[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1989 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1989

   To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to provide for the 
cancellation of 6 existing leases and to ban all new leasing activities 
     in the area off the coast of Florida, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 1997

 Mr. Scarborough (for himself, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mrs. Fowler, Mr. 
Stearns, Mr. McCollum, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Canady of Florida, Mr. Miller 
    of Florida, Mr. Goss, Mr. Foley, Mrs. Meek of Florida, Ms. Ros-
   Lehtinen, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Deutsch, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Shaw, Mr. 
Hastings of Florida, and Mr. Davis of Florida) introduced the following 
         bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to provide for the 
cancellation of 6 existing leases and to ban all new leasing activities 
     in the area off the coast of Florida, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Florida Coast Protection Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF LEASING ACTIVITY OFF THE COAST OF FLORIDA.

    Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1) by striking ``The Secretary'' and 
        inserting ``except as provided in subsection (p), the 
        Secretary''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(p) Prohibition of Leasing Activity Off the Coast of Florida.--
            ``(1) Definition of preleasing activity.--In this 
        subsection:
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `preleasing activity' 
                means an activity relating to a lease that is conducted 
                before a lease sale is held.
                    ``(B) Inclusions.--The term `preleasing activity' 
                includes--
                            ``(i) the scheduling of a lease;
                            ``(ii) the making of a request for industry 
                        interest;
                            ``(iii) the issuance of a call for 
                        information or a nomination;
                            ``(iv) the identification of an area for 
                        prospective leasing;
                            ``(v) the publication of a draft or final 
                        environmental impact statement;
                            ``(vi) the issuance of a notice of sale; 
                        and
                            ``(vii) the performance of any form of 
                        rotary drilling in a prospective lease area.
                    ``(C) Exclusions.--The term `preleasing activity' 
                does not include an environmental, geologic, 
                geophysical, economic, engineering, or other scientific 
                analysis, study, or evaluation.
            ``(2) Ban on leasing off florida coast.--The Secretary may 
        not conduct any preleasing activity, or hold any lease sale, 
        under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et 
        seq.), in the South Atlantic Planning Area off the coast of 
        Florida, the Straits of Florida Planning Area, or the Eastern 
        Gulf of Mexico Planning Area within 100 miles of the Florida 
        coast (as those planning areas are established by the 
        Secretary, acting through the Director of the Minerals 
        Management Service).
            ``(3) Cancellation of existing leases off florida coast.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding subparagraphs 
                (A) and (B) of section 5(a)(2), not later than 90 days 
                after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 
                Secretary shall cancel the 6 leases known as the 
                ``Pensacola Block 933 Unit''.
                    ``(B) Plans and permits.--The Secretary shall not 
                approve any exploration or development plan or permit 
                to drill with respect to the area that is the subject 
                of the lease described in subparagraph (A) before the 
                Secretary has canceled the lease as required by 
                subparagraph (A).
                    ``(C) Compensation of lessees.--The Secretary shall 
                determine compensation to lessees owning leases that 
                are canceled under subparagraph (A) in accordance with 
                section 5(a)(2)(C).''.
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