I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5607 

To provide for the establishment of a program to support the development, 

demonstration, and commercialization of innovative technologies to prevent, stop, or capture large-scale accidental discharges of oil or other 

hydrocarbons from offshore oil and gas drilling operations, including 

deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2010 

Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science and Technology, and in addition to 

the Committee on Natural Resources, 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 provide for the establishment of a program to support 

the development, demonstration, and commercialization 

of innovative technologies to prevent, stop, or capture 

large-scale accidental discharges of oil or other hydrocarbons from offshore oil and gas drilling operations, 

including deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Oil Spills Act’’ 

3 or the ‘‘SOS Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. OFFSHORE DRILLING SAFETY TECHNOLOGY DEVEL5 OPMENT. 

6 (a) Subtitle J of title IX of the Energy Policy Act 

7 of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16371–16378) is amended to read as 

8 follows: 

9 ‘‘Subtitle J—Offshore Drilling 

10 Safety Technology Development 

11 ‘‘SEC. 999. INNOVATIVE OFFSHORE DRILLING SAFETY 

12 TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. 

13 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

14 ‘‘(1) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The term ‘Advi15 sory Committee’ means the SOS Fund Technical 

16 Advisory Committee established under subsection 

17 (f). 

18 ‘‘(2) AWARD.—The term ‘award’ means a 

19 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. 

20 ‘‘(3) BLOWOUT PREVENTER.—The term ‘blow21 out preventer’ means a device installed on an off22 shore well that uses one or more valves, rams, or 

23 preventers to control or stop any otherwise uncon24 trolled flow of hydrocarbons or drilling fluids from 

25 the well. 


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1 ‘‘(4) DEEPWATER.—The term ‘deepwater’ 

2 means a water depth that is greater than 200 but 

3 less than 1,500 meters. 

4 ‘‘(5) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Safe5 ty and Offshore Spills (SOS) Fund established 

6 under subsection (g). 

7 ‘‘(6) REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE.—The 

8 term ‘remotely operated vehicle’ means a remotely 

9 controlled unmanned submersible vehicle, used to in10 spect, control, or perform operations on a blowout 

11 preventer or other subsea drilling equipment. 

12 ‘‘(7) SECONDARY CONTROL SYSTEM.—The term 

13 ‘secondary control system’ means a system, such as 

14 a deadman, autoshear, or acoustic switch, designed 

15 to activate blowout preventer components to shut in 

16 an offshore well in the event of an emergency event 

17 such as a loss of communication with or power to 

18 the blowout preventer. 

19 ‘‘(8) ULTRA-DEEPWATER.—The term ‘ultra20 deepwater’ means a water depth that is equal to or 

21 greater than 1,500 meters. 

22 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 

23 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the 

24 Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Interior, 

25 shall establish a program, in accordance with the requireVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:47 Jun 26, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5607.IH H5607

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1 ments of this section, to provide awards to support the 

2 development, demonstration, and commercialization of in3 novative technologies to prevent, stop, or capture large4 scale accidental discharges of oil or other hydrocarbons 

5 from offshore oil and gas drilling operations, including 

6 deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations. 

7 ‘‘(c) FOCUS AREAS FOR AWARDS.—Awards provided 

8 under this section shall focus on new technologies or inno9 vative improvements to existing technologies, including— 

10 ‘‘(1) blowout preventers; 

11 ‘‘(2) secondary control systems; 

12 ‘‘(3) remotely operated vehicles; and 

13 ‘‘(4) prefabricated systems or technologies to 

14 stop or capture a large-scale hydrocarbon discharge 

15 from an offshore well, at or near the source of such 

16 discharge, in the event of the failure of a blowout 

17 preventer. 

18 ‘‘(d) PROJECT SELECTION.—The Secretary shall 

19 issue solicitations for applications for awards under this 

20 section and shall select projects for awards, on a competi21 tive basis, based on— 

22 ‘‘(1) potential for commercialization of the rel23 evant technology; 

24 ‘‘(2) potential to enhance industry’s capacity to 

25 prevent, stop, or contain a large-scale accidental disVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:47 Jun 26, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5607.IH H5607

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1 charge of oil or other hydrocarbons from offshore 

2 drilling operations; and 

3 ‘‘(3) such other factors as the Secretary may 

4 prescribe. 

5 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL PLAN.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The program under this 

7 section shall be carried out pursuant to annual plans 

8 prepared by the Secretary in accordance with the re9 quirements of this subsection, which shall describe 

10 the ongoing and prospective activities of the pro11 gram under this section. 

12 ‘‘(2) OUTSIDE BODIES.—In formulating each 

13 annual plan under this subsection, the Secretary 

14 shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) solicit and take into consideration 

16 recommendations from the Advisory Committee; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(B) take into consideration the needs 

19 identified and recommendations set forth by 

20 any independent commission established by the 

21 President to investigate the Deepwater Horizon 

22 oil spill and by the Interagency Coordinating 

23 Committee on Oil Pollution Research estab24 lished pursuant to section 7001 of the Oil Pol25 lution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2761). 


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1 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION.—Not later than November 

2 30 of 2010 and each calendar year thereafter 

3 through 2016, the Secretary shall transmit to Con4 gress and publish on the Internet the annual plan 

5 for the succeeding year, together with the rec6 ommendations provided by the Advisory Committee 

7 with regard to such plan. 

8 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days 

10 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec11 retary shall establish an independent advisory com12 mittee to be known as the SOS Fund Technical Ad13 visory Committee. 

14 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The Advisory Committee 

15 shall consist of at least 9 members. Each member 

16 shall have extensive research or operational knowl17 edge of safety technologies associated with offshore 

18 oil and gas exploration and production. The Sec19 retary shall appoint Advisory Committee members, 

20 including a chair and vice-chair of the Advisory 

21 Committee. Terms shall be 3 years in length, except 

22 for initial terms, which may be up to 5 years in 

23 length to allow staggering. Members may be re24 appointed only once for an additional 3-year term. 


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1 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The Advisory Committee shall 

2 advise the Secretary on the development and imple3 mentation of programs under this section, including 

4 by reviewing and providing recommendations with 

5 regard to each annual plan under subsection (e). 

6 ‘‘(4) COMPENSATION.—A member of the Advi7 sory Committee shall serve without compensation 

8 but shall receive travel expenses in accordance with 

9 applicable provisions under subchapter I of chapter 

10 57 of title 5, United States Code. 

11 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.— 

12 ‘‘(1) FUND.—There is hereby established in the 

13 Treasury of the United States a separate fund to be 

14 known as the Safety and Offshore Spill (SOS) 

15 Fund. 

16 ‘‘(2) OIL AND GAS LEASE INCOME.—For each 

17 of fiscal years 2011 through 2017, from any Federal 

18 royalties, rents, and bonuses derived from Federal 

19 onshore and offshore oil and gas leases issued under 

20 the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

21 1331 et seq.) which are deposited in the Treasury, 

22 and after distribution of any such funds as described 

23 in paragraph (3), $50,000,000 shall be deposited 

24 into the Fund. 


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1 ‘‘(3) PRIOR DISTRIBUTIONS.—The distributions 

2 described in paragraph (2) are those required by 

3 law— 

4 ‘‘(A) to States and to the Reclamation 

5 Fund under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 

6 U.S.C. 191(a)); and 

7 ‘‘(B) to other funds receiving monies from 

8 Federal oil and gas leasing programs, includ9 ing— 

10 ‘‘(i) any recipients pursuant to section 

11 8(g) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

12 Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(g)); 

13 ‘‘(ii) the Land and Water Conserva14 tion Fund, pursuant to section 2(c) of the 

15 Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 

16 1965 (16 U.S.C. 4601–5(c)); 

17 ‘‘(iii) the Historic Preservation Fund, 

18 pursuant to section 108 of the National 

19 Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 

20 470h); and 

21 ‘‘(iv) the coastal impact assistance 

22 program established under section 31 of 

23 the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 

24 U.S.C. 1356a). 


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1 ‘‘(4) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—Monies in the 

2 Fund shall be available to the Secretary for obliga3 tion, or to cover the Secretary’s costs of admin4 istering the program in accordance with the limita5 tion in paragraph (5), under this section without fis6 cal year limitation, to remain available until ex7 pended. 

8 ‘‘(5) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—For each of fis9 cal years 2011 through 2017, the Secretary may use 

10 not more than 5 percent of the monies deposited in 

11 the Fund to cover the Secretary’s costs of admin12 istering the program under this section.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The items relating 

14 to subtitle J of title IX in the table of contents of the 

15 Energy Policy Act of 2005 are amended to read as follows: 

‘‘Subtitle J—Offshore Drilling Safety Technology Development 

‘‘Sec. 999. Innovative offshore drilling safety technology program.’’. 

Æ 


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