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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1280 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1280

    To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish an annual 
 production incentive fee with respect to Federal onshore and offshore 
 land that is subject to a lease for production of oil or natural gas 
    under which production is not occurring, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 11, 2015

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish an annual 
 production incentive fee with respect to Federal onshore and offshore 
 land that is subject to a lease for production of oil or natural gas 
    under which production is not occurring, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States Exploration on Idle 
Tracts Act'' or the ``USE IT Act''.

SEC. 2. PRODUCTION INCENTIVE FEE.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior (referred 
        to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall issue 
        regulations to establish an annual production incentive fee 
        with respect to Federal onshore and offshore land that is 
        subject to a lease for production of oil or natural gas under 
        which production is not occurring.
            (2) Application.--The annual production incentive fee 
        described in paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to land 
        that is subject to a lease described in paragraph (1) that is--
                    (A) in effect on the date on which final 
                regulations are issued pursuant to this subsection; or
                    (B) executed after that date.
    (b) Amount.--For each acre of land from which oil or natural gas is 
produced for less than 90 days in a calendar year, the amount of the 
fee shall be--
            (1) in the case of onshore land--
                    (A) for each of the first 3 years of the lease, $4 
                per acre (in 2015 dollars);
                    (B) for the fourth year of the lease, $6 per acre 
                (in 2015 dollars); and
                    (C) for the fifth year of the lease and each year 
                thereafter for which the lease is otherwise in effect, 
                $8 per acre (in 2015 dollars); and
            (2) in the case of offshore land--
                    (A) for each of the third, fourth, and fifth years 
                of the lease, $4 per acre (in 2015 dollars);
                    (B) for the sixth year of the lease, $6 per acre 
                (in 2015 dollars); and
                    (C) for the seventh year of the lease and each year 
                thereafter for which the lease is otherwise in effect, 
                $8 per acre (in 2015 dollars).
    (c) Assessment and Collection.--The Secretary shall assess and 
collect the fee established under this section.
    (d) Deposit.--Amounts received by the Secretary for the fee under 
this section shall be reserved for the Secretary for expenditures on 
inspection, enforcement, and permitting relating to oil and gas.
    (e) Regulations.--The Secretary may issue regulations to prevent 
evasion of the fee under this section.
                                 <all>
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