Reliable and Affordable Natural Gas Energy Reform Act of 2006
Key claim: This 2006 Senate bill would have let Interior lease currently off-limits Outer Continental Shelf areas for natural gas (not oil), while giving nearby states a say in extending or lifting those bans and a share of the revenues.
Abstract
(S2290 · 109th Congress) Reliable and Affordable Natural Gas Energy Reform Act of 2006 - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue a lease for development and production of gas and associated condensate and other hydrocarbon liquids in a moratorium area beginning with the five-year outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing program for 2007 through 2012. Revises projected state lines for the subsoil and seabed of the OCS, including artificial islands and fixed structures. Establishes leasing moratoria, until June 30, 2012, for designated areas of the OCS. Authorizes a state governor to request the Secretary to: (1) extend the withdrawal from leasing of any area within the state’s Adjacent Zone within 125 miles of its coastline; (2) provide a current estimate of proven and potential natural gas resources that may result in state revenues in any moratorium area adjacent to, or lying seaward of, the state coastline; and (3) make available for leasing any portion of a moratorium area in the Adjacent Zone. Requires the Secretary to notify a neighboring state for its concurrence with or objection to any proposed natural gas lease located within 20 miles of the nearest point on the coastline of such state. Prescribes guidelines for state participation in revenue sharing from moratorium and nonmoratorium areas. Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to repeal the requirement to conduct comprehensive inventory of OCS natural gas resources. Grants the lessee of a natural gas lease within specified areas of the California or Florida Adjacent Zones the option, without compensation, of exchanging the lease for a new natural gas lease having a primary term of five years. Cites circumstances under which the Secretary shall repurchase and cancel any federal natural gas lease in the OCS. Latest action (2006-02-15): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Why this matters
OCS moratoria historically bundled oil and natural gas together, but this 2006 proposal tested a policy path of decoupling them — opening restricted federal waters to gas-only leasing while giving coastal states veto and revenue leverage. The bill never advanced, but it foreshadows recurring debates over gas supply, state consent, and how federal offshore revenues are shared.