II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3284 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to provide for the inclusion 

of areas off the coast of South Carolina in the outer Continental Shelf 

leasing program for fiscal years 2012 through 2017, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2012 

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

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to provide 

for the inclusion of areas off the coast of South Carolina 

in the outer Continental Shelf leasing program for fiscal 

years 2012 through 2017, 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 ‘‘South Carolina Off5 shore Drilling Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF OIL AND GAS LEAS2 ING OFF THE COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

3 Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

4 (43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(i) LEASING OFF THE COAST OF SOUTH CARO7 LINA.— 

8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

9 ‘‘(A) QUALIFIED REVENUES.—The term 

10 ‘qualified revenues’ means all rentals, royalties, 

11 bonus bids, and other sums due and payable to 

12 the United States under a lease sale conducted 

13 under this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(B) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means the 

15 State of South Carolina. 

16 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF LEASE SALES.—The 

17 Secretary shall include in the schedule of proposed 

18 lease sales under the outer Continental Shelf leasing 

19 program for fiscal years 2012 through 2017 pre20 pared under this section any areas located within the 

21 administrative boundaries of the State that are more 

22 than 50 miles off the coast of the State. 

23 ‘‘(3) LEASING OF ADDITIONAL AREAS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) PETITION.—The Governor of South 

25 Carolina, with the concurrence of the State leg26 islature, may submit to the Secretary a petition 


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1 requesting that the Secretary make available for 

2 leasing any portion of the area within the ad3 ministrative boundaries of the State that is 

4 more than 10, but less than 50, miles off the 

5 coast of the State. 

6 ‘‘(B) ACTION BY SECRETARY.—Notwith7 standing any other provision of law, the Sec8 retary shall— 

9 ‘‘(i) not later than 90 days after the 

10 date of receipt of a petition under subpara11 graph (A), approve the petition; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) on approval of the petition, make 

13 the area available for leasing in accordance 

14 with this subsection and any other applica15 ble provision of law. 

16 ‘‘(C) FAILURE TO ACT.—If the Secretary 

17 fails to approve a petition in accordance with 

18 subparagraph (B), the petition shall be consid19 ered to be approved as of the date that is 90 

20 days after the date of receipt of the petition. 

21 ‘‘(D) TREATMENT.—Not later than 180 

22 days after the date on which a petition is ap23 proved, or considered to be approved, under 

24 subparagraph (A) or (B), the Secretary shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) treat the petition as a proposed 

2 revision to a leasing program under this 

3 section; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) except as provided in subpara5 graph (E), initiate a new 5-year outer Con6 tinental Shelf oil and gas leasing program 

7 to replace the outer Continental Shelf oil 

8 and gas leasing program in effect as of 

9 that date, which shall include any lease 

10 sale for any area covered by the petition. 

11 ‘‘(E) INCLUSION IN SUBSEQUENT

12 PLANS.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If there are less 

14 than 18 months remaining in the 5-year 

15 outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing 

16 program described in subparagraph 

17 (D)(ii), the Secretary, without consultation 

18 with any State, shall include the areas cov19 ered by the petition in lease sales under 

20 the proposed 5-year outer Continental 

21 Shelf oil and gas leasing program. 

22 ‘‘(ii) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESS23 MENT.—Before modifying a 5-year outer 

24 Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing pro25 gram for the next 5-year period, the SecVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:37 Jun 12, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3284.IS S3284

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1 retary shall complete an environmental as2 sessment that describes any anticipated en3 vironmental effect of leasing in the area 

4 covered by the petition. 

5 ‘‘(4) PROHIBITION ON LEASING CERTAIN

6 AREAS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) PETITION.—The Governor of the 

8 State, with the concurrence of the State legisla9 ture, may submit to the Secretary a petition re10 questing that the Secretary prohibit the leasing 

11 of areas within the administrative boundaries of 

12 the State that are more than 50, but less than 

13 100, miles off the coast of the State. 

14 ‘‘(B) ACTION BY SECRETARY.—Not later 

15 than 90 days after the date of receipt of a peti16 tion under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 

17 shall approve the petition.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. DISPOSITION OF QUALIFIED OUTER CONTINENTAL 

19 SHELF REVENUES. 

20 Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

21 (43 U.S.C. 1344) (as amended by section 2) is amended 

22 by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(j) REVENUE SHARING FOR ADDITIONAL AREAS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) BONUS BIDS.—If the Governor or legisla25 ture of a coastal State requests the Secretary to 


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1 allow leasing in an outer Continental Shelf area and 

2 the Secretary allows the leasing, the coastal State 

3 shall, without further appropriation or action, re4 ceive 37.5 percent of any bonus bid paid for leasing 

5 rights in the area. 

6 ‘‘(2) POST LEASING REVENUES.—In addition to 

7 bonus bids under paragraph (1), a State described 

8 in paragraph (1) shall receive, from leasing of the 

9 area, 37.5 percent of— 

10 ‘‘(A) any lease rental payments; 

11 ‘‘(B) any lease royalty payments; 

12 ‘‘(C) any royalty proceeds from a sale of 

13 royalties taken in kind by the Secretary; and 

14 ‘‘(D) any other revenues from a bidding 

15 system under section 8. 

16 ‘‘(3) ALLOCATION AMONG COASTAL POLITICAL

17 SUBDIVISIONS OF STATES.—The Secretary shall pay 

18 20 percent of the allocable share of each coastal 

19 State, as determined under this subsection, directly 

20 to certain coastal political subdivisions of the coastal 

21 State. 

22 ‘‘(4) CONSERVATION ROYALTIES.—After mak23 ing distributions in accordance with paragraphs (1) 

24 through (3), the Secretary shall, without further ap25 propriation or action, distribute a conservation royVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:37 Jun 12, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3284.IS S3284

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1 alty equal to 12.5 percent of Federal royalty reve2 nues derived from an area leased under this section 

3 from all areas leased under this section for any year, 

4 into the land and water conservation fund estab5 lished under section 2 of the Land and Water Con6 servation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–5) to 

7 provide financial assistance to States under section 

8 6 of that Act (16 U.S.C. 460l–8). 

9 ‘‘(5) DEFICIT REDUCTION.—After making dis10 tributions in accordance with paragraphs (1) 

11 through (4), the Secretary shall, without further ap12 propriation or action, distribute an amount equal to 

13 50 percent of Federal royalty revenues derived from 

14 all areas leased under this section for any year, into 

15 direct Federal deficit reduction.’’. 

Æ 


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