Offshore Energy and Jobs Act

Offshore Energy and Jobs Act - Title I: Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program Reforms - (Sec. 101) Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to implement a leasing program that includes at least 50% of the available unleased acreage within each outer Continental Shelf (OCS) planning area considered to have the largest undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources, with an emphasis on offering the most geologically prospective parts of the planning area.

(Sec. 102) Instructs the Secretary, in developing a five-year oil and gas leasing program, to determine a specified domestic strategic production goal for the development of oil and natural gas as a result of that program.

(Sec. 103) Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop and submit to Congress a new five-year oil and gas leasing program. (2) conduct offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 220 within one year after enactment of this Act, and (3) make replacement lease blocks available in the Virginia lease sale planning area that are acceptable for oil and gas exploration and production if the Secretary of Defense proposes deferral from a lease offering due to defense-related activities irreconcilable with mineral exploration and development.

(Sec. 104) Prohibits construction of this Act as authorizing the issuance of a lease under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to any person designated for the imposition of sanctions pursuant to the following:

• the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996;
• the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestiture Act of 2010;
• the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012;
• the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 or the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012;
• Executive Orders 13622, 13628, or 13645 (Iran sanctions);
• Executive Order 13224 (transactions with those who commit or support terrorism);
• Executive Order 13338 (Syria sanctions); or
• the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003.

Title II: Directing the President to Conduct New OCS Sales in Virginia, South Carolina, and California - (Sec. 201) Instructs the Secretary to: (1) conduct offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 220 within one year after enactment of this Act, and (2) make replacement lease blocks available in the Virginia lease sale planning area that are acceptable for oil and gas exploration and production if the Secretary of Defense (DOD) proposes deferral from a lease offering due to defense-related activities irreconcilable with mineral exploration and development.

(Sec. 202) Instructs the Secretary to conduct a lease sale within two years after enactment of this Act for areas off the coast of South Carolina that have the most geologically promising hydrocarbon resources and constituting at least 25% of the leasable area within the South Carolina offshore administrative boundaries. Directs the Secretary to: (1) offer for sale by December 31, 2014, leases of tracts in the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara/Ventura Basins of the Southern California OCS Planning Area; and (2) prepare a multisale environmental impact statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for all lease sales required under this Act.

Title III: Equitable Sharing of Outer Continental Shelf Revenues - (Sec. 301) Allocates 37.5% of the amount of new federal leasing revenues to coastal states that are: (1) impacted by the leases under which those revenues are received by the United States, and (2) within 200 miles of the leased tract.

Title IV: Reorganization of Minerals Management Agencies of the Department of the Interior - (Sec. 401) Establishes in the Department of the Interior: (1) an Under Secretary for Energy, Lands, and Minerals; (2) an Assistant Secretary of Ocean Energy and Safety; (3) an Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management; (4) a Bureau of Ocean Energy; (5) an Ocean Energy Safety Service; and (6) an Office of Natural Resources Revenue. Instructs the Secretary to establish a National Offshore Energy Safety Academy.

(Sec. 405) Requires the Secretary to: (1) certify annually that all Interior Department personnel having regular, direct official contact with government contractors, or conducting investigations, issuing permits, or overseeing energy programs, comply fully with federal employee ethics laws and regulations; and (2) conduct a program of random drug testing of such personnel.

(Sec. 406) Abolishes the Minerals Management Service.

(Sec. 408) Directs the Secretary to establish an Outer Continental Shelf Energy Safety Advisory Board.

(Sec. 409) Directs the Secretary to collect non-refundable fees from the operators of facilities subject to inspection. Establishes in the Treasury the Ocean Energy Enforcement Fund as depository for such fees.

(Sec. 410) Prohibits the Bureau of Ocean Energy and the Ocean Energy Safety Service from developing, proposing, finalizing, administering, or implementing any limitation on activities under their jurisdiction as a result of the coastal and marine spatial planning component of the National Ocean Policy developed under Executive Order 13547. Requires the President to report to Congress on all federal expenditures in FY2011-FY2013 by such agencies concerning that component.

Title V: United States Territories - Redefines the OCS to include all submerged lands lying within the U.S. exclusive economic zone and the Continental Shelf adjacent to any U.S. territory.

Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions - (Sec. 601) Directs the Secretary to issue rules to provide more clarity, certainty, and stability to the revenue streams contemplated by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, including clarification of the timing and methods of disbursements of OCS revenues among Gulf producing states.

(Sec. 602) Increases, for FY2024-FY2055, the maximum amount of qualified OCS revenues distributed to Gulf producing states.

(Sec. 603) Requires the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, not later than December 31, 2013, to publish a record of decision on the Atlantic G&G Programmatic Final Environmental Impact Statement. (The statement evaluates the potential significant environmental effects of geological and geophysical survey activities in federal waters of the Mid- and South Atlantic OCS and adjacent state waters.)

Title VII: Judicial Review - (Sec. 701) Requires a cause of action arising from any action or decision by a federal official regarding the issuance of an energy lease under this Act to be filed not later than the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of such action or decision, except that the limitation will not apply to a cause of action brought by a party to such a lease.

(Sec. 702) Sets forth: (1) deadlines for the initiation and resolution of such cases in U.S. district court and review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, (2) limitations on judicial review, and (3) a requirement that a person who is not a prevailing party shall pay legal fees in connection with judicial review to the prevailing parties.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov