jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-03-26 00:00:00

Foreign Spill Protection Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to make foreign facilities that are located offshore and outside the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) liable for removal costs and damages that result from oil spills that reach (or threaten to reach) U.S. navigable waters, adjoining shorelines, or the EEZ. Specifically, the following parties may be held liable: (1) the owners or operators of the foreign facilities, and (2) the holders of a right of use and easement granted under applicable foreign law for the area in which the facility is located.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-16 00:00:00

Virginia Jobs and Energy Act

 Directs the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) conduct lease sale 220 within one year after enactment of this Act, and (2) include at least two lease sales in the Virginia lease sale planning area in each five-year oil and gas leasing program that applies after the current leasing program.

Prohibits any oil or natural gas exploration, development, or production off the Virginia coast that would conflict with a military operation. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Defense (DOD) periodically to review and revise a specified Memorandum of Agreement concerning such operations to account for new offshore energy production technologies, including those using wind energy. Allocates 37.5% of new leasing revenues received by the United States each fiscal year under any lease issued under this Act for payment to states affected with respect to the leases under which those revenues are received by the United States. Sets forth a payments allocation schedule for states within 200 miles of the leased tract. Exempts from environmental impact statement requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) any project determined by the Secretary to be an offshore meteorological site testing and monitoring project.

Defines such project as one administered by the Department of the Interior and carried out on or in the waters of the Outer Continental Shelf to test or monitor weather (including wind, tidal, current, and solar energy) using towers, buoys, or other temporary ocean infrastructure and that: (1) causes less than one acre of surface or seafloor disruption at the location of each meteorological tower or other device and no more than five acres of surface or seafloor disruption within the proposed area affected by the project (including hazards to navigation); (2) is decommissioned within five years of its commencement; and (3) provides meteorological information to the Secretary.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) require that any applicant seeking to conduct such a project obtain a permit and right of way; (2) determine, within 30 days after receiving an application, whether to issue such a permit and right of way; (3) provide an opportunity for public comment; (4) consult with DOD, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the heads of other federal, state, and local agencies affected by issuance of the permit and right of way; and (5) provide an applicant the opportunity to remedy deficiencies in an application that was denied.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-04-20 00:00:00

Florida Coastal Protection Act

This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from offering any tract located in the following areas for either oil and gas leasing or preleasing:

 the Eastern Gulf of Mexico that is referred to in the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, the portion of the South Atlantic Planning Area south of 30 degrees 43 minutes North Latitude, or the Straits of Florida Planning Area.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-21 00:00:00

Protect Our Public Lands Act 

This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to require a lease on public land for developing deposits of coal, petroleum, natural gas, and other hydrocarbons to prohibit a lessee from conducting hydraulic fracturing activity under the lease. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process to extract underground resources such as oil or gas from a geologic formation by injecting water, a propping agent (e.g., sand), and chemical additives into a well under enough pressure to fracture the geological formation. The bill excludes from hydraulic fracturing any enhanced secondary recovery, including water flooding, tertiary recovery, and other types of well stimulation operations.

The bill is applicable only upon the renewal or adjustment of a lease.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

End Polluter Welfare Act of 2015

 Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to repeal the authority of the Department of the Interior to reduce or eliminate royalty payments for oil and natural gas leases in the Outer Continental Shelf.

 Amends the Mineral Leasing Act to increase minimum royalty payments for coal, oil, and natural gas leases.

Amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to prohibit payment of interest upon any overpayment of royalties.

Amends the Oil Pollution Act to eliminate the limitation on liability for offshore facilities and pipeline operators for oil spills.

Rescinds all unobligated balances made available to the World Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Export-Import Bank, the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the Department of Energy (DOE), and other international financing entities to carry out any project that supports power plants that operate on fossil fuel (i.e., coal, petroleum, natural gas, or any derivatives used for fuel). Exempts from such rescission any fossil-fueled power plant project located in a Least Developed Country if no other economically feasible alternative exists, and the project uses the most efficient technology available.

Terminates the Office of Fossil Energy Research and Development in DOE and related implementation authority.

Prohibits the Department of Agriculture from making loans under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to carry out projects that will use fossil fuel.

Prohibits the use of Department of Transportation funds to award any grant or other direct assistance to any rail or port project that transports fossil fuel.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) limit or repeal provisions allowing tax incentives for investment in fossil fuels, (2) increase the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund financing rate, and (3) impose a 13% tax on the removal price of any taxable crude oil or natural gas from the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico.

Repeals the corporate income tax exemption for publicly traded partnerships with qualifying income and gains from activities relating to fossil fuels.

Designates the Powder River Basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming as a coal producing region.

Eliminates accelerated depreciation for property that is receiving a subsidy for fossil fuel production.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

Offshore Fracking Transparency and Review Act of 2015

This bill prohibits both hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation treatment in the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region until the Secretary of the Interior has: (1) reported to Congress on the conduct and impacts of hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation treatments in the Region; and (2) issued, in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency, a final environmental impact statement regarding the impacts upon the marine environment and public health of offshore hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation treatments conducted in such Region.

The Secretary must notify all relevant state and local regulatory agencies and publish in the Federal Register within 30 days: (1) receipt of any application for a permit that would allow either offshore hydraulic fracturing or acid well stimulation treatment in the Region; and (2) the conduct of offshore hydraulic fracturing or acid well stimulation treatment in the Region pursuant to a permit or other authorization issued by the Secretary.

The Secretary shall also maintain and publicize a list of all offshore hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation treatments that have taken place in the Region or that take place after enactment of this Act.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

California Ocean and Coastal Protection Act

 Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit oil and gas preleasing, leasing, and related activities in areas of the Outer Continental Shelf located off the coast of California.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism Anti-Drilling Act or the COAST Anti-Drilling Act

 Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing a lease or other authorization for the exploration, development, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other mineral in either the Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, or the North Atlantic planning areas.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-05-12 00:00:00

Seismic Moratorium Act

This bill prohibits conducting geological or geophysical activities in support of oil or gas exploration and development in any area located within a specified exclusive economic zone located off the coastline of Florida.

This moratorium shall only be terminated if the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (of the Department of Commerce) determines that the reasonably foreseeable impacts of such activities are minimal to individuals or populations of marine mammals, sea turtles, or fish.

These geological or geophysical activities are described in the final programmatic environmental impact statement of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (of the Department of the Interior) entitled "Atlantic OCS Proposed Geological and Geophysical Activities, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Planning Areas," completed February 2014.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-05-15 00:00:00

Energy Supply and Distribution Act of 2015

This bill declares that the production and distribution of energy in the United States requires access to infrastructure and markets.

The Department of Energy (DOE) must collaborate with federal agencies to improve the conceptual development of energy security, considering at a minimum: (1) development of flexible, transparent, and competitive energy markets, including natural gas and oil; and (2) diversification of energy fuels, sources, and routes, and the encouragement of indigenous sources of energy supply.

DOE must also coordinate interagency: (1) data collection for energy distribution on shared energy infrastructure, and (2) training to evaluate and implement cross-border energy projects.

 It is the sense of Congress that growth in crude oil and dry natural gas production varies significantly across oil and natural gas supply regions, thereby: (1) forcing shifts in crude oil and natural gas flows between regions of the United States, and (2) requiring investment or realignment of midstream infrastructure including pipelines.

The Energy Information Administration must collaborate with officials in Canada and Mexico to reconcile data on energy trade flows, extend energy mapping capabilities, and develop common energy data terminology.

Congress declares that processed condensate is a petroleum product.

The DOE Office of Fossil Energy Assessment may assess the suitability of condensate separately from crude oil for use in strategic reserves, while certain agencies within the Department of the Interior must assess condensate separately from crude oil.

The bill authorizes: (1) the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to estimate condensate separately from crude oil as part of the resource assessments regarding domestic geological formations, (2) the Office of Natural Resources Revenue to collect condensate data separately from crude oil, and (3) the United States Geological Survey to include estimates of condensate separately from crude oil as part of the resource assessments regarding domestic geological formations.

Domestic crude oil or condensate (except crude oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) may be exported without a federal license to countries not subject to U.S. sanctions.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-06-03 00:00:00

Preserving Florida's Coastal Communities Act

Amends the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 to extend the moratorium on oil and gas leasing and related activities in certain areas of the Gulf of Mexico for five years (through June 30, 2027).
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Labor and employment
Date: 2015-06-18 00:00:00

Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act of 2015

 Prohibits an employer from discharging, discriminating, or engaging in retaliatory actions against specified employees who report to a government official any violation or unsafe condition under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Sets forth procedures for the filing, investigation, and adjudication of a complaint regarding such retaliation.

Requires employers to:

 post a notice approved by the Department of Labor explaining employee rights and remedies under this Act in a conspicuous location in the place of employment where employees frequent; provide training to employees about their rights under this Act within 30 days of employment, and at least once every 12 months thereafter; and provide employees with a card containing a toll free telephone number at the Department to get information or file a complaint under this Act. Directs the Department, within 30 days after enactment of this Act, to designate agency officials to receive, investigate, and adjudicate complaints concerning violations under this Act.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-07-10 00:00:00

Aerial Infrastructure Route Survey Act of 2015, or the AIR Survey Act of 2015

This bill amends the Natural Gas Act to accept data collected by aerial survey in lieu of ground survey data for the purposes of completing:

 any prefiling process established to facilitate the formal application process for obtaining a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a natural gas transportation facility, or an application associated with a federal authorization concerning a certificate application. An agency that accepts an aerial survey may, nevertheless, require as a condition of approval of an application associated with a federal authorization that the aerial survey data be verified through the use of ground survey data before the construction or extension of the pertinent facility.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-07-21 00:00:00

Accounting for Methane in Production through Loophole Elimination with Oil and Gas Royalties or the AMPLE Oil and Gas Royalties Act

This bill amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to require, with respect to federal oil and gas leases, a lessee or its designee of a lease in a unit or communitization agreement that contains only federal leases with the same royalty rate and funds distribution, or a lessee or its designee of a lease that is not contained in a unit or communitization agreement, to report and pay royalties on oil and gas production each month based on the actual volume of oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir by or on behalf of that lessee, including all oil and gas not sold by or on behalf of that lessee. (Currently, such lessees pay royalties on oil and gas production based on only the actual volume of production sold by or on behalf of that lessee.)

"Oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir" is defined as any oil and gas that is produced, sold, vented, flared, used for beneficial purposes, leaked, or otherwise emitted during production.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

Natural Gas Environmental and Economic Security Act

This bill amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to direct the Department of the Interior to establish specified requirements for:

 reducing and preventing the waste of natural gas, including by venting, flaring, and fugitive releases, from all oil and gas operations subject to mineral leasing law or the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; and measuring and reporting the production and disposition of all gas subject to the mineral leasing laws to allow for more accurate accounting of gas consumed or lost by venting and flaring, and of fugitive releases of such gas. All such requirements shall include consistent enforcement mechanisms for any operations not in compliance with them.

 Royalties otherwise authorized or required to be paid for natural gas shall be assessed on all gas produced under the mineral leasing laws, including:

 gas used or consumed within the area of a tract for the benefit of the lease (commonly referred to as "beneficial use gas"); and all gas consumed or lost by venting, flaring, or fugitive releases through any equipment during upstream operations. Exempted from assessment of these royalties is any natural gas:

 vented or flared in an acute emergency situation posing danger to human health that occurs for no more than 48 hours, or injected into the ground on a lease tract.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to:

 increase to seven years the amortization period for geological and geophysical expenditures; repeal the tax credits for producing oil and gas from marginal wells and for enhanced oil recovery; repeal the tax deduction for the intangible drilling and development costs of oil and gas wells; repeal percentage depletion for oil and gas wells; repeal the tax deduction for tertiary injectant expenses; repeal the passive loss exception for working interests in oil and gas property; deny the tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities for oil and gas activities; prohibit the use of the last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting method by major integrated oil companies; and limit the foreign tax credit for dual capacity taxpayers (i.e., taxpayers who are subject to a levy of a foreign country or U.S. possession and receive specific economic benefits from such country or possession).
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an alternative fuel excise tax credit for liquid fuel derived from natural gas through the Fischer-Tropsch process. The Fischer-Tropsch process is a collection of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

Providing Opportunity with Energy Revenues in Counties Act or the POWER Counties Act

This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to: (1) change from 40% to 20% the percentage of money received from sales, bonuses, royalties including interest charges collected under the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 that is to be paid into the reclamation fund created by the Reclamation Act; and (2) require 20% of such money to be paid to the county within the boundaries of which the leased lands or deposits are or were located and used by such county for its schools and roads.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

American Pipeline Jobs and Safety Act of 2015

 Directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to prescribe minimum safety standards to require gas or hazardous liquid pipelines constructed or replaced after enactment of this Act to be made of steel that: (1) is produced in the United States, and (2) originates from (or in the case of recycled steel is combined with) iron ore and taconite mined and processed in the United States (Buy America requirements).

Authorizes DOT to waive such requirements if certain conditions are met.

Requires DOT inspection and testing of intrastate gas pipelines not covered by a state pipeline safety program certification or a state pipeline safety agreement to include direct, pre-installation testing of such pipelines for quality verification.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-09-28 00:00:00

Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act of 2015 

This bill declares that it is the policy of the United States that the Arctic Ocean should be managed for the best interests of the people of the United States, including by keeping fossil fuels in the ground to avoid the dangerous impacts of climate change.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act is amended to prohibit the Department of the Interior from issuing or renewing a lease or any other authorization for the exploration, development, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other mineral in the Arctic Ocean, including the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea Planning Areas.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2015-10-01 00:00:00

This bill describes acts that unreasonably burden and discriminate against interstate commerce with respect to natural gas pipeline property. It prohibits states, political subdivisions, and any other taxing authority from: (1) assessing natural gas pipeline property at a value that has a higher ratio to its true market value than the ratio used to assess other commercial and industrial property in the same assessment jurisdiction, (2) levying or collecting a tax on such an assessment, (3) levying or collecting an ad valorem property tax on natural gas pipeline property at a rate that exceeds the rate applicable to commercial and industrial property in the same assessment jurisdiction, or (4) imposing any other tax that discriminates against a natural gas pipeline providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The bill grants jurisdiction to U.S. District Courts for claims involving discriminatory taxation of natural gas pipeline property and provides for relief for such claims.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Transportation and public works
Date: 2015-10-23 00:00:00

This bill authorizes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, until December 31, 2017, to appoint qualified candidates to positions that would likely allow increased activities relating to pipeline safety without regard to federal examination, selection, and placement provisions.

 The Administration shall submit to Congress a report annually through 2017 on its efforts to hire women, minorities, and veterans as inspectors since January 1, 2012.
Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2015-11-04 00:00:00

West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2015

This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit the Department of the Interior from issuing a lease for the exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas in any area of the outer Continental Shelf off the coast of California, Oregon, or Washington.