§6504 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

Exploration in the Utukok River, Teshekpuk Lake, and other areas named by the Secretary of the Interior must protect surface values like subsistence use, recreation, fish and wildlife, and historic or scenic features as much as possible while still allowing exploration. Until the official transfer date in section 6503(a), the Secretary of the Navy must keep the current oil exploration program running and must help the Secretary of the Interior by giving access to facilities and information. The Navy must also send copies of any reports, plans, or contracts (that it sends to Armed Services committees) to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources, and must consult the Interior before making new or changed contracts so the Interior can comment. On the transfer date, the Secretary of the Interior takes over exploration, may enter into contracts but must give the Attorney General proposed contracts and related information at least 30 days before signing so the Attorney General can check for antitrust problems (and block contracts that would unduly restrict competition). The Interior must send any new plans or major plan changes to the two congressional committees with an Attorney General report on competition and wait 60 days before putting them into effect, and must report every year to those committees on exploration progress and future plans.

Title 42, §6504

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Any exploration within the Utukok River, the Teshekpuk Lake areas, and other areas designated by the Secretary of the Interior containing any significant subsistence, recreational, fish and wildlife, or historical or scenic value, shall be conducted in a manner which will assure the maximum protection of such surface values to the extent consistent with the requirements of this Act for the exploration of the reserve.

(b)The Secretary of the Navy shall continue the ongoing petroleum exploration program within the reserve until the date of the transfer of jurisdiction specified in section 6503(a) of this title. Prior to the date of such transfer of jurisdiction the Secretary of the Navy shall—

(1)cooperate fully with the Secretary of the Interior providing him access to such facilities and such information as he may request to facilitate the transfer of jurisdiction;

(2)provide to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives copies of any reports, plans, or contracts pertaining to the reserve that are required to be submitted to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives; and

(3)cooperate and consult with the Secretary of the Interior before executing any new contract or amendment to any existing contract pertaining to the reserve and allow him a reasonable opportunity to comment on such contract or amendment, as the case may be.

(c)The Secretary of the Interior shall commence further petroleum exploration of the reserve as of the date of transfer of jurisdiction specified in section 6503(a) of this title. In conducting this exploration effort, the Secretary of the Interior—

(1)is authorized to enter into contracts for the exploration of the reserve, except that no such contract may be entered into until at least thirty days after the Secretary of the Interior has provided the Attorney General with a copy of the proposed contract and such other information as may be appropriate to determine legal sufficiency and possible violations under, or inconsistencies with, the antitrust laws. If, within such thirty day period, the Attorney General advises the Secretary of the Interior that any such contract would unduly restrict competition or be inconsistent with the antitrust laws, then the Secretary of the Interior may not execute that contract;

(2)shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives any new plans or substantial amendments to ongoing plans for the exploration of the reserve. All such plans or amendments submitted to such committees pursuant to this section shall contain a report by the Attorney General of the United States with respect to the anticipated effects of such plans or amendments on competition. Such plans or amendments shall not be implemented until sixty days after they have been submitted to such committees; and

(3)shall report annually to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives on the progress of, and future plans for, exploration of the reserve.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is Pub. L. 94–258, Apr. 5, 1976, 90 Stat. 303, known as the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, which enacted this chapter and section 7420 of Title 10, Armed Forces, and amended section 6244 of this title and sections 7421 to 7436 and 7438 of Title 10. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Note set out under section 6501 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

2005—Pub. L. 109–58 redesignated subsecs. (b) to (d) as (a) to (c), respectively, and struck out former subsec. (a) which read as follows: “Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, production of petroleum from the reserve is prohibited and no development leading to production of petroleum from the reserve shall be undertaken until authorized by an Act of Congress.” 1994—Subsecs. (c)(2), (d)(2), (3). Pub. L. 103–437 substituted “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House” for “Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the Senate and the House”. 1984—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 98–366 struck out subsec. (e) which read as follows: “Until the reserve is transferred to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Navy is authorized to develop and continue operation of the South Barrow gas field, or such other fields as may be necessary, to supply gas at reasonable and equitable rates to the native village of Barrow, and other communities and installations at or near Point Barrow, Alaska, and to installations of the Department of Defense and other agencies of the United States located at or near Point Barrow, Alaska. After such transfer, the Secretary of the Interior shall take such actions as may be necessary to continue such service to such village, communities, installations, and agencies at reasonable and equitable rates.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1984 Amendment Pub. L. 98–366, § 4(b), July 17, 1984, 98 Stat. 470, provided that the amendment made by that section is effective Oct. 1, 1984.

§6504 Administration of reserve