Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 119.djvu/732

 119 STAT. 714

PUBLIC LAW 109–58—AUG. 8, 2005

(2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program carried out under this section. (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the United States Geological Survey. (4) SURVEY.—The term ‘‘Survey’’ means the United States Geological Survey. (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010. SEC. 352. OIL AND GAS LEASE ACREAGE LIMITATIONS.

Section 27(d)(1) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 184(d)(1)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘acreage held in special tar sand areas’’ the following: ‘‘, and acreage under any lease any portion of which has been committed to a federally approved unit or cooperative plan or communitization agreement or for which royalty (including compensatory royalty or royalty in-kind) was paid in the preceding calendar year,’’. 42 USC 15909.

Publication. Notices. Deadlines.

VerDate 14-DEC-2004

08:19 Oct 26, 2006

SEC. 353. GAS HYDRATE PRODUCTION INCENTIVE.

(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to promote natural gas production from the natural gas hydrate resources on the outer Continental Shelf and Federal lands in Alaska by providing royalty incentives. (b) SUSPENSION OF ROYALTIES.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may grant royalty relief in accordance with this section for natural gas produced from gas hydrate resources under an eligible lease. (2) ELIGIBLE LEASES.—A lease shall be an eligible lease for purposes of this section if— (A) it is issued under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), or is an oil and gas lease issued for onshore Federal lands in Alaska; (B) it is issued prior to January 1, 2016; and (C) production under the lease of natural gas from gas hydrate resources commences prior to January 1, 2018. (3) AMOUNT OF RELIEF.—The Secretary shall conduct a rulemaking and grant royalty relief under this section as a suspension volume if the Secretary determines that such royalty relief would encourage production of natural gas from gas hydrate resources from an eligible lease. The maximum suspension volume shall be 30 billion cubic feet of natural gas per lease. Such relief shall be in addition to any other royalty relief under any other provision applicable to the lease that does not specifically grant a gas hydrate production incentive. Such royalty suspension volume shall be applied to any eligible production occurring on or after the date of publication of the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking. (4) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may place limitations on royalty relief granted under this section based on market price. (c) APPLICATION.—This section shall apply to any eligible lease issued before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act. (d) RULEMAKINGS.— (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall publish the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act and complete the rulemaking

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