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Union Calendar No. 37 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1231 

[Report No. 112–69] 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require that each 

5-year offshore oil and gas leasing program offer leasing in the areas 

with the most prospective oil and gas resources, to establish a domestic 

oil and natural gas production goal, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2011 

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington (for himself, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. 

LANDRY, Mr. FLORES, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. DUNCAN of South 

Carolina, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. 

GOHMERT, Mr. DENHAM, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, 

Mr. NUNES, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. GRIMM, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. ROSS of 

Florida, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mrs. MYRICK, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. 

POMPEO, Mr. OLSON, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. LONG, 

Mr. SIMPSON, Ms. JENKINS, Mr. KELLY, Mr. RIGELL, Mr. HELLER, 

Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. RIBBLE, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, and Mr. POSEY) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources 

MAY 2, 2011 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. STIVERS, Mrs. NOEM, Mr. TERRY, 

Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. LEWIS of California, Mr. NUNNELEE, 

Mr. MCKEON, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. KLINE, Mr. GOODLATTE, 

Mr. REHBERG, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. CANSECO, Mr. WOODALL, Mr. 

ROE of Tennessee, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

FINCHER, Mr. PAUL, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. 

PEARCE, Mr. PENCE, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. SCOTT of South 

Carolina, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. CARTER, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mrs. 

BACHMANN, Mrs. ELLMERS, Mr. AKIN, and Mr. CALVERT


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MAY 2, 2011 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Omit the part struck through] 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require 

that each 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing program 

offer leasing in the areas with the most prospective oil 

and gas resources, to establish a domestic oil and natural 

gas production goal, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Reversing President 

5 Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LEASING PROGRAM. 

7 Section 18(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

8 Act (43 U.S.C. 1344(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘(4)(A) In each oil and gas leasing program 

11 under this section, the Secretary shall make avail12 able for leasing and conduct lease sales including— 

13 ‘‘(i) at least 50 percent of the available un14 leased acreage within each outer Continental 

15 Shelf planning area considered to have the larg16 est undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 

17 gas resources (on a total btu basis) based upon 

18 the most recent national geologic assessment of 

19 the outer Continental Shelf, with an emphasis 

20 on offering the most geologically prospective 

21 parts of the planning area; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) any State subdivision of an outer 

23 Continental Shelf planning area that the Gov24 ernor of the State that represents that subdivi25 sion requests be made available for leasing. 


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1 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph the term ‘available un2 leased acreage’ means that portion of the outer Con3 tinental Shelf that is not under lease at the time of 

4 a proposed lease sale, and that has not otherwise 

5 been made unavailable for leasing by law. 

6 ‘‘(5)(A) In the 2012–2017 5-year oil and gas 

7 leasing program, the Secretary shall make available 

8 for leasing any outer Continental Shelf planning 

9 areas that— 

10 ‘‘(i) are estimated to contain more than 

11 2,500,000,000 barrels of oil; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) are estimated to contain more than 

13 7,500,000,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas. 

14 ‘‘(B) To determine the planning areas described 

15 in subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall use the 

16 document entitled ‘Minerals Management Service 

17 Assessment of Undiscovered Technically Recoverable 

18 Oil and Gas Resources of the Nation’s Outer Conti19 nental Shelf, 2006’.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. DOMESTIC OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION 

21 GOAL. 

22 Section 18(b) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

23 Act (43 U.S.C. 1344(b)) is amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(b) DOMESTIC OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUC25 TION GOAL.—– 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In developing a 5-year oil 

2 and gas leasing program, and subject to paragraph 

3 (2), the Secretary shall determine a domestic stra4 tegic production goal for the development of oil and 

5 natural gas as a result of that program. Such goal 

6 shall be— 

7 ‘‘(A) the best estimate of the possible in8 crease in domestic production of oil and natural 

9 gas from the outer Continental Shelf; 

10 ‘‘(B) focused on meeting domestic demand 

11 for oil and natural gas and reducing the de12 pendence of the United States on foreign en13 ergy; and 

14 ‘‘(C) focused on the production increases 

15 achieved by the leasing program at the end of 

16 the 15-year period beginning on the effective 

17 date of the program. 

18 ‘‘(2) 2012–2017 PROGRAM GOAL.—For pur19 poses of the 2012–2017 5-year oil and gas leasing 

20 program, the production goal referred to in para21 graph (1) shall be an increase by 2027 of— 

22 ‘‘(A) no less than 3,000,000 barrels in the 

23 amount of oil produced per day; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) no less than 10,000,000,000 cubic 

2 feet in the amount of natural gas produced per 

3 day. 

4 ‘‘(3) REPORTING.—The Secretary shall report 

5 annually, beginning at the end of the 5-year period 

6 for which the program applies, to the Committee on 

7 Natural Resources of the House of Representatives 

8 and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re9 sources of the Senate on the progress of the pro10 gram in meeting the production goal. The Secretary 

11 shall identify in the report projections for production 

12 and any problems with leasing, permitting, or pro13 duction that will prevent meeting the goal.’’. 

14 SEC. 4. SEISMIC SURVEYING PROMOTION. 

15 Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

16 (43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended by adding at the end the 

17 following new subsection: 

18 ‘‘(i) SEISMIC SURVEYING PROMOTION.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall issue 

20 regulations providing for— 

21 ‘‘(A) issuance by the Secretary of seismic 

22 surveying cost credits for the provision of data 

23 from seismic surveying of the outer Continental 

24 Shelf described in paragraph (2); and 


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1 ‘‘(B) use of such credits by a person to 

2 whom issued, or by a transferee under para3 graph (4) of whom the Secretary has received 

4 notice under that paragraph, for payment of 

5 bonus bids owed by the person or transferee, re6 spectively, for oil and gas lease sales under this 

7 section in the planning area where the seismic 

8 survey was conducted. 

9 ‘‘(2) ISSUANCE.—The regulations shall provide 

10 for the issuance of such credits upon the date of the 

11 submission to the Secretary of the data produced by 

12 seismic surveying authorized under section 11 of any 

13 area for which the most recent seismic data held by 

14 the Secretary at the time of the survey is 10 years 

15 of age or older. 

16 ‘‘(3) VALUE.—The value of such credits shall 

17 be equal to 50 percent of the costs incurred in con18 ducting seismic surveying to produce the data for 

19 which the credits are issued. 

20 ‘‘(4) TRANSFER.—A person to whom such a 

21 credit is issued by the Secretary may transfer the 

22 credit once, and shall notify the Secretary of such 

23 transfer. 


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1 ‘‘(5) EXPIRATION.—A seismic surveying cost 

2 credit shall expire 10 years after the date of the sub3 mission of the date for which the credit is issued.’’. 


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emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 37 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1231 

[Report No. 112–69] 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

goal, and for other purposes. tablish a domestic oil and natural gas production the most prospective oil and gas resources, to esleasing program offer leasing in the areas with to require that each 5-year offshore oil and gas 

MAY 2, 2011 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS