[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2540 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2540

   To set clear rules for the development of United States oil shale 
 resources, to promote shale technology research and development, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 21, 2009

  Mr. Lamborn (for himself, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Bishop of 
     Utah, Mr. Chaffetz, Mrs. Lummis, and Mr. Coffman of Colorado) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To set clear rules for the development of United States oil shale 
 resources, to promote shale technology research and development, 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 `` Protecting Investment in Oil shale 
the Next generation of Environmental, Energy and Resource Security 
(PIONEERS) Act''.

SEC. 2. OIL SHALE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that oil shale resources located 
within the United States--
            (1) total almost 2 trillion barrels of oil in place;
            (2) are a strategically important domestic resource that 
        should be developed on an accelerated basis to reduce our 
        growing reliance on politically and economically unstable 
        sources of foreign oil imports;
            (3) are one of the best resources available for advancing 
        American technology and creating American jobs; and
            (4) will be a critically important component of the 
        Nation's transportation fuel sector in particular, by providing 
        a secure domestic source of aviation fuel for both commercial 
        and military uses.
    (b) Additional Research and Development Lease Sales.--The Secretary 
of the Interior shall hold a lease sale within 180 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act offering an additional 10 parcels for lease 
for research, development, and demonstration of oil shale resources, 
under the terms offered in the solicitation of bids for such leases 
published on January 15, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 10).
    (c) Application of Regulations.--The oil shale management final 
rules published by the Department of the Interior on November 18, 2008 
(73 Fed. Reg. 223), shall apply to all commercial leasing for the 
management of federally owned oil shale, and any associated minerals, 
located on Federal lands.
    (d) Reduced Payments To Ensure Production.--The Secretary of the 
Interior may temporarily reduce royalties, fees, rentals, bonus, or 
other payments for leases of Federal lands for the development and 
production of oil shale resources as necessary to incentivize and 
encourage development of such resources, if the Secretary determines 
that the royalties, fees, rentals, bonus bids, and other payments 
otherwise authorized by law are hindering production of such resources.
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