California Central Coast Conservation Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5303 To establish a moratorium on oil and gas leasing on public land on the Central Coast of California. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 4, 2019 Mr. PANETTA (for himself, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. CORREA, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. DESAULNIER, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Re- sources A BILL To establish a moratorium on oil and gas leasing on public land on the Central Coast of California. 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 ‘‘California Central 4 Coast Conservation Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5303.IH H5303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5303 IH SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON OIL AND GAS LEASING ON PUB- 1 LIC LAND ON THE CENTRAL COAST OF CALI- 2 FORNIA. 3 Section 17(a) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 4 226(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(q) MORATORIUM ON OIL AND GAS LEASING ON 6 PUBLIC LAND ON THE CENTRAL COAST OF CALI- 7 FORNIA.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 9 provision of this Act or any other law and except as 10 provided in paragraph (2), beginning on the date of 11 enactment of this subsection, the Record of Decision 12 for the Central Coast Field Office Resource Manage- 13 ment Plan Amendment for Oil and Gas Leasing and 14 Development published on October 7, 2019 (84 Fed. 15 Reg. 53470), shall have no force or effect until the 16 Bureau of Land Management Central Coast Field 17 Office completes and circulates for public comment 18 a supplemental environmental impact statement 19 under section 102 of the National Environmental 20 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) and chapter 5 21 of title 5, United States Code, that considers the en- 22 vironmental effects of all oil and gas development 23 authorized to occur under the Bureau of Land Man- 24 agement’s preferred alternative ‘Alternative F’, 25 which appears in the final Environmental Impact 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5303.IH H5303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5303 IH Statement published on May 10, 2019 (84 Fed. Reg. 1 20657), but was not included or analyzed in the 2 Draft Environmental Impact Statement published 3 January 6, 2017 (82 Fed. Reg 1754), along with 4 the environmental effects of oil and gas development 5 that would be authorized as a result of such record 6 of decision, including such effects on— 7 ‘‘(A) air quality; 8 ‘‘(B) greenhouse gas emissions and the cli- 9 mate; 10 ‘‘(C) groundwater quality and availability; 11 ‘‘(D) surface water quality and availability; 12 ‘‘(E) seismicity; 13 ‘‘(F) wildlife and plant species, including 14 threatened species and endangered species; and 15 ‘‘(G) low-income communities, communities 16 of color, and indigenous communities, including 17 federally- and State-recognized Indian Tribes. 18 ‘‘(2) NEW REVIEW.—If the supplemental envi- 19 ronmental impact statement under paragraph (1) 20 finds any significant detrimental effects on any mat- 21 ter described in subparagraphs (A) through (G) of 22 such paragraph, the Record of Decision referred to 23 in paragraph (1) shall have no force or effect and 24 the Director of the Bureau of Land Management 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5303.IH H5303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5303 IH shall conduct a new review of Federal oil and gas 1 leasing on the Central Coast of California under sec- 2 tion 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act 3 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 4 ‘‘(3) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 5 REVIEW.— 6 ‘‘(A) After the date of the publication, pur- 7 suant to paragraph (2), of a supplemental envi- 8 ronmental impact statement under section 9 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 10 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), the Ad- 11 ministrator of the Environmental Protection 12 Agency shall review and publish comments re- 13 garding such statement, including— 14 ‘‘(i) identification of any significant 15 environmental impacts of oil and gas leas- 16 ing on the Central Coast of California that 17 should be avoided to adequately protect the 18 region’s natural resources; or 19 ‘‘(ii) a determination that the supple- 20 mental environmental impact statement 21 does not contain sufficient information to 22 assess such impacts. 23 ‘‘(B) If the Administrator identifies signifi- 24 cant impacts under subparagraph (A)(i) or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5303.IH H5303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5303 IH makes a determination described in subpara- 1 graph (A)(ii), the Director of the Bureau of 2 Land Management shall consult with the Ad- 3 ministrator before taking any action to proceed 4 with Federal oil and gas leasing on the Central 5 Coast of California. 6 ‘‘(4) EFFECT.—Nothing in this subsection af- 7 fects any rights under leases issued under this Act 8 before the date of enactment of this subsection.’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Dec 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5303.IH H5303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS