[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 840 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 840

 To allow the conduct of offshore energy exploration, development, and 
 production operations under drilling permits previously issued by the 
          Minerals Management Service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2011

  Mr. Murphy of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. Broun of Georgia, Mr. 
 Burton of Indiana, Mr. Chaffetz, Mr. Duncan of Tennessee, Mr. Flores, 
   Mr. Harper, Mr. Latta, Mr. Long, Mr. McClintock, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. 
 Ribble, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Westmoreland, Mr. McKinley, 
   Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Stearns, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. 
   Scalise, Mr. Boustany, and Mr. Davis of Kentucky) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To allow the conduct of offshore energy exploration, development, and 
 production operations under drilling permits previously issued by the 
          Minerals Management Service, 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 ``Safe Exploration Coming from 
Underwater Reserves of Energy Act'' or the ``SECURE Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States imported an estimated 61 percent of 
        its oil in 2010, sending approximately $337 billion, or 
        $641,172 per minute, to foreign countries.
            (2) Approximately 1.6 billion barrels of petroleum imported 
        into the United States last year came from members of the 
        Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, like 
        Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United 
        Arab Emirates.
            (3) More than ten percent of the petroleum imported into 
        the United States came from Venezuela.
            (4) According to data from the Energy Information 
        Administration, by 2035, worldwide demand for oil and natural 
        gas is expected to increase by almost 30 and 38 percent, 
        respectively.
            (5) Domestic oil and natural gas resources off United 
        States shores in undiscovered fields total 86 billion barrels 
        of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough oil 
        to replace imports from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela for the next 
        80 years and enough clean natural gas to power America's 
        industry for the next 63 years.
            (6) Oil and natural gas production off United States shores 
        is projected to decrease in 2011 by 13 percent from 2010 levels 
        in part because of regulatory delays implemented by the 
        Department of the Interior and increased uncertainty about 
        future investment in drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.
            (7) Regular-grade retail gasoline prices are expected to 
        continue rising through 2011 to as much as $5.00 per gallon by 
        2012, according to some estimates.
            (8) The Department of the Interior has proscribed reforms 
        to ensure the safe development of oil and natural gas 
        production off United States shores, including implementing new 
        rules that would strengthen safety requirements for offshore 
        drilling operations.
            (9) The resumption of oil and natural gas drilling 
        operations off United States shores is imperative to the United 
        States economic recovery and energy security.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT OFFSHORE DRILLING UNDER APPROVED PERMITS.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), each holder of a permit 
issued pursuant to an application for a permit to drill, including an 
application for a permit to sidetrack, that was approved by the 
Minerals Management Service before May 3, 2010, for purposes of Outer 
Continental Shelf energy exploration or development and production may 
conduct all operations authorized under the terms of the permit 
(including all exploration plans, development operations coordination 
documents, and development production plans submitted for the permit)--
            (1) without further review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy 
        Management, Regulation and Enforcement; and
            (2) without further review or delay under the National 
        Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) or 
        any other similar statutes such as the Federal Water Pollution 
        Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) or the Marine Mammal 
        Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.).
    (b) Operations.--Operations conducted under subsection (a) shall be 
carried out in accordance with the safety protocols contained in part 
250 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations.
    (c) Review of Compliance.--This section does not prohibit review of 
compliance with the terms of such a permit.
                                 <all>