or gas discovered under said lease or the entrance of water through wells drilled by him to the oil or gas sands or oil and gas bearing strata or the injury or destruction of the oil and gas deposits.

(d) Each lease shall provide that, on or after the discovery of oil or gas, the lessee shall pay a royalty of not less than 121⁄2 per centum in amount or value of the production saved, removed, or sold from the leasing unit and, in any event, not less than $1 per acre per annum in lieu of rental for each lease year commencing after discovery. If after discovery of oil or gas the production thereof should cease from any cause, the lease shall not terminate if lessee commences additional drilling or reworking operations within ninety days thereafter or, if it be within the primary term, commences or resumes the payment or tender of rentals or commences operations for drilling or reworking on or before the rental paying date next ensuing after the expiration of ninety days from date of cessation of production. All leases issued hereunder shall be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee of a rental of $1 per acre annum for the second and every lease year thereafter during the primary term and in lieu of drilling operations on or production from the leasing unit, all such rentals to be payable on or before the beginning of each lease year.

(e) If, at the expiration of the primary term of any lease, oil or ga is not being produced in paying quantities on a leasing unit, but drilling operations are commenced not less than one hundred eighty days prior to the end of the primary term and such drilling operations or other drilling operations have been and are being diligently prosecuted and the lessee has otherwise performed his obligations under the lease, the lease shall remain in force so long as drilling operations are prosecuted with reasonable diligence and in a good and workmanlike manner, and if they result in the production of oil or gas so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced therefrom in paying quantities.

(f) Should a lessee in a lease issued under the provisions of title III of this Act fail to comply with any of the provisions of this Act or of the lease, such lease may, upon proper showing, be canceled in an appropriate court proceeding because of such failure; but before the institution of such a court proceeding the Secretary shall allow the lessee twenty days in which to show cause in writing why the proceeding should not be instituted, and any submission made by the lessee during that period shall be given consideration by the Secretary in determining whether to recommend to the Attorney General that a court proceeding be instituted against the lessee. If a lease or any interest therein is owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, in violation of any of the provisions of this Act. the lease may be canceled, or the interest so owned or controlled may by forfeited or the person so owning or controlling the interest may be compelled to dispose of the interest in an appropriate court proceeding.

(g) The provisions of sections 17, 17 (b), 28, 30, 30 (a), 30 (b), 32, 36, and 39 of the Mineral Leasing Act to the extent that such provisions are not inconsistent with the terms of this Act, are made applicable to lands leased or subject to lease by the Secretary under title III of this Act.

(h) Fach lease shall contain such other terms and provisions consistent with the provisions of this Act as may be prescribed by the Secretary. The Secretary may delegate his authority under this Act to officers or employees of the Department of the Interior and may authorize subdelegation to the extent that he may deem proper.

(i) Citizens of another country, the laws, customs, or regulations of which deny similar or like privileges to citizens or corporations of this country, shall not directly or by stock ownership, stock holding, stock control, trusteeship, or otherwise, own or control any interest in any lease acquired under the provisions of this section. Any ownership or interest forbidden in this section which may be acquired by descent, will, judgment, or decree may be held for two years and not longer after its acquisition. No lands leased under the provisions of this section shall be subleased, trusteed, rossessed, or controlled by any device or in any manner whatsoever so that they form a part of or are in anywise controlled by any combination in the form of an unlawful trust, with the consent of the lessee, or form the subject in whole or in part of any contract, agreement, understanding, or conspiracy, entered into by the lessee, to restrain trade or commerce in the production or sale of oil or gas or to control the price of oil or gas.

(i) Any lease obtained through the exercise of fraud or misrepresentation, or which is not performed in accordance with its terms or with this law, may by appropriate court action be invalidated.

SEC. 10. EXCHANGE OF EXISTING STATE LEASES IN CONTINENTAL SHELF FOR FEDERAL LEASES.—(a) The Secretary is authorized and directed to issue a lease to

any person in exchange for a lease covering lands in the continental shelf which (i) was issued by any State or its grantee prior to January 1, 1949, and which was in force and effect on June 5, 1950, in accordance with its terms and provisions and the laws of the State issuing, or whose grantee issued, such lease, or (ii) was issued with the approval of the Secretary subsequent to January 1, 1949, and prior to the effective date of this Act and which on the effective date hereof was in force and effect in accordance with its terms and provisions and the laws of the State issuing, or whose grantee issued, such lease. Any lease issued pursuant to this section shall be for a term from the effective date hereof equal to the unexpired term of the old lease, or any extensions, renewals, or replacements authorized therein, or heretofore authorized by the laws of the State issuing, or whose grantee issued, the same: Provided, however, That, if oil or gas was not being produced from such old lease on and before December 11, 1950, then any such new lease shall be for a term from the effective date hereof equal to the term remaining unexpired on December 11, 1950, under the provisions of the old lease or any extensions, renewals or replacements authorized therein or heretofore authorized by the laws of the State issuing or whose grantee issued such lease, shall cover the same natural resources and the same portion of the continental shelf as the old lease, shall provide for payment to the United States of the same rentals, royalties, and other payments as are provided for in the old lease, and shall include such other terms and provisions, consistent with the provisions of this Act, as may be prescribed by the Secretary. Operations under such old lease may be conducted as therein provided until the issuance of an exchange lease hereunder or until it is determined that no such exchange lease shall be issued. No lease which has been determined by appropriate court action to have been obtained by fraud or misrepresentation shall be accepted for exchange under this section.

(b) No such exchange lease shall be issued unless, (i) an application therefor, accompanied by a copy of the lease from the State or its political subdivision · or grantee offered in exchange, is filed with the Secretary within six months from the effective date of this Act, or within such further period as provided in section 18 hereof, or as may be fixed from time to time by the Secretary; (ii) the applicant states in his application that the lease applied for shall be subject to the same overriding royalty obligations as the lease issued by the State or its political subdivision or grantee; (iii) the applicant pays to the United States all rentals, royalties, and other sums due to the lessor under the old lease which have or may become payable after December 11, 1950, and which have not been paid to the lessor under the old lease; (iv) the applicant furnishes such surety bond, if any, as the Secretary may require and complies with such other reasonable requirements as the Secretary may deem necessary to protect the interests of the United States; and (v) the applicant files with the Secretary a certificate issued by the State official or agency having jurisdiction showing that the old lease was in force and effect in accordance with its terms and provisions and the laws of the State issuing it on the applicable date provided for in paragraph (a) of this section; or, in the absence of such certificate, evidence in the form of affidavit, receipts, canceled checks, and other documents showing such facts.

(c) All rents, royalties, and other sums payable under any such lease after December 11, 1950, and before the issuance of an exchange lease as herein provided, may be paid to the United States, subject, however, to accounting to the State which issued such lease or under whose authority the same was issued, in accordance with the provisions of section 12 hereof.

(d) In the event any lease covers lands of the continental shelf as well as other lands, the provisions of this section shall apply to such lease insofar only as it covers lands of the continental shelf.

SEC. 11. ACTIONS INVOLVING CONTINENTAL SHELF.-Any court proceeding involving the continental shelf may be instituted in the United States district court for the district in which the lessee, or the person owning or controlling the lease interest, may be found or for the district in which the leased property, or some part thereof, is located; or, if no part of the leased property is within any district, for the district nearest to the property involved.

SEC. 12. DIVISION OF PROCEEDS FROM THE CONTINENTAL SHELF.-Each coastal State is hereby vested with the right of 371⁄2 per centum of all moneys received by the United States, after the effective date of this Act, as bonus payments, rents, and royalties with respect to operations for oil, gas, or other minerals in lands in the continental shelf which would be within the boundaries of such State, if extended seaward to the outer margin of the continental shelf; and the Secretary of the Treasury within ninety days after the expiration of each fiscal year shall

pay to each such State the moneys to which it is so entitled. All other moneys received by the United States from operations in the continental shelf, under the provisions of this Act, shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States and applied to the payment of the principal of the national debt. If and whenever the United States shall take and receive in kind all or any part of the royalties referred to in this section, the value of such royalties so taken in kind shall be deemed to be the prevailing market price thereof at the time and place of production, and there shall be paid to the State entitled thereto as provided in this section, 371⁄2 per centum of the value of such royalties.

SEC. 13. REFUNDS.-When it appears to the satisfaction of the Secretary that any person has made a payment to the United States in connection with any lease under this Act in excess of the amount he was lawfully required to pay, such excess shall be repaid to such person or his legal representative, if a request for repayment of such excess is filed with the Secretary within two years after the issuance of the lease or the making of the payment. The Secretary shall certify the amounts of all such repayments to the Secretary of the Treasury, who is authorized and directed to make such repayments out of any moneys not otherwise appropriated and to issue his warrant in settlement thereof.

SEC. 14. WAIVER OF LIABILITY FOR PAST OPERATIONS.— (a) No State, or political subdivision or grantee thereof, shall be liable to or required to account to the United States in any way for entering upon, using, exploring for, developing, producing, or disposing of natural resources from lands covered by title II or title III of this Act prior to the effective date of this Act.

(b) No lessee under any lease of submerged lands covered by this Act and granted by any State or political subdivision or grantee thereof prior to the effective date of this Act shall be liable or required to account to the United States for the use of such lands or any natural resources produced, extracted, or removed under such lease or for the value thereof, nor shall any person who has purchased or otherwise acquired such lands or natural resources be liable to account to the United States therefor or for the value thereof.

(c) If it shall be determined by appropriate court action that fraud has been practiced in the obtaining of any lease referred to herein or in the operations thereunder, the waivers provided in this section shall not be effective.

SEC. 15. POWERS RESERVED TO THE UNITED STATES.-The United States reserves and returns

(a) in time of war or when necesary for national defense, and when so prescribed by the Congress or the President, the right (i) of first refusal to purchase at the prevailing market price all or any portion of the oil or gas that may be produced from the continental shelf; (ii) to terminate any lease issued or authorized pursuant to or validated by title III of this Act, in which event the United States shall become the owner of wells, fixtures, and improvements located on the area of such lease and shall be liable to the lessee for just compensation for such leaseholds, wells, fixtures, and improvements, to be determined as in the case of condemnation; (iii) to suspend operations under any lease issued or authorized pursuant to or validated by title III of this Act, in which event 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; and payment of rentals, minimum royalty, and royalty prescribed by such lease shall likewise be suspended during any period of suspension of operations, and the term of any suspended lease shall be extended by adding thereto any suspension period;

(b) the right to designate by and through the Secretary of Defense, with the approval of the President, as restricted, those areas of the continental shelf needed for navigational purposes or 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 rents, minimum royalty, and royalty prescribed by such lease likewise shall be suspended during such period of suspension of operation and production, and the terms 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;

(c) the ownership of and the right to extract helium from all gas produced from the continental shelf, subject to any lease issued pursuant to or validated by this Act under such general rules and regulations as shall be

prescribed by the Secretary but in the extraction of helium from such gas it shall be so extracted as to cause no substantial delay in the delivery of gas produced to the purchaser of such gas.

SEC. 16. GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATIONS.-The right of any person, subject to applicable provisions of law, and of any agency of the United States to conduct geological and geophysical explorations in the continental shelf, which do not interfere with or endanger actual operations under any lease issued pursuant to this Act, is hereby recognized.

SEC. 17. RIGHTS OF STATES NOT PREJUDICED.-Nothing contained in this Act shall operate to the prejudice of any State or of the United States in the determination by appropriate court action of any claim or claims of ownership or right of management, use, and disposition of the lands, minerals, or natural resources therein or thereunder within the continental shelf as these claims or rights may have existed prior to the passage of this Act. Any State which is found by appropriate court action to have owned or possessed, prior to the passage of this Act, the rights of management, use, or disposition of the lands, minerals, or other natural resources within any part of the continental shelf shall not by this Act be deprived of any such rights and powers.

SEC. 17. INTERPLEADER AND INTERIM ARRANGEMENTS.-(a) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act, if any lessee under any lease of submerged lands granted by any State, its political subdivisions, or grantees, prior to the effective date of this Act, shall file with the Secretary a certificate executed by such lessee under oath and stating that doubt exists (i) as to whether an area covered by such lease lies within the continental shelf, or (ii) as to whom the rents, royalties, or other sums payable under such lease are lawfully payable, or (iii) as to the validity of the claims of the State which issued, or whose political subdivision or grantee issued, such lease to the area covered by the lease and that such claims have not been determined by a final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction—

(1) the lessee may interplead the United States and, with their consent, the State or States concerned, in an action filed in the United States district court having jurisdiction of any part of the area, and, in the event of State consent to be interpleaded, deposit with the clerk of that court all rents, royalties, and other sums payable under such lease after filing of such certificate, and such deposit shall be full performance of the lessee's obligation under such lease to make such payments; or

(2) the lessee may continue to pay all rents, royalties, and other sums payable under such lease to the State, its political subdivisions, or grantees, as in the lease provided, until it is determined by final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction that such rents, royalties, and other sums should be paid otherwise, and thereafter such rents, royalties, and other sums shall be paid by said lessee in accordance with the determination of such final judment. In the event it shall be determined by such final judgment that the United States is entitled to any moneys theretofore paid to any State or political subdivision or grantee thereof, such State, its political subdivision, or grantee, as the case may be, shall promptly account to the United States therefore; or

(3) the lessee of ay such lease may file application for an exchange lease under section 10 hereof at any time prior to the expiration of six months after it is determined by final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction that the claims of the State which issued, or whose political subdivision or grantee issued, such lease to the area covered by the lease are invalid as against the United States and that the lands covered by such lease are within the continental shelf.

(b) If any area of the continental shelf or other lands covered by this Act included in any lease issued by a State or its political subdivision or grantee is involved in litigation between the United States and such State, its political subdivision, or grantee, the lessee in such lease shall have the right to intervene in such action and deposit with the clerk of the court in which such case is pending any rents, royalties, and other sums payable under the lease subsequent to the effective date of this Act, and such deposit shall be full discharge and acquittance of the lessee for any payment so made.

SEC. 19. If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and of the application of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

[H. R. 223, 83d Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To confirm and establish the titles of the States to lands and resources in and beneath navigable waters within State boundaries and to provide for the use and control of said lands and resources

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the United States of America, recognizing

(a) that the several States, and the others as hereinafter mentioned, since July 4, 1776, or since their formation and admission to the Union, have exercised full powers of ownership of all lands beneath navigable waters within their respective boundaries and all natural resources within such lands and waters, and full control of said natural resources, with the full acquiescence and approval of the United States and in accordance with many decisions of the Supreme Court and of the executive departments of the Federal Government that such lands and resources were vested in the respective States as an incident to State sovereignty and that the exercise of such powers of ownership and control has not in the past and will not impair or interfere with the exercise by the Federal Government of its constitutional powers in relation to said lands and navigable waters and to the control and regulation of commerce, navigation, national defense, and international relations;

(b) that the several States, their subdivisions, and persons lawfully acting pursuant to State authority have expended enormous sums of money on improving and reclaiming said lands and in developing the natural resources in said lands and waters in full reliance upon the recognized rule of State ownership; and

(c) that a recent decision of the Supreme Court held that the Federal Government has certain paramount powers with respect to a portion of said lands without reaffirming or settling the ultimate question of ownership of such lands and resources, but said decision recognizes that the question of the ownership and control of said lands and natural resources is within the "congressional area of national power" and that Congress will not execute its powers "in such way as to bring about injustices to States, their subdivisions, or persons acting pursuant to their permission";

it is hereby determined and declared to be in the public interest that title to and ownership of the lands beneath navigable waters within the boundaries of the respective States, and the natural resources within such lands and waters, and the right and power to control, develop, and use the said natural resources in accordance with applicable State law are hereby recognized, confirmed, established, and vested in the respective States or the persons lawfully entitled thereto under the law as established by the decisions of the respective courts of such States, and the respective grantees, lessees, or successors in interest thereof; and the United States hereby releases and relinquishes unto said States and persons aforesaid all right, title, and interest of the United States, if any it has, in and to all said lands, improvements, and natural resources, and releases and relinquishes all claims of the United States, if any it has, arising out of any operations pursuant to State authority upon or within said lands and navigable waters. SEC. 2. As used in this Act

(a) the term "lands beneath navigable waters" includes (1) all lands within the boundaries of the respective States which are covered by waters which are navigable under the laws of the United States, and all lands permanently or periodically covered by tidal waters up to but not above the line of mean high tide and seaward to a line three geographical miles distant from the coast line of each respective State or to the boundary line of each such State where in any case such boundary extends seaward (or into the Great Lakes or Gulf of Mexico) beyond three geographical miles, and (2) all lands formerly beneath navigable waters, as herein defined, which have been filled or reclaimed:

(b) the terms "grantees" and "lessees" include (without limiting the generality thereof) all political subdivisions, municipalities, and persons holding grants or leases from a State to lands beneath navigable waters if such grants or leases were issued in accordance with the law of the State in which such lands are situated.

SEC. 3. There is excepted from the operation of the first section of this Act(a) all lands and resources therein or improvements thereon which have been lawfully acquired by the United States from any State or from any