[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4749 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4749

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an oil and gas lease 
   sale for areas off the coast of North Carolina determined by the 
     Secretary to have the most geologically promising hydrocarbon 
                   resources, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 16, 2016

  Mr. Hudson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an oil and gas lease 
   sale for areas off the coast of North Carolina determined by the 
     Secretary to have the most geologically promising hydrocarbon 
                   resources, 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 ``North Carolina Opening Fossil Fuels 
Safely and Harnessing Opportunities for Robust Employment Act'' or the 
``NC OFFSHORE Act''.

SEC. 2. NORTH CAROLINA LEASE SALE.

    Notwithstanding inclusion of the Mid-Atlantic Outer Continental 
Shelf Planning Area in the Final Outer Continental Shelf Oil & Gas 
Leasing Program 2017-2022,'' the Secretary of the Interior--
            (1) not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, shall conduct an oil and gas lease sale for areas 
        off the coast of North Carolina determined by the Secretary to 
        have the most geologically promising hydrocarbon resources and 
        constituting not less than 25 percent of the leasable area 
        within the North Carolina offshore administrative boundaries 
        depicted in the notice entitled ``Federal Outer Continental 
        Shelf (OCS) Administrative Boundaries Extending from the 
        Submerged Lands Act Boundary seaward to the Limit of the United 
        States Outer Continental Shelf'', published January 3, 2006 (71 
        Fed. Reg. 127); and
            (2) shall conduct one such lease sale each year during the 
        5-year period beginning 2 years after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF MILITARY OPERATIONS.

    (a) Prohibition.--No person may engage in any exploration, 
development, or production of oil or natural gas off the coast of North 
Carolina that would conflict with any military operation, as determined 
in accordance with 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 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 such exploration, 
development, or production is conducted.
    (b) Review and Updating of MOA.--The Secretary of the Interior and 
the Secretary of Defense shall periodically review and revise such 
memorandum of agreement to account for new offshore energy production 
technologies, including those that use wind energy.

SEC. 4. DISPOSITION OF OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF REVENUES TO COASTAL 
              STATES.

    (a) In General.--Section 9 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 
(43 U.S.C. 1338) is amended--
            (1) in the existing text--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``All 
                rentals,'' and inserting the following:
    ``(c) Disposition of Revenue Under Old Leases.--All rentals,''; and
                    (B) in subsection (c) (as designated by the 
                amendment made by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph), 
                by striking ``for the period from June 5, 1950, to 
                date, and thereafter'' and inserting ``in the period 
                beginning June 5, 1950, and ending on the date of 
                enactment of the NC OFFSHORE Act'';
            (2) by adding after subsection (c) (as so designated) the 
        following:
    ``(d)  Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Coastal state.--The term `coastal State' means North 
        Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia.
            ``(2) New leasing revenues.--The term `new leasing 
        revenues' means amounts received by the United States as 
        bonuses, rents, and royalties under leases for oil and gas, 
        wind, tidal, or other energy exploration, development, and 
        production on new areas of the outer Continental Shelf that are 
        authorized to be made available for leasing as a result of 
        enactment of the NC OFFSHORE Act and leasing under that Act.''; 
        and
            (3) by inserting before subsection (c) (as so designated) 
        the following:
    ``(a) Payment of New Leasing Revenues to Coastal States.--Of the 
amount of new leasing revenues received by the United States each 
fiscal year, 37.5 percent shall be allocated and paid in accordance 
with subsection (b) to coastal States that are affected States with 
respect to the leases under which those revenues are received by the 
United States.
    ``(b) Allocation of Payments.--
            ``(1) In general.--The amount of new leasing revenues 
        received by the United States with respect to a leased tract 
        that are required to be paid to coastal States in accordance 
        with this subsection each fiscal year shall be allocated among 
        and paid to coastal States that are within 200 miles of the 
        leased tract, in amounts that are inversely proportional to the 
        respective distances between the point on the coastline of each 
        such State that is closest to the geographic center of the 
        lease tract, as determined by the Secretary.
            ``(2) Minimum and maximum allocation.--The amount allocated 
        to a coastal State under paragraph (1) each fiscal year with 
        respect to a leased tract shall be--
                    ``(A) in the case of a coastal State that is the 
                nearest State to the geographic center of the leased 
                tract, not less than 25 percent of the total amounts 
                allocated with respect to the leased tract;
                    ``(B) in the case of any other coastal State, not 
                less than 10 percent, and not more than 15 percent, of 
                the total amounts allocated with respect to the leased 
                tract; and
                    ``(C) in the case of a coastal State that is the 
                only coastal State within 200 miles of a leased tract, 
                100 percent of the total amounts allocated with respect 
                to the leased tract.
            ``(3) Administration.--Amounts allocated to a coastal State 
        under this subsection--
                    ``(A) shall be available to the coastal State 
                without further appropriation;
                    ``(B) shall remain available until expended;
                    ``(C) shall be in addition to any other amounts 
                available to the coastal State under this Act; and
                    ``(D) shall be distributed in the fiscal year 
                following receipt.
            ``(4) Use of funds.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), a coastal State may use funds 
                allocated and paid to it under this subsection for any 
                purpose as determined by the laws of that State.
                    ``(B) Restriction on use for matching.--Funds 
                allocated and paid to a coastal State under this 
                subsection may not be used as matching funds for any 
                other Federal program.''.
    (b) Limitation on Application.--This section and the amendments 
made by this section shall not affect the application of section 105 of 
the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (title I of division C 
of Public Law 109-432; (43 U.S.C. 1331 note)), as in effect before the 
enactment of this Act, with respect to revenues received by the United 
States under oil and gas leases issued for tracts located in the 
Western and Central Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Planning 
Areas, including such leases issued on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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