I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1756 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct offshore oil and gas 

Lease Sale 220 as soon as practicable, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2017 

Mrs. COMSTOCK (for herself, Mr. WITTMAN, and Mr. GRIFFITH) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct offshore 

oil and gas Lease Sale 220 as soon as practicable, 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 ‘‘Virginia Jobs and En5 ergy Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LEASE SALE 220 AND OTHER OCS OIL AND GAS 

7 LEASE SALES OFFSHORE VIRGINIA. 

8 (a) CONDUCT OF LEASE SALE.—Notwithstanding 

9 any 5-year oil and gas leasing program in effect under 

10 section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 


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1 U.S.C. 1344), the Secretary of the Interior shall conduct 

2 lease sale 220 (as defined in the Draft Proposed Outer 

3 Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program 

4 for 2010–2015 as published in the Federal Register on 

5 January 21, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 3631)) under section 8 

6 of such Act (43 U.S.C. 1337) as soon as practicable, but 

7 not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

8 Act. 

9 (b) INCLUSION IN FUTURE LEASING PROGRAMS.— 

10 The Secretary of the Interior shall— 

11 (1) conduct at least 2 lease sales in the Virginia 

12 lease sale planning area during the effective period 

13 of the 2017–2022 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Pro14 gram; and 

15 (2) include at least 2 lease sales in the Virginia 

16 lease sale planning area in each 5-year oil and gas 

17 leasing program proposed after the date of the en18 actment of this Act. 

19 (c) NEPA EXCLUSION.—Section 102(2)(C) of the 

20 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 

21 4332(2)(C)) shall not apply with respect to any lease sale 

22 conducted under subsection (a) or subsection (b)(1). 

23 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF MILITARY OPERATIONS. 

24 (a) PROHIBITION.—No person may engage in any ex25 ploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas 


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1 off the coast of Virginia that would conflict with any mili2 tary operation, as determined in accordance with the 

3 Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of 

4 Defense and the Department of the Interior on Mutual 

5 Concerns on the Outer Continental Shelf signed July 20, 

6 1983, and any revision or replacement for that agreement 

7 that is agreed to by the Secretary of Defense and the Sec8 retary of the Interior after that date but before the date 

9 of issuance of the lease under which such exploration, de10 velopment, or production is conducted. 

11 (b) REVIEW AND UPDATING OF MOA.—The Sec12 retary of the Interior and the Secretary of Defense shall 

13 periodically review and revise such memorandum of agree14 ment to account for new offshore energy production tech15 nologies, including those that use wind energy. 

16 SEC. 4. DISPOSITION OF REVENUE. 

17 (a) PAYMENT OF COVERED LEASING REVENUES TO

18 STATES.—Notwithstanding section 9 of the Outer Conti19 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1338), of the amount 

20 of covered leasing revenues received by the United States 

21 each fiscal year under any lease in the Virginia lease sale 

22 planning area, 37.5 percent shall be allocated and paid 

23 in accordance with subsection (b) to States that are af24 fected States with respect to the leases under which those 

25 revenues are received by the United States. 


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1 (b) ALLOCATION OF PAYMENTS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of covered leas3 ing revenues received by the United States with re4 spect to a leased tract that are required to be paid 

5 to States in accordance with this subsection each fis6 cal year shall be allocated among and paid to af7 fected States that are within 200 miles of the leased 

8 tract, in amounts that are inversely proportional to 

9 the respective distances between the point on the 

10 coastline of each such affected State that is closest 

11 to the geographic center of the lease tract, as deter12 mined by the Secretary. 

13 (2) MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM ALLOCATION.— 

14 The amount allocated to a State under paragraph 

15 (1) each fiscal year with respect to a leased tract 

16 shall be— 

17 (A) in the case of a State that is the near18 est State to the geographic center of the leased 

19 tract, not less than 25 percent of the total 

20 amounts allocated with respect to the leased 

21 tract; and 

22 (B) in the case of any other State, not less 

23 than 10 percent, and not more than 15 percent, 

24 of the total amounts allocated with respect to 

25 the leased tract. 


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1 (3) ADMINISTRATION.—Amounts allocated to a 

2 State under this subsection— 

3 (A) shall be available to the State without 

4 further appropriation; 

5 (B) shall remain available until expended; 

6 and 

7 (C) shall be in addition to any other 

8 amounts available to the State under the Outer 

9 Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 

10 et seq.). 

11 (4) USE OF FUNDS.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

13 subparagraph (B), a State may use funds allo14 cated and paid to it under this subsection for 

15 any purpose as determined by the laws of that 

16 State. 

17 (B) RESTRICTION ON USE FOR MATCH18 ING.—Funds allocated and paid to a State 

19 under this subsection may not be used as 

20 matching funds for any other Federal program. 

21 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) AFFECTED STATE.—The term ‘‘affected 

23 State’’ has the meaning that term has under section 

24 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 

25 U.S.C. 1331). 


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1 (2) COVERED LEASING REVENUES.—The term 

2 ‘‘covered leasing revenues’’ means amounts received 

3 by the United States as bonuses, rents, and royalties 

4 under leases for oil and gas, wind, tidal, or other en5 ergy exploration, development, and production under 

6 any lease in the Virginia lease sale planning area. 

7 SEC. 5. OFFSHORE METEOROLOGICAL SITE TESTING AND 

8 MONITORING PROJECTS. 

9 (a) OFFSHORE METEOROLOGICAL PROJECT PERMIT10 TING.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Inte12 rior shall by regulation require that any applicant 

13 seeking to conduct an offshore meteorological site 

14 testing and monitoring project on the outer Conti15 nental Shelf (as that term is defined in the Outer 

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

17 seq.)) must obtain a permit and right of way for the 

18 project in accordance with this subsection. 

19 (2) PERMIT AND RIGHT-OF-WAY TIMELINE AND

20 CONDITIONS.— 

21 (A) DEADLINE FOR APPROVAL.—The Sec22 retary shall decide whether to issue a permit 

23 and right of way for an offshore meteorological 

24 site testing and monitoring project within 30 

25 days after receiving an application. 


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1 (B) PUBLIC COMMENT AND CONSULTA2 TION.—During the period referred to in sub3 paragraph (A), the Secretary shall— 

4 (i) provide an opportunity for submis5 sion of comments by the public; and 

6 (ii) consult with the Secretary of De7 fense, the Commandant of the Coast 

8 Guard, and the heads of other Federal, 

9 State, and local agencies that would be af10 fected by issuance of the permit and right 

11 of way. 

12 (C) DENIAL OF PERMIT; OPPORTUNITY TO

13 REMEDY DEFICIENCIES.—If the application is 

14 denied, the Secretary shall provide the appli15 cant— 

16 (i) in writing, clear and comprehensive 

17 reasons why the application was not ap18 proved and detailed information concerning 

19 any deficiencies in the application; and 

20 (ii) an opportunity to remedy such de21 ficiencies. 

22 (b) NEPA EXCLUSION.—Section 102(2)(C) of the 

23 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 

24 4332(2)(C)) shall not apply with respect to an offshore 

25 meteorological site testing and monitoring project. 


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1 (c) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—The informa2 tion provided to the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to 

3 subsection (d)(3) shall be treated by the Secretary as pro4 prietary information and protected against disclosure. 

5 (d) DEFINITION OF AN OFFSHORE METEOROLOG6 ICAL SITE TESTING AND MONITORING PROJECT.—In this 

7 section, the term ‘‘offshore meteorological site testing and 

8 monitoring project’’ means a project carried out on or in 

9 the waters of the Outer Continental Shelf administered 

10 by the Department of the Interior to test or monitor 

11 weather (including wind, tidal, current, and solar energy) 

12 using towers, buoys, or other temporary ocean infrastruc13 ture, that— 

14 (1) causes— 

15 (A) less than 1 acre of surface or seafloor 

16 disruption at the location of each meteorological 

17 tower or other device; and 

18 (B) not more than 5 acres of surface or 

19 seafloor disruption within the proposed area af20 fected by the project (including hazards to navi21 gation); 

22 (2) is decommissioned not more than 5 years 

23 after the date of commencement of the project, in24 cluding— 


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1 (A) removal of towers, buoys, or other tem2 porary ocean infrastructure from the project 

3 site; and 

4 (B) restoration of the project site to ap5 proximately the original condition of the site; 

6 and 

7 (3) provides meteorological information ob8 tained by the project to the Secretary of the Inte9 rior. 

10 SEC. 6. DEFINITION OF VIRGINIA LEASE SALE PLANNING 

11 AREA. 

12 In this Act, the term ‘‘Virginia lease sale planning 

13 area’’ means the area of the outer Continental Shelf (as 

14 that term is defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

15 Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.)) that has— 

16 (1) a boundary consisting of a straight line ex17 tending from the northernmost point of Virginia’s 

18 seaward boundary to the point on the seaward 

19 boundary of the United States exclusive economic 

20 zone located at 37 degrees 17 minutes 1 second 

21 North latitude, 71 degrees 5 minutes 16 seconds 

22 West longitude; and 

23 (2) a southern boundary consisting of a straight 

24 line extending from the southernmost point of Vir25 ginia’s seaward boundary to the point on the seaVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 31, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1756.IH H1756

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1 ward boundary of the United States exclusive eco2 nomic zone located at 36 degrees 31 minutes 58 sec3 onds North latitude, 71 degrees 30 minutes 1 second 

4 West longitude. 

5 SEC. 7. CLARIFICATIONS WITH RESPECT TO EXISTING EX6 ECUTIVE AUTHORITIES. 

7 Subsection (a) of section 12 of the Outer Continental 

8 Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1341) is amended to read as 

9 follows: 

10 ‘‘(a) EXECUTIVE AUTHORITIES WITH RESPECT TO

11 UNLEASED LANDS.—The President may make, modify, 

12 extend, or revoke withdrawals from disposition of any of 

13 the unleased lands of the outer Continental Shelf.’’. 

Æ 


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