II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1637

To provide a more effective, efficient, and responsive Department of the

Interior.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 8 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

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

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To provide a more effective, efficient, and responsive

Department of the Interior.

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 referred to as the ‘‘Department of

5 the Interior Reform and Savings Act of 1993’’.
2

S 1637 IS

1 TITLE I—IMPROVE THE

2 FEDERAL HELIUM PROGRAM

3 SEC. 101. AMENDMENTS TO HELIUM ACT AMENDMENTS OF

4 1960.

5 (a) Section 4 of the Helium Act Amendments of 1960

6 (74 Stat. 920, 50 U.S.C. 167b) is amended to insert after

7 ‘‘lands acquired, leased, or reserved;’’ the following: ‘‘re8 duce costs and increase operational efficiencies, especially

9 in operations that do not produce revenue; establish and

10 adjust fees charged private industry for storage, trans11 mission, and withdrawal of privately-owned helium from

12 Government storage facilities to compensate fully for all

13 costs incurred;’’.

14 (b) Section 6 of the Helium Act Amendments of 1960

15 (74 Stat. 921, 50 U.S.C. 167d) is amended—

16 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read:

17 ‘‘(b) The Secretary is authorized to sell helium for

18 Federal, medical, scientific, and commercial uses in such

19 quantities and under such terms and conditions as the

20 Secretary determines. Sales shall be made in quantities

21 and a manner to avoid undue disruption of the usual mar22 kets of producers, processors, and consumers of helium

23 and to protect the United States against avoidable loss.’’;

24 and

25 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read:
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S 1637 IS

1 ‘‘(c) Sales of helium by the Secretary shall be at

2 prices, as established by the Secretary, that are adequate

3 to cover all costs incurred in carrying out the provisions

4 of this Act. Helium shall be sold at prices comparable to

5 helium sold by private industry. An annual review of price

6 comparability shall be made and adjustments shall be

7 made accordingly.’’.

8 SEC. 102. LONG-TERM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.

9 The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare and de10 velop a long-term, comprehensive plan to (1) cancel the

11 outstanding debt owed to the Treasury by the Department

12 of the Interior related to the Federal helium program; and

13 (2) improve Federal helium program operations over a

14 multi-year period. The plan should analyze various options

15 to accomplish (1) and (2) above, with emphasis on ways

16 to minimize adverse impacts on Federal employment, Fed17 eral helium purchasers, and U.S. private sector helium

18 markets. The plan, with the Secretary’s preferred options,

19 shall be presented to the President within 4 months of

20 enactment of this Act. The President may adopt the plan,

21 in whole or in part, and is authorized to cancel the out22 standing debt upon a finding that such debt cancellation

23 is in the national interest.
4

S 1637 IS

1 TITLE II—IMPROVE MINERALS

2 MANAGEMENT SERVICE ROY3 ALTY COLLECTION

4 SEC. 201. IMPROVEMENT OF MINERALS MANAGEMENT

5 SERVICE ROYALTY COLLECTION.

6 (a) The Secretary of the Interior shall, by fiscal year

7 1995, direct the Minerals Management Service, Royalty

8 Management Program, to develop and implement (1) an

9 automated business information system to provide to its

10 auditors a lease history that includes reference, royalty,

11 production, financial, compliance history, pricing and valu12 ation, and other information; (2) the optimum methods

13 to identify and resolve anomalies and to verify that royal14 ties are paid correctly; (3) a more efficient and cost-effec15 tive royalty collection process by instituting new compli16 ance and enforcement measures, including assessments

17 and penalties for erroneous reporting and underreporting;

18 and (4) such other actions as may be necessary to reduce

19 royalty underpayment and increase revenue to the U.S.

20 Treasury by an estimated total of $28 million by fiscal

21 year 1999.

22 (b) The Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management

23 Act of 1982 (Public Law No. 97–451), (30 U.S.C. 1701

24 et seq.) is amended by adding a new subsection 111(h)

25 as follows:
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S 1637 IS

1 ‘‘PENALTY ASSESSMENT FOR SUBSTANTIAL

2 UNDERREPORTING OF ROYALTY’’

3 ‘‘SEC. 111. (h)(1) If there is any underreporting of

4 royalty owned on production from any lease issued or ad5 ministered by the Secretary for the production of oil, gas,

6 coal, any other mineral, or geothermal steam, from any

7 Federal or Indian lands or the Outer Continental Shelf,

8 for any production month, by any person who is respon9 sible for paying royalty, the Secretary may assess a pen10 alty of 10 percent of the amount of that underreporting.

11 ‘‘(2) If there is a substantial underreporting of roy12 alty owed on production from any lease issued or adminis13 tered by the Secretary for the production of oil, gas, coal,

14 any other mineral, or geothermal steam, from any Federal

15 or Indian lands or the Outer Continental Shelf, for any

16 production month, by any person who is responsible for

17 paying royalty, the Secretary may access a penalty of 20

18 percent of the amount of that substantial underreporting.

19 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this section, the term

20 ‘undereporting’ means the difference between the royalty

21 on the value of the production which should have been re22 ported and the royalty on the value of the production

23 which was reported, if the value of the production which

24 should have been reported is greater than the value of the

25 production which was reported. An underreporting con26 stitutes a ‘substantial underreporting’ if such difference
6

S 1637 IS

1 exceeds 10 percent of the royalty on the value of the pro2 duction which should have been reported.

3 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall not impose the assessment

4 provided in paragraphs (1) or (2) if the person corrects

5 the underreporting before the date the person receives no6 tice from the Secretary that an underreporting may have

7 occurred, or before 90 days after the date of enactment

8 of this section, whichever is later.

9 ‘‘(5) The Secretary shall waive any portion of an as10 sessment provided in paragraphs (1) or (2) attributable

11 to that portion of the underreporting for which the person

12 demonstrates that—

13 ‘‘(i) the person had written authorization from

14 the Secretary to report royalty on the value of the

15 production on the basis on which it was reported, or

16 ‘‘(ii) the person had substantial authority for

17 reporting royalty on the value of the production on

18 the basis on which it was reported, or

19 ‘‘(iii) the person previously had notified the

20 Secretary, in such manner as the Secretary may by

21 rule prescribe, of relevant reasons or facts affecting

22 the royalty treatment of specific production which

23 led to the underreporting, or

24 ‘‘(iv) the person meets any other exception

25 which the Secretary may, by rule, establish.
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1 ‘‘(6) All penalties collected under this subsection shall

2 be deposited to the same accounts in the Treasury or paid

3 to the same recipients in the same manner as the royalty

4 with respect to which such penalty is paid.’’.

5 TITLE III—PHASE OUT THE

6 MINERAL INSTITUTE PROGRAM

7 SEC. 301. PHASE OUT OF MINERAL INSTITUTE PROGRAM.

8 The Secretary of the Interior, beginning in fiscal year

9 1995, shall take action to phase out the Mining and Min10 eral Resources Research Institute Act of 1984, Public Law

11 98–409, as amended (98 Stat. 1536 through 1541 and

12 102 Stat. 2339 through 2341, 30 U.S.C. 1221 through

13 1230). There are hereby authorized to be appropriated

14 under the Act the following amounts: fiscal year 1995—

15 $6.5 million; fiscal year 1996—$5 million; fiscal year

16 1997—$3 million; and fiscal year 1998—$1.5 million. No

17 further appropriations for this Act are authorized after

18 September 30, 1998.

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