II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1268 

To provide for the development and inventory of certain outer Continental 

Shelf resources. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 2, 2007 

Mr. DORGAN (for himself and Mr. CRAIG) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for the development and inventory of certain 

outer Continental Shelf resources. 

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 ‘‘Domestic Offshore En5 ergy Security Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT AND INVENTORY OF CERTAIN 

7 OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF RESOURCES. 

8 (a) DEFINITION OF UNITED STATES PERSON.—In 

9 this section, the term ‘‘United States person’’ means— 


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1 (1) any United States citizen or alien lawfully 

2 admitted for permanent residence in the United 

3 States; and 

4 (2) any person other than an individual, if 1 or 

5 more individuals described in paragraph (1) own or 

6 control at least 51 percent of the securities or other 

7 equity interest in the person. 

8 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF ACTIVITIES AND EXPORTS

9 INVOLVING HYDROCARBON RESOURCES BY UNITED

10 STATES PERSONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

11 of law (including a regulation), United States persons (in12 cluding agents and affiliates of those United States per13 sons) may— 

14 (1) engage in any transaction necessary for the 

15 exploration for and extraction of hydrocarbon re16 sources from any portion of any foreign exclusive 

17 economic zone that is contiguous to the exclusive 

18 economic zone of the United States; and 

19 (2) export without license authority all equip20 ment necessary for the exploration for or extraction 

21 of hydrocarbon resources described in paragraph (1). 

22 (c) TRAVEL IN CONNECTION WITH AUTHORIZED HY23 DROCARBON EXPLORATION AND EXTRACTION ACTIVI24 TIES.—Section 910 of the Trade Sanctions Reform and 


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1 Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7209) is 

2 amended by inserting after subsection (b) the following: 

3 ‘‘(c) GENERAL LICENSE AUTHORITY FOR TRAVEL4 RELATED EXPENDITURES BY PERSONS ENGAGING IN

5 HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION AND EXTRACTION ACTIVI6 TIES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

8 Treasury shall, authorize under a general license the 

9 travel-related transactions listed in section 

10 515.560(c) of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, 

11 for travel to, from or within Cuba in connection with 

12 exploration for and the extraction of hydrocarbon re13 sources in any part of a foreign maritime Exclusive 

14 Economic Zone that is contiguous to the United 

15 States’ Exclusive Economic Zone. 

16 ‘‘(2) PERSONS AUTHORIZED.—Persons author17 ized to travel to Cuba under this section include full18 time employees, executives, agents, and consultants 

19 of oil and gas producers, distributors, and ship20 pers.’’. 

21 (d) MORATORIUM OF OIL AND GAS LEASING IN CER22 TAIN AREAS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 104(a) of the Gulf 

24 of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 

25 1331 note; Public Law 109–432) is amended— 


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1 (A) by striking paragraph (1); 

2 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘125 

3 miles’’ and inserting ‘‘45 miles’’; 

4 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘100 

5 miles’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘45 

6 miles’’; and 

7 (D) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and 

8 (3) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively. 

9 (2) REGULATIONS.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

11 Interior shall promulgate regulations that es12 tablish appropriate environmental safeguards 

13 for the exploration and production of oil and 

14 natural gas on the outer Continental Shelf. 

15 (B) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.—At a min16 imum, the regulations shall include— 

17 (i) provisions requiring surety bonds 

18 of sufficient value to ensure the mitigation 

19 of any foreseeable incident; 

20 (ii) provisions assigning liability to the 

21 leaseholder in the event of an incident 

22 causing damage or loss, regardless of the 

23 negligence of the leaseholder or lack of 

24 negligence; 


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1 (iii) provisions no less stringent than 

2 those contained in the Spill Prevention, 

3 Control, and Countermeasure regulations 

4 promulgated under the Oil Pollution Act of 

5 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.); 

6 (iv) provisions ensuring that— 

7 (I) no facility for the exploration 

8 or production of resources is visible to 

9 the unassisted eye from any shore of 

10 any coastal State; and 

11 (II) the impact of offshore pro12 duction facilities on coastal vistas is 

13 otherwise mitigated; 

14 (v) provisions to ensure, to the max15 imum extent practicable, that exploration 

16 and production activities will result in no 

17 significant adverse effect on fish or wildlife 

18 (including habitat), subsistence resources, 

19 or the environment; and 

20 (vi) provisions that will impose sea21 sonal limitations on activity to protect 

22 breeding, spawning, and wildlife migration 

23 patterns. 

24 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 105 

25 of the Department of the Interior, Environment, and 


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1 Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 (Public 

2 Law 109–54; 119 Stat. 521) (as amended by section 

3 103(d) of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 

4 2006 (43 U.S.C. 1331 note; Public Law 109–432)) 

5 is amended by inserting ‘‘and any other area that 

6 the Secretary of the Interior may offer for leasing, 

7 preleasing, or any related activity under section 104 

8 of that Act’’ after ‘‘2006)’’. 

9 (e) INVENTORY OF OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF OIL

10 AND NATURAL GAS RESOURCES OFF SOUTHEASTERN

11 COAST OF THE UNITED STATES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Inte13 rior (referred to in this subsection as the ‘‘Sec14 retary’’) may conduct an inventory of oil and natural 

15 gas resources beneath the waters of the outer Conti16 nental Shelf (as defined in section 2 of the Outer 

17 Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331)) off 

18 of the coast of the States of Virginia, North Caro19 lina, South Carolina, or Georgia in accordance with 

20 this subsection. 

21 (2) BEST AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY.—In con22 ducting the inventory, the Secretary shall use the 

23 best technology available to obtain accurate resource 

24 estimates. 


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1 (3) REQUEST BY GOVERNOR.—The Secretary 

2 may conduct an inventory under this subsection off 

3 the coast of a State described in paragraph (1) only 

4 if the Governor of the State requests the inventory. 

5 (4) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall submit to 

6 Congress and the requesting Governor a report on 

7 any inventory conducted under this subsection. 

8 (5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

9 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

10 as are necessary to carry out this subsection. 

11 (f) ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY.—Section 

12 354(c)(4)(B) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 

13 15910(c)(4)(B)) is amended— 

14 (1) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

15 (2) in clause (iv), by striking the period at the 

16 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(v) are carried out in geologically 

19 challenging fields.’’. 

Æ 


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