I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2634 
To amend the Submerged Lands Act to make the seaward boundaries of 
the States of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi equivalent to the 
seaward boundaries of the State of Texas and the Gulf Coast of Florida. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 25, 2005 
Mr. MELANCON (for himself, Mr. BAKER, Mr. MCCRERY, Mr. JEFFERSON, 
Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. JINDAL, and Mr. BONNER) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary 
A BILL 
To amend the Submerged Lands Act to make the seaward 
boundaries of the States of Louisiana, Alabama, and 
Mississippi equivalent to the seaward boundaries of the 
State of Texas and the Gulf Coast of Florida. 
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 ‘‘Offshore Fairness Act 
of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to provide equity to the States of Louisiana, 
Mississippi, and Alabama with respect to the sea-
ward boundaries of the States in the Gulf of Mexico 
by extending the seaward boundaries from 3 geo-
graphical miles to 3 marine leagues if the State 
meets certain conditions not later than 5 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act; 
(2) to convey to the States of Louisiana, Mis-
sissippi, and Alabama the interest of the United 
States in the submerged land of the outer Conti-
nental Shelf that is located in the extended seaward 
boundaries of the States; 
(3) to provide that any mineral leases, ease-
ments, rights-of-use, and rights-of-way issued by the 
Secretary of the Interior with respect to the sub-
merged land to be conveyed shall remain in full force 
and effect; and 
(4) in conveying the submerged land, to ensure 
that the rights of lessees, operators, and holders of 
easements, rights-of-use, and rights-of-way on the 
submerged land are protected. 
SEC. 3. SEAWARD BOUNDARY EXTENSION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Submerged Lands 
Act (43 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.) is amended—
(1) by redesignating section 11 as section 12; 
and 
(2) by inserting after section 10 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 11. EXTENSION OF SEAWARD BOUNDARIES OF THE 
STATES OF LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI, AND 
ALABAMA. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) EXISTING INTEREST.—The term ‘existing 
interest’ means any lease, easement, right-of-use, or 
right-of-way on, or for any natural resource or min-
erals underlying, the expanded submerged land that 
is existence on the date of the conveyance of the ex-
panded submerged land to the State under sub-
section (b)(1). 
‘‘(2) EXPANDED
SEAWARD
BOUNDARY.—The 
term ‘expanded seaward boundary’ means the sea-
ward boundary of the State that is 3 marine leagues 
seaward of the coast line of the State as of the day 
before the date of enactment of this section. 
‘‘(3) EXPANDED SUBMERGED LAND.—The term 
‘expanded submerged land’ means the area of the 
outer Continental Shelf that is located between 3 
geographical miles and 3 marine leagues seaward of 
the coast line of the State as of the day before the 
date of enactment of this section.
‘‘(4) INTEREST
OWNER.—The term ‘interest 
owner’ means any person that owns or holds an ex-
isting interest in the expanded submerged land or 
portion of an existing interest in the expanded sub-
merged land. 
‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
‘‘(6) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 
the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. 
‘‘(b) CONVEYANCE
OF
EXPANDED
SUBMERGED 
LAND.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State demonstrates to 
the satisfaction of the Secretary that the conditions 
described in paragraph (2) will be met, the Secretary 
shall, subject to valid existing rights and subsection 
(c), convey to the State the interest of the United 
States in the expanded submerged land of the State. 
‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—A conveyance under para-
graph (1) shall be subject to the condition that— 
‘‘(A) on conveyance of the interest of the 
United States in the expanded submerged land 
to the State under paragraph (1)— 
‘‘(i) the Governor of the State (or a 
delegate of the Governor) shall exercise the 
powers and duties of the Secretary under
the terms of any existing interest, subject 
to the requirement that the State and the 
officers of the State may not exercise the 
powers to impose any burden or require-
ment on any interest owner that is more 
onerous or strict than the burdens or re-
quirements imposed under applicable Fed-
eral law (including regulations) on owners 
or holders of the same type of lease, ease-
ment, right-of-use, or right-of-way on the 
outer Continental Shelf seaward of the ex-
panded submerged land; and 
‘‘(ii) the State shall not impose any 
administrative or judicial penalty or sanc-
tion on any interest owner that is more se-
vere than the penalty or sanction under 
Federal law (including regulations) appli-
cable to owners or holders of leases, ease-
ments, rights-of-use, or rights-or-way on 
the outer Continental Shelf seaward of the 
expanded submerged lands for the same 
act, omission, or violation; 
‘‘(B) not later than 5 years after the date 
of enactment of this section—