incentives may 

3 include, but are not limited to, long-term contracts 

4 for the purchase of unconventional fuels for defense 

5 purposes, Federal grants and loan guarantees for 

6 necessary capital expenditures, and favorable terms 

7 for the leasing of Government lands containing un8 conventional resources. 

9 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

10 (A) STRATEGIC UNCONVENTIONAL RE11 SOURCES.—The term ‘‘strategic unconventional 

12 resources’’ means hydrocarbon resources, in13 cluding heavy oil, oil shale, tar sands, and coal 

14 deposits, from which liquid fuels may be pro15 duced. 

16 (B) IN SITU EXTRACTION METHODS.—The 

17 term ‘‘in situ extraction methods’’ means recov18 ery techniques that are applied to the resources 

19 while they are still in the ground, and are in 

20 commercial use or advanced stages of develop21 ment. Such techniques include, but are not lim22 ited to, steam flooding, steam-assisted gravity 

23 drainage (including combination with electric 

24 power generation where appropriate), cyclic 


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1 steam stimulation, air injection, and chemical 

2 treatment. 

3 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

5 this subsection for each of fiscal years 2010 through 

6 2019 the amount of $35,000,000. Each pilot project 

7 shall be allocated not less than $4,000,000 per year 

8 in each of fiscal years 2010 through 2019. 

9 (e) SUPPORT OF GEOTHERMAL AND GEOPRESSURE

10 OIL AND GAS ENERGY PRODUCTION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

12 out a grant program in support of geothermal and 

13 geopressure oil and gas energy production. The pro14 gram shall include grants for a total of not less than 

15 three assessments of the use of innovative geo16 thermal techniques such as organic rankine cycle 

17 systems at marginal, unproductive, and productive 

18 oil and gas wells, and not less than one assessment 

19 of the use of innovative geopressure techniques. The 

20 Secretary shall, to the extent practicable and in the 

21 public interest, make awards that— 

22 (A) include not less than five oil or gas 

23 well sites per project award; 


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1 (B) use a range of oil or gas well hot water 

2 source temperatures from 150 degrees Fahr3 enheit to 300 degrees Fahrenheit; 

4 (C) use existing or new oil or gas wells; 

5 (D) cover a range of sizes from 175 kilo6 watts to one megawatt; 

7 (E) are located at a range of sites includ8 ing tribal lands, Federal lease, State, or pri9 vately owned sites; 

10 (F) can be replicated at a wide range of 

11 sites; 

12 (G) facilitate identification of optimum 

13 techniques among competing alternatives; 

14 (H) include business commercialization 

15 plans that have the potential for production of 

16 equipment at high volumes and operation and 

17 support at a large number of sites; and 

18 (I) satisfy other criteria that the Secretary 

19 determines are necessary to carry out the pro20 gram. 

21 The Secretary shall give preference to assessments 

22 that address multiple elements contained in subpara23 graphs (A) through (I). 

24 (2) GRANT AWARDS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each grant award for 

2 assessment of innovative geothermal or 

3 geopressure technology such as organic rankine 

4 cycle systems at oil and gas wells made by the 

5 Secretary under this section shall include— 

6 (i) necessary and appropriate site en7 gineering study; 

8 (ii) detailed economic assessment of 

9 site specific conditions; 

10 (iii) appropriate feasibility studies to 

11 determine ability for replication; 

12 (iv) design or adaptation of existing 

13 technology for site specific circumstances 

14 or conditions; 

15 (v) installation of equipment, service, 

16 and support; and 

17 (vi) monitoring for a minimum of one 

18 year after commissioning date. 

19 (3) COMPETITIVE GRANT SELECTION.—Not less 

20 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

21 this Act, the Secretary shall conduct a national solic22 itation for applications for grants under the pro23 gram. Grant recipients shall be selected on a com24 petitive basis based on criteria in subsection (b). 


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1 (4) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 

2 costs of grants under this subsection shall be pro3 vided from funds made available to carry out this 

4 section. The Federal share of the cost of a project 

5 carried out with such a grant shall not exceed 50 

6 percent of such cost. 

7 (5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

8 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

9 this subsection for each of fiscal years 2010 through 

10 2019 the amount of $5,000,000. No funds author11 ized under this section may be used for the purposes 

12 of drilling new wells. 

13 (6) AMENDMENT.—Section 4 of the Geothermal 

14 Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1003) is amended by 

15 adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(h) GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES CO-PRODUCED

17 WITH THE MINERALS.—Any person who holds a lease or 

18 who operates a cooperative or unit plan under the Mineral 

19 Leasing Act, in the absence of an existing lease for geo20 thermal resources under this Act, shall upon notice to the 

21 Secretary have the right to utilize any geothermal re22 sources co-produced with the minerals for which the lease 

23 was issued during the operation of that lease or coopera24 tive or unit plan, for the generating of electricity to oper25 ate the lease. Any electricity that is produced in excess 


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1 of that which is required to operate the lease and that 

2 is sold for purposes outside of the boundary of the lease 

3 shall be subject to the requirements of section 5.’’. 

4 (f) LIQUID FUELS GRANT PROGRAM.— 

5 (1) PROGRAM.—The Secretary of the Interior 

6 shall establish a grant program for facilities for coal7 to-liquids, petroleum coke-to-liquids, oil shale, tar 

8 sands, heavy oil, and Alaska natural gas-to-liquids 

9 and to assess the production of low-rank coal water 

10 fuel (in this subsection referred to as ‘‘LRCWF’’). 

11 (2) LRCWF.—The LRCWF grant project shall 

12 be allocated $15,000,000. 

13 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

14 (A) COAL-TO-LIQUIDS FRONT-END ENGI15 NEERING AND DESIGN.—The terms ‘‘coal-to-liq16 uids front-end engineering and design’’ and 

17 ‘‘FEED’’ mean those expenditures necessary to 

18 engineer, design, and obtain permits for a facil19 ity for a particular geographic location which 

20 will utilize a process or technique to produce 

21 liquid fuels from coal resources. 

22 (B) LOW-RANK COAL WATER FUEL.—In 

23 this subsection the term ‘‘low-rank coal water 

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1 thermal treatment of lignite and sub-bituminous 

2 coals. 

3 (4) GRANT PROVISIONS.—All grants shall re4 quire a 50 percent non-Federal cost share. The first 

5 4 FEED grant recipients who receive full project 

6 construction financing commitments, based on ear7 liest calendar date, shall not be required to repay 

8 any of their grants. The next 4 FEED grant recipi9 ents who receive such commitments shall be required 

10 to repay 25 percent of the grant. The next 4 FEED 

11 grant recipients who receive such commitments shall 

12 be required to repay 50 percent of the grant, and 

13 the remaining FEED grant recipients shall be re14 quired to repay 75 percent of the grant. The 

15 LRCWF recipient shall not be required to repay the 

16 grant. Any required repayment shall be paid as part 

17 of the closing process for any construction financing 

18 relating to the grant. No repayment shall require the 

19 payment of interest if repaid within 5 years of the 

20 issuance of the grant. FEED grants shall be limited 

21 to a maximum of $1,000,000 per 1,000 barrels per 

22 day of liquid fuels production capacity, not to exceed 

23 $25,000,000 per year. 


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1 (5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this subsection— 

4 (A) $65,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; and 

5 (B) $37,500,000 for each of fiscal years 

6 2011 through 2019. 

7 (g) RENEWABLE ENERGY FROM OCEAN WAVE, 

8 TIDE, CURRENT, AND THERMAL RESOURCES.— 

9 (1) PROGRAM.—The Secretary of the Interior 

10 shall establish a grant program for the production of 

11 renewable energy from ocean waves, tides, currents, 

12 and thermal resources. 

13 (2) GRANT PROVISIONS.—All grants under this 

14 subsection shall require a 50 percent non-Federal 

15 cost share. 

16 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

18 this subsection funds for each of fiscal years 2010 

19 through 2019 in the amount of $20,000,000 each 

20 year. 

21 (h) AMENDMENT TO THE SURFACE MINING CON22 TROL AND RECLAMATION ACT OF 1977.—Section 507 of 

23 the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 

24 (30 U.S.C. 1267) is amended by adding at the end the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Any person who provides the regulatory authority 

2 with a map under subsection (b)(13) or (b)(14) shall not 

3 be liable to any other person in any way for the accuracy 

4 or completeness of any such map which was not prepared 

5 and certified by or on behalf of such person.’’. 

6 SEC. 27. LEASES FOR AREAS LOCATED WITHIN 100 MILES 

7 OF CALIFORNIA OR FLORIDA. 

8 (a) AUTHORIZATION TO CANCEL AND EXCHANGE

9 CERTAIN EXISTING OIL AND GAS LEASES; PROHIBITION

10 ON SUBMITTAL OF EXPLORATION PLANS FOR CERTAIN

11 LEASES PRIOR TO JUNE 30, 2013.— 

12 (1) AUTHORITY.—Within 2 years after the date 

13 of enactment of this Act, the lessee of an existing oil 

14 and gas lease for an area located completely within 

15 100 miles of the coastline within the California or 

16 Florida Adjacent Zones shall have the option, with17 out compensation, of exchanging such lease for a 

18 new oil and gas lease having a primary term of 5 

19 years. For the area subject to the new lease, the les20 see may select any unleased tract on the outer Con21 tinental Shelf that is in an area available for leasing. 

22 Further, with the permission of the relevant Gov23 ernor, such a lessee may convert its existing oil and 

24 gas lease into a natural gas lease having a primary 

25 term of 5 years and covering the same area as the 


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1 existing lease or another area within the same 

2 State’s Adjacent Zone within 100 miles of the coast3 line. 

4 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS.—The Secretary 

5 of the Interior shall establish a reasonable adminis6 trative process to implement paragraph (1). Ex7 changes and conversions under subsection (a), in8 cluding the issuance of new leases, shall not be con9 sidered to be major Federal actions for purposes of 

10 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

11 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). Further, such actions con12 ducted in accordance with this section are deemed to 

13 be in compliance all provisions of the Outer Conti14 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.). 

15 (3) OPERATING RESTRICTIONS.—A new lease 

16 issued in exchange for an existing lease under this 

17 section shall be subject to such national defense op18 erating stipulations on the OCS tract covered by the 

19 new lease as may be applicable upon issuance. 

20 (4) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give pri21 ority in the lease exchange process based on the 

22 amount of the original bonus bid paid for the 

23 issuance of each lease to be exchanged. The Sec24 retary shall allow leases covering partial tracts to be 

25 exchanged for leases covering full tracts conditioned 


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1 upon payment of additional bonus bids on a per-acre 

2 basis as determined by the average per acre of the 

3 original bonus bid per acre for the partial tract 

4 being exchanged. 

5 (5) EXPLORATION PLANS.—Any exploration 

6 plan submitted to the Secretary of the Interior after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act and before 

8 July 1, 2013, for an oil and gas lease for an area 

9 wholly within 100 miles of the coastline within the 

10 California Adjacent Zone or Florida Adjacent Zone 

11 shall not be treated as received by the Secretary 

12 until the earlier of July 1, 2013, or the date on 

13 which a petition by the Adjacent State for oil and 

14 gas leasing covering the area within which is located 

15 the area subject to the oil and gas lease was ap16 proved. 

17 (b) FURTHER LEASE CANCELLATION AND EX18 CHANGE PROVISIONS.— 

19 (1) CANCELLATION OF LEASE.—As part of the 

20 lease exchange process under this section, the Sec21 retary shall cancel a lease that is exchanged under 

22 this section. 

23 (2) CONSENT OF LESSEES.—All lessees holding 

24 an interest in a lease must consent to cancellation 


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1 of their leasehold interests in order for the lease to 

2 be cancelled and exchanged under this section. 

3 (3) WAIVER OF RIGHTS.—As a prerequisite to 

4 the exchange of a lease under this section, the lessee 

5 must waive any rights to bring any litigation against 

6 the United States related to the transaction. 

7 (4) PLUGGING AND ABANDONMENT.—The plug8 ging and abandonment requirements for any wells 

9 located on any lease to be cancelled and exchanged 

10 under this section must be complied with by the les11 sees prior to the cancellation and exchange. 

12 (c) AREA PARTIALLY WITHIN 100 MILES OF FLOR13 IDA.—An existing oil and gas lease for an area located 

14 partially within 100 miles of the coastline within the Flor15 ida Adjacent Zone may only be developed and produced 

16 using wells drilled from well-head locations at least 100 

17 miles from the coastline to any bottom-hole location on 

18 the area of the lease. This subsection shall not apply if 

19 Florida has petitioned for leasing closer to the coastline 

20 than 100 miles. 

21 (d) EXISTING OIL AND GAS LEASE DEFINED.—In 

22 this section the term ‘‘existing oil and gas lease’’ means 

23 an oil and gas lease in effect on the date of the enactment 

24 of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 28. COASTAL IMPACT ASSISTANCE. 

2 Section 31 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

3 (43 U.S.C. 1356a) is repealed. 

4 SEC. 29. OIL SHALE AND TAR SANDS AMENDMENTS. 

5 (a) REPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH PAY6 MENTS.—Section 369(o) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 

7 (Public Law 109–58; 119 Stat. 728; 42 U.S.C. 15927) 

8 is repealed. 

9 (b) TREATMENT OF REVENUES.—Section 21 of the 

10 Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 241) is amended by add11 ing at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(e) REVENUES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the provi14 sions of section 35, all revenues received from and 

15 under an oil shale or tar sands lease shall be dis16 posed of as provided in this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(2) ROYALTY RATES FOR COMMERCIAL

18 LEASES.— 

19 ‘‘(A) ROYALTY RATES.—The Secretary 

20 shall model the royalty schedule for oil shale 

21 and tar sands leases based on the royalty pro22 gram currently in effect for the production of 

23 synthetic crude oil from oil sands in the Prov24 ince of Alberta, Canada. 

25 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION.—The Secretary shall re26 duce any royalty otherwise required to be paid 


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1 under subparagraph (A) under any oil shale or 

2 tar sands lease on a sliding scale based upon 

3 market price, with a 10 percent reduction if the 

4 average futures price of NYMEX Light Sweet 

5 Crude, or a similar index, drops, for the pre6 vious quarter year, below $50 (in January 1, 

7 2006, dollars), and an 80 percent reduction if 

8 the average price drops below $30 (in January 

9 1, 2006, dollars) for the quarter previous to the 

10 one in which the production is sold. 

11 ‘‘(3) DISPOSITION OF REVENUES.— 

12 ‘‘(A) DEPOSIT.—The Secretary shall de13 posit into a separate account in the Treasury 

14 all revenues derived from any oil shale or tar 

15 sands lease. 

16 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATIONS TO STATES AND LOCAL

17 POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.—The Secretary shall 

18 allocate 50 percent of the revenues deposited 

19 into the account established under subpara20 graph (A) to the State within the boundaries of 

21 which the leased lands are located, with a por22 tion of that to be paid directly by the Secretary 

23 to the State’s local political subdivisions as pro24 vided in this paragraph. 

25 ‘‘(C) TRANSMISSION OF ALLOCATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the 

2 last business day of the month after the 

3 month in which the revenues were received, 

4 the Secretary shall transmit— 

5 ‘‘(I) to each State two-thirds of 

6 such State’s allocations under sub7 paragraph (B), and in accordance 

8 with clauses (ii) and (iii) to certain 

9 county-equivalent and municipal polit10 ical subdivisions of such State a total 

11 of one-third of such State’s allocations 

12 under subparagraph (B), together 

13 with all accrued interest thereon; and 

14 ‘‘(II) the remaining balance of 

15 such revenues deposited into the ac16 count that are not allocated under 

17 subparagraph (B), together with in18 terest thereon, shall be transmitted to 

19 the miscellaneous receipts account of 

20 the Treasury, except that until a lease 

21 has been in production for 20 years 

22 50 percent of such remaining balance 

23 derived from a lease shall be paid in 

24 accordance with subclause (I). 


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1 ‘‘(ii) ALLOCATIONS TO CERTAIN

2 COUNTY-EQUIVALENT POLITICAL SUBDIVI3 SIONS.—The Secretary shall under clause 

4 (i)(I) make equitable allocations of the rev5 enues to county-equivalent political sub6 divisions that the Secretary determines are 

7 closely associated with the leasing and pro8 duction of oil shale and tar sands, under a 

9 formula that the Secretary shall determine 

10 by regulation. 

11 ‘‘(iii) ALLOCATIONS TO MUNICIPAL

12 POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.—The initial al13 location to each county-equivalent political 

14 subdivision under clause (ii) shall be fur15 ther allocated to the county-equivalent po16 litical subdivision and any municipal polit17 ical subdivisions located partially or wholly 

18 within the boundaries of the county-equiva19 lent political subdivision on an equitable 

20 basis under a formula that the Secretary 

21 shall determine by regulation. 

22 ‘‘(D) INVESTMENT OF DEPOSITS.—The de23 posits in the Treasury account established 

24 under this section shall be invested by the Sec25 retary of the Treasury in securities backed by 


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1 the full faith and credit of the United States 

2 having maturities suitable to the needs of the 

3 account and yielding the highest reasonably 

4 available interest rates as determined by the 

5 Secretary of the Treasury. 

6 ‘‘(E) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of 

7 funds under this subsection may use the funds 

8 for any lawful purpose as determined by State 

9 law. Funds allocated under this subsection to 

10 States and local political subdivisions may be 

11 used as matching funds for other Federal pro12 grams without limitation. Funds allocated to 

13 local political subdivisions under this subsection 

14 may not be used in calculation of payments to 

15 such local political subdivisions under programs 

16 for payments in lieu of taxes or other similar 

17 programs. 

18 ‘‘(F) NO ACCOUNTING REQUIRED.—No re19 cipient of funds under this subsection shall be 

20 required to account to the Federal Government 

21 for the expenditure of such funds, except as 

22 otherwise may be required by law. 

23 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

24 ‘‘(A) COUNTY-EQUIVALENT POLITICAL

25 SUBDIVISION.—The term ‘county-equivalent poVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:41 Apr 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00120 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2120.IH H2120

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1 litical subdivision’ means a political jurisdiction 

2 immediately below the level of State govern3 ment, including a county, parish, borough in 

4 Alaska, independent municipality not part of a 

5 county, parish, or borough in Alaska, or other 

6 equivalent subdivision of a State. 

7 ‘‘(B) MUNICIPAL POLITICAL SUBDIVI8 SION.—The term ‘municipal political subdivi9 sion’ means a municipality located within and 

10 part of a county, parish, borough in Alaska, or 

11 other equivalent subdivision of a State.’’. 

12 SEC. 30. AVAILABILITY OF OCS RECEIPTS TO PROVIDE PAY13 MENTS UNDER SECURE RURAL SCHOOLS 

14 AND COMMUNITY SELF-DETERMINATION ACT 

15 OF 2000. 

16 Section 9 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

17 (43 U.S.C. 1338) is amended by inserting after subsection 

18 (i), as added by section 10 of this Act, the following new 

19 subsection: 

20 ‘‘(j) CONDITIONAL AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR

21 PAYMENTS UNDER SECURE RURAL SCHOOLS AND COM22 MUNITY SELF-DETERMINATION ACT OF 2000.— 

23 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Subject to 

24 paragraph (2), but notwithstanding any other provi25 sion of this section, $50,000,000 of OCS Receipts 


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1 shall be available to the Secretary of the Treasury 

2 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2015 to make 

3 payments under sections 102 and 103 of the Secure 

4 Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination 

5 Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–393; 16 U.S.C. 500 

6 note). The Secretary of the Treasury shall use the 

7 funds made available by this subsection to make 

8 such payments in lieu of using funds in the Treas9 ury not otherwise appropriated, as otherwise author10 ized by sections 102(b)(3) and 103(b)(2) of such 

11 Act. 

12 ‘‘(2) CONDITION ON AVAILABILITY.—OCS Re13 ceipts shall be available under paragraph (1) for a 

14 fiscal year only if— 

15 ‘‘(A) title I of the Secure Rural Schools 

16 and Community Self-Determination Act of 

17 2000 has been reauthorized through at least 

18 that fiscal year; and 

19 ‘‘(B) the authority to initiate projects 

20 under titles II and III of such Act has been ex21 tended through at least that fiscal year.’’. 

22 SEC. 31. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS TO BUY AND BUILD 

23 AMERICAN. 

24 (a) BUY AND BUILD AMERICAN.—It is the intention 

25 of the Congress that this Act, among other things, result 


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1 in a healthy and growing American industrial, manufac2 turing, transportation, and service sector employing the 

3 vast talents of America’s workforce to assist in the devel4 opment of affordable energy from the outer Continental 

5 Shelf. Moreover, the Congress intends to monitor the de6 ployment of personnel and material in the outer Conti7 nental Shelf to encourage the development of American 

8 technology and manufacturing to enable United States 

9 workers to benefit from this Act by good jobs and careers, 

10 as well as the establishment of important industrial facili11 ties to support expanded access to American resources. 

12 (b) SAFEGUARD FOR EXTRAORDINARY ABILITY.— 

13 Section 30(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

14 (43 U.S.C. 1356(a)) is amended in the matter preceding 

15 paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘regulations which’’ and insert16 ing ‘‘regulations that shall be supplemental and com17 plimentary with and under no circumstances a substi18 tution for the provisions of the Constitution and laws of 

19 the United States extended to the subsoil and seabed of 

20 the outer Continental Shelf pursuant to section 4(a)(1) 

21 of this Act, except insofar as such laws would otherwise 

22 apply to individuals who have extraordinary ability in the 

23 sciences, arts, education, or business, which has been dem24 onstrated by sustained national or international acclaim, 

25 and that’’. 


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1 SEC. 32. REPEAL OF THE GULF OF MEXICO ENERGY SECU2 RITY ACT OF 2006. 

3 The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 is 

4 repealed effective October 1, 2009. 

Æ 


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