[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 598 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 598

 To prohibit royalty incentives for deepwater drilling, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 2013

 Mrs. Feinstein (for herself and Mr. Nelson) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit royalty incentives for deepwater drilling, 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 ``Deepwater Drilling Royalty Relief 
Prohibition Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ROYALTY INCENTIVES FOR DEEPWATER DRILLING.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
Secretary of the Interior shall not issue any oil or gas lease sale 
under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) 
with royalty-based incentives in any tract located in water depths of 
400 meters or more on the outer Continental Shelf.
    (b) Royalty Relief for Deepwater Production.--Section 345 of the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15905) is repealed.
    (c) Royalty Relief.--Section 8(a)(3) of the Outer Continental Shelf 
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(a)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
                    ``(D) Prohibition.--Notwithstanding subparagraphs 
                (A) through (C) or any other provision of law, the 
                Secretary shall not reduce or eliminate any royalty or 
                net profit share for any lease or unit located in water 
                depths of 400 meters or more on the outer Continental 
                Shelf.''.
    (d) Application.--This section and the amendments made by this 
section--
            (1) apply beginning with the first lease sale held on or 
        after the date of enactment of this Act for which a final 
        notice of sale has not been published as of that date; and
            (2) do not apply to a lease in effect on the date of 
        enactment of this Act.
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