II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3614 

To authorize the establishment of a Maritime Center of Expertise for Maritime Oil Spill and Hazardous Substance Release Response, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 19, 2010 

Mrs. HUTCHISON (for herself and Mr. LEMIEUX) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To authorize the establishment of a Maritime Center of 

Expertise for Maritime Oil Spill and Hazardous Substance Release Response, 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 ‘‘Oil Spill Response 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MARITIME CENTER OF EXPERTISE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commandant shall establish 

8 a Maritime Center of Expertise for Maritime Oil Spill and 


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1 Hazardous Substance Release Response. The Center 

2 shall— 

3 (1) serve as the primary Federal facility for 

4 Coast Guard personnel to obtain qualifications to 

5 perform the duties of a regional response team co6 chair, a Federal on-scene coordinator, or a Federal 

7 on-scene coordinator representative; 

8 (2) train Federal, State, and local first respond9 ers in the incident command system structure, mari10 time oil spill and hazardous substance release re11 sponse techniques and strategies, and public affairs; 

12 (3) work with academic and private sector re13 sponse training centers to develop and standardize 

14 maritime oil spill and hazardous substance release 

15 response training and techniques; 

16 (4) conduct research, development, testing, and 

17 demonstration for maritime oil spill and hazardous 

18 substance release response equipment, technologies, 

19 and techniques to prevent or mitigate maritime oil 

20 discharges and hazardous substance releases; 

21 (5) maintain not less than 2 incident manage22 ment and assistance teams, one of which shall be 

23 ready to deploy anywhere in the continental United 

24 States within 24 hours after an incident or event; 


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1 (6) conduct marine environmental response 

2 standardization visits with Coast Guard federal on3 scene coordinators; 

4 (7) administer and coordinate Coast Guard par5 ticipation in the National Preparedness for Response 

6 Exercise Program; and 

7 (8) establish and maintain Coast Guard marine 

8 environmental response doctrine. 

9 SEC. 3. NATIONAL STRIKE FORCE. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commandant shall maintain 

11 a National Strike Force to facilitate preparedness for and 

12 response to maritime oil spill and hazardous substance re13 lease incidents. 

14 (b) COMPOSITION.—The National Strike Force— 

15 (1) shall consist of— 

16 (A) a National Strike Force Coordination 

17 Center; 

18 (B) strike force teams, including— 

19 (i) 1 team for the Atlantic Ocean; 

20 (ii) 1 team for the Pacific Ocean; and 

21 (iii) 1 team for the Gulf of Mexico; 

22 and 

23 (C) a public information assist team; and 


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1 (2) may include, if the Commandant so directs, 

2 1 or more teams for the northwest Pacific Ocean 

3 and the Arctic Ocean. 

4 (c) NATIONAL STRIKE FORCE COORDINATION CEN5 TER DUTIES.—The National Strike Force Coordination 

6 Center shall— 

7 (1) provide support and standardization guid8 ance to the regional strike teams; 

9 (2) maintain a response resource inventory of 

10 maritime oil spill and hazardous substance release 

11 response, marine salvage, and marine fire fighting 

12 equipment maintained by certified oil spill response 

13 organizations as well as equipment listed in a vessel 

14 or facility oil spill response plan, as required by sec15 tion 311(j) of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

16 Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(j)); 

17 (3) oversee the maintenance and adequacy of 

18 Coast Guard environmental response equipment; 

19 (4) certify and inspect maritime oil spill re20 sponse organizations; and 

21 (5) maintain the National Area Contingency 

22 Plan library. 

23 (d) STRIKE FORCE TEAM DUTIES.—The Strike 

24 Force Response Teams shall— 


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1 (1) provide rapid response support in incident 

2 management, site safety, contractor performance 

3 monitoring, resource documentation, response strate4 gies, hazard assessment, oil spill dispersant, in-situ 

5 burn and other technologies, prefabrication of con6 tainment technology, operational effectiveness moni7 toring, and high-capacity lightering and offshore 

8 skimming capabilities; 

9 (2) train Coast Guard units in environmental 

10 pollution response and incident command systems, 

11 test and evaluate pollution response equipment, and 

12 operate as liaisons with response agencies within 

13 their areas of responsibility; 

14 (3) maintain sufficient maritime oil spill and 

15 hazardous substance release assets to ensure the 

16 protection of human health and the environment in 

17 the event of an oil spill or hazardous substance re18 lease including the prefabrication of oil spill contain19 ment equipment; and 

20 (4) maintain the capability to mobilize per21 sonnel and equipment to respond to an oil spill or 

22 hazardous substance release anywhere in the conti23 nental United States within 24 hours of such event. 


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1 (e) PUBLIC INFORMATION ASSIST TEAM DUTIES.— 

2 The Public Information Assist Team shall maintain the 

3 capability— 

4 (1) to provide crisis communication during oil 

5 spills, hazardous material releases, marine accidents, 

6 and other disasters, including staffing and managing 

7 public affairs and intergovernmental communication; 

8 (2) provide public information and communica9 tions training to Federal, State, and local agencies 

10 and industry personnel; and 

11 (3) maintain the capability to mobilize per12 sonnel and equipment to respond to an oil spill or 

13 hazardous substance release anywhere in the conti14 nental United States within 24 hours after such an 

15 event. 

16 SEC. 4. DISTRICT PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE TEAMS. 

17 The Commandant shall maintain district prepared18 ness response teams to— 

19 (1) maintain Coast Guard environmental re20 sponse equipment; 

21 (2) administer area contingency plans; 

22 (3) administer the National Preparedness for 

23 Response Exercise Program; 

24 (4) conduct responder incident command sys25 tem training and health and safety training; 


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1 (5) provide federal on-scene coordinator tech2 nical advice; 

3 (6) coordinate district pollution response oper4 ations; 

5 (7) support regional response team co-chairs; 

6 (8) coordinate district participation with the 

7 Federal Emergency Management Agency’s regional 

8 interagency steering committee; and 

9 (9) conduct response public affairs and joint in10 formation center training. 

11 SEC. 5. OIL SPILL RESPONSE ORGANIZATIONS. 

12 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Each maritime oil spill response 

13 organization that is listed under an oil spill response plan 

14 of a vessel or facility regulated by the Coast Guard, as 

15 required by section 311(j) of the Federal Water Pollution 

16 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(j))— 

17 (1) shall be certified by the Coast Guard; and 

18 (2) inspected at least once per year to ensure 

19 that it has the capabilities to meet the requirements 

20 delegated to it under applicable oil spill response 

21 plans. 

22 (b) CERTIFICATION CRITERIA AND REQUIRE23 MENTS.—Within 180 days after the date of enactment of 

24 this Act, the Commandant shall develop criteria and reVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:03 Jul 19, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3614.IS S3614

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1 quirements for certifying and classifying maritime oil spill 

2 response organizations. 

3 (c) INVENTORY OF MARITIME OIL SPILL RESPONSE

4 EQUIPMENT.—Each certified maritime oil spill response 

5 organization and any facility regulated by the Coast 

6 Guard that is not using a maritime oil spill response orga7 nization to meet the facility oil spill response plan require8 ments of section 311(j) of the Federal Water Pollution 

9 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(j)) shall maintain a current 

10 list of its maritime oil spill response equipment and submit 

11 a copy of the current list to the National Strike Force 

12 Coordination Center. 

13 (d) DECREASED CAPACITY REPORTS.—If a maritime 

14 oil spill response organization experiences a decrease in 

15 its maritime oil spill response assets, the organization 

16 shall report the decrease to the National Strike Force Co17 ordination Center and the Captain of the Port in which 

18 that organization operates. 

19 SEC. 6. PROGRAM FOR OIL SPILL AND HAZARDOUS SUB20 STANCE RELEASE RESPONSE. 

21 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH PROGRAM.—The 

22 Commandant shall establish a program for oil spill and 

23 hazardous substance release response, within the Maritime 

24 Center of Expertise for Oil Spill Response, to conduct re25 search, development, testing, and demonstration for oil 


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1 spill and hazardous substance release response equipment, 

2 technologies, and techniques to prevent or mitigate oil dis3 charges and hazardous substance releases. 

4 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program required by 

5 subsection (a) shall include the following elements: 

6 (1) Research, development, testing, and dem7 onstration of new or improved methods (including 

8 the use of dispersants and biological treatment 

9 methods) for the containment, recovery, removal, 

10 and disposal of oil and hazardous substances. 

11 (2) Assist in the development of improved de12 signs for vessel operations (including vessel oper13 ations in Arctic waters) and facilities that are regu14 lated by the Coast Guard, and improved operational 

15 practices. 

16 (3) Research and training, in consultation with 

17 the National Response Team, to improve the ability 

18 of private industry and the United States Govern19 ment to respond to an oil discharge or a hazardous 

20 substance release. 

21 (4) A list of oil spill and hazardous substance 

22 containment, recovery, removal, and disposal tech23 nology that is approved for use by the Commandant 

24 and is made publicly available, in such manner as 

25 determined appropriate by the Commandant. 


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1 (5) A process for private industry, academic in2 stitutions, non-governmental organizations, and Fed3 eral, State, and local governments to submit sys4 tems, equipment, and technologies for testing and 

5 evaluation. 

6 (c) GRANTS FOR OIL SPILL RESPONSE.—The Com7 mandant shall have the authority to make grants to or 

8 enter into cooperative agreements with academic institu9 tions to conduct research and development for oil spill re10 sponse equipment, technology, and techniques. 

11 (d) COORDINATION.—The Commandant shall carry 

12 out the program in coordination with the Interagency Co13 ordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research estab14 lished pursuant to section 7001(a) of the Oil Pollution Act 

15 of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2761(a)). 

16 (e) FUNDING.—The Commandant shall use such 

17 sums as may be necessary to carry out this section for 

18 fiscal years 2010 through 2015 from funds appropriated 

19 to the research, development, and testing program account 

20 of the Coast Guard for those years. 

21 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act: 

23 (1) COMMANDANT.—The term ‘‘Commandant’’ 

24 means the Commandant of the Coast Guard. 


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1 (2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

2 the program for oil spill response established pursu3 ant to section 6. 

Æ 


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