SEA Jobs Act

Southern Energy Access Jobs Act or the SEA Jobs Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to promulgate regulations that establish management of the surface occupancy of each portion of the South Atlantic planning area for the coastline of a state for any lease sale authorized under this Act.

Requires the state under such regulations to have sole authority to restrict or allow surface facilities above the waterline for the purpose of producing oil or gas resources in any area within 12 nautical miles seaward from its coastline.

Allows the installation of only sub-surface production facilities in areas located between points 12 and 20 nautical miles seaward from the state coastline, unless the state authorizes permanent surface occupancy.

Requires new offshore production facilities to be encouraged and the impacts on coastal vistas minimized.

Requires that onshore facilities be allowed that facilitate development and production of oil and gas resources of the South Atlantic planning area within 12 nautical miles seaward of a state coastline.

Directs the Secretary to conduct Virginia Lease Sale 220.

Requires the Secretary to conduct a lease sale within two years after enactment of this Act in areas off the coast of South Carolina that: (1) have the most geologically promising hydrocarbon resources, and (2) constitute at least 25% of the leasable area located within certain offshore administrative boundaries.

Requires the Secretary to conduct before June 30, 2017, three lease sales in the South Atlantic planning area that contains the most hydrocarbon resource potential.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) include the South Atlantic planning area within a specified outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing program for FY2017-FY2022; and (2) conduct one lease sale in the South Atlantic planning area during each year of the program, for a total of five lease sales.

Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to implement lease sales jointly to: (1) preserve the ability of the Armed Forces to maintain an optimum state of readiness through their continued use of the OCS; and (2) allow exploration, development, and production of U.S. oil, gas, and renewable energy resources.

Prohibits exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas on the OCS that would conflict with military operations set forth in specified documents.

Prescribes specified percentages of qualified revenues for: (1) deposit into the Treasury, (2) deficit reduction, and (3) allocation to certain states.

Establishes the Oil and Gas Production Veterans Workforce Training Fund.

Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), to partner with certain institutions of higher education to facilitate the study of geological and geophysical sciences on the Atlantic OCS and elsewhere on the U.S. Continental Shelf.

Requires the BOEM Director to establish an Atlantic regional office in an area with the most potential resource development that is also in a certain OCS leasing program for FY2017-FY2022.

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