1.Short
title; table of contents
(a)This Act may be cited
as the Integrity in Offshore Energy
Resources Act of 2008
.
(b)The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of
contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
TITLE I—Employees of Service
Sec. 101. Employee ethical standards.
TITLE II—Programs of Service
Sec. 201. Suspension of royalty-in-kind program.
Sec. 202. Audits.
Sec. 203. Annual reports.
Sec. 204. Prohibition on use of royalty-in-kind revenues for
administrative costs.
2.In this Act:
(1)The
term Department means the Department of the Interior.
(2)The
term mineral has the meaning given the term minerals
in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331).
(3)
(A)The term mineral mining means—
(i)any
activity carried out on Federal land on or off a claim (with or without a
discovery) for mineral leasing, preleasing, any related activity, prospecting,
exploration, development, mining, extraction, milling, beneficiation,
processing, or storage of mined or processed materials with respect to any
mineral that is under the jurisdiction of the Service and uses reasonably
incident to the activity; and
(ii)any reclamation
activity for any mineral and uses reasonably incident to the activity.
(B)The
term mineral activity includes the construction and use of roads,
transmission lines, pipelines, utility corridors, and other means of access
across Federal land for an ancillary facility.
(4)The term royalty-in-kind program means the
program established under—
(A)section 342 of
the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15902);
(B)section 36 of the
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 192);
(C)section 27 of the
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1353); or
(D)any other similar
provision of law.
(5)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
(6)The
term Service means the Minerals Management Service.
<enum>I</enum><header>Employees of
Service</header>
<section commented="no" id="id9BCC1079F5F1499EA358756C9BFDCE23"><enum>101.</enum><header>Employee
ethical standards</header>
<subsection id="id34B15555E198418396389F5CEAD107B3"><enum>(a)</enum><header>Gifts</header>
<paragraph id="id1AB52E58B0084D66A21666E23EF3C1C9"><enum>(1)</enum><header>Prohibition</header>
<subparagraph id="id93CFE70FFF6542C588D0435978F702E4"><enum>(A)</enum><header>In
general</header><text>An employee of the Service may not knowingly accept a
gift from an entity that is engaged in the business of mineral mining.</text>
</subparagraph><subparagraph id="idAE57A90DC43641CBB0DD68146C79223F"><enum>(B)</enum><header>Exceptions</header><text>Except
for the value exception, the regulations providing exceptions to the gift rules
for Federal employees for gifts from outside sources (5 C.F.R. Part 2635) shall
apply to subparagraph (A).</text>
</subparagraph></paragraph><paragraph id="idDD4B9BAFFB0145408A884E34F4472D31"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Violation</header><text>Whoever
violates paragraph (1) shall be guilty of a felony and fined under title 18,
United States Code, or imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.</text>
</paragraph></subsection><subsection id="id83F6D636591E49DF8A10A64575C7C032"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Financial
disclosure</header><text>The filing requirements of section 101(f) of the
Ethics in Government Act of 1978 shall apply to an employee of the Service in a
position classified at an annual income equivalent to GS–13 or higher.</text>
</subsection><subsection id="id5DDA1A24678F45C5B959F8201D764BB3"><enum>(c)</enum><header>Divestiture
requirement</header><text>An employee of the Service may not own stock or any
other interest in an entity that is engaged in the business of mineral mining
during the period of employment of that employee by the Service.</text>
</subsection><subsection id="idFE56B4C7781B4B868B27565F6D366B6B"><enum>(d)</enum><header>Outside
employment</header><text>An employee of the Service may not be employed by any
entity that is engaged in the business of mineral mining during the period of
employment of that employee by the Service.</text>
</subsection><subsection id="idE56248BE03FC4669A8377E8CD295B839"><enum>(e)</enum><header>Revolving
door</header>
<paragraph id="id365F985D63EA46D785D6EF8BCF8BEC1E"><enum>(1)</enum><header>Any work for
the industry</header><text>An employee of the Service shall not work for an
entity engaged in the business of mineral mining during the 1 year period after
the termination of his or her employment with the Service.</text>
</paragraph><paragraph id="id5A66ABE33AE94493B93BBA7C1AFAB11C"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Violation</header><text>Whoever
violates paragraph (1) shall be guilty of a felony and punished as provided in
section 216 of title 18, United States Code.</text>
</paragraph></subsection></section><enum>II</enum><header>Programs of
Service</header>
<section id="idA584D6BE9B7C4C7F858BA749822D7714"><enum>201.</enum><header>Suspension of
royalty-in-kind program</header>
<subsection id="id478F92F46BA746D79DDE83E8B8D62BE9"><enum>(a)</enum><header>In
general</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, the authority of the Secretary to carry out each
royalty-in-kind program is suspended during the period—</text>
<paragraph id="idC2F81584C3304FD782CEF3737CA81664"><enum>(1)</enum><text>beginning on the
date of enactment of this Act; and</text>
</paragraph><paragraph id="id2E1643FF074F460FA62862A88B98A7D5"><enum>(2)</enum><text>ending on the
date the Secretary certifies to Congress that the Secretary, acting through the
Service, has—</text>
<subparagraph id="IDfc0bac92eb074fce84786cebce850543"><enum>(A)</enum><text>conducted a
comprehensive review to determine if the Service is accurately collecting
royalties and reported the results of the review to Congress;</text>
</subparagraph><subparagraph id="ID7aa495de2d034fb49a981b7fe7c5bdcd"><enum>(B)</enum><text>conducted a
thorough review to ensure that metering equipment properly measures what
royalties are owed to the Federal Government and reported the results of the
review to Congress;</text>
</subparagraph><subparagraph id="IDafa6765783844063a5428d96f9ca52b7"><enum>(C)</enum><text>implemented a
robust training program for employees of the Service that culminates in a
certification signed by an employee that the employee understands the ethics
laws (including regulations); and</text>
</subparagraph><subparagraph id="IDcda111927cef4369920df0c7498d9e5d"><enum>(D)</enum><text>created an
ombudsman position that—</text>
<clause id="id9763C545B8CE4CA9AB58E1CFB5F15FA6"><enum>(i)</enum><text>monitors the
progress of the Service in carrying out the actions described in this
paragraph; and</text>
</clause><clause id="id288242D9029147A6BA698A9E286F3ACB"><enum>(ii)</enum><text>is
appointed by, and reports exclusively to, the Inspector General of the
Department.</text>
</clause></subparagraph></paragraph></subsection><subsection id="idD473EC8EF1F44056BDCAAC40C9D1FC4C"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Application</header><text>Subsection
(a) applies to a contract entered into on or after the date of enactment of
this Act.</text>
</subsection></section><section id="IDa42944576b4e44b8ac98d76327770a22"><enum>202.</enum><header>Audits</header>
<subsection id="ID859fb7e41df7412c9c76e4eaf379d8f4"><enum>(a)</enum><header>Number of
audits</header>
<paragraph id="idDC4D0BAED6994CE587F7486A7F3389F2"><enum>(1)</enum><header>In
general</header><text>The Secretary shall ensure that by fiscal year 2009 the
Service shall perform each fiscal year not less that 550 audits of oil and gas
leases entered into by the Secretary for which payment is made under a
royalty-in-kind program.</text>
</paragraph><paragraph id="idFFEFCFBDE1BB4070A3410CD4486509E7"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Compliance
reviews</header><text>For purposes of paragraph (1), a compliance review shall
not be considered an audit.</text>
</paragraph></subsection><subsection id="ID312177cbc2e54fd38f82500d0fc226b2"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Standards</header><text>Not
later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary
shall promulgate regulations that—</text>
<paragraph id="id32DD835968714E578932012FBC0A58E3"><enum>(1)</enum><text>require that all
employees that conduct audits or compliance reviews of oil and gas leases
entered into by the Secretary shall meet professional auditor qualifications
that are consistent with the latest revision of the Government Auditing
Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States; and</text>
</paragraph><paragraph id="id94508AB34C7A4F51863B10AF37099259"><enum>(2)</enum><text>ensure that all
audits conducted by the Department are performed in accordance with the
Standards.</text>
</paragraph></subsection></section><section id="id022DC7C216F14AD891D8A180DD2F293A"><enum>203.</enum><header>Annual
reports</header><text display-inline="no-display-inline">Not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of this Act and each year thereafter, the Inspector
General of the Department shall submit to Congress a report that
evaluates—</text>
<paragraph id="idA2552700588E4887B7606F639AF6D167"><enum>(1)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the performance of the Secretary in
carrying out each royalty-in-kind program; and</text>
</paragraph><paragraph id="id3BDBA7F57419477D9C4EEFD783366C76"><enum>(2)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">whether the royalty-in-kind program costs
or saves taxpayer dollars as compared to receiving revenues in cash.</text>
</paragraph></section><section id="idB3139E134EE84F32AA7FD83BB1477581"><enum>204.</enum><header>Prohibition on
use of royalty-in-kind revenues for administrative costs</header><text display-inline="no-display-inline">Section 342(b)(5) of the Energy Policy Act
of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15902(b)(5)) is amended—</text>
<paragraph id="idF6FFB81EA5854A26901EEB75D4845275"><enum>(1)</enum><text>by striking
<quote><header-in-text level="paragraph" style="OLC">Limitation</header-in-text>.—</quote> and all that follows through
<quote>subparagraph (B), the</quote> in subparagraph (A) and inserting
<quote><header-in-text level="paragraph" style="OLC">Limitation</header-in-text>.—The</quote>; and</text>
</paragraph><paragraph id="id5AFD9D20F2254064BF39AEA38ED024EC"><enum>(2)</enum><text>by striking
subparagraph (B).</text>
</paragraph></section>