Topic: Energy — Natural Gas & Oil
Subject: Energy
Date: 2011-11-14 00:00:00

Energy Security and Transportation Jobs Act - Title I: Expanding Offshore Energy Development - (Sec. 101) Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to make available for leasing and to conduct lease sales including: (1) at least 50% of the available unleased acreage within each outer Continental Shelf (OCS) planning area considered to have the largest undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources (on a total btu basis) based upon the most recent national geologic assessment of the OCS, with an emphasis on offering the most geologically prospective parts of the planning area; and (2) any state subdivision of an OCS planning area that the Governor of such state requests be made available for leasing. Directs the Secretary, in the 2012-2017 5-year oil and gas leasing program, to make available for leasing OCS planning areas that are estimated to contain more than: (1) 2.5 billion barrels of oil; or (2) 7.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary, in developing a 5-year oil and gas leasing program, to determine a domestic strategic production goal for the development of oil and natural gas. Makes the production goal for the 2012-2017 5-year oil and gas leasing program an increase by 2027 in daily production fof at least: (1) 3 million barrels of oil, and (2) 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Instructs the Secretary to report annually to certain congressional committees on progress in meeting the production goal. Title II: Conducting Prompt Offshore Lease Sales - (Sec. 201) Directs the Secretary to conduct offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 216 (in the central Gulf of Mexico) within 4 months after the date of enactment of this Act. Deems specified Environmental Impact Statements to satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for this lease sale. (Sec. 202) Directs the Secretary to conduct Lease Sale 220 (on the OCS offshore Virginia) within one year after enactment of this Act. Requires the Secretary, for each lease block in Lease Sale 220 for which the Secretary of Defense (DOD) proposes deferral from a lease offering due to defense-related activities irreconcilable with mineral exploration and development, to make available in the same lease sale two other lease blocks in the Virginia lease sale planning area that are acceptable for oil and gas exploration and production. Instructs the Secretary and DOD to work jointly in implementing this Act in order to ensure: (1) preserving the ability of the Armed Forces of the United States to maintain an optimum state of readiness through their continued use of the OCS; and (2) allowing exploration, development, and production of the nation's oil, gas, and renewable energy resources. Prohibits any exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas off the coast of Virginia that would conflict with any military operation, as determined in accordance with a specified Memorandum of Agreement between DOD and the Department of the Interior. (Sec. 203) Instructs the Secretary to conduct offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 222 (in the central Gulf of Mexico) no later than September 1, 2012. Deems specified Environmental Impact Statements to satisfy NEPA requirements for this lease sale. (Sec. 204) Directs the Secretary to offer for sale, by July 1, 2014, leases of tracts in the Southern California Planning Area in the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara/Ventura Basins. Requires such leases to permit development and production only from existing offshore infrastructure or from onshore-based drilling. Offers such areas for lease even though the Southern California Planning Area has been omitted under OCSLA from any OCS leasing program. Declares inapplicable to such lease sales and related activities the requirement that federal activities be consistent with state management programs. Requires the Secretary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the lease sales. States that the Secretary, however, is neither required to identify nonleasing alternative courses of action nor to analyze the environmental effects of such alternative courses of action. Restricts the Secretary to: (1) identifying a preferred action for leasing and not more than one alternative leasing proposal, and (2) analyzing environmental effects and potential mitigation measures for that preferred action and alternative leasing proposal. Directs the Secretary. in preparing the EIS, to consider only public comments that specifically address the Secretary's preferred action and that are filed within 20 days after publication of an environmental analysis. (Sec. 205) Directs the Secretary to conduct the lease sale formerly known as Lease Sale 214 for tracts located in the North Aleutian Basin Outer Continental Shelf Planning. (Sec. 206) Authorizes the Secretary to hold additional lease sales for areas with the greatest potential for new oil and gas development as a result of local support, new seismic findings, or nomination by interested persons. Title III: Leasing in New Offshore Areas - (Sec. 301) Amends the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 to repeal the moratorium upon oil and gas leasing, or preleasing, or any related activity in: (1) any area east of the Military Mission Line in the Gulf of Mexico; (2) any area in the Eastern Planning Area that is within 125 miles of the Florida coastline; or (3) specified areas within the Central Planning Area and within 100 miles of the Florida coastline. (Sec. 302) Reforms, effective July 1, 2012, the administrative boundary between the Central Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area. Prohibits the Secretary, between the date of enactment of this Act and June 30, 2025, with certain exceptions, from offering for leasing, preleasing, or related leasing activity any area in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico OCS Planning Area. Directs the Secretary, however, to conduct planning and leasing for one lease sale in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area in each of 2013, 2014, and 2015. Requires each such lease sale to consist only of 50 contiguous OCS lease blocks in areas considered to have the greatest potential for oil and gas. Directs the Secretary, in reviewing potential areas for leasing, to focus upon areas of known quantities of hydrocarbons that can be conventionally produced using existing or reasonably foreseeable technology, and for which oil and gas exploration, development, production, and marketing could be carried out expeditiously. Subjects such lease sales to specified conditions, including limitations at the Secretary's discretion upon: (1) permanent surface occupancy on each lease block if it is incompatible with military operations, (2) drilling schedules and surface occupancy to accommodate defense activities on a short-term or seasonal basis, and (3) permanent surface infrastructure on any OCS lease block closer than 12 nautical miles to the coast of any state (unless the state approves that infrastructure). Directs the Secretary, for each lease block in a proposed sale for which DOD proposes deferral from a lease offering due to defense-related activities irreconcilable with mineral exploration and development, to make available in the same lease sale two other lease blocks in the same OCS planning area that are acceptable for oil and gas exploration and production. Prohibits exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico OCS Planning Area that would conflict with any military operation, as determined in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement between DOD and the Department of the Interior. (Sec. 303) Requires the Secretary to conduct an offshore oil and gas lease sale for areas added to the Central Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area as soon as practicable, but not later than the first lease sale after enactment of this Act in which any area in such planning area is made available for leasing. (Sec. 304) Amends the OCSLA to include within the OCS any submerged lands lying within the United States exclusive economic zone and the Continental Shelf adjacent to any territory of the United States. Title IV: Outer Continental Shelf Revenue Sharing - (Sec. 401) Amends OCSLA to set forth requirements for the phased-in disposition of new leasing revenues among coastal states affected by the leases under which those revenues are received. Sets forth a scheme for allocation of new leasing revenues to coastal states within 200 miles of a leased tract in amounts 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. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - (Sec. 501) Expresses the intent of Congress that: (1) this Act will support a healthy and growing U.S. domestic energy sector that helps to reinvigorate American manufacturing, transportation, and service sectors by employing the talents of U.S. workers to assist in the development of energy from domestic sources; and (2) Congress will monitor the deployment of personnel and material onshore and offshore to encourage the development of American technology and manufacturing to enable U.S workers to benefit from this Act through good jobs and careers, as well as the establishment of important industrial facilities to support expanded access to American resources. Directs the Secretary, when practicable, to encourage the use of U.S. workers and equipment manufactured in the United States in all construction related to OCS mineral and renewable energy resource development under this Act.