SUMMARY AS OF:
9/27/2000--Introduced.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Title I: Energy Security Actions Required of the Secretary of Energy
- Title II: Amendments To Energy Policy and Conservation Act and Actions
Affecting the
- Strategic Petroleum Reserve
- Title III: Provisions To Protect Consumers and Low Income Families and
- Encourage energy Efficiencies
- Title IV: Provisions To Enhance The Use Of Domestic Energy Resources
- Subtitle A: Hydroelectric Resources
- Subtitle B Nuclear Resources
- Subtitle C: Development of a National Spent Nuclear Fuel Strategy
- Subtitle D: Coal Resources
- Title V: Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Security Act of 2000
- Title VI: Improvements To Federal Oil And Gas Lease Management
- Subtitle A: State Option To Regulate Oil and Gas Lease Operations on
Federal
- Land
-
- Subtitle B: Use of Cost Savings From State Regulation
- Subtitle C: Streamlining and Cost Reduction
- Title VII: Frontier Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Incentives
- Title VIII: Tax Measures To Enhance Domestic Oil and Gas Production
- Subtitle A: Marginal Well Preservation
- Subtitle B: Independent Oil and Gas Producers
- Title IX: Tax Measures To Enhance The Use Of Renewable Energy Sources,
Improve Energy Efficiencies, Protect Consumers And Conversion To Clean Burning
Fuels
Energy Independence for America Act of 2000 - Title I: Energy Security
Actions Required of the Secretary of Energy - Directs the Secretary of
Energy (the Secretary) to report annually to the President and Congress on the
progress the United States has made toward obtaining the goal of not more than
50 percent dependence on foreign oil sources by 2010.
(Sec. 102) Sets a deadline for the Secretary to submit to the President a
certain report of the National Petroleum Council, together with recommendations
for administrative or legislative actions.
(Sec. 103) Directs the Secretary to establish within the National Economic
Council an Interagency Work Group on Natural Gas (the Group), whose function
shall be to develop a strategy and comprehensive policy for the use of natural
gas as an essential component of overall national objectives of energy security,
economic growth, and environmental protection.
Title II: Amendments to Energy Policy and Conservation Act and Actions
Affecting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve - Amends the Energy Policy and
Conservation Act (EPCA) to authorize drawdown and distribution of the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve (SPR) if: (1) the President concurs in the determination of
the Secretary of Defense that it will not impair national security; and (2) the
Secretary of Energy finds that it will not have an adverse effect on the
domestic petroleum industry.
(Sec. 201) Extends through FY 2003 the availability of FY 2000 appropriations
for SPR authorities. Extends the expiration date for authorities related to
domestic supply availability from March 31, 2000, to December 31, 2003.
(Sec. 202) Extends from FY 1997 through 2003 the authorization of
appropriations for the interagency working group that coordinates Federal
programs affecting exports of renewable energy and energy efficiency products
and services. Extends the expiration date for standby energy authorities from
March 31, 2000, to December 31, 2003.
(Sec. 203) Instructs the President to establish immediately an Interagency
Panel on the Strategic Petroleum Study to study and report to the President and
Congress regarding oil markets and estimated future fluctuations in the price,
supply, and demand for crude oil, and to determine appropriate SPR capacity and
use.
Title III: Provisions to Protect Consumers and Low Income Families and
Encourage Energy Efficiencies - Amends the Energy Conservation and
Production Act to repeal: (1) the requirement that participating States share 25
percent of the cost of weatherization programs as a condition for receiving
assistance grants; and (2) the mandate that forty percent of weatherization
program funds be spent for weatherization program materials. Instructs the
Secretary to establish energy audit procedures and techniques. Increases the
financial assistance for labor and weatherization materials expenditures per
dwelling unit. Includes among such weatherization materials heating and cooling
modification costs, including replacement.
(Sec. 301) Repeals the mandate for the Secretary to establish, pursuant to
State application, a separate average per dwelling unit limitation.
(Sec. 302) Amends the EPCA to direct the Secretary, upon State request, to
provide information, technical assistance, and funding for specified actions
(summer fill programs) to avoid severe seasonal price increases and supply
shortages of kerosene, propane, and heating oil during summer months.
(Sec. 303) Authorizes appropriations for an Energy Efficiency Science
Initiative, managed by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, for grants for energy efficiency research.
(Sec. 304) Authorizes the Secretary to establish, maintain, and operate a
Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve (Reserve) (containing no more than two
million barrels of petroleum distillate) in the Northeast. States that such
Reserve shall not be considered to be an SPR component. Restricts release of
Reserve petroleum distillate to: (1) a severe energy supply disruption; (2) a
severe price increase; or (3) an emergency affecting the Northeast which the
President determines to merit such release.
Mandates establishment of the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve Account in
the Treasury subsequent to the Secretary's decision to establish the Reserve.
Authorizes appropriations.
Title IV: Provisions to Enhance the Use of Domestic Energy Resources -
Subtitle A: Hydroelectric Resources - Directs the Secretaries of the
Interior and of the Army, respectively, to inventory all dams, impoundments, and
other facilities under their jurisdiction and to report to Congress on the
potential of such facilities to generate hydroelectric power and on actions
planned to do so.
(Sec. 402) Directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to report
to Congress on expedited hydroelectric licensing procedures.
Subtitle B: Nuclear Resources - Directs the Chairman of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission to report to Congress on: (1) domestic nuclear power
generation and production; and (2) the potential for increasing nuclear
generating capacity and production as part of the domestic energy mix.
Subtitle C: Development of a National Spent Nuclear Fuel Strategy -
Establishes an Office of Spent Nuclear Fuel Research within the Office of
Nuclear Energy Science and Technology of the Department of Energy, to implement
an integrated research and development program on technologies for the
treatment, recycling, and disposal of high-level nuclear radioactive waste and
spent nuclear fuel, under the general supervision of the Secretary. Confers upon
the Secretary grant and contract making authority.
Subtitle D: Coal Resources - Directs the Secretary to: (1) report to
Congress on the potential for increased generation from existing coal-fired
power plants; and (2) provide grants for refinement and demonstration of new
technologies for the conversion of coal to liquids.
Title V: Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Security Act of 2000 -
Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Security Act of 2000 - Instructs the
Secretary of the Interior to establish and implement a competitive oil and gas
leasing program that will: (1) result in an environmentally sound program; (2)
not result in significant adverse effects upon fish and wildlife; and (3) ensure
the receipt of fair market value by the public for the mineral resources to be
leased.
(Sec. 503) Amends the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980
to repeal the prohibition against production of oil and gas from the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge, and any leasing or development leading to such
production.
States that Congress determines that the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing
program and activities authorized by this Act are compatible with the purposes
for which the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was established, and that no
further findings or decisions are required to implement this determination.
States this Act is the sole authority for Coastal Plain leasing, and that
such Plain is considered "Federal land" for purposes of the Federal Oil and Gas
Royalty Management Act of 1982.
Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) designate up to a specified total of Coastal
Plain acreage as "Special Areas" and close them to leasing if the Secretary
determines that these Areas require special management and regulatory
protection; and (2) permit leasing in those Special Areas by setting lease terms
that limit or condition surface use and occupancy by lessees but permit the use
of horizontal drilling technology from sites on leases located outside the
designated Special Areas.
Declares that this Act constitutes the Secretary's sole authority to close
Coastal Plain lands to oil and gas leasing and to exploration, development, and
production. Instructs the Secretary to convey the surface estate of specified
lands to the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation and to the Arctic Slope Regional
Corporation in order to remove clouds on title and clarify land ownership
patterns within the Coastal Plain.
(Sec. 505) Declares that the Final Legislative Environmental Impact Statement
on the Coastal Plain of April 1997 is adequate to satisfy the requirements of
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
(Sec. 506) States that lands may be leased to any person qualified to obtain
a lease for oil and gas deposits under the Mineral Leasing Act. Requires the
Secretary to prescribe lease procedures.
(Sec. 507) Authorizes the Secretary to grant to the highest responsible
qualified bidder by sealed competitive cash bonus bid any Coastal Plain lands
upon payment of such bonus and a royalty which shall not be less than a certain
amount. Prescribes lease terms and conditions. Sets forth bonding requirements
to ensure financial responsibility of lessee and avoid Federal liability.
(Sec. 512) Directs the Secretary to grant rights-of-way and easements across
the Coastal Plain for oil and gas transportation.
(Sec. 513) Requires the Secretary to promulgate regulations to provide for:
(1) biannual scheduled onsite inspections for compliance of Coastal Plain
facilities with environmental or safety regulations; and (2) annual nonscheduled
onsite inspections of such facilities.
Title VI: Improvements to Federal Oil and Gas Lease Management -
Federal Oil and Gas Lease Management Improvement Act of 2000 - Emphasizes that
this Act does not give a State a property right or interest in any Federal lease
or land.
Subtitle A: State Option to Regulate Oil and Gas Lease Operation on
Federal Land - Permits a State to notify either the Secretary of the
Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture (depending upon the appropriate
jurisdiction) of its intent to accept authority for regulation of certain oil
and gas lease operations on Federal land within such State. Declares an
automatic transfer of regulatory authority over designated operations from the
appropriate Secretary to the State effective 180 days following receipt of such
notification. Bars a Federal agency from exercising authority formerly held by
such Secretary with respect to oil and gas lease operations on Federal land.
Subtitle B: Use of Cost Savings from State Regulation - Prescribes
guidelines to compensate a State for the costs of implementing such transferred
authority.
Subtitle C: Streamlining and Cost Reduction - Bars the appropriate
Secretary from recovering costs for applications and other documents relating to
oil and gas leases.
(Sec. 632) Requires the Secretary to ensure: (1) timely issuance of Federal
agency decisions respecting oil and gas leasing and operations on Federal land;
and (2) that unwarranted denials and stays of lease issuance and unwarranted
restrictions on lease operations are eliminated from the administration of oil
and gas leasing on Federal land.
(Sec. 635) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to publish a national
inventory of oil and gas reserves and potential resources underlying Federal
land and the Outer Continental Shelf.
Subtitle D: Federal Royalty Certainty - Amends the Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act and the Mineral Leasing Act pertaining to oil and gas leases to
reformulate the payment of their respective lease royalties. Exempts Indian
lands from such reformulation.
Subtitle E: Royalty Reinvestment in America - Directs the appropriate
Secretary, whenever certain crude oil or natural gas prices dip below a
specified level, to allow as a credit against the payment of Federal oil and gas
production royalties, a specified percentage of expenditures made for capital
exploration and development on Federal oil and gas leases.
(Sec. 651) Prohibits capital expenditures made on Outer Continental Shelf
leases from being credited against onshore Federal royalty obligations.
(Sec. 652) Instructs the appropriate Secretary to reduce the royalty rate for
marginal oil and gas production following prescribed guidelines whenever certain
crude oil or natural gas prices dip below a specified level.
(Sec. 653) Prescribes procedural guidelines under which any operator of an
oil well leased under specified statutes may notify the Secretary of the
Interior of suspension of operation and production at the well.
Title VII: Frontier Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Incentives
- Frontier Exploration and Development Incentives Act of 2000 - Amends the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act governing bidding procedures for oil and gas leases
to set a certain net profit royalty share for oil and gas production in the
Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea Planning Areas of Alaska.
(Sec. 702) Requires the Secretary of the Interior to reduce any future
royalty or rental obligation by a specified percentage after an oil and gas
lease has been granted pursuant to the statutory bidding system.
Title VIII: Tax Measures to Enhance Domestic Oil and Gas Production -
Subtitle A: Marginal Well Preservation - Marginal Well Preservation Act
of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to specify a tax credit for
marginal domestic oil and natural gas well production.
(Sec. 803) Authorizes taxpayer election to expense geological and geophysical
expenditures and to delay rental payments for domestic oil and gas wells.
Subtitle B: Independent Oil and Gas Producers - Amends the IRC to: (1)
set forth a five-year net operating loss carryback for losses attributable to
operating mineral interests of independent oil and gas producers; and (2)
suspend through 2004 the limitation on the total amount of the depletion
allowance to 65 percent of taxable income.
Title IX: Tax Measures to Enhance the Use of Renewable Energy Sources,
Improve Energy Efficiencies, Protect Consumers and Conversion to Clean Burning
Fuels - Amends the IRC to: (1) set forth placed-in-service rules and special
rules for biomass facilities; (2) deny renewable electricity production credit
to electricity sold to utilities under certain contracts; (3) exclude from gross
income as contributions to capital certain amounts received by electric energy,
gas, or steam utilities; (4) extend the credit for electricity produced from
steel cogeneration; (5) declare certain expense limitations on depreciable
business assets inapplicable to a storage facility used in connection with home
heating oil distribution; and (6) establish a tax credit for certain percentages
of residential solar energy photovoltaic and solar water heating property
expenditures.