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Position Statement:

Offshore OCS Access (PDF)

Issue:

Additional areas available for leasing should include those currently under moratoria, off the Eastern, Western, and Florida coasts, where they can be shown to have economic benefit and acceptable environmental risk.

Background:

The petroleum industry has demonstrated its ability to protect the environment while safely producing a significant portion of the nation's oil and gas from these offshore areas. It is in the interest of the United States to explore and develop its Outer Continental Shelf and Slope, one of the most prospective areas of the country.

Statement:

AAPG supports the full exploration, development and production of the petroleum resources of the Outer Continental Shelf and Slope of the United States.

Legislation under consideration in 110th Congress.

This list does not itemize each bill introduced, but rather bills that have been passed by Congressional Committees and/or the House of Representatives or Senate.  It is important to note that these legislative efforts may be combined and renamed, and many will never be enacted into law, but they do provide a sense for where Congress is focusing its efforts. These links will be updated regularly by GEO-DC.

H.R. 3221: Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.03221:

Reaffirms the authority of the Secretary to vary, based on the price of production from a lease, the suspension of royalties under specified leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (Title VII, Subtitle E)

Status:
Passed by House and put on Senate calendar

H.R. 2643: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02643:

Prohibits the use of any funds in this Act to issue any new lease that authorizes production of oil or natural gas under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to any lessee under an existing lease issued by the Department of the Interior pursuant to the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act where such existing lease is not subject to limitations on royalty relief based on market price (Title I, Sec. 123)

Status:
Passed by House and sent to Senate

S. 1696: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01696:

Permits Minerals Management Service to accept, from public and private sources, contributions of money and services to conduct work in support of the orderly exploration and development of Outer Continental Shelf resources (Title I, Sec. 123)

Status:
Passed by Committee and put on Senate calendar