PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 11, 2012
South Carolina Offshore Drilling Act - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to include in a specified schedule of proposed lease sales under the outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing program for FY2012-FY2017 any areas located within the administrative boundaries of South Carolina that lie more than 50 miles off its coast.
Authorizes the governor of South Carolina to petition the Secretary to make available for leasing any portion of the area within the state's administrative boundaries that is between 10 and 50 miles off the coast.
Instructs the Secretary to: (1) approve such a petition within 90 days after receipt, and (2) initiate a new five-year OCS oil and gas leasing program to replace the OCS oil and gas leasing program in effect on the approval date.
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Authorizes such governor to petition the Secretary to prohibit the leasing of areas within the administrative boundaries of the state that are between 50 and 100 miles off the coast.
Allocates to a coastal state 37.5% of: (1) any bonus bid paid for leasing rights in an OCS area if the Secretary has approved the state's request to allow leasing in that area; (2) lease rental payments, lease royalty payments, and royalty proceeds from a sale of royalties taken in kind by the Secretary; and (3) any other revenues from a specified bidding system.
Instructs the Secretary to: (1) pay 20% of the allocable share of each coastal state directly to certain of its coastal political subdivisions, (2) distribute a certain conservation royalty into the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and (3) distribute 50% of federal royalty revenues from areas leased under this Act into direct federal deficit reduction.
People & committees
Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC] · R–SC
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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