[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2986 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2986
To prohibit the issuance of an interim or final rule, and to prohibit
the inclusion in certain oil and gas leases, exploration or development
plans, or well permits requirements or recommendations, that establish
a vessel speed or operational restriction in the Central or Western
Planning Area of the Gulf of Mexico of the outer Continental Shelf
until the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce
complete a study demonstrating that proposed mitigation efforts would
have no negative impact on supply chains, United States offshore energy
production and generation, military activities, including readiness,
and United States commercial and recreational fishing maritime
commerce, and for other purposes.
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 28 (legislative day, September 22), 2023
Mr. Cassidy (for himself, Ms. Lummis, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mrs. Britt, Mr.
Wicker, Mr. Tuberville, and Mr. Barrasso) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the issuance of an interim or final rule, and to prohibit
the inclusion in certain oil and gas leases, exploration or development
plans, or well permits requirements or recommendations, that establish
a vessel speed or operational restriction in the Central or Western
Planning Area of the Gulf of Mexico of the outer Continental Shelf
until the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce
complete a study demonstrating that proposed mitigation efforts would
have no negative impact on supply chains, United States offshore energy
production and generation, military activities, including readiness,
and United States commercial and recreational fishing maritime
commerce, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Warding off Hostile Administrative
Leasing Efforts Act'' or the ``WHALE Act''.
SEC. 2. VESSEL SPEED OR OPERATIONAL RESTRICTIONS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Commerce shall not issue an
interim or final rule, and the Secretary of the Interior shall not
include in an offshore oil and gas lease sale, exploration or
development plan, or well permit in the Central or Western Planning
Area of the Gulf of Mexico of the outer Continental Shelf a requirement
or recommendation, that establishes a vessel speed or vessel
operational restriction for any length of time in such a Planning Area
until the Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of the Interior--
(1) complete a study--
(A) assessing the impact of any mitigation
protocols developed under subsection (b) on--
(i) the core habitat for Rice's whales in
the Eastern Planning Area of the Gulf of
Mexico; and
(ii) seasonal occupation and usage patterns
outside such core habitat; and
(B) demonstrating that mitigation protocols
developed under subsection (b) would have no negative
impact on supply chains, United States offshore energy
production and generation, military activities,
including readiness, and United States commercial and
recreational fishing or maritime commerce; and
(2) not later than 60 days after completing the study
described in paragraph (1), submit a report containing the
findings of such study to--
(A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation and the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Natural Resources and the
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives.
(b) Mitigation Protocols Required.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Commerce, in concurrence
with the Secretary of the Interior and in consultation with the
Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is
operating, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of
Transportation, and affected stakeholders, shall develop
mitigation protocols that make use of any monitoring system
designed under section 11303 of the Don Young Coast Guard
Authorization Act of 2022 (16 U.S.C. 1391) to direct sector-
specific mitigation measures that reduce the risk of serious
injury and mortality to Rice's whales in the Eastern Planning
Area of the Gulf of Mexico.
(2) Prohibitions.--The mitigation protocols developed under
paragraph (1) may not include--
(A) any prohibitions on transit at night; or
(B) implementation of a vessel speed or vessel
operational restriction.
(c) National Security.--The Secretary of Commerce shall, in
coordination with the Secretary of Defense, provide in any interim or
final rule described in subsection (a) an exception for national
security activities.
(d) Definition of Core Habitat.--For purposes of this section, the
term ``core habitat'', with respect to Rice's whales, has the meaning
given the term ``Bryde's whale area'' in the ``Biological Opinion on
the Federally Regulated Oil and Gas Program Activities in the Gulf of
Mexico'' published by the Department of Commerce on March 13, 2020.
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