[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2384 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2384

 To require the Secretary of the Interior to offer the 181 Area of the 
  Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing and provide a portion of the 
 revenues from that leasing to producing States and coastal political 
                             subdivisions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 8, 2006

   Mr. Lott (for himself, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Vitter, Mr. 
Sessions, and Mr. Shelby) introduced the following bill; which was read 
  twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of the Interior to offer the 181 Area of the 
  Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing and provide a portion of the 
 revenues from that leasing to producing States and coastal political 
                             subdivisions.

    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 ``Gulf Coast Protection and 
Restoration Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASING IN 181 AREA OF GULF OF MEXICO.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) 181 area.--The term ``181 Area'' means the area 
        identified in map 15, page 58, of the Proposed Final Outer 
        Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 1997-2002 of 
        the Minerals Management Service.
            (2) Military mission line.--The term ``Military Mission 
        Line'' means the north-south line at 8641' W. longitude.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior, acting through the Minerals Management 
        Service.
    (b) Lease Sale.--Except as otherwise provided in this section, the 
Secretary shall offer the 181 Area for oil and gas leasing pursuant to 
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) as soon 
as practicable, but not later than 1 year, after the date of enactment 
of this Act.
    (c) Excluded Areas.--In carrying out subsection (b), the Secretary 
shall not offer for oil and gas leasing--
            (1) any area east of the Military Mission Line, unless the 
        Secretary of Defense agrees in writing before the area is 
        offered for lease that the area can be developed in a manner 
        that will not interfere with military activities; or
            (2) any area that is within 100 miles of the coastline of 
        the State of Florida.
    (d) Leasing Program.--The 181 Area shall be offered for lease under 
this section notwithstanding the omission of the 181 Area from any 
outer Continental Shelf leasing program under section 18 of the Outer 
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344).
    (e) Disposition of Revenues.--
            (1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    (A) Coastal political subdivision.--The term 
                ``coastal political subdivision'' has the meaning given 
                the term in section 31(a) of the Outer Continental 
                Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1356a(a)).
                    (B) Producing state.--
                            (i) In general.--The term ``producing 
                        State'' means a State that has a coastal 
                        seaward boundary on the Gulf of Mexico and 
                        within 200 nautical miles of the geographic 
                        center of a leased tract within the 181 Area.
                            (ii) Exclusion.--The term ``producing 
                        State'' does not include a producing State 
                        described in section 31(a)(9)(B) of the Outer 
                        Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
                        1356a(a)(9)(B))).
                    (C) Qualified outer continental shelf revenues.--
                The term ``qualified outer Continental Shelf revenues'' 
                has the meaning given the term in section 31(a) of the 
                Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1356a(a)).
            (2) Disbursement.--Of the qualified outer Continental Shelf 
        revenues that are generated from leases entered into in the 181 
        Area under this section, the Secretary shall, without further 
        appropriation, disburse to producing States and coastal 
        political subdivisions 50 percent of the qualified outer 
        Continental Shelf revenues that are generated from the 181 Area 
        during each fiscal year.
            (3) Allocation.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall disburse and 
                allocate funds made available under this subsection to 
                producing States and coastal political subdivisions in 
                accordance with section 31(b) of the Outer Continental 
                Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1356a(b)).
                    (B) Relation to other disbursements.--Funds 
                disbursed under subparagraph (A) are in addition to 
                funds disbursed under paragraphs (1) and (3)(B) of 
                section 31(b) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 
                (43 U.S.C. 1356a(b)).
            (4) Authorized uses.--
                    (A) In general.--A producing State or coastal 
                political subdivision shall use all amounts received 
                under this subsection in accordance with all applicable 
                Federal and State laws, only for 1 or more of the 
                following purposes:
                            (i) Any of the purposes described in 
                        section 31(d)(1) of the Outer Continental Shelf 
                        Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1356a(d)(1)).
                            (ii) Funding of onshore infrastructure 
                        projects and public service needs.
                            (iii) Projects and activities for the 
                        mitigation of hazards, the production of 
                        energy, or conservation, including educational 
                        or training programs or facilities.
                            (iv) Payment of the non-Federal share of 
                        the cost of any project or activity authorized 
                        to be carried out under section 31 of that Act.
                    (B) Coastal impact assistance plan.--If a producing 
                State or coastal political subdivision of a producing 
                State intends to use the amounts provided under this 
                subsection in a manner other than the manner specified 
                in the coastal impact assistance plan submitted by the 
                producing State under section 31(c) of the Outer 
                Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1356a(d)(1)(B)), 
                the Governor of the producing State shall submit to the 
                Secretary an amendment to the coastal impact assistance 
                plan.
                    (C) Limitation.--Subsections (b)(4)(D) and (d)(3) 
                of section 31 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 
                (43 U.S.C. 1356a) shall not apply to revenue generated 
                from a leased tract located in the 181 Area.
                                 <all>