Keep It in the Ground Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1115 To prohibit drilling in the outer Continental Shelf, to prohibit coal leases on Federal land, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 14, 2021 Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. WARREN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To prohibit drilling in the outer Continental Shelf, to prohibit coal leases on Federal land, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keep It in the Ground 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; STATEMENT OF POLICY. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 7 (1) from 1880 through 2015, global tempera- 8 tures have increased by about 1.06 degrees Celsius; 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1115 IS (2) the vast majority of global warming that 1 has occurred over the past 50 years was due to 2 human activities, primarily the burning of fossil 3 fuels; 4 (3) emissions of greenhouse gases and atmos- 5 pheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continue 6 to rise, which results in a continued warming trend; 7 (4) global warming already has a significant im- 8 pact on the economy, including the farming, fishing, 9 forestry, and recreation industries; 10 (5) the significant impacts of global warming 11 that are already occurring will be amplified by a 12 global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius, 13 which will lead to increased droughts, rising seas, 14 mass extinctions, heat waves, desertification, 15 wildfires, acidifying oceans, significant economic dis- 16 ruption, and security threats; 17 (6) to avoid exceeding 2 degrees Celsius warm- 18 ing, at least 80 percent of carbon from proven fossil 19 fuel reserves must be kept in the ground; 20 (7) the potential emissions resulting from ex- 21 tracting and burning all fossil fuels on Federal land 22 and waters amounts to a significant percentage of 23 the greenhouse gas emissions limit; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1115 IS (8) ending new leases for fossil fuels will pre- 1 vent the release of 90 percent of the potential emis- 2 sions from Federal fossil fuels. 3 (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 4 United States that— 5 (1) Federal land and waters should be managed 6 for the benefit of the people of the United States— 7 (A) to avoid the most dangerous impacts 8 of climate change; and 9 (B) to promote a rapid transition to a 10 clean energy economy by keeping fossil fuels in 11 the ground; and 12 (2) the Federal Government should pursue 13 management of Federal land and waters for the ben- 14 efit of the people of the United States by not issuing 15 any new lease or renewing any nonproducing lease 16 for coal, oil, or natural gas in any Federal land or 17 waters. 18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 19 In this Act: 20 (1) EXTEND.—The term ‘‘extend’’ means the 21 act of extending a lease under the Mineral Leasing 22 Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) beyond the existing term 23 of the lease. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1115 IS (2) NONPRODUCING LEASE.—The term ‘‘non- 1 producing lease’’ means any lease under which no 2 coal, oil, gas, oil shale, tar sands, or other fossil fuel 3 approved in the lease contract has been extracted for 4 commercial use. 5 (3) REINSTATE.—The term ‘‘reinstate’’ means 6 the act of reinstating a lease under the Mineral 7 Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) after a violation 8 of any term of the lease that resulted in suspension 9 or cancellation of the lease. 10 (4) RENEW.—The term ‘‘renew’’ means the act 11 of renewing a lease under the Mineral Leasing Act 12 (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) for a term that is not longer 13 than the maximum renewal term for a lease under 14 that Act. 15 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 16 the Secretary of the Interior. 17 SEC. 4. STOPPING NEW OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASES IN 18 THE GULF OF MEXICO AND THE PACIFIC, AT- 19 LANTIC, AND ARCTIC OCEANS. 20 (a) PROHIBITION ON NEW OIL AND GAS LEASING ON 21 THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.—Section 8 of the 22 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337) is 23 amended by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1115 IS ‘‘(q) PROHIBITION ON NEW OIL AND GAS LEASING 1 ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.— 2 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 3 ‘‘(A) EXTEND.— 4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘extend’ 5 means the act of extending a lease under 6 this Act beyond the existing term of the 7 lease. 8 ‘‘(ii) INCLUSION.—The term ‘extend’ 9 includes the act of extending a lease fol- 10 lowing a suspension under this Act. 11 ‘‘(B) NONPRODUCING LEASE.—The term 12 ‘nonproducing lease’ means any lease under 13 which no coal, oil, gas, oil shale, tar sands, or 14 other fossil fuel approved in the lease contract 15 has been extracted. 16 ‘‘(C) REINSTATE.—The term ‘reinstate’ 17 means the act of reinstating a lease under this 18 Act after a violation of any term of the lease 19 that resulted in suspension or cancellation of 20 the lease. 21 ‘‘(D) RENEW.—The term ‘renew’ means 22 the act of renewing a lease under this Act for 23 a term that is not longer than the maximum re- 24 newal term for a lease under this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1115 IS ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other 1 provision of this Act or any other law, the Secretary 2 of the Interior shall not issue a new lease, renew, re- 3 instate, or extend any nonproducing lease, or issue 4 any other authorization for the exploration, develop- 5 ment, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other 6 fossil fuel in— 7 ‘‘(A) the Arctic Ocean; 8 ‘‘(B) the Atlantic Ocean, including the 9 Straits of Florida; 10 ‘‘(C) the Pacific Ocean; 11 ‘‘(D) the Gulf of Mexico; or 12 ‘‘(E) any other area of the outer Conti- 13 nental Shelf.’’. 14 (b) CANCELLATION OF EXISTING LEASES.—Notwith- 15 standing any other provision of law, not later than 60 days 16 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 17 cancel any lease issued under section 8 of the Outer Conti- 18 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337) on or before the 19 date of enactment of this Act in the Beaufort Sea, Cook 20 Inlet, or Chukchi Sea. 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1115 IS SEC. 5. STOPPING NEW COAL, OIL, TAR SANDS, FRACKED 1 GAS, AND OIL SHALE LEASES ON FEDERAL 2 LAND. 3 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec- 4 retary shall not conduct any lease sale, enter into any new 5 lease, reoffer for lease any land covered by an expiring 6 lease, or renew, reinstate, or extend any nonproducing 7 lease in existence on or before the date of enactment of 8 this Act for onshore fossil fuels, including coal, oil, tar 9 sands, oil shale, and gas on land subject to the Mineral 10 Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.). 11 SEC. 6. EXCEPTIONS. 12 (a) NATIONAL SECURITY.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 14 the Secretary may exempt any provision of this Act 15 or an amendment made by this Act for a lease if the 16 Secretary determines, on the record and based on 17 available information, that— 18 (A) there is an imminent national security 19 threat; and 20 (B) issuing an exemption for the lease 21 would significantly reduce the imminent na- 22 tional security threat. 23 (2) DURATION.—An exemption under para- 24 graph (1) shall continue only for as long as the im- 25 minent national security threat persists. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1115 IS (b) BREACH OF CONTRACT.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 2 the Secretary may allow a nonproducing lease to be 3 renewed or extended if— 4 (A) the nonproducing lease contract was 5 signed before the date of enactment of this Act; 6 and 7 (B) the Secretary determines that giving 8 effect to any provision of this Act or an amend- 9 ment made by this Act is likely to lead to a 10 court with jurisdiction ruling that there was a 11 material breach of the nonproducing lease con- 12 tract. 13 (2) DURATION.—A renewal or extension under 14 paragraph (1) shall be for the shortest time prac- 15 ticable, consistent with the terms of the nonpro- 16 ducing lease contract. 17 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 18 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 19 this Act, or the application of such a provision or amend- 20 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid 21 or unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amend- 22 ments made by this Act, and the application of those pro- 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1115 IS visions and amendments to any person or circumstance 1 shall not be affected. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1115.IS S1115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS