I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 797 

To greatly enhance the Nation’s environmental, energy, economic, and national security by terminating long-standing Federal prohibitions on the 

domestic production of abundant offshore supplies of oil and natural 

gas, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2009 

Mr. CALVERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on the 

Budget and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To greatly enhance the Nation’s environmental, energy, economic, and national security by terminating long-standing Federal prohibitions on the domestic production of 

abundant offshore supplies of oil and natural gas, 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 ‘‘Maximize Offshore Re5 source Exploration Act of 2009’’ or the ‘‘MORE Act of 

6 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF PROHIBITIONS ON EXPENDI2 TURES FOR, AND WITHDRAWALS FROM, OFF3 SHORE OIL AND GAS LEASING. 

4 (a) PROHIBITIONS ON EXPENDITURES.—All provi5 sions of Federal law that prohibit the expenditure of ap6 propriated funds to conduct oil and natural gas leasing 

7 and preleasing activities for any area of the Outer Conti8 nental Shelf shall have no force or effect with respect to 

9 such activities. 

10 (b) REVOCATION WITHDRAWALS.—All withdrawals 

11 of Federal submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf 

12 from leasing, including withdrawals by the President 

13 under the authority of section 12(a) of the Outer Conti14 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1341(a)), are hereby 

15 revoked and are no longer in effect with respect to the 

16 leasing of areas for exploration for, and development and 

17 production of, oil and natural gas. 

18 SEC. 3. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF OIL AND NATURAL 

19 GAS LEASING PROGRAM. 

20 The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

21 1331 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 9 the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 10. STATE APPROVAL REQUIREMENT WITH RESPECT 

24 TO OIL AND NATURAL GAS LEASING. 

25 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may not issue any 

26 lease authorizing exploration for, or development of, oil 


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1 and natural gas in any area of the Outer Continental Shelf 

2 that is located within 25 miles of the coastline of a State 

3 unless the State has enacted a law approving of the 

4 issuance of such leases by the Secretary. 

5 ‘‘(b) STATE APPROVAL PERMANENT.—Repeal of 

6 such a law by a State shall have no effect for purposes 

7 of subsection (a).’’. 

8 SEC. 4. SHARING OF REVENUES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(g) of the Outer Conti10 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(g)) is amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘Notwith12 standing’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 

13 paragraph (6), and notwithstanding’’; 

14 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as 

15 paragraphs (7) and (8); and 

16 (3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(6) ROYALTIES UNDER QUALIFIED OIL AND

19 GAS LEASES.— 

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

21 subparagraph (B), of amounts received by the 

22 United States as royalties under any qualified 

23 oil and gas lease on submerged lands that are 

24 located within the seaward boundaries of a 

25 State established under section 4(a)(2)(A)— 


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1 ‘‘(i) 12.5 percent shall be deposited in 

2 the general fund of the Treasury; 

3 ‘‘(ii) 12.5 percent shall be deposited in 

4 the Renewable Energy Reserve established 

5 by section 5 of the MORE Act of 2009; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(iii) 75 percent shall be paid to the 

8 States that are producing States with re9 spect to those submerged lands. 

10 ‘‘(B) LEASE TRACTS WITHIN 25 MILES OF

11 THE COASTLINE.—Of amounts received by the 

12 United States as royalties under any qualified 

13 oil and gas lease on submerged lands that are 

14 located within 25 miles of the coastline of a 

15 State and within the seaward boundaries of a 

16 State established under section 4(a)(2)(A)— 

17 ‘‘(i) 5 percent shall be deposited in 

18 the general fund of the Treasury; 

19 ‘‘(ii) 5 percent shall be deposited in 

20 the Renewable Energy Reserve established 

21 by section 5 of the MORE Act of 2009; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(iii) 90 percent shall be paid to the 

24 States that are producing States with re25 spect to those submerged lands. 


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1 ‘‘(C) LEASED TRACT THAT LIES PAR2 TIALLY WITHIN THE SEAWARD BOUNDARIES OF

3 A STATE.—In the case of a leased tract that lies 

4 partially within the seaward boundaries of a 

5 State, the amounts of royalties from such tract 

6 that are subject to subparagraph (A) or (B), as 

7 applicable, with respect to such State shall be 

8 a percentage of the total amounts of royalties 

9 from such tract that is equivalent to the total 

10 percentage of surface acreage of the tract that 

11 lies within such seaward boundaries. 

12 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(i) ADJACENT STATE.—The term 

14 ‘adjacent State’ means, with respect to any 

15 program, plan, lease sale, leased tract or 

16 other activity, proposed, conducted, or ap17 proved pursuant to the provisions of this 

18 Act, any State the laws of which are de19 clared, pursuant to section 4(a)(2), to be 

20 the law of the United States for the por21 tion of the Outer Continental Shelf on 

22 which such program, plan, lease sale, 

23 leased tract, or activity appertains or is, or 

24 is proposed to be, conducted. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) ADJACENT ZONE.—The term 

2 ‘adjacent zone’ means, with respect to any 

3 program, plan, lease sale, leased tract, or 

4 other activity, proposed, conducted, or ap5 proved pursuant to the provisions of this 

6 Act, the portion of the Outer Continental 

7 Shelf for which the laws of a particular ad8 jacent State are declared, pursuant to sec9 tion 4(a)(2), to be the law of the United 

10 States. 

11 ‘‘(iii) PRODUCING STATE.—The term 

12 ‘producing State’ means an Adjacent State 

13 having an adjacent zone containing leased 

14 tracts from which are derived royalties 

15 under a lease under this Act. 

16 ‘‘(iv) STATE.—The term ‘State’ in17 cludes Puerto Rico and the other terri18 tories of the United States. 

19 ‘‘(v) QUALIFIED OIL AND GAS

20 LEASE.—The term ‘qualified oil and gas 

21 lease’ means a lease under this Act grant22 ed after the date of the enactment of the 

23 Maximize Offshore Resource Exploration 

24 Act of 2009 that authorizes development 


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1 and production of oil and natural gas and 

2 associated condensate. 

3 ‘‘(E) APPLICATION.—This paragraph shall 

4 apply to royalties received by the United States 

5 after September 30, 2009.’’. 

6 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE SEAWARD BOUND7 ARIES.—Section 4(a)(2)(A) of the Outer Continental Shelf 

8 Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1333(a)(2)(A)) is amended in the 

9 first sentence by striking ‘‘, and the President’’ and all 

10 that follows through the end of the sentence and inserting 

11 the following: ‘‘. Such extended lines are deemed to be as 

12 indicated on the maps for each Outer Continental Shelf 

13 region entitled ‘Alaska OCS Region State Adjacent Zone 

14 and OCS Planning Areas’, ‘Pacific OCS Region State Ad15 jacent Zones and OCS Planning Areas’, ‘Gulf of Mexico 

16 OCS Region State Adjacent Zones and OCS Planning 

17 Areas’, and ‘Atlantic OCS Region State Adjacent Zones 

18 and OCS Planning Areas’, all of which are dated Sep19 tember 2005 and on file in the Office of the Director, Min20 erals Management Service. The preceding sentence shall 

21 not apply with respect to the treatment under section 105 

22 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (title 

23 I of division C of Public Law 109–432) of qualified Outer 

24 Continental Shelf revenues deposited and disbursed under 

25 subsection (a)(2) of that section.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. RENEWABLE ENERGY RESERVE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—For budgetary purposes, there is 

3 established a separate account in the Treasury to be 

4 known as the ‘‘Renewable Energy Reserve’’. 

5 (b) CONTENTS.—The Renewable Energy Reserve 

6 shall consist of amounts deposited into it under subpara7 graphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (6) of section 8(g) of 

8 the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

9 1337(g)), as amended by this Act. 

10 (c) USE.—The Renewable Energy Reserve shall be 

11 available to offset the cost of legislation enacted after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act— 

13 (1) to accelerate the use of cleaner domestic en14 ergy resources and alternative fuels; 

15 (2) to promote the utilization of energy-efficient 

16 products and practices; and 

17 (3) to increase research, development, and de18 ployment of clean renewable energy and efficiency 

19 technologies and job training programs for those 

20 purposes. 

21 (d) PROCEDURE FOR ADJUSTMENTS.— 

22 (1) BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN.—After the 

23 reporting of a bill or joint resolution, or the offering 

24 of an amendment thereto or the submission of a con25 ference report thereon, providing funding for the 

26 purposes set forth in subsection (c) in excess of the 


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1 amounts provided for those purposes for fiscal year 

2 2009, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget 

3 of the applicable House of Congress shall make the 

4 adjustments set forth in paragraph (2) for the 

5 amount of new budget authority and outlays in that 

6 measure and the outlays flowing from that budget 

7 authority. 

8 (2) MATTERS TO BE ADJUSTED.—The adjust9 ments referred to in paragraph (1) are to be made 

10 to— 

11 (A) the discretionary spending limits, if 

12 any, set forth in the appropriate concurrent res13 olution on the budget; 

14 (B) the allocations made pursuant to the 

15 appropriate concurrent resolution on the budget 

16 pursuant to section 302(a) of Congressional 

17 Budget Act of 1974; and 

18 (C) the budget aggregates contained in the 

19 appropriate concurrent resolution on the budget 

20 as required by section 301(a) of Congressional 

21 Budget Act of 1974. 

22 (3) AMOUNTS OF ADJUSTMENTS.—The adjust23 ments referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall 

24 not exceed the total of the receipts over a 10-year 


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1 period, as estimated by the Congressional Budget 

2 Office upon the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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