[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2314 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2314

To suspend the application of any provision of Federal law under which 
    persons are relieved from the requirement to pay royalties for 
production of oil or natural gas from Federal lands in periods of high 
    oil and natural gas prices, to require the Secretary to seek to 
  renegotiate existing oil and natural gas leases to similarly limit 
  suspension of royalty obligations under such leases, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 16, 2006

 Mrs. Feinstein (for herself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Kerry, and Mrs. Boxer) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
               Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To suspend the application of any provision of Federal law under which 
    persons are relieved from the requirement to pay royalties for 
production of oil or natural gas from Federal lands in periods of high 
    oil and natural gas prices, to require the Secretary to seek to 
  renegotiate existing oil and natural gas leases to similarly limit 
  suspension of royalty obligations under such leases, 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 ``Royalty Relief Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. SUSPENSION OF ROYALTY RELIEF.

    (a) Requirement.--The Secretary of the Interior (referred to in 
this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall suspend the application of any 
provision of Federal law under which a person would otherwise be 
provided relief from a requirement to pay a royalty for the production 
of oil or natural gas from Federal land (including submerged land) 
occurring after the date of enactment of this Act during a period in 
which--
            (1) for the production of oil, the average price of crude 
        oil in the United States during the 4-week period immediately 
        preceding the suspension is greater than $34.71 per barrel; and
            (2) for the production of natural gas, the average wellhead 
        price of natural gas in the United States during the 4-week 
        period immediately preceding the suspension is greater than 
        $4.34 per 1,000 cubic feet.
    (b) Determination of Average Prices.--For purposes of subsection 
(a), the Secretary shall determine average prices, taking into 
consideration the most recent data reported by the Energy Information 
Administration.

SEC. 3. RENEGOTIATION OF EXISTING LEASES.

    (a) Requirement.--The Secretary shall renegotiate each lease 
authorizing production of oil or natural gas on Federal land (including 
submerged land) issued by the Secretary before the date of the 
enactment of this Act as the Secretary determines to be necessary to 
modify the terms of the lease to ensure that a suspension of a 
requirement to pay royalties under the lease does not apply to 
production described in section 2(a).
    (b) Failure to Renegotiate and Modify.--Beginning on the date that 
is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, a lessee under a 
lease described in subsection (a) shall not be eligible--
            (1) to enter into a new lease described in that subsection; 
        or
            (2) to obtain by sale or other transfer any lease issued 
        before that date, unless the lessee--
                    (A) renegotiates the lease; and
                    (B) enters into an agreement with the Secretary to 
                modify the terms of the lease in accordance with 
                subsection (a).

SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    Sections 344, 345, and 346 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 15904, 15905; 119 Stat. 704) are repealed.
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