[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1725 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1725

  To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize the Secretary of the 
 Interior to issue separately, for the same area, a lease for tar sand 
          and a lease for oil and gas, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 14, 2003

   Mr. Hatch introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to authorize the Secretary of the 
 Interior to issue separately, for the same area, a lease for tar sand 
          and a lease for oil and gas, 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. COMBINED HYDROCARBON LEASING.

    (a) Special Provisions Regarding Leasing.--Section 17(b)(2) of the 
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(b)(2)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(2)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) The Secretary may issue under this Act for 
                the same area, separately--
                            ``(i) a lease for explanation for and 
                        extraction of tar sand; and
                            ``(ii) a lease for exploration for and 
                        development of oil and gas.
                    ``(C) A lease issued under subparagraph (B)(ii) 
                shall not be further subject to the Combined 
                Hydrocarbon Leasing Act of 1981 (30 U.S.C. 181 et 
                seq.).
                    ``(D) A lease issued for tar sand shall be issued 
                using the same bidding process, annual rental, and 
                posting period as a lease issued for oil and gas, 
                except that the minimum acceptable bid required for a 
                lease issued for tar sand shall be $2 per acre.
                    ``(E) The Secretary may waive, suspend, or alter 
                any requirement under section 26 that a permittee under 
                a permit authorizing prospecting for tar sand must 
                exercise due diligence, to promote any resource covered 
                by a combined hydrocarbon lease.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 17(b)(1)(B) of the Mineral 
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(b)(1)(B)) is amended in the second sentence 
by inserting ``, subject to paragraph (2)(B),'' after ``the 
Secretary''.
    (c) Regulations.--Within 45 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall issue final regulations 
to implement this section.
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