I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1890 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require, as a condition 

and term of any exploration plan or development and production plan 

submitted under that Act, that the applicant for the plan must submit 

an oil spill containment and clean-up plan capable of handling a worstcase scenario oil spill, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 12, 2011 

Ms. TSONGAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require, 

as a condition and term of any exploration plan or development and production plan submitted under that Act, 

that the applicant for the plan must submit an oil spill 

containment and clean-up plan capable of handling a 

worst-case scenario oil spill, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save America from 

5 Environmentally Reckless Drilling Act’’ or the ‘‘SAFER 

6 Drilling Act’’. 


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•HR 1890 IH

1 SEC. 2. OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS OIL SPILL CONTAINMENT 

2 AND CLEAN-UP PLANS. 

3 The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

4 1331 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 32. OIL SPILL CONTAINMENT AND CLEAN-UP PLANS. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall require, as 

8 a condition and term of any exploration plan or any devel9 opment and production plan submitted under this Act, 

10 that— 

11 ‘‘(1) the applicant submit and implement an oil 

12 spill containment and clean-up plan capable of han13 dling a worst-case scenario oil spill; and 

14 ‘‘(2) the Secretary and the Administrator of the 

15 Environmental Protection Agency must approve the 

16 plan. 

17 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—The plan required under para18 graph (1) shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) address the factors of— 

20 ‘‘(A) a continuous oil spill; 

21 ‘‘(B) depth of an oil spill; 

22 ‘‘(C) multiple events; 

23 ‘‘(D) inclement weather; 

24 ‘‘(E) changes in technology; 

25 ‘‘(F) seafloor instability and processes; and 

26 ‘‘(G) the formation of methane hydrates; 


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1 ‘‘(2) address such other factors as the Secretary 

2 considers appropriate; 

3 ‘‘(3) address the contingency that early at4 tempts to contain a spill may fail; 

5 ‘‘(4) include specific redundancy mechanisms to 

6 contain a spill; 

7 ‘‘(5) use best available control technology both 

8 to contain a spill and mitigate its environmental im9 pacts; and 

10 ‘‘(6) demonstrate adequate technology, organi11 zation, resources, and capacity to both contain and 

12 to prevent shoreline contamination by a significant 

13 proportion of a worst-case spill, and to provide for 

14 long-term clean-up and remediation of the marine 

15 and coastal environments. 

16 ‘‘(c) SUBMISSION TO EPA.—The Secretary shall sub17 mit the oil spill containment and clean-up plan to the Ad18 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for 

19 approval, denial, or approval conditional upon modifica20 tion. The Administrator shall give approval only if the ap21 plicant has demonstrated adequate technology, organiza22 tion, resources, and capacity both to contain and to pre23 vent shoreline contamination by a significant proportion 

24 of a worst-case spill, and to provide for long-term cleanVerDate Mar 15 2010 19:48 May 23, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1890.IH H1890

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1 up and remediation of the marine and coastal environ2 ments. 

3 ‘‘(d) LEASE CANCELLATION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the holder of a lease 

5 under this Act fails to submit an exploration plan or 

6 development and production plan in accordance with 

7 this section, or fails to implement an oil spill con8 tainment and clean-up plan approved by the Sec9 retary and the Administrator for purposes of this 

10 section, the Secretary may cancel the lease. 

11 ‘‘(2) COMPENSATION NOT REQUIRED.—Can12 cellation of a lease under this subsection shall not 

13 entitle a lessee to any compensation. 

14 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.—This section shall only apply 

15 with respect to exploration plans and development and 

16 production plans required under leases under this Act 

17 issued after the date of the enactment of the Save America 

18 from Environmentally Reckless Drilling Act.’’. 

Æ 


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