I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4749 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an oil and gas lease 

sale for areas off the coast of North Carolina determined by the Secretary 

to have the most geologically promising hydrocarbon resources, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2016 

Mr. HUDSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an oil 

and gas lease sale for areas off the coast of North 

Carolina determined by the Secretary to have the most 

geologically promising hydrocarbon resources, 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 ‘‘North Carolina Open5 ing Fossil Fuels Safely and Harnessing Opportunities for 

6 Robust Employment Act’’ or the ‘‘NC OFFSHORE Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NORTH CAROLINA LEASE SALE. 

2 Notwithstanding inclusion of the Mid-Atlantic Outer 

3 Continental Shelf Planning Area in the Final Outer Conti4 nental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing Program 2017–2022,’’ the 

5 Secretary of the Interior— 

6 (1) not later than 2 years after the date of the 

7 enactment of this Act, shall conduct an oil and gas 

8 lease sale for areas off the coast of North Carolina 

9 determined by the Secretary to have the most geo10 logically promising hydrocarbon resources and con11 stituting not less than 25 percent of the leasable 

12 area within the North Carolina offshore administra13 tive boundaries depicted in the notice entitled ‘‘Fed14 eral Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Administrative 

15 Boundaries Extending from the Submerged Lands 

16 Act Boundary seaward to the Limit of the United 

17 States Outer Continental Shelf’’, published January 

18 3, 2006 (71 Fed. Reg. 127); and 

19 (2) shall conduct one such lease sale each year 

20 during the 5-year period beginning 2 years after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act. 

22 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF MILITARY OPERATIONS. 

23 (a) PROHIBITION.—No person may engage in any ex24 ploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas 

25 off the coast of North Carolina that would conflict with 

26 any military operation, as determined in accordance with 


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1 the Memorandum of Agreement between the Department 

2 of Defense and the Department of the Interior on Mutual 

3 Concerns on the Outer Continental Shelf signed July 20, 

4 1983, and any revision or replacement for that agreement 

5 that is agreed to by the Secretary of Defense and the Sec6 retary of the Interior after that date but before the date 

7 of issuance of the lease under which such exploration, de8 velopment, or production is conducted. 

9 (b) REVIEW AND UPDATING OF MOA.—The Sec10 retary of the Interior and the Secretary of Defense shall 

11 periodically review and revise such memorandum of agree12 ment to account for new offshore energy production tech13 nologies, including those that use wind energy. 

14 SEC. 4. DISPOSITION OF OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF REV15 ENUES TO COASTAL STATES. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Outer Conti17 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1338) is amended— 

18 (1) in the existing text— 

19 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘All 

20 rentals,’’ and inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(c) DISPOSITION OF REVENUE UNDER OLD

22 LEASES.—All rentals,’’; and 

23 (B) in subsection (c) (as designated by the 

24 amendment made by subparagraph (A) of this 

25 paragraph), by striking ‘‘for the period from 


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1 June 5, 1950, to date, and thereafter’’ and in2 serting ‘‘in the period beginning June 5, 1950, 

3 and ending on the date of enactment of the NC 

4 OFFSHORE Act’’; 

5 (2) by adding after subsection (c) (as so des6 ignated) the following: 

7 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 ‘‘(1) COASTAL STATE.—The term ‘coastal 

9 State’ means North Carolina, Virginia, South Caro10 lina, and Georgia. 

11 ‘‘(2) NEW LEASING REVENUES.—The term ‘new 

12 leasing revenues’ means amounts received by the 

13 United States as bonuses, rents, and royalties under 

14 leases for oil and gas, wind, tidal, or other energy 

15 exploration, development, and production on new 

16 areas of the outer Continental Shelf that are author17 ized to be made available for leasing as a result of 

18 enactment of the NC OFFSHORE Act and leasing 

19 under that Act.’’; and 

20 (3) by inserting before subsection (c) (as so 

21 designated) the following: 

22 ‘‘(a) PAYMENT OF NEW LEASING REVENUES TO

23 COASTAL STATES.—Of the amount of new leasing reve24 nues received by the United States each fiscal year, 37.5 

25 percent shall be allocated and paid in accordance with subVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Mar 17, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4749.IH H4749

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1 section (b) to coastal States that are affected States with 

2 respect to the leases under which those revenues are re3 ceived by the United States. 

4 ‘‘(b) ALLOCATION OF PAYMENTS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of new leasing 

6 revenues received by the United States with respect 

7 to a leased tract that are required to be paid to 

8 coastal States in accordance with this subsection 

9 each fiscal year shall be allocated among and paid 

10 to coastal States that are within 200 miles of the 

11 leased tract, in amounts that are inversely propor12 tional to the respective distances between the point 

13 on the coastline of each such State that is closest to 

14 the geographic center of the lease tract, as deter15 mined by the Secretary. 

16 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM ALLOCATION.— 

17 The amount allocated to a coastal State under para18 graph (1) each fiscal year with respect to a leased 

19 tract shall be— 

20 ‘‘(A) in the case of a coastal State that is 

21 the nearest State to the geographic center of 

22 the leased tract, not less than 25 percent of the 

23 total amounts allocated with respect to the 

24 leased tract; 


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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of any other coastal State, 

2 not less than 10 percent, and not more than 15 

3 percent, of the total amounts allocated with re4 spect to the leased tract; and 

5 ‘‘(C) in the case of a coastal State that is 

6 the only coastal State within 200 miles of a 

7 leased tract, 100 percent of the total amounts 

8 allocated with respect to the leased tract. 

9 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION.—Amounts allocated to 

10 a coastal State under this subsection— 

11 ‘‘(A) shall be available to the coastal State 

12 without further appropriation; 

13 ‘‘(B) shall remain available until expended; 

14 ‘‘(C) shall be in addition to any other 

15 amounts available to the coastal State under 

16 this Act; and 

17 ‘‘(D) shall be distributed in the fiscal year 

18 following receipt. 

19 ‘‘(4) USE OF FUNDS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

21 subparagraph (B), a coastal State may use 

22 funds allocated and paid to it under this sub23 section for any purpose as determined by the 

24 laws of that State. 


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1 ‘‘(B) RESTRICTION ON USE FOR MATCH2 ING.—Funds allocated and paid to a coastal 

3 State under this subsection may not be used as 

4 matching funds for any other Federal pro5 gram.’’. 

6 (b) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION.—This section and 

7 the amendments made by this section shall not affect the 

8 application of section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy 

9 Security Act of 2006 (title I of division C of Public Law 

10 109–432; (43 U.S.C. 1331 note)), as in effect before the 

11 enactment of this Act, with respect to revenues received 

12 by the United States under oil and gas leases issued for 

13 tracts located in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico 

14 Outer Continental Shelf Planning Areas, including such 

15 leases issued on or after the date of the enactment of this 

16 Act. 

Æ 


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