II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3133 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish an annual production 

incentive fee with respect to Federal onshore and offshore land that 

is subject to a lease for production of oil or natural gas under which 

production is not occurring, to authorize use of the fee for energy 

efficiency and renewable energy projects, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 12, 2008 

Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish an annual 

production incentive fee with respect to Federal onshore 

and offshore land that is subject to a lease for production 

of oil or natural gas under which production is not 

occurring, to authorize use of the fee for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Responsible Ownership 

3 of Public Land Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) COVERED LEASE.—The term ‘‘covered 

7 lease’’ means a lease for the production of oil or nat8 ural gas under which production is not occurring. 

9 (2) FEE.—The term ‘‘fee’’ means the produc10 tion incentive fee established under section 3(a). 

11 (3) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the En12 ergy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund estab13 lished by section 4(a). 

14 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of the Interior. 

16 SEC. 3. PRODUCTION INCENTIVE FEE. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promul19 gate regulations to establish an annual production incen20 tive fee with respect to Federal onshore and offshore land 

21 that is subject to a covered lease. 

22 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The fee shall apply to land that 

23 is subject to any covered lease that is in effect on, or 

24 issued after, the date on which final regulations are pro25 mulgated under subsection (a). 


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1 (c) AMOUNT.—For each acre of land subject to a cov2 ered lease from which oil or natural gas is produced for 

3 less than 90 days in a calendar year, the fee shall be equal 

4 to— 

5 (1) $5 per acre for the first 3 years of the cov6 ered lease after the date of enactment of this Act; 

7 (2) $25 per acre for the fourth year of the cov8 ered lease after the date of enactment of this Act; 

9 and 

10 (3) $50 per acre for the fifth year of the cov11 ered lease and each year thereafter for which the 

12 covered lease is in effect after the date of enactment 

13 of this Act. 

14 (d) ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION.—The Secretary 

15 shall assess and collect the fee. 

16 (e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may promulgate 

17 regulations to carry out this section, including prevention 

18 of evasion of the fee. 

19 SEC. 4. ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY 

20 FUND. 

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

22 Treasury of the United States a separate account, which 

23 shall be known as the ‘‘Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

24 Energy Fund’’, consisting of such amounts as are appro25 priated to the Fund under subsection (b). 


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1 (b) TRANSFERS TO FUND.—There are appropriated 

2 to the Fund, out of funds of the Treasury not otherwise 

3 appropriated, amounts equivalent to amounts collected as 

4 fees and received in the Treasury under section 3. 

5 (c) USE.—Subject to appropriations, of the amounts 

6 in the Fund for each fiscal year— 

7 (1) $100,000,000 shall be made available for 

8 necessary expenses for a program to accelerate the 

9 research, development, demonstration, and deploy10 ment of solar energy technologies and any public 

11 education and outreach materials under the pro12 gram, as authorized under section 931(a)(2)(A) of 

13 the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 

14 16231(a)(2)(A)); 

15 (2) $65,000,000 shall be made available for 

16 necessary expenses for a program to support the de17 velopment of next-generation wind turbines, includ18 ing turbines capable of operating in areas with low 

19 wind speeds, as authorized under section 

20 931(a)(2)(B) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

21 U.S.C. 16231(a)(2)(B)); 

22 (3) $200,000,000 shall be transferred to the 

23 ‘‘Weatherization Assistance Program’’ account, for a 

24 program to weatherize low income housing, as au25 thorized under section 411 of the Energy IndependVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:08 Jun 14, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3133.IS S3133

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1 ence and Security Act of 2007 (12 Stat. 1600) (and 

2 the amendments made by that section); 

3 (4) $70,000,000 shall be made available for 

4 necessary expenses for a program to accelerate the 

5 research, development, demonstration, and deploy6 ment of new technologies to improve the energy effi7 ciency of and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 

8 buildings, as authorized under— 

9 (A) section 321(g) of the Energy Inde10 pendence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 

11 6295 note; Public Law 110–140); 

12 (B) section 422 of the Energy Independ13 ence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 

14 17082); and 

15 (C) section 912 of the Energy Policy Act 

16 of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16192); 

17 (5) $30,000,000 shall be made available for 

18 necessary expenses for a program to accelerate basic 

19 research on energy storage systems to support elec20 tric drive vehicles, stationary applications, and elec21 tricity transmission and distribution, as authorized 

22 under section 641(f) of the Energy Independence 

23 and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231(f)); 

24 (6) $30,000,000 shall be made available for a 

25 program to accelerate applied research on energy 


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1 storage systems to support electric drive vehicles, 

2 stationary applications, and electricity transmission 

3 and distribution as authorized under section 641(g) 

4 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 

5 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231(g)); 

6 (7) $20,000,000 shall be made available for en7 ergy storage systems demonstrations as authorized 

8 under section 641(i) of the Energy Independence 

9 and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231(i)); 

10 (8) $20,000,000 shall be made available for ve11 hicle energy storage systems demonstrations as au12 thorized under section 641(j) of the Energy Inde13 pendence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 

14 17231(j)); 

15 (9) $40,000,000 shall be made available for 

16 necessary expenses for research, development, and 

17 demonstration on advanced, cost-effective tech18 nologies to improve the energy efficiency and envi19 ronmental performance of vehicles, as authorized 

20 under section 911(a)(2)(A) of the Energy Policy Act 

21 of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16191(a)(2)(A)); 

22 (10) $50,000,000 shall be made available for 

23 audits, investigations, and environmental mitigation 

24 for oil and gas production by the Department of In25 terior; and 


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1 (11) the remainder shall be made available for 

2 use for the low-income home energy assistance pro3 gram established under the Low-Income Home En4 ergy Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621 et 

5 seq.). 

Æ 


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