[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2615 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2615

 To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from permitting oil and gas 
 leasing, exploration, or development activity off the coast of North 
 Carolina unless the Governor of the State notifies the Secretary that 
               the State does not object to the activity.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 6, 1997

  Mr. Jones introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from permitting oil and gas 
 leasing, exploration, or development activity off the coast of North 
 Carolina unless the Governor of the State notifies the Secretary that 
               the State does not object to the activity.

    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 ``North Carolina Outer Banks 
Protection Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the Outer Banks of North Carolina is an area of 
        exceptional environmental fragility and beauty;
            (2) the annual economic benefits to North Carolina of 
        commercial and recreational fishing activities that could be 
        adversely affected by oil or gas development off the State's 
        coast exceed $1,000,000,000; and
            (3) the major industry in coastal North Carolina is 
        tourism, which is subject to potentially significant disruption 
        by offshore oil or gas development.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF OIL AND GAS LEASING, EXPLORATION, AND 
              DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) Prohibition.--The Secretary of the Interior shall not--
            (1) issue any leases;
            (2) approve any plan of exploration;
            (3) approve any permit to drill; or
            (4) permit any drilling;
for oil or gas on any land of the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast 
of North Carolina.
    (b) Boundaries.--For purposes of subsection (a), the lateral 
seaward boundary between areas off the coast of North Carolina and 
areas off the coast of--
            (1) Virginia shall be as provided in the Joint Resolution 
        entitled ``Joint resolution granting the consent of Congress to 
        an agreement between the States of North Carolina and Virginia 
        establishing their lateral seaward boundary'', approved October 
        27, 1972 (86 Stat. 1298); and
            (2) South Carolina shall be as provided in the Act entitled 
        ``An Act granting the consent of Congress to the agreement 
        between the States of North Carolina and South Carolina 
        establishing their lateral seaward boundary'', approved October 
        9, 1981 (95 Stat. 988).
    (c) Duration of Prohibition.--
            (1) In general.--The prohibition of an activity under 
        subsection (a) shall remain in effect until 45 days of 
        continuous session of Congress after the date on which the 
        Secretary of the Interior submits to Congress a certification 
        that the Governor of the State of North Carolina has notified 
        the Secretary that the State does not object to the activity.
            (2) Continuous session of congress.--In computing any 45-
        day period of continuous session of Congress for the purpose of 
        paragraph (1)(B)--
                    (A) continuity of session shall be considered to be 
                broken only by an adjournment of Congress sine die; and
                    (B) the days on which either House of Congress is 
                not in session because of an adjournment of more than 3 
                days to a day certain shall be excluded.
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