1.This Act may be cited as
the Offshore Petroleum Expansion Now
Act of 2012
.
2.In this Act:
(1)The term OCS Planning Area means an area
specified as an Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area by the Department of the
Interior as of the date of the enactment of this Act.
(2)Proposed Oil and
Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017The term Proposed Oil and
Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017 means the Proposed Final Outer
Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017 described in the
notice of availability published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2012 (77
Fed. Reg. 40080).
(3)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
3.Requirement to
implement Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017
(a)Except as otherwise
provided in this Act, the Secretary shall implement the Proposed Oil and Gas
Leasing Program: 2012–2017 in accordance with the schedule for conducting oil
and gas lease sales contained in the Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing Program:
2012–2017, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), and
other applicable law.
(b)Modified and
additional lease salesNotwithstanding the schedule of lease sales
in the Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017, the Secretary shall
conduct under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.)
oil and gas lease sales in OCS Planning Areas as specified in the following
table, during the year specified in the table for each lease sale:
Lease Sale No.OCS
Planning AreaYear
212Chukchi Sea2013
217Beaufort Sea2016
220Mid-Atlantic2013
221Chukchi Sea2014
225Eastern Gulf of
Mexico2013
226Eastern Gulf of
Mexico2016
227Central Gulf of
Mexico2013
228 Southern California2014
229Western Gulf of
Mexico2012
230Mid-Atlantic2014
231Central Gulf of
Mexico2014
233Western Gulf of
Mexico2013
234Eastern Gulf of
Mexico2015
235Central Gulf of
Mexico2015
237Chukchi Sea2016
238Western Gulf of
Mexico2014
241Central Gulf of
Mexico2016
242Beaufort Sea2014
243Southern California2017
244Cook Inlet2013
245Mid-Atlantic2015
246Western Gulf2015
247Central Gulf of
Mexico2017
248Western Gulf of
Mexico2016
249Southern California (existing
infrastructure sale)2013
250Mid-Atlantic2017.
(c)For purposes of subsection (b)—
(1)lease sale numbers
225, 226, 227, 229, 231, 233, 235, 237, 238, 241, 242, 244, 246, 247, and 248
are lease sales proposed in, and shall be conducted in accordance with, the
Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017, except each lease sale shall
be conducted in the year specified for the sale in the table under subsection
(b);
(2)lease sale numbers
212, 217, 220, 221, 228, 230, 234, 243, and 245 are sales proposed in, and
shall be conducted in accordance with, the Draft Proposed Outer Continental
Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2010–2015 (January 2009), except each
lease sale shall be conducted in the year specified for the sale in the table
under subsection (b); and
(3)lease sale number
250 shall be conducted—
(A)for lease tracts
in the OCS Planning Area and Mid-Atlantic OCS Planning Area, respectively, by
and at the discretion of the Secretary, subject to subparagraph (C);
(B)in the year
specified for the lease sale in the table under subsection (b); and
(C)in accordance with
the other provisions of this Act.
4.Southern
California existing infrastructure lease sale
(a)In the case of lease sale number 249, the Secretary shall
offer for sale leases of tracts in the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara or Ventura
Basins of the Southern California OCS Planning Area as soon as practicable, but
not later than December 31, 2013.
(b)Use of existing
structures or onshore-Based drillingThe Secretary shall include in leases
offered for sale under lease sale numbers 228, 243, and 249 such terms and
conditions as are necessary to require that development and production may
occur only from offshore infrastructure in existence on the date of the
enactment of this Act or from onshore-based drilling unless, not later than 1
year after the date of the next scheduled Southern California lease sale, the
Governor of the State of California requests the Secretary to conduct an
area-wide sale.
5.Revised map of
the Mid-Atlantic planning area
(a)Definition of
Mid-Atlantic StateIn this
section, the term Mid-Atlantic State means each of the States of
Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia.
(b)Subject to subsection
(c), the Secretary shall revise the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
Regulation and Enforcement map entitled Atlantic NAD 83 Federal Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS) Administrative Boundaries and dated January 2010
to ensure that the square footage of the leasable area in the Mid-Atlantic
planning area is directly proportional to the length of the tidal shoreline of
the Mid-Atlantic States, as determined using the information on tidal
shorelines provided in the document published by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration entitled The Coastline of the United
States and numbered NOAA/PA 71046 (1975).
(c)Nothing in this section affects the
boundary of Lease Sale 220.
6.
(a)This Act shall not affect the authority of the Secretary of
Defense, with the approval of the President, to designate national defense
areas on the outer Continental Shelf pursuant to section 12(d) of the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1341(d)).
(b)Prohibition on
conflicts with military operationsNo person may engage in any exploration,
development, or production of oil or natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf
under a lease issued under this Act that would conflict with any military
operation, as determined in accordance with—
(1)the Memorandum of Agreement between the
Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior on Mutual Concerns on
the Outer Continental Shelf signed July 20, 1983; and
(2)any revision or replacement for that
agreement that is agreed to by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of
the Interior after that date but before the date of issuance of the lease under
which the exploration, development, or production is conducted.
7.Environmental
impact statement requirement
(a)For purposes of this
Act and to conduct lease sales in accordance with the lease sale schedule
established by this Act, the Secretary shall prepare a multisale environmental
impact statement under section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) for all lease sales required under this Act that are not
included in the Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017.
(b)Notwithstanding section 102 of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332), in the statement described
in subsection (a)—
(1)the Secretary is
not required to identify nonleasing alternative courses of action or to analyze
the environmental effects of alternative courses of action; and
(2)the Secretary
shall only—
(A)identify a
preferred action for leasing and not more than 1 alternative leasing proposal;
and
(B)analyze the
environmental effects and potential mitigation measures for the preferred
action and the alternative leasing proposal.
8.Eastern Gulf of
Mexico protectionsNothing in
this Act affects restrictions on oil and gas leasing under the Gulf of Mexico
Energy Security Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 1331 note; Public Law 109–432).
9.Except as provided in
sections 4, 6, and 8, and except as deferred under subsistence deferral in the
Barrow vicinity under the Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017, all
lease sales conducted pursuant to this Act shall be area-wide lease
sales.
10.Coastal State
revenue sharing for outer Continental Shelf energy sources
(a)
(1)Fiscal years
2012 through 2022Notwithstanding section 9 of the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1338) and subject to the other
provisions of this section, for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2022, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall deposit in a special account in the Treasury,
and the Secretary of the Interior shall disburse, 37.5 percent of all revenues
derived from all rentals, royalties, bonus bids, and other sums due and payable
to the United States from outer Continental Shelf areas not scheduled for lease
sale under Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2012–2017 to coastal States
and coastal political subdivisions in accordance with subsection (b).
(2)Notwithstanding section 9 of the Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1338) and subject to the other provisions of this
section, for fiscal year 2023 and each subsequent fiscal year, the Secretary of
the Treasury shall deposit in a special account in the Treasury, and the
Secretary of the Interior shall disburse, 37.5 percent of all revenues derived
from all rentals, royalties, bonus bids, and other sums due and payable to the
United States from outer Continental Shelf areas to coastal States and coastal
political subdivisions in accordance with subsection (b).
(b)Allocation
among coastal States and coastal political subdivisions
(1)Subject to paragraph (2), for each fiscal year, the
amount made available under subsection (a) from any lease shall be allocated to
each coastal State in amounts (based on a formula established by the Secretary
by regulation) that are inversely proportional to the respective distances
between the point on the coastline of each coastal State that is closest to the
geographic center of the applicable leased tract and the geographic center of
the leased tract.
(2)Payments to
coastal political subdivisions
(A)The Secretary shall pay 25 percent of the allocable share
of each coastal State, as determined under paragraph (1), to the coastal
political subdivisions of the coastal State.
(B)The
amount paid by the Secretary to coastal political subdivisions shall be
allocated to each coastal political subdivision in accordance with
subparagraphs (B), (C), and (E) of section 31(b)(4) of the Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1356a(b)(4)).
(c)The Secretary shall ensure that revenues
from all sources of renewable and nonrenewable energy leased and produced from
any outer Continental Shelf area are distributed among coastal States and
coastal political subdivisions in accordance with this section.
(d)Revenues made
available to coastal States and coastal political subdivisions under this
section shall be in addition to any revenues made available to Gulf producing
States and political subdivisions under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act
of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 1331 note; Public Law 109–432).
(e)Repeal of
limitations on amount of distributed qualified outer continental shelf
revenues
(1)Section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of
2006 (43 U.S.C. 1331 note; Public Law 109–432) is amended by striking
subsection (f).
(2)The amendment made by paragraph (1) takes effect on the date
that is 10 years after the date of enactment of this Act.