69–010 

Calendar No. 858 

110TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 110–403 

A BILL TO AMEND THE OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 1990 TO 

IMPROVE THAT ACT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 

JUNE 27, 2008.—Ordered to be printed 

Mrs. BOXER, from the Committee on Environment and Public 

Works, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 1566] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Environment and Public Works, to which was 

referred a bill (S. 1566) to amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to 

improve that Act, and for other purposes, having considered the 

same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass. 

GENERAL STATEMENT AND BACKGROUND

The Oil Pollution Act (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) was originally enacted in 1990 following the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s Prince 

William Sound. The Act authorized expenditures from the Oil Spill 

Liability Trust Fund (Fund) that was established by Congress in 

1986. The Fund, which is managed by the Coast Guard through the 

National Pollution Funds Center, was capitalized by a $0.05 tax on 

each barrel of oil produced or imported in the United States. The 

tax sunset in 1995; at the time the Fund reached $1 billion. In 

2005, the Energy Policy Act reauthorized collection of the tax, in 

response to recent major spills, including potential claims arising 

from spills caused by Hurricane Katrina that could have threatened to drain the Fund’s balance. 

The Fund consists of two components, the Emergency Fund and 

the Principal Fund. The Emergency Fund is authorized each year 

and makes $50 million available to the President to respond to 

spills without congressional appropriation. Further, the Emergency 


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Fund is used by the Federal trustees to initiate natural resource 

damage assessments. 

The Principal Fund is capitalized through four mechanisms: The 

barrel tax, interest on the Fund, cost recoveries, and penalties. The 

Fund reimburses States who are usually the first on scene and engage in the initial cleanup of the site. The Fund then seeks reimbursement from parties found to be responsible for spills. Finally, 

several Federal statutes impose penalties upon responsible parties. 

Such penalties are paid into the Fund. The Oil Pollution Act includes statutory liability limits for responsible parties of up to $350 

million for any onshore facility or deepwater port. For spills occurring at offshore facilities other than deepwater ports, responsible 

parties are liable for the total of all removal costs plus $75 million. 

Further, there are specific limits for vessels based on the type and 

size of those vessels. Any cleanup costs above these limits are eligible to be paid by the Fund. 

The Principal Fund’s two primary expenses include claims by 

any person or entity that has incurred removal costs or damages 

due to an oil spill, and appropriations to Federal agencies and 

other organizations, including the Denali Commission and the 

Prince William Sound Oil Spill Recovery Institute. Agency disbursements are intended to fund research and development related 

to oil spill prevention and response, as well as oil-spill statute administration and enforcement. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Audits and reports 

Audits 

Beginning April 30th of the year enacted, and every 2 years 

thereafter, the President will provide the Senate Committees on 

Commerce, Science, Transportation, and Environment and Public 

Works, as well as the House of Representatives Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure, with an audit conducted by the 

Comptroller General of the United States. This audit shall include 

a detailed accounting of all disbursements exceeding $100,000, 

made by the National Pollution Funds Center from the Fund and 

which are administered and managed by the receiving agencies, including final payments made through agencies, contractors, and 

subcontractors. 

Reports 

Beginning February 28th of the fiscal year enacted and each February 28th thereafter, the Secretary, the Secretary of Interior, the 

Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator of the EPA, and the 

heads of other Federal agencies that receive in excess of $100,000 

from the Fund during the preceding fiscal year shall report to the 

President, describing how they used those funds for oil pollution liability, compensation, prevention, preparedness and removal, natural resource damage assessment and restoration, oil pollution research and development, and other oil pollution related activities. 

The report shall be made available to the public through the National Pollution Funds Center Website. 


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Authorization of Appropriations 

The bill authorizes such sums as are necessary to carry out such 

audits. 

DISCUSSION

The Fund is dispersed to a variety of Federal agencies, as well 

as private entities, to reimburse or finance expenditures related 

specifically to responding to and preventing oil spills; therefore, it 

is necessary to track disbursements from the fund in order to ensure that the funds are being properly utilized. While the Coast 

Guard tracks disbursements it makes from the Fund, each federal 

agency receiving the disbursements is responsible for its own accounting of how the funds are actually spent, and private entities. 

The legislation will provide transparency as to how the Fund’s disbursements are spent. 

REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT

In compliance with section 11 (b)(2) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee states that there are not expected to be significant costs to private entities under this legislation, and the Committee agrees with the Congressional Budget Office, which has concluded that the bill will not establish any private-sector mandates. 

MANDATES ASSESSMENT

In compliance with the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

(Public Law 104–4), the Committee finds, consistent with the determination of the Congressional Budget Office, that S. 1566 would 

impose no Federal intergovernmental unfunded mandates on State, 

local or tribal governments. The Committee further agrees with the 

Congressional Budget Office that the bill does not impose private 

sector mandates. 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

In compliance with paragraph 11(a) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate and section 403 of the Congressional Budget 

Act of 1974, the Committee provides the following cost estimate, 

prepared by the Congressional Budget Office: 

S. 1566—A bill to amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to improve 

that act 

S. 1566 would establish additional reporting and auditing requirements for spending from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund 

(OSLTF). Under the bill, federal agencies that receive over 

$100,000 a year from the fund would report to the President on 

how that money is used. In addition, the Comptroller General 

would conduct audits of all expenditures in excess of that amount 

made by the National Pollution Funds Center of the U.S. Coast 

Guard, which administers the fund. The OSLTF covers the costs of 

cleaning up oil spills. 

Based on the costs of other audits and reports of this scope, CBO 

estimates that implementing S. 1566 would cost the Government 

Accountability Office, the Coast Guard, and other federal agencies 


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a total of about $500,000 every two years. Enacting the bill would 

not affect revenues or direct spending. 

S. 1566 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would 

not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. The estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Assistant Director for 

Budget Analysis. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with section 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules 

of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill as reported 

are shown as follows: Existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in øblack brackets¿, new matter is printed in italic, existing 

law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman: 

* * * * * * * 

OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 1990 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

The contents of this Act are as follows: 

TITLE I—OIL POLLUTION LIABILITY AND COMPENSATION 

Sec. 1001. Definitions. 

Sec. 1002. Elements of liability. 

Sec. 1003. Defenses to liability. 

Sec. 1004. Limits on liability. 

Sec. 1005. Interest. 

Sec. 1006. Natural resources. 

Sec. 1007. Recovery by foreign claimants. 

Sec. 1008. Recovery by responsible party. 

Sec. 1009. Contribution. 

Sec. 1010. Indemnification agreements. 

Sec. 1011. Consultation on removal actions. 

Sec. 1012. Uses of the Fund. 

Sec. 1013. Claims procedure. 

Sec. 1014. Designation of source and advertisement. 

Sec. 1015. Subrogation. 

Sec. 1016. Financial responsibility. 

Sec. 1017. Litigation, jurisdiction, and venue. 

Sec. 1018. Relationship to other law. 

Sec. 1019. State financial responsibility. 

Sec. 1020. Application. 

Sec. 1021. Audits and reports. 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE I—OIL POLLUTION LIABILITY 

AND COMPENSATION 

SEC. 1001. DEFINITIONS. 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 1020. APPLICATION. 

This Act shall apply to an incident occurring after the date of the 

enactment of this Act. 


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SEC. 1021. AUDITS AND REPORTS. 

(a) AUDITS.—Not later than April 30 of the fiscal year in which 

this section is enacted, and every 2 years thereafter, the President 

shall provide to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives an audit conducted by the 

Comptroller General of the United States that includes a detailed 

accounting of all funds from the Fund in excess of $100,000 that 

are—

(1) disbursed by the National Pollution Funds Center; and 

(2) administered and managed by the receiving agencies, including final payments made through agencies, contractors, 

and subcontractors. 

(b) REPORTS.—Not later than February 28 of the fiscal year in 

which this section is enacted, and every February 28 thereafter, the 

Secretary, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 

and the heads of any other Federal agencies that, during the preceding fiscal year, received funds from the Fund in excess of 

$100,000, shall—

(1) provide to the President a report accounting for the uses 

of the funds by the Federal agency, including a description of 

ways in which those uses relate to—

(A) oil pollution liability, compensation, prevention, preparedness, and removal; 

(B) natural resource damage assessment and restoration; 

(C) oil pollution research and development; and 

(D) other oil pollution-related activities; and 

(2) make each report available to the public and other interested parties via the Internet website of the National Pollution 

Funds Center. 

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized to 

be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section. 

* * * * * * * 

Æ 


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