II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1623 

To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new Federal oil and 

gas leases to holders of existing leases who do not diligently develop 

the land subject to the existing leases or relinquish the leases, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 6, 2009 

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. DODD, and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new 

Federal oil and gas leases to holders of existing leases 

who do not diligently develop the land subject to the 

existing leases or relinquish the leases, 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 ‘‘Responsible Federal 

5 Oil and Gas Lease Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ISSUANCE OF NEW LEASES. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) LESSEE.—The term ‘‘lessee’’ includes any 

2 person or other entity that controls, is controlled by, 

3 or is in or under common control with, a lessee. 

4 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of the Interior. 

6 (b) LEASES.—Effective beginning on the date of pro7 mulgation of regulations under subsection (c), the Sec8 retary shall not issue any new lease that authorizes the 

9 exploration for or production of oil or natural gas under 

10 section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (33 U.S.C. 226), 

11 the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 

12 351 et seq.), or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

13 (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) to a person unless the person— 

14 (1) certifies for each existing lease under those 

15 Acts for the production of oil or gas with respect to 

16 which the person is a lessee, that the person has dili17 gently developed the Federal land that is subject to 

18 the lease in order to produce oil or natural gas or 

19 is producing oil or natural gas from the land; or 

20 (2) has relinquished all Federal oil and gas 

21 leases under which oil and gas is not being diligently 

22 developed. 

23 (c) DILIGENT DEVELOPMENT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

25 after the date of enactment of this Act, the SecVerDate Nov 24 2008 22:05 Aug 07, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1623.IS S1623

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1 retary shall promulgate regulations that define ‘‘dili2 gently developed’’ for purposes of this section. 

3 (2) REGULATIONS.—The regulations shall— 

4 (A) include benchmarks for oil and gas de5 velopment that will ensure that leaseholders 

6 produce oil and gas from each lease within the 

7 original term of the lease; and 

8 (B) require each leaseholder to submit to 

9 the Secretary a diligent development plan dem10 onstrating how the lessee will meet the bench11 marks. 

12 (d) FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH REQUIREMENTS.— 

13 Any person that fails to comply with this section (includ14 ing any regulation or order issued under this section) shall 

15 be liable for a civil penalty under the terms and conditions 

16 of section 109 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Man17 agement Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1719). 

Æ 


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