The Secretary shall make a grant to an organization of oil and gas producing States, specifically those containing significant numbers of marginal oil and natural gas wells, for conducting an annual study of low-volume natural gas reservoirs. Such organization shall work with the State geologist of each State being studied.

The studies under this section shall—

(1) determine the status and location of marginal wells and gas reservoirs;

(2) gather the production information of these marginal wells and reservoirs;

(3) estimate the remaining producible reserves based on variable pipeline pressures;

(4) locate low-pressure gathering facilities and pipelines;

(5) recommend incentives which will enable the continued production of these resources;

(6) produce maps and literature to disseminate to States to promote conservation of natural gas reserves; and

(7) evaluate the amount of natural gas that is being wasted through the practice of venting or flaring of natural gas produced in association with crude oil well production.

Data development and analysis under this section shall be performed by an institution of higher education with GIS capabilities. If the organization receiving the grant under subsection (a) does not have GIS capabilities, such organization shall contract with one or more entities with—

(1) technological capabilities and resources to perform advanced image processing, GIS programming, and data analysis; and

the ability to—

(A) process remotely sensed imagery with high spatial resolution;

(B) deploy global positioning systems;

(C) process and synthesize existing, variable-format gas well, pipeline, gathering facility, and reservoir data;

(D) create and query GIS databases with infrastructure location and attribute information;

(E) write computer programs to customize relevant GIS software;

(F) generate maps, charts, and graphs which summarize findings from data research for presentation to different audiences; and

(G) deliver data in a variety of formats, including Internet Map Server for query and display, desktop computer display, and access through handheld personal digital assistants.

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for carrying out this section—

(1) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2006; and

(2) $450,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007 through 2010.

For purposes of this section, the term “GIS” means geographic information systems technology that facilitates the organization and management of data with a geographic component.

(Pub. L. 109–58, title XVIII, § 1808, Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 1124.)