II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 589 

To provide for an expedited response to emergencies related to oil or gas 

production or storage. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2011 

Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide for an expedited response to emergencies related 

to oil or gas production or storage. 

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 ‘‘Faster Action Safety 

5 Team Emergency Response Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) COMPLETION.—The term ‘‘completion’’ 

9 means the date on which the well involved is prop10 erly equipped for the production of oil or gas, goes 


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1 into production or, if the well is dry, the date on 

2 which the well is abandoned. 

3 (2) DRILLING.—The term ‘‘drilling’’ includes 

4 the drilling or redrilling of any well or the deepening 

5 or expansion of any existing well. 

6 (3) EXPLORATION.—The term ‘‘exploration’’ 

7 means a drilling effort to obtain information relating 

8 to oil or gas extraction without the intent of imme9 diate production. 

10 (4) OPERATOR.—The term ‘‘operator’’ means 

11 any individual or entity that locates, drills, operates, 

12 alters, directs, controls, supervises, maintains, plugs, 

13 or abandons any well or reconditions any well with 

14 the purpose of production. 

15 (5) PRODUCTION.—The term ‘‘production’’ 

16 means the retrieval of oil or gas from a well. 

17 (6) RESPONSE TEAM.—The term ‘‘response 

18 team’’ means a team of individuals established by an 

19 operator in accordance with this Act, the members 

20 of which, at a minimum— 

21 (A) are familiar with the operations and 

22 equipment of a well; 

23 (B) participate at least annually in re24 sponse training at a minimum of 1 well that is 


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1 operated by the operator and covered by the re2 sponse team; 

3 (C) are trained in basic first aid and CPR 

4 training on an annual basis; and 

5 (D) will be available with respect to the 

6 well involved not later than 3 hours by ground 

7 travel time after requested. 

8 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

9 the Secretary of Labor. 

10 (8) WELL.—The term ‘‘well’’ means a bore hole 

11 drilled or being drilled onshore for the purpose of, 

12 or to be used for, producing, extracting or injecting 

13 any gas, petroleum or other liquid related to oil or 

14 gas production or storage, including holes drilled or 

15 being drilled for exploration and excluding holes that 

16 have been plugged and abandoned. 

17 SEC. 3. RESPONSE TEAM REGULATIONS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

19 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall pro20 mulgate regulations, in accordance with this section, relat21 ing to response teams. 

22 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Regulations promulgated 

23 under subsection (a) shall provide for the following: 


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1 (1) Such regulations shall not be construed to 

2 waive operator training requirements applicable to 

3 existing response teams. 

4 (2) Such regulations shall require that the Oc5 cupational Safety and Health Administration estab6 lish, and update every 5 years thereafter, criteria to 

7 certify the qualifications of response teams. 

8 (3)(A) Such regulations shall require that the 

9 operator of a well— 

10 (i) during the exploration or drilling phase, 

11 or before the completion phase— 

12 (I) have an employee knowledgeable in 

13 responding to emergency situations that 

14 may arise at the well (as defined in regula15 tions promulgated by the Secretary, in con16 sultation with the Administrator of the Oc17 cupational Safety and Health Administra18 tion) who is employed and present at the 

19 well at all times; and 

20 (II) make available a certified re21 sponse team; and 

22 (ii) make available a certified response 

23 team during the production phase (as defined in 

24 section 2(5)). 


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1 (B) Such regulations shall ensure that the fol2 lowing options may be used by an operator to 

3 achieve compliance with the requirements of sub4 paragraph (A) relating to the availability of a re5 sponse team: 

6 (i) Making available a well response team. 

7 (ii) Making available a multi-employer 

8 composite response team that is made up of 

9 team members who are knowledgeable about the 

10 operations of the well and who train on an an11 nual basis at the well— 

12 (I) which provides coverage for mul13 tiple operators that have team members 

14 which include at least 2 active employees 

15 from each of such operators; 

16 (II) which provides coverage for mul17 tiple wells owned by the same operator; 

18 and 

19 (III) which is a State-sponsored re20 sponse team that is composed of at least 2 

21 active employees from each of the opera22 tors. 

23 (iii) Making available a commercial re24 sponse team that is provided for through con25 tract with a third-party vendor or a response 


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1 team provided by another operator, if such 

2 team— 

3 (I) trains on a quarterly basis at a 

4 minimum of 1 well operated by the oper5 ator who contracted for the services of the 

6 commercial response team; 

7 (II) is knowledgeable about the oper8 ations of the wells that are covered under 

9 the contract for services; and 

10 (III) is composed of individuals with a 

11 minimum of 1 year well experience that 

12 has occurred within the 5-year period pre13 ceding their employment on the contract 

14 response team. 

15 (iv) Making available a State-sponsored re16 sponse team made up of State employees. 

17 (4) Such regulations shall require that an oper18 ator of a well— 

19 (A) within 30 minutes of the commence20 ment of an emergency situation, contact local 

21 first responders to inform them of the emer22 gency situation; 

23 (B) within 1 hour of the commencement of 

24 an emergency situation, contact the Occupa25 tional Safety and Health Administration to inVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:56 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589

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1 form such Administration of the emergency sit2 uation; 

3 (C) within 1 hour of the commencement of 

4 an emergency situation, contact the appropriate 

5 State environmental agency to inform such 

6 agency of the emergency situation; 

7 (D) within 1 hour of the commencement of 

8 an emergency situation, contact the National 

9 Response Center; and 

10 (E) provide communication technology, 

11 within a reasonable distance of the well (as de12 fined in regulations promulgated by the Sec13 retary, in consultation with the Administrator 

14 of the Occupational Safety and Health Admin15 istration), that enables the operator to comply 

16 with the regulations under this paragraph. 

17 (5) Such regulations shall require that an oper18 ator provide annual training to local first responders 

19 responsible for serving the area of each well operated 

20 by the operator, who may be required to respond to 

21 an emergency situation, on the hazards of a well and 

22 proper emergency response techniques. 

23 (6) Such regulations shall require that an oper24 ator file a report, on an annual basis, with the Occu25 pational Safety and Health Administration, that proVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:56 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589

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1 vides detailed information on the response team as2 signed to each well of the operator and affirmatively 

3 states that the operator is in compliance with the 

4 Act and all regulations promulgated under this Act. 

Æ 


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