ENERGY NEWS

Congressional Replacement of President Obama's Energy-Restricting and Job-Limiting Offshore Drilling Plan -

• (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement the Proposed Final Outer Continental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing Program (2012-2017) in accordance with the schedule for conducting oil and gas lease sales set forth in it and in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Instructs the Secretary to conduct each of specified oil and gas lease sales in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Planning Areas, including certain ones in the Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program (2010-2015), during its specified year.
• (Sec. 4) Requires the Secretary to offer for sale, by December 31, 2013, leases of tracts in the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara/Ventura Basins of the Southern California OCS Planning Area. Requires the Secretary to include in such leases any terms and conditions 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.
• (Sec. 5) Retains the authority of the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to designate national defense areas on the OCS. Prohibits exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas on the OCS under a lease issued under this Act that would conflict with any military operation 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, including any revision or replacement for that agreement agreed to after that date but before the issuance of the lease under which such exploration, development, or production is conducted.
• (Sec. 6) Requires the Secretary to prepare a multisale environmental impact statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for lease sales required under this Act that are not included in the Proposed Final Leasing Program (2012-2017). States that the Secretary is not required to identify nonleasing alternative courses of action or to analyze the environmental effects of such alternative courses of action. Requires the Secretary only to: (1) identify a preferred action for leasing and not more than one alternative leasing proposal, and (2) analyze the environmental effects and potential mitigation measures for such preferred action and such alternative leasing proposal.
• (Sec. 7) Declares that nothing in this Act affects restrictions on oil and gas leasing under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006.
• (Sec. 8) Directs the Secretary, in determining the areas off the coasts of South Carolina and California to be made available for leasing under this Act, to: (1) consult with the governor and legislature of each state; and (2) focus on areas considered to have the most geologically promising energy resources.

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