I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6094 

To establish the National Commission on Outer Continental Shelf Oil Spill 

Prevention. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 10, 2010 

Mr. CASSIDY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish the National Commission on Outer Continental 

Shelf Oil Spill Prevention. 

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

3 SECTION 1. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON OUTER CONTI4 NENTAL SHELF OIL SPILL PREVENTION. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

6 Legislative branch the National Commission on Outer 

7 Continental Shelf Oil Spill Prevention (referred to in this 

8 section as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

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1 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Commission 

2 are— 

3 (1) to examine and report on the facts and 

4 causes relating to the Deepwater Horizon explosion 

5 and oil spill of 2010; 

6 (2) to ascertain, evaluate, and report on the evi7 dence developed by all relevant governmental agen8 cies regarding the facts and circumstances sur9 rounding the incident; 

10 (3) to build upon the investigations of other en11 tities, and avoid unnecessary duplication, by review12 ing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations 

13 of— 

14 (A) the Committees on Energy and Nat15 ural Resources and Commerce, Science, and 

16 Transportation of the Senate; 

17 (B) the Committee on Natural Resources 

18 and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Inves19 tigations of the House of Representatives; and 

20 (C) other Executive branch, congressional, 

21 or independent commission investigations into 

22 the Deepwater Horizon incident of 2010, other 

23 fatal oil platform accidents and major spills, 

24 and major oil spills generally; 

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1 (4) to make a full and complete accounting of 

2 the circumstances surrounding the incident, and the 

3 extent of the preparedness of the United States for, 

4 and immediate response of the United States to, the 

5 incident; and 

6 (5) to investigate and report to the President 

7 and Congress findings, conclusions, and rec8 ommendations for corrective measures that may be 

9 taken to prevent similar incidents. 

10 (c) COMPOSITION OF COMMISSION.— 

11 (1) MEMBERS.—The Commission shall be com12 posed of 10 members, of whom— 

13 (A) 1 member shall be appointed by the 

14 President, who shall serve as Chairperson of the 

15 Commission; 

16 (B) 1 member shall be appointed by the 

17 majority or minority (as the case may be) lead18 er of the Senate from the Republican Party and 

19 the majority or minority (as the case may be) 

20 leader of the House of Representatives from the 

21 Republican Party, who shall serve as Vice 

22 Chairperson of the Commission; 

23 (C) 2 members shall be appointed by the 

24 senior member of the leadership of the Senate 

25 from the Democratic Party; 

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1 (D) 2 members shall be appointed by the 

2 senior member of the leadership of the House 

3 of Representatives from the Republican Party; 

4 (E) 2 members shall be appointed by the 

5 senior member of the leadership of the Senate 

6 from the Republican Party; and 

7 (F) 2 members shall be appointed by the 

8 senior member of the leadership of the House 

9 of Representatives from the Democratic Party. 

10 (2) QUALIFICATIONS; INITIAL MEETING.— 

11 (A) POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION.—Not 

12 more than 5 members of the Commission shall 

13 be from the same political party. 

14 (B) NONGOVERNMENTAL APPOINTEES.— 

15 An individual appointed to the Commission may 

16 not be a current officer or employee of the Fed17 eral Government or any State or local govern18 ment. 

19 (C) OTHER QUALIFICATIONS.—It is the 

20 sense of Congress that individuals appointed to 

21 the Commission should be prominent United 

22 States citizens, with national recognition and 

23 significant depth of experience and expertise in 

24 such areas as— 

25 (i) engineering; 

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1 (ii) environmental compliance; 

2 (iii) health and safety law (particu3 larly oil spill legislation); 

4 (iv) oil spill insurance policies; 

5 (v) public administration; 

6 (vi) oil and gas exploration and pro7 duction; 

8 (vii) environmental cleanup; and 

9 (viii) fisheries and wildlife manage10 ment. 

11 (D) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—All 

12 members of the Commission shall be appointed 

13 on or before September 15, 2010. 

14 (E) INITIAL MEETING.—The Commission 

15 shall meet and begin the operations of the Com16 mission as soon as practicable after the date of 

17 enactment of this Act. 

18 (3) QUORUM; VACANCIES.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—After the initial meet20 ing of the Commission, the Commission shall 

21 meet upon the call of the Chairperson or a ma22 jority of the members of the Commission. 

23 (B) QUORUM.—Six members of the Com24 mission shall constitute a quorum. 

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1 (C) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Com2 mission shall not affect the powers of the Com3 mission, but shall be filled in the same manner 

4 in which the original appointment was made. 

5 (d) FUNCTIONS OF COMMISSION.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The functions of the Com7 mission are— 

8 (A) to conduct an investigation that— 

9 (i) investigates relevant facts and cir10 cumstances relating to the Deepwater Ho11 rizon incident of April 20, 2010, and the 

12 associated oil spill thereafter, including any 

13 relevant legislation, Executive order, regu14 lation, plan, policy, practice, or procedure; 

15 and 

16 (ii) may include relevant facts and cir17 cumstances relating to— 

18 (I) permitting agencies; 

19 (II) environmental and worker 

20 safety law enforcement agencies; 

21 (III) national energy require22 ments; 

23 (IV) deepwater and ultradeepwa24 ter oil and gas exploration and devel25 opment; 

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1 (V) regulatory specifications, 

2 testing, and requirements for offshore 

3 oil and gas well explosion prevention; 

4 (VI) regulatory specifications, 

5 testing, and requirements offshore oil 

6 and gas well casing and cementing 

7 regulation; 

8 (VII) the role of congressional 

9 oversight and resource allocation; and 

10 (VIII) other areas of the public 

11 and private sectors determined to be 

12 relevant to the Deepwater Horizon in13 cident by the Commission; 

14 (B) to identify, review, and evaluate the 

15 lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon in16 cident of April 20, 2010, regarding the struc17 ture, coordination, management policies, and 

18 procedures of the Federal Government, and, if 

19 appropriate, State and local governments and 

20 nongovernmental entities, and the private sec21 tor, relative to detecting, preventing, and re22 sponding to those incidents; and 

23 (C) to submit to the President and Con24 gress such reports as are required under this 

25 section containing such findings, conclusions, 

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1 and recommendations as the Commission deter2 mines to be appropriate, including proposals for 

3 organization, coordination, planning, manage4 ment arrangements, procedures, rules, and reg5 ulations. 

6 (2) RELATIONSHIP TO INQUIRY BY CONGRES7 SIONAL COMMITTEES.—In investigating facts and 

8 circumstances relating to energy policy, the Commis9 sion shall— 

10 (A) first review the information compiled 

11 by, and any findings, conclusions, and rec12 ommendations of, the committees identified in 

13 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection 

14 (b)(3); and 

15 (B) after completion of that review, pursue 

16 any appropriate area of inquiry, if the Commis17 sion determines that— 

18 (i) those committees have not inves19 tigated that area; 

20 (ii) the investigation of that area by 

21 those committees has not been completed; 

22 or 

23 (iii) new information not reviewed by 

24 the committees has become available with 

25 respect to that area. 

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1 (e) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 

2 (1) HEARINGS AND EVIDENCE.—The Commis3 sion or, on the authority of the Commission, any 

4 subcommittee or member of the Commission, may, 

5 for the purpose of carrying out this section— 

6 (A) hold such hearings, meet and act at 

7 such times and places, take such testimony, re8 ceive such evidence, and administer such oaths; 

9 and 

10 (B) require, by subpoena or otherwise, the 

11 attendance and testimony of such witnesses and 

12 the production of such books, records, cor13 respondence, memoranda, papers, documents, 

14 tapes, and materials; 

15 as the Commission or such subcommittee or member 

16 considers to be advisable. 

17 (2) SUBPOENAS.— 

18 (A) ISSUANCE.— 

19 (i) IN GENERAL.—A subpoena may be 

20 issued under this paragraph only— 

21 (I) by the agreement of the 

22 Chairperson and the Vice Chair23 person; or 

24 (II) by the affirmative vote of 6 

25 members of the Commission. 

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1 (ii) SIGNATURE.—Subject to clause 

2 (i), a subpoena issued under this para3 graph— 

4 (I) shall bear the signature of the 

5 Chairperson or any member des6 ignated by a majority of the Commis7 sion; and 

8 (II) may be served by any person 

9 or class of persons designated by the 

10 Chairperson or by a member des11 ignated by a majority of the Commis12 sion for that purpose. 

13 (B) ENFORCEMENT.— 

14 (i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of con15 tumacy or failure to obey a subpoena 

16 issued under subparagraph (A), the United 

17 States district court for the district in 

18 which the subpoenaed person resides, is 

19 served, or may be found, or where the sub20 poena is returnable, may issue an order re21 quiring the person to appear at any des22 ignated place to testify or to produce docu23 mentary or other evidence. 

24 (ii) JUDICIAL ACTION FOR NON25 COMPLIANCE.—Any failure to obey the 

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1 order of the court may be punished by the 

2 court as a contempt of that court. 

3 (iii) ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT.—In 

4 the case of any failure of any witness to 

5 comply with any subpoena or to testify 

6 when summoned under authority of this 

7 subsection, the Commission may, by major8 ity vote, certify a statement of fact consti9 tuting such failure to the appropriate 

10 United States attorney, who may bring the 

11 matter before the grand jury for action, 

12 under the same statutory authority and 

13 procedures as if the United States attorney 

14 had received a certification under sections 

15 102 through 104 of the Revised Statutes 

16 (2 U.S.C. 192 through 194). 

17 (3) CONTRACTING.—The Commission may, to 

18 such extent and in such amounts as are provided in 

19 appropriation Acts, enter into contracts to enable 

20 the Commission to discharge the duties of the Com21 mission under this section. 

22 (4) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may 

24 secure directly from any Executive department, 

25 bureau, agency, board, commission, office, indemstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 pendent establishment, or instrumentality of the 

2 Federal Government, information, suggestions, 

3 estimates, and statistics for the purposes of this 

4 section. 

5 (B) COOPERATION.—Each Federal depart6 ment, bureau, agency, board, commission, of7 fice, independent establishment, or instrumen8 tality shall, to the extent authorized by law, fur9 nish information, suggestions, estimates, and 

10 statistics directly to the Commission, upon re11 quest made by the Chairperson, the Chair12 person of any subcommittee created by a major13 ity of the Commission, or any member des14 ignated by a majority of the Commission. 

15 (C) RECEIPT, HANDLING, STORAGE, AND

16 DISSEMINATION.—Information shall be received, 

17 handled, stored, and disseminated only by mem18 bers of the Commission and the staff of the 

19 Commission in accordance with all applicable 

20 laws (including regulations and Executive or21 ders). 

22 (5) ASSISTANCE FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

23 (A) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRA24 TION.—The Administrator of General Services 

25 shall provide to the Commission on a reimbursmstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 able basis administrative support and other 

2 services for the performance of the functions of 

3 the Commission. 

4 (B) OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND AGEN5 CIES.—In addition to the assistance prescribed 

6 in subparagraph (A), departments and agencies 

7 of the United States may provide to the Com8 mission such services, funds, facilities, staff, 

9 and other support services as are determined to 

10 be advisable and authorized by law. 

11 (6) GIFTS.—The Commission may accept, use, 

12 and dispose of gifts or donations of services or prop13 erty, including travel, for the direct advancement of 

14 the functions of the Commission. 

15 (7) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Commission may 

16 use the United States mails in the same manner and 

17 under the same conditions as departments and agen18 cies of the United States. 

19 (f) PUBLIC MEETINGS AND HEARINGS.— 

20 (1) PUBLIC MEETINGS AND RELEASE OF PUB21 LIC VERSIONS OF REPORTS.—The Commission 

22 shall— 

23 (A) hold public hearings and meetings, to 

24 the extent appropriate; and 

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1 (B) release public versions of the reports 

2 required under paragraphs (1) and (2) of sub3 section (j). 

4 (2) PUBLIC HEARINGS.—Any public hearings of 

5 the Commission shall be conducted in a manner con6 sistent with the protection of proprietary or sensitive 

7 information provided to or developed for or by the 

8 Commission as required by any applicable law (in9 cluding a regulation or Executive order). 

10 (g) STAFF OF COMMISSION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

12 (A) APPOINTMENT AND COMPENSATION.— 

13 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Chairperson, 

14 in consultation with the Vice Chairperson 

15 and in accordance with rules agreed upon 

16 by the Commission, may, without regard to 

17 the civil service laws (including regula18 tions), appoint and fix the compensation of 

19 a staff director and such other personnel 

20 as are necessary to enable the Commission 

21 to carry out the functions of the Commis22 sion. 

23 (ii) MAXIMUM RATE OF PAY.—No rate 

24 of pay fixed under this subparagraph may 

25 exceed the equivalent of that payable for a 

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1 position at level V of the Executive Sched2 ule under section 5316 of title 5, United 

3 States Code. 

4 (B) PERSONNEL AS FEDERAL EMPLOY5 EES.— 

6 (i) IN GENERAL.—The staff director 

7 and any personnel of the Commission who 

8 are employees shall be considered to be 

9 employees under section 2105 of title 5, 

10 United States Code, for purposes of chap11 ters 63, 81, 83, 84, 85, 87, 89, and 90 of 

12 that title. 

13 (ii) MEMBERS OF COMMISSION.— 

14 Clause (i) shall not apply to members of 

15 the Commission. 

16 (2) DETAILEES.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—An employee of the 

18 Federal Government may be detailed to the 

19 Commission without reimbursement. 

20 (B) CIVIL SERVICE STATUS.—The detail of 

21 the employee shall be without interruption or 

22 loss of civil service status or privilege. 

23 (3) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTER24 MITTENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Com25 mission may procure temporary and intermittent 

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1 services in accordance with section 3109(b) of title 

2 5, United States Code, at rates for individuals that 

3 do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate 

4 of basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive 

5 Schedule under section 5316 of that title. 

6 (h) COMPENSATION AND TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

7 (1) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.— 

8 (A) NON-FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—A mem9 ber of the Commission who is not an officer or 

10 employee of the Federal Government shall be 

11 compensated at a rate equal to the daily equiva12 lent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed 

13 for level IV of the Executive Schedule under 

14 section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for 

15 each day (including travel time) during which 

16 the member is engaged in the performance of 

17 the duties of the Commission. 

18 (B) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—A member of 

19 the Commission who is an officer or employee 

20 of the Federal Government shall serve without 

21 compensation in addition to the compensation 

22 received for the services of the member as an 

23 officer or employee of the Federal Government. 

24 (2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—A member of the 

25 Commission shall be allowed travel expenses, includmstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 ing per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates author2 ized for an employee of an agency under subchapter 

3 I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while 

4 away from the home or regular place of business of 

5 the member in the performance of the duties of the 

6 Commission. 

7 (i) SECURITY CLEARANCES FOR COMMISSION MEM8 BERS AND STAFF.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

10 the appropriate Federal agencies or departments 

11 shall cooperate with the Commission in expeditiously 

12 providing to the members and staff of the Commis13 sion appropriate security clearances, to the max14 imum extent practicable, pursuant to existing proce15 dures and requirements. 

16 (2) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.—No person 

17 shall be provided with access to proprietary informa18 tion under this section without the appropriate secu19 rity clearances. 

20 (j) REPORTS OF COMMISSION; ADJOURNMENT.— 

21 (1) INTERIM REPORTS.—The Commission may 

22 submit to the President and Congress interim re23 ports containing such findings, conclusions, and rec24 ommendations for corrective measures as have been 

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1 agreed to by a majority of members of the Commis2 sion. 

3 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 Commission shall submit to the President and Con6 gress a final report containing such findings, conclu7 sions, and recommendations for corrective measures 

8 as have been agreed to by a majority of members of 

9 the Commission. 

10 (3) TEMPORARY ADJOURNMENT.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission, and 

12 all the authority provided under this section, 

13 shall adjourn and be suspended, respectively, on 

14 the date that is 60 days after the date on which 

15 the final report is submitted under paragraph 

16 (2). 

17 (B) ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES BEFORE

18 TERMINATION.—The Commission may use the 

19 60-day period referred to in subparagraph (A) 

20 for the purpose of concluding activities of the 

21 Commission, including— 

22 (i) providing testimony to committees 

23 of Congress concerning reports of the 

24 Commission; and 

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1 (ii) disseminating the final report sub2 mitted under paragraph (2). 

3 (C) RECONVENING OF COMMISSION.—The 

4 Commission shall stand adjourned until such 

5 time as the President or the Secretary of 

6 Homeland Security declares an oil spill of na7 tional significance to have occurred, at which 

8 time— 

9 (i) the Commission shall reconvene in 

10 accordance with subsection (c)(3); and 

11 (ii) the authority of the Commission 

12 under this section shall be of full force and 

13 effect. 

14 (k) FUNDING.— 

15 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

16 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

17 this section— 

18 (A) $10,000,000 for the first fiscal year in 

19 which the Commission convenes; and 

20 (B) $3,000,000 for each fiscal year there21 after in which the Commission convenes. 

22 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available to 

23 carry out this section shall be available— 

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1 (A) for transfer to the Commission for use 

2 in carrying out the functions and activities of 

3 the Commission under this section; and 

4 (B) until the date on which the Commis5 sion adjourns for the fiscal year under sub6 section (j)(3). 

7 (l) NONAPPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL ADVISORY COM8 MITTEE ACT.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 

9 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Commission. 

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