I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 584

Imposing certain restrictions and requirements on the leasing of lands offshore

Florida under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 26, 1993

Mr. GOSS (for himself, Ms. THURMAN, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr.

BILIRAKIS, Mr. BACCHUS of Florida, Ms. MEEK, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN,

Mr. DEUTSCH, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, and Mr.

SHAW) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on Natural Resources and Merchant Marine and Fisheries

A BILL

Imposing certain restrictions and requirements on the leasing

of lands offshore Florida under the Outer Continental

Shelf Lands Act, 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. RELATIONSHIP TO OUTER CONTINENTAL

4 SHELF LEASING PROGRAM AND EXISTING

5 LAW.

6 (a) RELATIONSHIP TO OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF

7 LEASING PROGRAM.—Notwithstanding the Outer Con8 tinental Shelf Leasing Program maintained by the Sec-
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1 retary pursuant to section 18 of the Outer Continental

2 Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) or any lease sale sched3 ule contained in a specific leasing program thereunder, the

4 Secretary shall carry out such program consistent with the

5 provisions of this Act.

6 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING LAW.—Except as

7 otherwise specifically provided in this Act, nothing in this

8 Act shall be construed to affect the application of other

9 Federal law to activities conducted on the Outer Continen10 tal Shelf.

11 SEC. 2. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LEASING ENVIRON12 MENTAL SCIENCES REVIEW.

13 (a) ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES REVIEW PANEL.—

14 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—An environmental

15 sciences review panel shall be established for the

16 areas of the Outer Continental Shelf that are off17 shore Florida.

18 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the review

19 panel established under paragraph (1) shall be—

20 (A) to assess the adequacy of available

21 physical oceanographic, ecological, and socio22 economic information in enabling the Secretary

23 to carry out his responsibilities under the Outer

24 Continental Shelf Lands Act with respect to au25 thorizing—
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1 (i) leasing and exploration; and

2 (ii) development and production,

3 in the area covered by such review panel;

4 (B) if such available information is not

5 adequate for such purposes, to identify the ad6 ditional studies required to obtain such infor7 mation;

8 (C) to identify the potential physical ocean9 ographic, ecological, and socioeconomic impacts

10 of exploration and development in the area cov11 ered by such review panel;

12 (D) to provide for and supervise the peer

13 review, by qualified scientists not employed by

14 the Federal Government, of the proposed stud15 ies identified under subparagraph (B) before

16 their submission to the Secretary and separate

17 reviews of each research proposal designed to

18 implement those studies; and

19 (E) to report to the Secretary on its find20 ings and recommendations under this para21 graph.

22 (3) MEMBERSHIP.—The review panel estab23 lished under paragraph (1) shall consist of—

24 (A) one representative each from the Envi25 ronmental Protection Agency, the Minerals
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1 Management Service, the National Oceanic and

2 Atmospheric Administration, and the United

3 States Fish and Wildlife Service;

4 (B) four representatives from the State of

5 Florida approved by the Governor of such

6 State; and

7 (C) three members appointed by the Sec8 retary of Commerce from a list of individuals

9 nominated by the National Academy of Sciences

10 who are professional scientists in the fields of

11 physical oceanography, marine ecology, and so12 cial science.

13 (4) COMPENSATION.—(A) Members of the re14 view panel appointed under paragraph (3)(C), while

15 performing official duties under this Act shall re16 ceive compensation for travel and transportation ex17 penses under section 5703 of title 5, United States

18 Code.

19 (B) Members of the review panel appointed

20 under paragraph (3)(C) may be compensated at a

21 rate to be fixed by the Secretary of Commerce, but

22 not in excess of the maximum rate of pay for grade

23 GS–18 provided in the General Schedule under sec24 tion 5332 of title 5, United States Code, for each
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1 day such member spends performing the duties of

2 the panel.

3 (b) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall,

4 after consideration of the findings and recommendations

5 of the review panel established under subsection (a), sub6 mit a report to the Congress—

7 (1) certifying that the physical oceanographic,

8 ecological, and socioeconomic information available is

9 sufficient to enable the Secretary to carry out his re10 sponsibilities under the Outer Continental Shelf

11 Lands Act with respect to authorizing leasing and

12 development in the area covered by such review

13 panel; and

14 (2) including a detailed explanation of any dif15 ferences between such certification and the findings

16 and recommendations of the review panel, along with

17 a detailed justification for each such difference.

18 (c) LEASING CONSIDERATIONS.—The Secretary

19 shall, in determining whether to lease any area described

20 in subsection (a)(1)—

21 (1) consider the findings and recommendations

22 of the review panel established under subsection (a);

23 and
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1 (2) to the extent that the Secretary disagrees

2 with such findings and recommendations, provide

3 substantial evidence for such disagreement.

4 SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS.

5 (a) GENERAL RULE.—In the areas described in sec6 tion 2(a)(1), the following restrictions and requirements

7 shall apply:

8 (1) No preleasing activity shall be conducted

9 before the issuance of the first final 5-year leasing

10 plan under section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf

11 Lands Act after January 1, 2002.

12 (2) No lease sale shall be held until after the

13 expiration of 45 days of continuous session of Con14 gress after the Secretary submits a report with re15 spect to the area under section 2(b).

16 (b) SPECIFIC PROVISIONS.—(1) In the Eastern Gulf

17 of Mexico Planning Area north of 26 degrees north lati18 tude and east of the lateral seaward boundary between the

19 States of Florida and Alabama, no exploration or develop20 ment plans or permits to drill shall be approved for any

21 lease in existence on the date of enactment of this Act

22 until after January 1, 2002.

23 (2) In the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area off24 shore Florida, south of 26 degrees north latitude and east

25 of 86 degrees west longitude—
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1 (A) studies to acquire the information found in2 adequate by the National Research Council’s report

3 shall be completed prior to any lease sale held after

4 January 1, 2002; and

5 (B)(i) notwithstanding the requirements of sec6 tion 5(a)(2) (A) and (B) of the Outer Continental

7 Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1334(a)(2) (A) and

8 (B)), the Secretary, within 90 days after the date of

9 enactment of this Act, shall cancel any active leases

10 in the area;

11 (ii) before the cancellation required under

12 clause (i), no exploration or development plans or

13 permits to drill shall be approved for any such lease

14 in existence on the date of enactment of this Act;

15 and

16 (iii) compensation to lessees owning leases that

17 are canceled under clause (i) shall be determined

18 under section 5(a)(2) (C) and (D) of the Outer Con19 tinental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1334(a)(2) (C)

20 and (D)).

21 (c) CONTINUOUS SESSION OF CONGRESS.—In com22 puting any 45-day period of continuous session of Con23 gress under this section—

24 (1) continuity of session is broken only by an

25 adjournment of the Congress sine die; and
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1 (2) the days on which either House of Congress

2 is not in session because of an adjournment of more

3 than 3 days to a day certain are excluded.

4 SEC. 4. ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES.

5 Section 20(a)(1) of the Outer Continental Shelf

6 Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1346(a)(1)) is amended by adding

7 at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Such study shall

8 include an assessment of the adequacy of available phys9 ical oceanographic, ecological, and socioeconomic informa10 tion.’’.

11 SEC. 5. ADEQUACY OF INFORMATION.

12 Section 20 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act

13 (43 U.S.C. 1346) is amended by adding at the end the

14 following new subsection:

15 ‘‘(g) ADEQUACY OF INFORMATION.—For the pur16 poses of this section, the term ‘adequacy’ means suffi17 ciently complete to enable necessary decisions to be made

18 under this Act, and of sufficient quality to be repeatable,

19 reliable, and valid in measurements and analysis with ap20 propriate methods and subject.’’.

21 SEC. 6. COMPENSATION FOR LEASE BUYBACKS.

22 Section 5(a)(2) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands

23 Act (43 U.S.C. 1334(a)(2)) is amended—

24 (1) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara25 graph (C); and
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1 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub2 paragraph:

3 ‘‘(D) that compensation a lessee is entitled

4 to receive under subparagraph (C) may be

5 made in the form of currency, forgiveness of the

6 lessee’s obligation to pay rents or royalties

7 which would otherwise be paid to the Federal

8 Government on another lease issued pursuant

9 to this Act, or a combination of currency with

10 such forgiveness.’’.

11 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

12 For the purposes of this Act—

13 (1) terms defined in the Outer Continental

14 Shelf Lands Act have the meaning given such terms

15 in that Act;

16 (2) references to specific Outer Continental

17 Shelf planning areas shall be to areas so designated

18 in the Department of the Interior Outer Continental

19 Shelf Natural Gas and Oil Resource Management

20 Comprehensive Program 1992–1997 Proposal, dated

21 July 1991;

22 (3) the term ‘‘adequate’’ means sufficiently

23 complete to enable necessary decisions to be made

24 under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and

25 of sufficient scientific quality to be repeatable, reli-
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1 able, and valid in measurements and analysis with

2 appropriate methods and subject;

3 (4) the term ‘‘National Research Council’s re4 port’’ means the report entitled ‘‘The Adequacy of

5 Environmental Information for Outer Continental

6 Shelf Oil and Gas Decisions: Florida and California’’

7 issued in 1989 by the Council’s Committee to Re8 view the Outer Continental Shelf Environmental

9 Studies Program and supported by the President’s

10 Outer Continental Shelf Leasing and Development

11 Task Force through Department of the Interior

12 Contract No. 1435000130495; and

13 (5) the term ‘‘preleasing activities’’ means ac14 tivities conducted before a lease sale is held, and in15 cludes the scheduling of a lease, requests for indus16 try interest, calls for information and nominations,

17 area identifications, publication of draft or final en18 vironmental impact statements, notices of sale, and

19 any form of rotary drilling; but such term does not

20 include environmental, geologic, geophysical, eco21 nomic, engineering, or other scientific analyses, stud22 ies, and evaluations.

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