[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1231 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1231

 To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require that each 5-
 year offshore oil and gas leasing program offer leasing in the areas 
    with the most prospective oil and gas resources, to establish a 
 domestic oil and natural gas production goal, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 29, 2011

Mr. Hastings of Washington (for himself, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Fleming, Mr. 
Landry, Mr. Flores, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, 
Mr. Wittman, Mr. Broun of Georgia, Mr. Tipton, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Denham, 
Mr. Duncan of Tennessee, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Nunes, Mr. Boustany, Mr. 
 Grimm, Mr. Scalise, Mr. Ross of Florida, Mr. Graves of Missouri, Mrs. 
     Myrick, Mrs. Lummis, Mr. Pompeo, Mr. Olson, Mrs. Capito, Mr. 
   Westmoreland, Mr. Long, Mr. Simpson, Ms. Jenkins, Mr. Kelly, Mr. 
Rigell, Mr. Heller, Mrs. Hartzler, Mr. Ribble, Mr. Gingrey of Georgia, 
and Mr. Posey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require that each 5-
 year offshore oil and gas leasing program offer leasing in the areas 
    with the most prospective oil and gas resources, to establish a 
 domestic oil and natural gas production goal, 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 ``Reversing President Obama's Offshore 
Moratorium Act''.

SEC. 2. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LEASING PROGRAM.

    Section 18(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
1344(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4)(A) In each oil and gas leasing program under this 
        section, the Secretary shall make available for leasing and 
        conduct lease sales including--
                    ``(i) at least 50 percent of the available unleased 
                acreage within each outer Continental Shelf planning 
                area considered to have the largest undiscovered, 
                technically recoverable oil and gas resources (on a 
                total btu basis) based upon the most recent national 
                geologic assessment of the outer Continental Shelf, 
                with an emphasis on offering the most geologically 
                prospective parts of the planning area; and
                    ``(ii) any State subdivision of an outer 
                Continental Shelf planning area that the Governor of 
                the State that represents that subdivision requests be 
                made available for leasing.
            ``(B) In this paragraph the term `available unleased 
        acreage' means that portion of the outer Continental Shelf that 
        is not under lease at the time of a proposed lease sale, and 
        that has not otherwise been made unavailable for leasing by 
        law.
            ``(5)(A) In the 2012-2017 5-year oil and gas leasing 
        program, the Secretary shall make available for leasing any 
        outer Continental Shelf planning areas that--
                    ``(i) are estimated to contain more than 
                2,500,000,000 barrels of oil; or
                    ``(ii) are estimated to contain more than 
                7,500,000,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas.
            ``(B) To determine the planning areas described in 
        subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall use the document entitled 
        `Minerals Management Service Assessment of Undiscovered 
        Technically Recoverable Oil and Gas Resources of the Nation's 
        Outer Continental Shelf, 2006'.''.

SEC. 3. DOMESTIC OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION GOAL.

    Section 18(b) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
1344(b)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) Domestic Oil and Natural Gas Production Goal.---
            ``(1) In general.--In developing a 5-year oil and gas 
        leasing program, and subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary 
        shall determine a domestic strategic production goal for the 
        development of oil and natural gas as a result of that program. 
        Such goal shall be--
                    ``(A) the best estimate of the possible increase in 
                domestic production of oil and natural gas from the 
                outer Continental Shelf;
                    ``(B) focused on meeting domestic demand for oil 
                and natural gas and reducing the dependence of the 
                United States on foreign energy; and
                    ``(C) focused on the production increases achieved 
                by the leasing program at the end of the 15-year period 
                beginning on the effective date of the program.
            ``(2) 2012-2017 program goal.--For purposes of the 2012-
        2017 5-year oil and gas leasing program, the production goal 
        referred to in paragraph (1) shall be an increase by 2027 of--
                    ``(A) no less than 3,000,000 barrels in the amount 
                of oil produced per day; and
                    ``(B) no less than 10,000,000,000 cubic feet in the 
                amount of natural gas produced per day.
            ``(3) Reporting.--The Secretary shall report annually, 
        beginning at the end of the 5-year period for which the program 
        applies, to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
        Resources of the Senate on the progress of the program in 
        meeting the production goal. The Secretary shall identify in 
        the report projections for production and any problems with 
        leasing, permitting, or production that will prevent meeting 
        the goal.''.

SEC. 4. SEISMIC SURVEYING PROMOTION.

    Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
1344) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i) Seismic Surveying Promotion.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall issue regulations 
        providing for--
                    ``(A) issuance by the Secretary of seismic 
                surveying cost credits for the provision of data from 
                seismic surveying of the outer Continental Shelf 
                described in paragraph (2); and
                    ``(B) use of such credits by a person to whom 
                issued, or by a transferee under paragraph (4) of whom 
                the Secretary has received notice under that paragraph, 
                for payment of bonus bids owed by the person or 
                transferee, respectively, for oil and gas lease sales 
                under this section in the planning area where the 
                seismic survey was conducted.
            ``(2) Issuance.--The regulations shall provide for the 
        issuance of such credits upon the date of the submission to the 
        Secretary of the data produced by seismic surveying authorized 
        under section 11 of any area for which the most recent seismic 
        data held by the Secretary at the time of the survey is 10 
        years of age or older.
            ``(3) Value.--The value of such credits shall be equal to 
        50 percent of the costs incurred in conducting seismic 
        surveying to produce the data for which the credits are issued.
            ``(4) Transfer.--A person to whom such a credit is issued 
        by the Secretary may transfer the credit once, and shall notify 
        the Secretary of such transfer.
            ``(5) Expiration.--A seismic surveying cost credit shall 
        expire 10 years after the date of the submission of the date 
        for which the credit is issued.''.
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