No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section prohibits royalty relief for oil and gas leases on the outer Continental Shelf adjacent to Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. It requires an initial surety bond of at least $100,000 and a supplemental bond sized to the lessee’s financial health, decommissioning costs, and environmental restoration expenses, with adjustments permitted. It directs the Secretary to complete within one year a study on seabed mining mitigation methods, in consultation with Northern Marianas College, the University of Guam, and American Samoa Community College, and to submit the study to the House Natural Resources and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committees. Beginning in FY2027, it allocates 50 percent of covered leasing revenues to the general Treasury fund and 50 percent to the covered territories under a proximity-based formula, with each territory receiving at least 10 percent of revenues from any tract, for use only on coastal restoration, infrastructure, environmental mitigation, or fiscal stabilization.