PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The President can take any unleased part of the outer Continental Shelf out of being offered for lease or sale. In wartime, or when the President orders it, the United States has the first chance to buy any minerals taken from that area at the market price. Leases must allow the Secretary, if recommended by the Secretary of Defense and during a war or national emergency declared after August 7, 1953, to stop operations. The lease must also provide for fair payment to the leaseholder if work is stopped. The Secretary of Defense, with the President’s approval, can mark parts of the shelf as restricted for defense. While restricted, no work can happen without the Defense Secretary’s OK, rental and royalty payments are paused, the lease term is extended by the pause, and the United States must pay constitutional compensation. Uranium, thorium, and other materials listed under paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of section 5 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, as amended, found in the seabed, are reserved for the United States. The United States also owns helium in gas from the outer Continental Shelf and may extract it under rules set by the Secretary, but extraction must not cause a substantial delay in delivering gas to buyers.

Title 43, §1341

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Withdrawal of unleased lands by President

The President of the United States may, from time to time, withdraw from disposition any of the unleased lands of the outer Continental Shelf.

(b)First refusal of mineral purchases

In time of war, or when the President shall so prescribe, the United States shall have the right of first refusal to purchase at the market price all or any portion of any mineral produced from the outer Continental Shelf.

(c)National security clause

All leases issued under this subchapter, and leases, the maintenance and operation of which are authorized under this subchapter, shall contain or be construed to contain a provision whereby authority is vested in the Secretary, upon a recommendation of the Secretary of Defense, during a state of war or national emergency declared by the Congress or the President of the United States after August 7, 1953, to suspend operations under any lease; and all such leases shall contain or be construed to contain provisions for the payment of just compensation to the lessee whose operations are thus suspended.

(d)National defense areas; suspension of operations; extension of leases

The United States reserves and retains the right to designate by and through the Secretary of Defense, with the approval of the President, as areas restricted from exploration and operation that part of the outer Continental Shelf needed for national defense; and so long as such designation remains in effect no exploration or operations may be conducted on any part of the surface of such area except with the concurrence of the Secretary of Defense; and if operations or production under any lease theretofore issued on lands within any such restricted area shall be suspended, any payment of rentals, minimum royalty, and royalty prescribed by such lease likewise shall be suspended during such period of suspension of operation and production, and the term of such lease shall be extended by adding thereto any such suspension period, and the United States shall be liable to the lessee for such compensation as is required to be paid under the Constitution of the United States.

(e)Source materials essential to production of fissionable materials

All uranium, thorium, and all other materials determined pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of section 5 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, as amended, to be peculiarly essential to the production of fissionable material, contained, in whatever concentration, in deposits in the subsoil or seabed of the outer Continental Shelf are reserved for the use of the United States.

(f)Helium ownership; rules and regulations governing extraction

The United States reserves and retains the ownership of and the right to extract all helium, under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary, contained in gas produced from any portion of the outer Continental Shelf which may be subject to any lease maintained or granted pursuant to this subchapter, but the helium shall be extracted from such gas so as to cause no substantial delay in the delivery of gas produced to the purchaser of such gas.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of section 5 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, as amended, referred to in subsec. (e), is par. (1) of section 5(b) of act Aug. 1, 1946, ch. 724, 60 Stat. 755, which was classified to section 1805 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to the general amendment of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 by act Aug. 30, 1954, ch. 1073, § 1, 68 Stat. 919. See section 2014(z) of Title 42.

Executive Documents

Key Largo Coral Reef PreserveWithdrawal of area designated Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve from disposition, see Proc. No. 3339, Mar. 15, 1960, 25 F.R. 2352, set out as a note under section 320101 of Title 54, National Park Service and Related Programs.

§1341 Reservation of Lands and Rights