I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3918 
To terminate the effect of all provisions of existing Federal law prohibiting 
the spending of appropriated funds to conduct natural gas leasing and 
preleasing activities, to revoke Presidential withdrawals from disposition 
of areas of the Outer Continental Shelf with respect to natural gas, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 27, 2005 
Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. COLE of Oklahoma, Mr. 
DOOLITTLE, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. REGULA, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mrs. 
EMERSON, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. WICKER, Mr. 
OSBORNE, Mr. EDWARDS, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. 
FLAKE, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. MICA, and Mr. GENE GREEN of 
Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Resources 
A BILL 
To terminate the effect of all provisions of existing Federal 
law prohibiting the spending of appropriated funds to 
conduct natural gas leasing and preleasing activities, to 
revoke Presidential withdrawals from disposition of areas 
of the Outer Continental Shelf with respect to natural 
gas, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Outer Continental 
Shelf Energy Relief Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF LAWS PROHIBITING EXPENDI-
TURES FOR NATURAL GAS LEASING AND 
PRELEASING ACTIVITIES REGARDING AREAS 
OF THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF. 
All provisions of existing Federal law prohibiting the 
spending of appropriated funds to conduct natural gas 
leasing and preleasing activities for any area of the Outer 
Continental Shelf shall have no force or effect. 
SEC. 3. REVOCATION OF EXISTING PRESIDENTIAL WITH-
DRAWALS WITH RESPECT TO NATURAL GAS. 
All existing withdrawals by the President under the 
authority of section 12 of the Outer Continental Shelf 
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1341) are hereby revoked and are 
no longer in effect with respect to the leasing of areas for 
exploration for, and development and production of, nat-
ural gas. 
SEC. 4. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LEASING PROGRAM. 
Section 18(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 
Act (43 U.S.C. 1344(a)) is amended by inserting after the 
second sentence the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall, in 
each 5-year program, include lease sales that when viewed 
as a whole propose to offer for gas leasing at least 75 
percent of the available unleased acreage within each OCS
Planning Area, as such OCS Planning Areas are estab-
lished as of the date of enactment of this Act.’’. 
SEC. 5. SHARING OF REVENUES. 
Effective October 1, 2006, bonus bid and royalty rev-
enues received from existing and future Federal gas leases 
on lands that are located within the State seaward bound-
aries established under section 4 of the Submerged Lands 
Act (43 U.S.C. 1312) shall be handled as follows: 
(1) The Secretary shall share 50 percent of all 
such bids and royalties derived from any leased tract 
that lies wholly within the expanded seaward bound-
ary of any coastal State or, in the case where a 
leased tract lies partially within the seaward bound-
ary, a percentage of bonus bids and royalties derived 
from such tract equal to the percentage of surface 
acreage of the tract that lies within such seaward 
boundary with the coastal state. 
(2) The remaining 50 percent of such bonus 
bids and royalties shall be transmitted simulta-
neously to the miscellaneous receipts account of the 
Treasury of the United States. 
SEC. 6. NATURAL GAS-ONLY LEASING. 
Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 
(43 U.S.C. 1337) is amended by adding at the end the 
following subsection:
‘‘(p) NATURAL GAS-ONLY LEASING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may issue 
leases under this section that authorize development 
and production only of natural gas and associated 
condensate in accordance with regulations promul-
gated under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Before issuing any lease 
under paragraph (1), the Secretary must promulgate 
regulations that— 
‘‘(A) define what constitutes natural gas, 
condensate, and oil; 
‘‘(B) establish the lessee’s rights and obli-
gations regarding condensate produced in asso-
ciation with natural gas; 
‘‘(C) prescribe procedures and require-
ments that the lessee of a lease issued under 
this subsection must follow if the lessee dis-
covers oil deposits in the course of exploration 
or development; and 
‘‘(D) establish such other requirements for 
natural gas-only leases as the Secretary con-
siders appropriate. 
‘‘(3) APPLICATION OF OTHER LAWS.—All provi-
sions of this Act or any other Federal law or regula-
tions that apply to oil and natural gas leases for the
outer Continental Shelf shall apply to natural gas- 
only leases authorized under this subsection. 
‘‘(4) EXISTING LEASES.—At the request of the 
lessee of an oil and gas lease in effect under this sec-
tion on the date of enactment of this subsection, and 
under the requirements prescribed in regulations 
promulgated under paragraph (2), the Secretary 
may restrict development under such a lease to nat-
ural gas and associated condensate only. 
‘‘(5) OIL AND GAS LEASING PROGRAMS.— 
‘‘(A) PROGRAM FOR 2002–2007.—The Sec-
retary may issue a natural gas-only lease in ac-
cordance with this subsection before June 30, 
2007, without amending the outer Continental 
shelf leasing program that applies for the pe-
riod beginning on the date of the enactment of 
this subsection and ending June 30, 2007, if 
the Secretary provides public notice and an op-
portunity to comment on the proposed notice of 
sale. 
‘‘(B) PROGRAM FOR 2007–2012.—The Sec-
retary 
may 
include 
provisions 
regarding 
issuance of natural gas-only leases in the outer 
Continental shelf leasing program that applies 
for the 5-year period beginning in 2007, not-
withstanding any draft proposal for such pro-
gram issued before the date of the enactment of 
this subsection.’’. 
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