SEC. 3. LEASING PROGRAM FOR LANDS WITHIN THE COAST-
AL PLAIN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall take such ac-
tions as are necessary— 
(1) to establish and implement, in accordance 
with this Act and acting through the Director of the 
Bureau of Land Management in consultation with the 
Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-
ice, a competitive oil and gas leasing program that 
will result in the exploration, development, and pro-
duction of the oil and gas resources of the Coastal 
Plain; and 
(2) to administer the provisions of this Act 
through regulations, lease terms, conditions, restric-
tions, prohibitions, stipulations, and other provisions 
that ensure the oil and gas exploration, development, 
and production activities on the Coastal Plain will 
result in no significant adverse effect on fish and 
wildlife, their habitat, subsistence resources, and the 
environment, including, in furtherance of this goal, 
by requiring the application of the best commercially 
available technology for oil and gas exploration, de-
velopment, and production to all exploration, develop-
ment, and production operations under this Act in a 
manner that ensures the receipt of fair market value 
by the public for the mineral resources to be leased. 
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(b) REPEAL OF EXISTING RESTRICTION.— 
(1) REPEAL.—Section 1003 of the Alaska Na-
tional Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 
3143) is repealed. 
(2) CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—The table of 
contents in section 1 of such Act is amended by strik-
ing the item relating to section 1003. 
(c) COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS UNDER CER-
TAIN OTHER LAWS.— 
(1) COMPATIBILITY.—For purposes of the Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 
1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), the oil and gas leas-
ing program and activities authorized by this section 
in the Coastal Plain are deemed to be compatible with 
the purposes for which the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge was established, and no further findings or de-
cisions are required to implement this determination. 
(2) ADEQUACY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE IN-
TERIOR’S
LEGISLATIVE
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT 
STATEMENT.—The ‘‘Final Legislative Environmental 
Impact Statement’’ (April 1987) on the Coastal Plain 
prepared pursuant to section 1002 of the Alaska Na-
tional Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 
3142) and section 102(2)(C) of the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) is 
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deemed to satisfy the requirements under the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 that apply with 
respect to prelease activities under this Act, including 
actions authorized to be taken by the Secretary to de-
velop and promulgate the regulations for the establish-
ment of a leasing program authorized by this Act be-
fore the conduct of the first lease sale. 
(3) COMPLIANCE
WITH
NEPA
FOR
OTHER
AC-
TIONS.—Before conducting the first lease sale under 
this Act, the Secretary shall prepare an environ-
mental impact statement under the National Envi-
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 with respect to the ac-
tions authorized by this Act that are not referred to 
in paragraph (2). Notwithstanding any other law, the 
Secretary is not required to identify nonleasing alter-
native courses of action or to analyze the environ-
mental effects of such courses of action. The Secretary 
shall only identify a preferred action for such leasing 
and a single leasing alternative, and analyze the en-
vironmental effects and potential mitigation measures 
for those two alternatives. The identification of the 
preferred action and related analysis for the first 
lease sale under this Act shall be completed within 18 
months after the date of enactment of this Act. The 
Secretary shall only consider public comments that 
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specifically address the Secretary’s preferred action 
and that are filed within 20 days after publication of 
an environmental analysis. Notwithstanding any 
other law, compliance with this paragraph is deemed 
to satisfy all requirements for the analysis and con-
sideration of the environmental effects of proposed 
leasing under this Act. 
(d) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND LOCAL AUTHOR-
ITY.—Nothing in this Act shall be considered to expand or 
limit State and local regulatory authority. 
(e) SPECIAL AREAS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, after consulta-
tion with the State of Alaska, the city of Kaktovik, 
and the North Slope Borough, may designate up to a 
total of 45,000 acres of the Coastal Plain as a Special 
Area if the Secretary determines that the Special 
Area is of such unique character and interest so as 
to require special management and regulatory protec-
tion. The Secretary shall designate as such a Special 
Area the Sadlerochit Spring area, comprising ap-
proximately 4,000 acres. 
(2) MANAGEMENT.—Each such Special Area 
shall be managed so as to protect and preserve the 
area’s unique and diverse character including its fish, 
wildlife, and subsistence resource values. 
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(3) EXCLUSION FROM LEASING OR SURFACE OC-
CUPANCY.—The Secretary may exclude any Special 
Area from leasing. If the Secretary leases a Special 
Area, or any part thereof, for purposes of oil and gas 
exploration, development, production, and related ac-
tivities, there shall be no surface occupancy of the 
lands comprising the Special Area. 
(4) DIRECTIONAL
DRILLING.—Notwithstanding 
the other provisions of this subsection, the Secretary 
may lease all or a portion of a Special Area under 
terms that permit the use of horizontal drilling tech-
nology from sites on leases tracts located outside the 
Special Area. 
(f) LIMITATION ON CLOSED AREAS.—The Secretary’s 
sole authority to close lands within the Coastal Plain to 
oil and gas leasing and to exploration, development, and 
production is that set forth in this Act. 
(g) REGULATIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall prescribe 
such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this 
Act, including regulations relating to protection of the 
fish and wildlife, their habitat, subsistence resources, 
and environment of the Coastal Plain, by no later 
than 15 months after the date of enactment of this 
Act. 
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(2) REVISION OF REGULATIONS.—The Secretary 
shall, through a rule making conducted in accordance 
with section 553 of title 5, United States Code, peri-
odically review and, if appropriate, revise the regula-
tions issued under subsection (a) to reflect a prepon-
derance of the best available scientific evidence that 
has been peer reviewed and obtained by following ap-
propriate, documented scientific procedures, the re-
sults of which can be repeated using those same proce-
dures. 
SEC. 4. LEASE SALES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Lands may be leased under this Act 
to any person qualified to obtain a lease for deposits of oil 
and gas under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et 
seq.). 
(b) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall, by regulation 
and no later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, establish procedures for— 
(1) receipt and consideration of sealed nomina-
tions for any area of the Coastal Plain for inclusion 
in, or exclusion (as provided in subsection (c)) from, 
a lease sale; 
(2) the holding of lease sales after such nomina-
tion process; and 
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(3) public notice of and comment on designation 
of areas to be included in, or excluded from, a lease 
sale. 
(c) LEASE SALE BIDS.—Lease sales under this Act 
may be conducted through an Internet leasing program, if 
the Secretary determines that such a system will result in 
savings to the taxpayer, an increase in the number of bid-
ders participating, and higher returns than oral bidding 
or a sealed bidding system. 
(d) SALE ACREAGES AND SCHEDULE.— 
(1) The Secretary shall offer for lease under this 
Act those tracts the Secretary considers to have the 
greatest potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons, 
taking into consideration nominations received pur-
suant to subsection (b)(1). 
(2) The Secretary shall offer for lease under this 
Act no less than 50,000 acres for lease within 22 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(3) The Secretary shall offer for lease under this 
Act no less than an additional 50,000 acres at 6-, 12- 
, and 18-month intervals following offering under 
paragraph (2). 
(4) The Secretary shall conduct four additional 
sales under the same terms and schedule no later than 
two years after the date of the last sale under para-
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graph (3), if sufficient interest in leasing exists to 
warrant, in the Secretary’s judgment, the conduct of 
such sales. 
(5) The Secretary shall evaluate the bids in each 
sale and issue leases resulting from such sales, within 
90 days after the date of the completion of such sale. 
SEC. 5. GRANT OF LEASES BY THE SECRETARY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may grant to the 
highest responsible qualified bidder in a lease sale conducted 
under section 4 any lands to be leased on the Coastal Plain 
upon payment by the such bidder of such bonus as may 
be accepted by the Secretary. 
(b) SUBSEQUENT TRANSFERS.—No lease issued under 
this Act may be sold, exchanged, assigned, sublet, or other-
wise transferred except with the approval of the Secretary. 
Prior to any such approval the Secretary shall consult with, 
and give due consideration to the views of, the Attorney 
General. 
SEC. 6. LEASE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—An oil or gas lease issued under 
this Act shall— 
(1) provide for the payment of a royalty of not 
less than 121⁄2 percent in amount or value of the pro-
duction removed or sold under the lease, as deter-
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mined by the Secretary under the regulations applica-
ble to other Federal oil and gas leases; 
(2) provide that the Secretary may close, on a 
seasonal basis, portions of the Coastal Plain to ex-
ploratory drilling activities as necessary to protect 
caribou calving areas and other species of fish and 
wildlife based on a preponderance of the best available 
scientific evidence that has been peer reviewed and ob-
tained by following appropriate, documented sci-
entific procedures, the results of which can be repeated 
using those same procedures; 
(3) require that the lessee of lands within the 
Coastal Plain shall be fully responsible and liable for 
the reclamation of lands within the Coastal Plain and 
any other Federal lands that are adversely affected in 
connection with exploration, development, production, 
or transportation activities conducted under the lease 
and within the Coastal Plain by the lessee or by any 
of the subcontractors or agents of the lessee; 
(4) provide that the lessee may not delegate or 
convey, by contract or otherwise, the reclamation re-
sponsibility and liability to another person without 
the express written approval of the Secretary; 
(5) provide that the standard of reclamation for 
lands required to be reclaimed under this Act shall be, 
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as nearly as practicable, a condition capable of sup-
porting the uses which the lands were capable of sup-
porting prior to any exploration, development, or pro-
duction activities, or upon application by the lessee, 
to a higher or better use as certified by the Secretary; 
(6) contain terms and conditions relating to pro-
tection of fish and wildlife, their habitat, subsistence 
resources, and the environment as required pursuant 
to section 3(a)(2); 
(7) provide that the lessee, its agents, and its 
contractors use best efforts to provide a fair share, as 
determined by the level of obligation previously agreed 
to in the 1974 agreement implementing section 29 of 
the Federal Agreement and Grant of Right of Way for 
the Operation of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, of em-
ployment and contracting for Alaska Natives and 
Alaska Native corporations from throughout the State; 
(8) prohibit the export of oil produced under the 
lease; and 
(9) contain such other provisions as the Sec-
retary determines necessary to ensure compliance 
with this Act and the regulations issued under this 
Act. 
(b) NEGOTIATED LABOR AGREEMENTS.—The Sec-
retary, as a term and condition of each lease under this 
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