Marine and Coastal Resources Management Act of 1985

Summary

Marine and Coastal Resources Management Act of 1985 - Title I: Amendments to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to revise certain definitions and findings. Requires the Secretary of the Interior to distribute specified sums to specified coastal States (including Texas, Louisiana, California, Alaska, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida) in full satisfaction, upon such States' acceptance of such payment, of each State's claims arising from Federal leasing of submerged lands within three nautical miles of the coastal State (coastal nearshore tracts). Requires each such State, unless prohibited by its constitution, to provide at least 33 percent of such funds to local coastal governments for certain economic and environmental purposes. Requires that after April 1, 1985, 27 percent of all bonuses and rents from leases executed by the Secretary after September 18, 1978, for coastal nearshore tracts shall be paid to the adjacent coastal State. Provides that such percentage of the bonuses and rents for each leased acre lying within three nautical miles of two States shall be divided between the two States. Provides that when a State's seaward boundary or the lateral seaward boundary between two States is in dispute the Secretary shall place 27 percent of the bonuses and rents garnered from the area within three nautical miles of the disputed boundary in escrow until the dispute is resolved. Requires each State receiving a percentage of bonus and rental payments, unless prohibited, by its constitution, to provide at least 33 percent of such payments to local coastal governments for certain economic and environmental purposes. Directs that, absent an existing State-Federal royalty-sharing agreement, the adjacent coastal State's share of all royalties paid to the Secretary from leases executed by the Secretary after September 18, 1978, shall constitute: (1) 27 percent of Federal royalties; or (2) compensation for lost State production attributable to the Federal lessee's drainage of marine resources from common reservoirs underlying State lands. Directs the Secretary to prescribe rules for determining whether reservoirs are common and for allocating royalties when they are common. Requires the rule to provide for binding resolution by an impartial decisionmaker with respect to any reservoir. Sets forth the procedure for challenging the Secretary's rules or the decision of the impartial decisionmaker. Directs the Secretary and coastal States to cooperate in the exchange of required geological, geophysical, and reservoir engineering information. Authorizes the Secretary to agree that the United States shall hold the States harmless from the unauthorized disclosure of such information. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the Congress and the General Accounting Office, accounting for all funds collected, paid out, or being held in escrow under this Act. Establishes in the Treasury, beginning in FY 1987, a Marine Mineral Resources Coastal States Trust Fund, made up of four percent of the average amount of all Federal OCS leasing revenues. Places a ceiling on the total amount deposited into the Fund during any fiscal year. Directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, from sums appropriated from the Fund, to provide each affected State with an Outer Continental Shelf Assistance Grant. Requires such States to establish a trust fund for such grants, report on the activities to be funded, and provide an opportunity for public comment before receiving such grants. Requires such grants to determined by a formula, established by the Administrator, which gives weighted consideration to: (1) actual and future outer continental shelf oil and gas leasing adjacent to the State; and (2) the volume of oil and gas produced from such Federal leases which was first landed in the State during the previous fiscal year. Establishes a minimum grant, of one and one-half percent of total appropriated funds, for any affected State. Provides for the reduction of grant amounts based on the amount of such revenues received by such State in the previous fiscal year. Directs that the grants be used for the management of marine and coastal resources, and for the mitigation of adverse economic and environmental effects related to the development of marine mineral resources. Provides that 33 percent of the revenues received by a State from grants under this Act shall be allocated by the State to local coastal governments for the same purposes. Requires that, for each fiscal year a State receives a grant, it must submit an audit of the State trust fund established pursuant to this Act. Specifies the content and conduct of such audit. Directs the Administrator to promulgate implementing regulations. Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the term "boundaries" in the Submerged Lands Act to respect boundary coordinates already fixed by final decrees of the U.S. Supreme Court. Makes a technical and conforming amendment.

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• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 23 September 1985

  Open at official source

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