II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1279 

To provide for revenue sharing of qualified revenues from leases in the 

South Atlantic planning area, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 11, 2015 

Mr. WARNER (for himself, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. KAINE, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. PERDUE, 

and Mr. ISAKSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for revenue sharing of qualified revenues from 

leases in the South Atlantic planning area, 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 ‘‘Southern Atlantic En5 ergy Security Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

2 the Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Man3 agement. 

4 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

5 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

6 meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher 

7 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 

8 (3) QUALIFIED REVENUES.—The term ‘‘quali9 fied revenues’’ means all bonus bids, rentals, and 

10 royalties (and other sums) due and payable to the 

11 United States from all leases entered into after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act that cover an area in 

13 the South Atlantic planning area. 

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

15 the Secretary of the Interior. 

16 (5) SOUTH ATLANTIC PLANNING AREA.—The 

17 term ‘‘South Atlantic planning area’’ means the area 

18 of the outer Continental Shelf (as defined in section 

19 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 

20 U.S.C. 1331)) that is located between the northern 

21 lateral seaward administrative boundary of the Com22 monwealth of Virginia and the southernmost lateral 

23 seaward administrative boundary of the State of 

24 Georgia. 


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1 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 

2 the following States: 

3 (A) Georgia. 

4 (B) North Carolina. 

5 (C) South Carolina. 

6 (D) Virginia. 

7 SEC. 3. PRESERVING COASTAL VIEWSHEDS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Prior to conducting a lease sale 

9 authorized under this Act that would offer leases within 

10 30 nautical miles of the coastline, the Secretary shall con11 sult with the Governor of each potentially affected State 

12 to establish appropriate lease stipulations for the manage13 ment of the surface occupancy of the areas between the 

14 coastline and 30 nautical miles to mitigate any potential 

15 concerns regarding impacts to coastal viewsheds. 

16 (b) CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRODUCTION FACILI17 TIES.—The Secretary and the State shall consider— 

18 (1) restricting the installation of permanent 

19 surface production facilities above the waterline for 

20 the purpose of production of oil or gas resources in 

21 any area that is within 12 nautical miles seaward 

22 from the coastline of the State; 

23 (2) allowing only subsurface production facili24 ties to be installed in areas that are located between 

25 the point that is 12 nautical miles from seaward 


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1 from the coastline of the State and the point that 

2 is 30 nautical miles seaward from the coastline of 

3 the State. 

4 (c) DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION PLAN AP5 PROVAL.—If permanent surface facilities are proposed to 

6 be installed within 30 nautical miles of the coastline, the 

7 Secretary shall not grant approval of the development and 

8 production plan unless it is determined that the facility 

9 is designed so that the impacts on coastal viewsheds are 

10 minimized, to the maximum extent practicable. 

11 (d) ONSHORE ACCESS TO LEASES NOT RE12 STRICTED.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this 

13 section, onshore facilities associated with the drilling, de14 velopment, and production of the oil and gas resources of 

15 the South Atlantic planning area within 12 nautical miles 

16 seaward of the coastline of a State are allowed. 

17 (e) TEMPORARY ACTIVITIES NOT AFFECTED.—Noth18 ing described in subsection (a), (b), or (c) restricts, or 

19 gives the States authority to restrict, temporary surface 

20 activities related to operations associated with outer Conti21 nental Shelf oil and gas leases. 

22 SEC. 4. 2017–2022 LEASING PROGRAM. 

23 The Secretary shall— 

24 (1) include the South Atlantic planning area in 

25 the outer Continental Shelf leasing program for fisVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:20 May 14, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1279.IS S1279

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1 cal years 2017 through 2022 prepared under section 

2 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 

3 U.S.C. 1344); and 

4 (2) conduct in the South Atlantic planning 

5 area— 

6 (A) 1 lease sale during fiscal year 2021; 

7 and 

8 (B) 2 lease sales during fiscal year 2022. 

9 SEC. 5. BALANCING OF MILITARY AND ENERGY PRODUC10 TION GOALS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—In recognition that the outer Con12 tinental Shelf oil and gas leasing program and the domes13 tic energy resources produced under the program are inte14 gral to national security, the Secretary and the Secretary 

15 of Defense shall work jointly in implementing lease sales 

16 under this Act— 

17 (1) to preserve the ability of the Armed Forces 

18 of the United States to maintain an optimum state 

19 of readiness through continued use of the outer Con20 tinental Shelf; and 

21 (2) to allow effective exploration, development, 

22 and production of the oil, gas, and renewable energy 

23 resources of the United States. 

24 (b) PROHIBITION ON CONFLICTS WITH MILITARY

25 OPERATIONS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not 

2 make any tract available for lease under this Act if 

3 the President, in consultation with the Committees 

4 on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of 

5 Representatives, determines that the lease of that 

6 tract would conflict with military operations relating 

7 to national security. 

8 (2) ACTIONS BY PERSONS.—No person may en9 gage in any exploration, development, or production 

10 of oil or natural gas on the outer Continental Shelf 

11 under a lease issued under this Act that would con12 flict with any military operation, as determined in 

13 accordance with— 

14 (A) the agreement entitled ‘‘Memorandum 

15 of Agreement between the Department of De16 fense and the Department of the Interior on 

17 Mutual Concerns on the Outer Continental 

18 Shelf’’ and dated July 20, 1983; and 

19 (B) any revision or replacement for the 

20 agreement described in subparagraph (A) that 

21 is agreed to by the Secretary of Defense and 

22 the Secretary during the period beginning on 

23 July 21, 1983, and ending on the day before 

24 the date of issuance of the lease under which 


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1 the exploration, development, or production is 

2 conducted. 

3 SEC. 6. DISPOSITION OF REVENUES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 9 of the 

5 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1338), for 

6 each of fiscal years 2017 through 2022, the Secretary 

7 shall deposit— 

8 (1) 50 percent of any qualified revenues in the 

9 general fund of the Treasury; and 

10 (2) 50 percent of any qualified revenues in a 

11 special account in the Treasury from which the Sec12 retary shall disburse amounts to the States in ac13 cordance with subsection (b). 

14 (b) ALLOCATION TO STATES.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 

16 and (3), effective for each of fiscal years 2017 

17 through 2022, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

18 allocate the qualified revenues described in sub19 section (a)(2) to each State in amounts (based on a 

20 formula established by the Secretary, by regulation) 

21 that are inversely proportional to the respective dis22 tances between— 

23 (A) the point on the coastline of each State 

24 that is closest to the geographical center of the 

25 applicable leased tract; and 


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1 (B) the geographical center of that leased 

2 tract. 

3 (2) MINIMUM ALLOCATION.—The amount allo4 cated to a State for each fiscal year under para5 graph (1) shall be not less than 10 percent of the 

6 amounts available under subsection (a)(2). 

7 (3) MANDATE.—Of the amounts received by a 

8 State under paragraph (1), the State shall use, at 

9 the discretion of the Governor of the State— 

10 (A) 10 percent— 

11 (i) to enhance State land and water 

12 conservation efforts; 

13 (ii) to improve State public transpor14 tation projects; 

15 (iii) to establish alternative, renew16 able, and clean energy production and gen17 eration within each State; and 

18 (iv) to enhance beach nourishment 

19 and costal dredging; 

20 (B) 2.5 percent to enhance geological and 

21 geophysical education for the energy future of 

22 the United States in accordance with section 7. 


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1 SEC. 7. ENHANCING GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL EDU2 CATION FOR AMERICA’S ENERGY FUTURE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 

4 Director, shall partner with institutions of higher edu5 cation selected under subsection (c) to facilitate the prac6 tical study of geological and geophysical sciences of areas 

7 on the Atlantic region of the outer Continental Shelf and 

8 elsewhere on the Continental Shelf of the United States. 

9 (b) FOCUS.—Activities conducted by institutions of 

10 higher education under this section shall focus all geologi11 cal and geophysical scientific research on obtaining a bet12 ter understanding of hydrocarbon potential in the South 

13 Atlantic planning area while fostering the study of the ge14 ological and geophysical sciences at institutions of higher 

15 education in the United States. 

16 (c) SELECTION OF INSTITUTIONS.— 

17 (1) SELECTION.—Not later than 180 days after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Governor of 

19 each State may nominate for participation in a part20 nership— 

21 (A) 1 institution of higher education lo22 cated in the State; and 

23 (B) 1 institution of higher education that 

24 is a historically Black college or university (as 

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1 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1132(a))) lo2 cated in the State. 

3 (2) PREFERENCE.—In making nominations 

4 under paragraph (1), each Governor shall give pref5 erence to those institutions of higher education 

6 that— 

7 (A) demonstrate a vigorous rate of admis8 sions of veterans of the Armed Forces of the 

9 United States; and 

10 (B) meet the criteria described in para11 graph (3). 

12 (3) CRITERIA.—The Governor shall select as a 

13 partner any institution of higher education nomi14 nated under paragraph (1) that the Governor deter15 mines demonstrates excellence in 1 or more of the 

16 following criteria: 

17 (A) Geophysical sciences curriculum. 

18 (B) Engineering curriculum. 

19 (C) Information technology or other tech20 nical studies related to seismic research, includ21 ing data processing. 

22 (d) RESEARCH AUTHORITY.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para24 graph (2), an institution of higher education selected 

25 under subsection (c)(3) may conduct research under 


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1 this section on the expiration of the 30-day period 

2 beginning on the date on which the institution of 

3 higher education submits to the South Atlantic Re4 gional Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy 

5 Management a notice of the research. 

6 (2) PERMIT REQUIRED.—An institution of high7 er education may not conduct research under this 

8 section that uses any solid or liquid explosive, except 

9 as authorized by a permit issued by the Director. 

10 (e) DATA.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The geological and geo12 physical activities conducted under this section— 

13 (A) shall be considered to be scientific re14 search and data produced by the activities; 

15 (B) shall not be used or shared for com16 mercial purposes; 

17 (C) shall not be produced for proprietary 

18 use or sale; and 

19 (D) shall be made available by the Director 

20 to the public. 

21 (2) SUBMISSION OF DATA TO BOEM.—Not later 

22 than 60 days after completion of initial analysis of 

23 data collected under this section by an institution of 

24 higher education selected under subsection (c)(3), 

25 the institution of higher education shall share with 


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1 the Director any data collected requested by the Di2 rector. 

3 (3) FEES.—The Director may not charge any 

4 fee for the provision of data produced in research 

5 under this section, other than a data reprocessing 

6 fee to pay the cost of duplicating the data. 

7 (f) REPORT.—Not less frequently than once every 

8 180 days, the Director shall submit to the Committee on 

9 Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 

10 Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep11 resentatives a report on the data derived from partner12 ships under this section. 

13 SEC. 8. ATLANTIC REGIONAL OFFICE. 

14 Not later than the last day of the outer Continental 

15 Shelf leasing program for fiscal years 2012 through 2017 

16 prepared under section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf 

17 Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344), the Director shall establish 

18 an Atlantic regional office in an area that is— 

19 (1) included in the outer Continental Shelf leas20 ing program for fiscal years 2017 through 2022 pre21 pared under section 18 of that Act (43 U.S.C. 

22 1344); and 

23 (2) determined by the Director to have the 

24 highest potential for resource development. 

Æ 


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