I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4749 

To suspend the application of any provision of Federal law under which 

persons are relieved from the requirement to pay royalties for production 

of oil or natural gas from Federal lands in periods of high oil and 

natural gas prices, to require the Secretary to seek to renegotiate existing 

oil and natural gas leases to similarly limit suspension of royalty obligations under such leases, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2006 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, 

Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. PALLONE, and Mr. 

GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL 

To suspend the application of any provision of Federal law 

under which persons are relieved from the requirement 

to pay royalties for production of oil or natural gas 

from Federal lands in periods of high oil and natural 

gas prices, to require the Secretary to seek to renegotiate 

existing oil and natural gas leases to similarly limit suspension of royalty obligations under such leases, 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, 
2 

•HR 4749 IH 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Royalty Relief for 

3 American Consumers Act of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO SUSPEND ROYALTY RELIEF. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT TO SUSPEND.—The Secretary of 

6 the Interior shall suspend the application of any provision 

7 of Federal law under which any person is given relief from 

8 any requirement to pay royalty for production oil or nat9 ural gas from Federal lands (including submerged lands), 

10 for production occurring in any period after the date of 

11 the enactment of this Act with respect to which— 

12 (1) in the case of production of oil, the average 

13 price of crude oil in the United States over the most 

14 recent 4 consecutive weeks is greater than $34.71 

15 per barrel; and 

16 (2) in the case of production of natural gas, the 

17 average wellhead price of natural gas in the United 

18 States over the most recent 4 consecutive weeks is 

19 greater than $4.34 per thousand cubic feet. 

20 (b) DETERMINATION OF MARKET PRICE.—The Sec21 retary shall determine average prices for purposes of sub22 section (a) based on the most recent data reported by the 

23 Energy Information Administration of the Department of 

24 Energy. 
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•HR 4749 IH 

1 SEC. 3. RENEGOTIATION OF EXISTING LEASES. 

2 (a) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior 

3 shall seek to renegotiate each existing lease authorizing 

4 production of oil or natural gas on Federal land (including 

5 submerged land) that was issued by the Department of 

6 the Interior before the date of the enactment of this Act 

7 as necessary to modify the terms of such lease to ensure 

8 that any suspension of a requirement to pay royalties 

9 under such lease does not apply to production referred to 

10 in section 2(a). 

11 (b) FAILURE TO RENEGOTIATE AND MODIFY.—After 

12 the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of the 

13 enactment of this Act, a person who is a lessee under an 

14 existing lease referred to in subsection (a) shall not be eli15 gible to enter into any new lease that authorizes produc16 tion of oil or natural gas on Federal land (including sub17 merged land), and shall not be eligible to obtain by sale 

18 or other transfer any lease issued before the end of such 

19 period, unless such person renegotiates such existing lease 

20 and enters into an agreement with the Secretary that 

21 modifies the terms of the existing lease as provided in sub22 section (a). 

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