Sec. 5003. Leasing program for land on the Coastal Plain

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The Secretary shall— establish and implement, in accordance with this subtitle and acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in consultation with the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, a competitive oil and gas leasing program that will result in the exploration, development, and production of the oil and gas resources of the Coastal Plain; and administer the provisions of this subtitle through regulations, lease terms, conditions, restrictions, prohibitions, stipulations, and other provisions that ensure the oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities on the Coastal Plain do not result in any significant adverse effect on fish and wildlife, the habitat of fish and wildlife, subsistence resources, or the environment, including, in furtherance of this goal, by requiring the application of the best commercially available technology for oil and gas exploration, development, and production to all exploration, development, and production operations under this subtitle in a manner that ensures the receipt of fair market value by the public for the mineral resources to be leased.

Section 1003 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3143) is repealed. The table of contents contained in section 1 of that Act ( 16 U.S.C. 3101 note) is amended by striking the item relating to section 1003. For purposes of the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), the oil and gas leasing program and activities authorized by this section on the Coastal Plain are deemed to be compatible with the purposes for which the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was established, and no further findings or decisions are required to implement this determination.

The document of the Department of the Interior entitled Final Legislative Environmental Impact Statement and dated April 1987 relating to the Coastal Plain prepared pursuant to section 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3142) and section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C) ) is deemed to satisfy the requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ) that apply with respect to prelease activities under this subtitle, including actions authorized to be taken by the Secretary to develop and promulgate regulations for the establishment of a leasing program authorized by this subtitle before the conduct of the first lease sale.

Prior to conducting the first lease sale under this subtitle, the Secretary shall prepare an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with respect to the actions authorized by this subtitle not covered by paragraph (2). Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in preparing the environmental impact statement under subparagraph (A), the Secretary— shall— only identify a preferred action for leasing and a single leasing alternative; and analyze the environmental effects and potential mitigation measures for those 2 alternatives; and is not required— to identify nonleasing alternative courses of action; or to analyze the environmental effects of nonleasing alternative courses of action.

The identification under subparagraph (B)(i)(I) for the first lease sale conducted under this subtitle shall be completed not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act. The Secretary shall only consider public comments that— specifically address the preferred action of the Secretary; and are filed not later than 20 days after the date on which the environmental analysis is published. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, compliance with this paragraph is deemed to satisfy all requirements for the analysis and consideration of the environmental effects of proposed leasing under this subtitle.

Nothing in this subtitle expands or limits State or local regulatory authority. The Secretary, after consultation with the State of Alaska, the city of Kaktovik and the North Slope Borough of the State of Alaska, may designate not more than 45,000 acres of the Coastal Plain as a Special Area if the Secretary determines that the area is of such unique character and interest so as to require special management and regulatory protection. The Secretary shall designate the Sadlerochit Spring area, consisting of approximately 4,000 acres, as a Special Area.

Each Special Area shall be managed to protect and preserve the unique and diverse character of the area, including the fish, wildlife, and subsistence resource values of the area. The Secretary may exclude any Special Area from leasing. If the Secretary leases a Special Area, or any part of a Special Area, for oil and gas exploration, development, production, or related activities, there shall be no surface occupancy of the land comprising the Special Area. Notwithstanding the other provisions of this subsection, the Secretary may lease all or a portion of a Special Area under terms that permit the use of horizontal drilling technology from sites on leases tracts located outside the Special Area.

The authority of the Secretary to close land on the Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing, exploration, development, or production shall be limited to the authority provided under this subtitle. Not later than 15 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations necessary to carry out this subtitle, including regulations relating to protection of fish and wildlife, the habitat of fish and wildlife, subsistence resources, and environment of the Coastal Plain.

The Secretary shall, through a rulemaking conducted in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code, periodically review and, if appropriate, revise the regulations promulgated under paragraph

(1)to reflect a preponderance of the best available scientific evidence that has been peer reviewed and obtained by following appropriate, documented scientific procedures, the results of which can be repeated using those same procedures.

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Sec. 5003

Leasing program for land on the Coastal Plain

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