Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that expands offshore drilling leases and extends renewable energy tax credits.

Highlights:

• Opens areas for oil and gas leasing that were previously part of Outer Continental Shelf Planning Areas and located more than 50 miles from the coastline, as long as states with boundaries within 100 miles of a proposed site agree to the lease (Secs. 102, 103).

• Prohibits public officials in the Minerals Management Division of the Department of the Interior from receiving any gift "of value" from oil or gas corporation employees with the following penalties (Sec. 144):
• Imposes a prison sentence of up to two years for any persons giving or accepting such gifts; and
• Allows for a civil penalty of up to $25 million, in addition to an amount equal to gross revenues accrued during the period in which the violation occurred for any oil or gas corporation responsible for offering gifts.

• Requires retail energy suppliers to generate at least 15 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2020 or by credits equal to that amount (Sec. 501).

• Requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to aid in the construction of new oil and natural gas pipelines from the National Petroleum Reserve to existing transportation or processing infrastructure on the North Slope in Alaska (Sec. 163).

• Bans the export of domestic crude oil to neighboring countries for refining unless an equal amount is sent from that country to the United States (Sec. 166).

• Updates national model building energy codes to require at least 50 percent energy savings for residential and commercial buildings in each code by 2020 (Sec. 401).

• Requires every gas station owned by major oil companies to have at least one alternative fuel pump by January 1, 2018, which dispenses natural gas, fuel that contains at least 85 percent ethanol, a mixture containing at least 20 percent biodiesel or renewable diesel, or hydrogen (Sec. 701).

• Encourages bicycle commuting by allowing tax-free reimbursements to cover expenses such as the purchase of a bicycle and maintenance if the bicycle is regularly used to travel between the employee's residence and place of employment (Sec. 827).

• Prohibits the oil or gas leasing of an area in the Outer Continental Shelf that was not available before July 1, 2008, or was not authorized in this bill (Sec. 101).

• Requires 70 million barrels of light crude petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to be sold within six months of this bill's enactment, which would be replaced with an equal amount of heavy crude petroleum within five years, as long as selling the barrels will not result in a total of less than 90 percent of the current amount in the Reserve (Sec. 203).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text