II
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1623
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 6, 2009
Mr. Feingold (for himself, Mr. Dodd, and Mr. Menendez) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new Federal oil and gas leases to holders of existing leases who do not diligently develop the land subject to the existing leases or relinquish the leases, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease
Act
.
Issuance of new leases
Definitions
In this section:
Lessee
The term lessee includes any person or other entity that controls, is controlled by, or is in or under common control with, a lessee.
Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
Leases
Effective beginning on the date of promulgation of regulations under subsection (c), the Secretary shall not issue any new lease that authorizes the exploration for or production of oil or natural gas under section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (33 U.S.C. 226), the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 351 et seq.), or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) to a person unless the person—
certifies for each existing lease under those Acts for the production of oil or gas with respect to which the person is a lessee, that the person has diligently developed the Federal land that is subject to the lease in order to produce oil or natural gas or is producing oil or natural gas from the land; or
has relinquished all Federal oil and gas leases under which oil and gas is not being diligently developed.
Diligent development
In general
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations that define
diligently developed
for purposes of this section.
Regulations
The regulations shall—
include benchmarks for oil and gas development that will ensure that leaseholders produce oil and gas from each lease within the original term of the lease; and
require each leaseholder to submit to the Secretary a diligent development plan demonstrating how the lessee will meet the benchmarks.
Failure To comply with requirements
Any person that fails to comply with this section (including any regulation or order issued under this section) shall be liable for a civil penalty under the terms and conditions of section 109 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1719).