NC OFFSHORE Act

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. Short title This Act may be cited as the North Carolina Opening Fossil Fuels Safely and Harnessing Opportunities for Robust Employment Act NC OFFSHORE Act 2. North Carolina lease sale Notwithstanding inclusion of the Mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area in the Final Outer Continental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing Program 2017–2022,” the Secretary of the Interior— (1) not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, shall 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 constituting not less than 25 percent of the leasable area within the North Carolina offshore administrative boundaries depicted in the notice entitled Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Administrative Boundaries Extending from the Submerged Lands Act Boundary seaward to the Limit of the United States Outer Continental Shelf (2) shall conduct one such lease sale each year during the 5-year period beginning 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 3. Protection of military operations (a) Prohibition No person may engage in any exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas off the coast of North Carolina that would conflict with any military operation, as determined in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior on Mutual Concerns on the Outer Continental Shelf signed July 20, 1983, and any revision or replacement for that agreement that is agreed to by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Interior after that date but before the date of issuance of the lease under which such exploration, development, or production is conducted. (b) Review and updating of MOA The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Defense shall periodically review and revise such memorandum of agreement to account for new offshore energy production technologies, including those that use wind energy. 4. Disposition of Outer Continental Shelf revenues to coastal States (a) In general Section 9 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ( 43 U.S.C. 1338 (1) in the existing text— (A) in the first sentence, by striking All rentals, (c) Disposition of revenue under old leases All rentals, ; and (B) in subsection (c) (as designated by the amendment made by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph), by striking for the period from June 5, 1950, to date, and thereafter in the period beginning June 5, 1950, and ending on the date of enactment of the NC OFFSHORE Act (2) by adding after subsection (c) (as so designated) the following: (d) Definitions In this section: (1) Coastal State The term coastal State (2) New leasing revenues The term new leasing revenues NC OFFSHORE Act ; and (3) by inserting before subsection (c) (as so designated) the following: (a) Payment of new leasing revenues to coastal States Of the amount of new leasing revenues received by the United States each fiscal year, 37.5 percent shall be allocated and paid in accordance with subsection (b) to coastal States that are affected States with respect to the leases under which those revenues are received by the United States. (b) Allocation of payments (1) In general The amount of new leasing revenues received by the United States with respect to a leased tract that are required to be paid to coastal States in accordance with this subsection each fiscal year shall be allocated among and paid to coastal States that are within 200 miles of the leased tract, in amounts that are inversely proportional to the respective distances between the point on the coastline of each such State that is closest to the geographic center of the lease tract, as determined by the Secretary. (2) Minimum and maximum allocation The amount allocated to a coastal State under paragraph (1) each fiscal year with respect to a leased tract shall be— (A) in the case of a coastal State that is the nearest State to the geographic center of the leased tract, not less than 25 percent of the total amounts allocated with respect to the leased tract; (B) in the case of any other coastal State, not less than 10 percent, and not more than 15 percent, of the total amounts allocated with respect to the leased tract; and (C) in the case of a coastal State that is the only coastal State within 200 miles of a leased tract, 100 percent of the total amounts allocated with respect to the leased tract. (3) Administration Amounts allocated to a coastal State under this subsection— (A) shall be available to the coastal State without further appropriation; (B) shall remain available until expended; (C) shall be in addition to any other amounts available to the coastal State under this Act; and (D) shall be distributed in the fiscal year following receipt. (4) Use of funds (A) In general Except as provided in subparagraph (B), a coastal State may use funds allocated and paid to it under this subsection for any purpose as determined by the laws of that State. (B) Restriction on use for matching Funds allocated and paid to a coastal State under this subsection may not be used as matching funds for any other Federal program. . (b) Limitation on application This section and the amendments made by this section shall not affect the application of section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (title I of division C of Public Law 109–432 43 U.S.C. 1331

Summary: North Carolina Opening Fossil Fuels Safely and Harnessing Opportunities for Robust Employment Act or the NC OFFSHORE Act This bill requires the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to conduct one oil and gas lease sale off North Carolina's coast every year for five years. In addition, it protects military operations by allowing BOEM and the Department of Defense to mutually make certain areas off limits to exploration and allows coastal states to receive revenue from offshore energy projects. This mandate shall take effect not later than two years after enactment of this bill.