II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3569 

To improve the ability of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to respond to releases of subsea oil and gas, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 12, 2010 

Mr. NELSON of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve the ability of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to respond to releases of subsea 

oil and gas, 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 ‘‘Subsea Hydrocarbon 

5 Imagery and Planning Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO NATIONAL OCEANIC AND AT7 MOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION OIL SPILL RE8 SPONSE. 

9 (a) SUBSEA HYDROCARBON REVIEW.—Not later 

10 than 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 


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1 the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere shall 

2 conduct a comprehensive review of the current state of the 

3 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 

4 the capacity of the Administration to monitor, map, and 

5 track subsea hydrocarbons. 

6 (b) ELEMENTS.—The review conducted under sub7 section (a) shall include the following: 

8 (1) A review of protocol for application of 

9 dispersants that contemplates the variables of tem10 perature, pressure, and depth of the site of release 

11 of hydrocarbons. 

12 (2) A review of technological capabilities to de13 tect the presence of subsea hydrocarbons at various 

14 concentrations and at various depths within a water 

15 column resulting from releases of oil and natural gas 

16 after a spill. 

17 (3) A review of technological capabilities for ex18 peditiously identifying the source (known as 

19 ‘‘fingerprinting’’) of subsea hydrocarbons. 

20 (4) A review of coastal and ocean current mod21 eling as it relates to predicting the trajectory of oil 

22 and natural gas. 

23 (5) A review of the effect of subsea hydro24 carbons (all concentrations including down to hydro25 carbon chains in solution) on all levels of the food 


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1 web, including evaluations of seafood safety, toxicity 

2 to individuals, negative impacts to reproduction, bio3 accumulation, growth, and such other matters as the 

4 Under Secretary considers appropriate. 

5 (6) Development of recommendations on prior6 ities for improving forecasting of movement of 

7 subsea hydrocarbons. 

8 (7) Development of recommendations for long9 term remote monitoring of subsea hydrocarbons 

10 after a spill, including dissolved oxygen impacts. 

11 (8) Development of recommendations for imple12 mentation of a Subsea Hydrocarbon Monitoring and 

13 Assessment program within the Office of Response 

14 and Restoration. 

15 (c) PROGRAM REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under 

17 Secretary shall establish a hydrocarbon monitoring and 

18 assessment program. Such program shall be based on the 

19 recommendations developed under the comprehensive re20 view required by subsection (a). 

21 (d) FUNDING.—Not later than 30 days after the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act, out of any funds in the Oil 

23 Spill Liability Trust Fund established by section 9509 of 

24 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 not otherwise appro25 priated, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to 


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1 the Secretary of Commerce to carry out the provisions of 

2 this section $15,000,000 to remain available until ex3 pended. 

Æ 


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