II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 843 

To establish outer Continental Shelf lease and permit processing coordination 

offices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 14, 2011 

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

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish outer Continental Shelf lease and permit 

processing coordination offices, 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 ‘‘Outer Continental 

5 Shelf Permit Processing Coordination Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) COORDINATION OFFICE.—The term ‘‘coordi9 nation office’’ means a regional joint outer ContiVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:26 Apr 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S843.IS S843

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1 nental Shelf lease and permit processing coordina2 tion office established under section 3(a). 

3 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of the Interior. 

5 SEC. 3. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF PERMIT PROCESSING 

6 COORDINATION OFFICES. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab8 lish— 

9 (1) a regional joint outer Continental Shelf 

10 lease and permit processing coordination office for 

11 the Alaska region of the outer Continental Shelf; 

12 and 

13 (2) subject to subsection (c)— 

14 (A) a regional joint outer Continental Shelf 

15 lease and permit processing coordination office 

16 for the Atlantic region of the outer Continental 

17 Shelf; and 

18 (B) a regional joint outer Continental 

19 Shelf lease and permit processing coordination 

20 office for the Pacific region of the outer Conti21 nental Shelf. 

22 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

24 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 


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1 shall enter into a memorandum of understanding for 

2 the purposes of carrying out this section with— 

3 (A) the Secretary of Commerce; 

4 (B) the Chief of Engineers; 

5 (C) the Administrator of the Environ6 mental Protection Agency; 

7 (D) the head of any other Federal agency 

8 that may have a role in permitting activities; 

9 and 

10 (E) in the case of the coordination office 

11 described in subsection (a)(1), the head of each 

12 borough government that is located adjacent to 

13 any active lease area. 

14 (2) STATE PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary 

15 shall request that the Governor of a State adjacent 

16 to the applicable outer Continental Shelf region be 

17 a signatory to the memorandum of understanding. 

18 (c) DATE OF ESTABLISHMENT.—A coordination of19 fice described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection 

20 (a)(2) shall not be established until the date on which a 

21 proposed lease sale is conducted for the Atlantic or Pacific 

22 region of the outer Continental Shelf, as applicable. 

23 (d) DESIGNATION OF QUALIFIED STAFF.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal signatory 

25 party shall, if appropriate, assign to each of the coVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:26 Apr 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S843.IS S843

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1 ordination offices an employee who has expertise in 

2 the regulatory issues administered by the office in 

3 which the employee is employed relating to leasing 

4 and the permitting of oil and gas activities on the 

5 outer Continental Shelf by the date that is— 

6 (A) in the case of the coordination office 

7 described in subsection (a)(1), not later than 30 

8 days after the date of the signing of the memo9 randum of understanding relating to the appli10 cable coordination office under subsection (b); 

11 or 

12 (B) in the case of a coordination office es13 tablished under subsection (a)(2), not later 

14 than 30 days after the date of establishment of 

15 the applicable coordination office under sub16 section (c). 

17 (2) DUTIES.—An employee assigned under 

18 paragraph (1) shall— 

19 (A) not later than 90 days after the date 

20 of assignment, report to the applicable coordi21 nation office; 

22 (B) be responsible for all issues relating to 

23 the jurisdiction of the home office or agency of 

24 the employee; and 


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1 (C) participate as part of the applicable 

2 team of personnel working on proposed oil and 

3 gas leasing and permitting, including planning 

4 and environmental analyses. 

5 (e) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—For the purposes of co6 ordination and processing of oil and gas use authorizations 

7 for the applicable outer Continental Shelf region, the Sec8 retary may authorize the expenditure or transfer of such 

9 funds as are necessary to— 

10 (1) the Secretary of Commerce; 

11 (2) the Chief of Engineers; 

12 (3) the Administrator of the Environmental 

13 Protection Agency; 

14 (4) the head of any other Federal agency hav15 ing a role in permitting activities; 

16 (5) any State adjacent to the applicable outer 

17 Continental Shelf region; and 

18 (6) in the case of the coordination office de19 scribed in subsection (a)(1), the head of each bor20 ough government that is located adjacent to any ac21 tive lease area. 

22 (f) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section— 

23 (1) authorizes the establishment of a regional 

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1 essing coordination office for the Gulf of Mexico re2 gion of the outer Continental Shelf; 

3 (2) affects the operation of any Federal or 

4 State law; or 

5 (3) affects any delegation of authority made by 

6 the head of a Federal agency for employees that are 

7 assigned to a coordination office. 

8 (g) FUNDING.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

10 appropriated $2,000,000 for the coordination office 

11 described in subsection (a)(1) for each of fiscal years 

12 2011 through 2021, to remain available until ex13 pended. 

14 (2) OTHER COORDINATION OFFICES.—Notwith15 standing any other provision of law— 

16 (A) of the amounts received by the Sec17 retary from the sale of bonus bids in the Atlan18 tic region of the outer Continental Shelf Conti19 nental Shelf region, $2,000,000 shall be made 

20 available for the applicable coordination office 

21 described in subsection (A)(2)(A) for the fiscal 

22 year; and 

23 (B) of the amounts received by the Sec24 retary from the sale of bonus bids in the Pacific 

25 region of the outer Continental Shelf ContiVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:26 Apr 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S843.IS S843

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1 nental Shelf region, $2,000,000 shall be made 

2 available for the applicable coordination office 

3 described in subsection (A)(2)(B) for the fiscal 

4 year. 

5 SEC. 4. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 

6 (a) EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION.—Except for review by 

7 the Supreme Court on writ of certiorari, the United States 

8 Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shall 

9 have original and exclusive jurisdiction to review any claim 

10 relating to an action by the Administrator of the Environ11 mental Protection Agency or the Secretary of the Interior 

12 with respect to the review, approval, denial, or issuance 

13 of an oil or natural gas lease or permit in the area of 

14 the outer Continental Shelf described in section 3(a)(1). 

15 (b) DEADLINE FOR FILING CLAIM.—A claim de16 scribed in subsection (a) may be brought not later than 

17 60 days after the date of the action giving rise to the 

18 claim. 

19 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—The United 

20 States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir21 cuit shall set any action brought under subsection (a) for 

22 expedited consideration, taking into account the national 

23 interest of enhancing national energy security by providing 

24 access to the significant oil and natural gas resources in 

25 the area of the outer Continental Shelf described in section 


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1 3(a)(1) that are needed to meet the anticipated demand 

2 for oil and natural gas. 

Æ 


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