Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 67.djvu/503

 67 S T A T. ]

PUBLIC LAW 2 1 2 - A U G. 7, 1953

shall continue to be maintained in accordance with such lease and the provisions of this Act: Provided further, That, if the primary term of a lease being maintained under subsection (b) hereof has expired prior to the effective date of this Act and oil or gas is being produced in paying quantities on such date, then such rights to sulphur as the lessee may have under such lease shall continue for twenty-four months from the effective date of this Act and as long thereafter as sulphur is produced in paying quantities, or drilling, well working, plant construction, or other operations for the production of sulphur, as approved by the Secretary, are being conducted on the area covered by the lease, (c) The permission granted in subsection (b) of this section shall not be construed to be a waiver of such claims, if any, as the United States may have against the lessor or the lessee or any other person respecting sums payable or paid for or under the lease, or respecting activities conducted under the lease, prior to the effective date of this Act. (d) Any person complaining of a negative determination by the Secretary of the Interior under this section may have such determination reviewed by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by filing a petition for review within sixty days after receiving notice of such action by the Secretary. (e) I n the event any lease maintained under this section covers lands beneath navigable waters, as that term is used in the Submerged Lands Act, as well as lands of the outer Continental Shelf, the provisions of this section shall apply to such lease only insofar as it covers lands of the outer Continental Shelf. SEC. 7. CONTROVERSY OVER JURISDICTION.—In the event of a controversy between the United States and a State as to whether or not lands are subject to the provisions of this Act, the Secretary is authorized, notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of section 6 of this Act, and with the concurrence of the Attorney General of the United States, to negotiate and enter into agreements with the State, its political subdivision or grantee or a lessee thereof, respecting operations under existing mineral leases and payment and impounding of rents, royalties, and other sums payable thereunder, or with the State, its political subdivision or grantee, respecting the issuance or nonissuance of new mineral leases pending the settlement or adjudication of the controversy. The authorization contained in the preceding sentence of this section shall not be construed to be a limitation upon the authority conferred on the Secretary in other sections of this Act. Payments made pursuant to such agreement, or pursuant to any stipulation between the United States and a State, shall be considered as compliance with section 6(a)(4) hereof. Upon the termination of such agreement or stipulation by reason of the final settlement or adjudication of such controversy, if the lands subject to any mineral lease are determined to be in whole or in part lands subject to the provisions of this Act, the lessee, if he has not already done so, shall comply with the requirements of section 6(a), and thereupon the provisions of section 6(b) shall govern such lease. The notice concerning "Oil and Gas Operations in the Submerged Coastal Lands of the Gulf of Mexico" issued by the Secretary on December 11, 1950 (15 F. R. 8835), as amended by the notice dated January 26, 1951 (16 F. R. 953), and as supplemented by the notices dated February 2, 1951 (16 F. R. 1203), March 5, 1951 (16 F. R. 2195), April 23, 1961 (16 F. R. 3623), June 25, 1951 (16 F. R. 6404), August 22, 1951 (16 F. R. 8720), October 24, 1951 (16 F. R. 10998), December 21, 1951 (17 F. R. 43), March 25, 1952 (17 F. R. 2821), June 26, 1952 (17 F. R. 5833), and December 24, 1952 (18 F. R. 48), respectively, is hereby approved and confirmed.

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