[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4135 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4135

To permit United States companies to participate in the exploration for 
   and the extraction of hydrocarbon resources from any portion of a 
  foreign maritime exclusive economic zone that is contiguous to the 
 exclusive economic zone of the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 5, 2012

  Mr. Flake introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To permit United States companies to participate in the exploration for 
   and the extraction of hydrocarbon resources from any portion of a 
  foreign maritime exclusive economic zone that is contiguous to the 
 exclusive economic zone of the United States, 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 ``Western Hemisphere Energy Security 
Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to permit United States companies to 
participate in the exploration for and the extraction of hydrocarbon 
resources from any portion of a foreign maritime exclusive economic 
zone that is contiguous to the exclusive economic zone of the United 
States.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ACTIVITIES AND EXPORTS INVOLVING HYDROCARBON 
              RESOURCES BY UNITED STATES COMPANIES.

    (a) Authorization.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law 
(including a regulation), United States persons (including agents and 
affiliates of such persons) may--
            (1) engage in any transaction necessary for the exploration 
        for and extraction of hydrocarbon resources from any portion of 
        any foreign exclusive economic zone that is contiguous to the 
        exclusive economic zone of the United States, or for oil spill 
        prevention and clean-up activities in such a portion of any 
        foreign exclusive economic zone;
            (2) export without license authority all equipment 
        necessary for the exploration for or extraction of hydrocarbon 
        resources, or oil spill prevention and clean-up activities, 
        described in paragraph (1); and
            (3) import into the United States hydrocarbon resources 
        described in paragraph (1) (including products thereof) 
        extracted under the authority of this section.
    (b) Definition.--In this section, the term ``United States person'' 
means--
            (1) any United States citizen or alien lawfully admitted 
        for permanent residence in the United States; and
            (2) any person other than an individual, if an individual 
        described in paragraph (1) owns or controls at least 51 percent 
        of the securities or other equity interest in such person.

SEC. 4. TRAVEL IN CONNECTION WITH AUTHORIZED HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION 
              AND EXTRACTION ACTIVITIES.

    Section 910 of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement 
Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7209) is amended by adding at the end the 
following the following new subsection:
    ``(c) General License Authority for Travel-Related Expenditures by 
Persons Engaging in Hydrocarbon Exploration and Extraction 
Activities.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
        authorize under a general license the travel-related 
        transactions listed in section 515.560(c) of title 31, Code of 
        Federal Regulations, for travel to, from, or within Cuba in 
        connection with--
                    ``(A) exploration for, and the extraction of, 
                hydrocarbon resources in any part of a foreign maritime 
                exclusive economic zone that is contiguous to the 
                United States exclusive economic zone; or
                    ``(B) oil spill prevention and clean-up activities 
                in such a part of a foreign maritime exclusive economic 
                zone.
            ``(2) Persons authorized.--Persons authorized to travel to 
        Cuba under this section include--
                    ``(A) full-time employees, executives, agents, and 
                consultants of oil and gas producers, distributors, and 
                shippers; and
                    ``(B) persons who engage in oil spill prevention 
                and clean-up activities.''.
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