II 

Calendar No. 483 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3643 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to reform the management 

of energy and mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, to 

improve oil spill compensation, to terminate the moratorium on deepwater 

drilling, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2010 

Mr. MCCONNELL (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. 

INHOFE, Mr. THUNE, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. CORNYN, and 

Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; which was read the first time 

JULY 26, 2010 

Read the second time and place on the calendar 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to reform 

the management of energy and mineral resources on 

the Outer Continental Shelf, to improve oil spill compensation, to terminate the moratorium on deepwater 

drilling, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘Oil Spill Response Improvement Act of 2010’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF REFORM 

Sec. 101. Purposes. 

Sec. 102. Definitions. 

Sec. 103. National policy for the outer Continental Shelf. 

Sec. 104. Structural reform of outer Continental Shelf program management. 

Sec. 105. Safety, environmental, and financial reform of the Outer Continental 

Shelf Lands Act. 

Sec. 106. Study on the effect of the moratoria on new deepwater drilling in the 

Gulf of Mexico on employment and small businesses. 

Sec. 107. Reform of other law. 

Sec. 108. Safer oil and gas production. 

Sec. 109. National Commission on Outer Continental Shelf Oil Spill Prevention. 

Sec. 110. Classification of offshore systems. 

Sec. 111. Savings provisions. 

Sec. 112. Budgetary effects. 

TITLE II—OIL SPILL COMPENSATION 

Subtitle A—Oil Spill Liability 

PART I—OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 1990 

Sec. 201. Liability limits. 

Sec. 202. Advance payment. 

PART II—OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND

Sec. 211. Rate of tax for Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. 

Sec. 212. Limitations on expenditures and borrowing authority. 

Subtitle B—Federal Oil Spill Research 

Sec. 221. Definitions. 

Sec. 222. Federal oil spill research. 

Sec. 223. National Academy of Science participation. 

Sec. 224. Technical and conforming amendments. 

Sec. 225. Oil spill response authority. 

Sec. 226. Maritime center of expertise. 

Sec. 227. National strike force. 

Sec. 228. District preparedness and response teams. 

Sec. 229. Oil spill response organizations. 

Sec. 230. Program for oil spill and hazardous substance release response. 

Sec. 230a. Oil and hazardous substance liability. 


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Subtitle C—Oil and Gas Leasing 

Sec. 231. Revenue sharing from outer Continental Shelf areas in certain coastal 

States. 

Sec. 232. Revenue sharing from areas in Alaska Adjacent zone. 

Sec. 233. Accelerated revenue sharing to promote coastal resiliency among Gulf 

producing States. 

Sec. 234. Coastal impact assistance program amendments. 

Sec. 235. Production of oil from certain Arctic offshore leases. 

Sec. 236. Use of stimulus funds to offset spending. 

TITLE III—GUIDANCE ON MORATORIUM ON OUTER 

CONTINENTAL SHELF DRILLING 

Sec. 301. Limitation of moratorium on certain permitting and drilling activities. 

Sec. 302. Deepwater Horizon incident. 

1 TITLE I—OUTER CONTINENTAL 

2 SHELF REFORM 

3 SEC. 101. PURPOSES. 

4 The purposes of this title are— 

5 (1) to rationalize and reform the responsibilities 

6 of the Secretary of the Interior with respect to the 

7 management of the outer Continental Shelf in order 

8 to improve the management, oversight, account9 ability, safety, and environmental protection of all 

10 the resources on the outer Continental Shelf; 

11 (2) to provide independent development and en12 forcement of safety and environmental laws (includ13 ing regulations) governing— 

14 (A) energy development and mineral ex15 traction activities on the outer Continental 

16 Shelf; and 

17 (B) related offshore activities; and 


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1 (3) to ensure a fair return to the taxpayer 

2 from, and independent management of, royalty and 

3 revenue collection and disbursement activities from 

4 mineral and energy resources. 

5 SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this title: 

7 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

8 means the Department of the Interior. 

9 (2) OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.—The term 

10 ‘‘outer Continental Shelf’’ has the meaning given the 

11 term in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf 

12 Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331). 

13 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

14 the Secretary of the Interior. 

15 SEC. 103. NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE OUTER CONTI16 NENTAL SHELF. 

17 Section 3 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

18 (43 U.S.C. 1332) is amended— 

19 (1) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 

20 following: 

21 ‘‘(3) the outer Continental Shelf is a vital na22 tional resource reserve held by the Federal Govern23 ment for the public, which should be managed in a 

24 manner that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) recognizes the need of the United 

2 States for competitive domestic sources of en3 ergy, food, minerals, and other resources; 

4 ‘‘(B) minimizes the potential impacts of 

5 development of those resources on the marine 

6 and coastal environment and on human health 

7 and safety; and 

8 ‘‘(C) acknowledges the long-term economic 

9 value to the United States of the balanced, ex10 peditious, and orderly management and produc11 tion of those resources that safeguards the envi12 ronment and respects the multiple values and 

13 uses of the outer Continental Shelf;’’; 

14 (2) in paragraph (4)(C), by striking the period 

15 at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

16 (3) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

17 inserting a semicolon; 

18 (4) by redesignating paragraph (6) as para19 graph (7); 

20 (5) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(6) exploration, development, and production 

23 of energy and minerals on the outer Continental 

24 Shelf should be allowed only when those activities 

25 can be accomplished in a manner that provides reaVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:20 Jul 26, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3643.PCS S3643

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1 sonable assurance of adequate protection against 

2 harm to life, health, the environment, property, or 

3 other users of the waters, seabed, or subsoil; and’’; 

4 and 

5 (6) in paragraph (7) (as so redesignated)— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘should be’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘shall be’’; and 

8 (B) by adding ‘‘best available commercial’’ 

9 after ‘‘using’’. 

10 SEC. 104. STRUCTURAL REFORM OF OUTER CONTINENTAL 

11 SHELF PROGRAM MANAGEMENT. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Outer Continental Shelf 

13 Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) is amended by adding 

14 to the end the following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 32. STRUCTURAL REFORM OF OUTER CONTINENTAL 

16 SHELF PROGRAM MANAGEMENT. 

17 ‘‘(a) LEASING, PERMITTING, AND REGULATION BU18 REAUS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF BUREAUS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the discre21 tion granted by Reorganization Plan Number 3 

22 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1262; 43 U.S.C. 1451 note), 

23 the Secretary shall establish in the Department 

24 of the Interior not more than 2 bureaus to 

25 carry out the leasing, permitting, and safety 


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1 and environmental regulatory functions vested 

2 in the Secretary by this Act and the Federal Oil 

3 and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 

4 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) related to the outer Conti5 nental Shelf. 

6 ‘‘(B) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—In estab7 lishing the bureaus under subparagraph (A), 

8 the Secretary shall ensure, to the maximum ex9 tent practicable, that any potential organiza10 tional conflicts of interest related to leasing, 

11 revenue creation, environmental protection, and 

12 safety are eliminated. 

13 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—Each bureau shall be headed 

14 by a Director, who shall be appointed by the Presi15 dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen16 ate. 

17 ‘‘(3) COMPENSATION.—Each Director shall be 

18 compensated at the rate provided for level V of the 

19 Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title 5, 

20 United States Code. 

21 ‘‘(4) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each Director shall be 

22 a person who, by reason of professional background 

23 and demonstrated ability and experience, is specially 

24 qualified to carry out the duties of the office. 

25 ‘‘(b) ROYALTY AND REVENUE OFFICE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.—Subject to 

2 the discretion granted by Reorganization Plan Num3 ber 3 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1262; 43 U.S.C. 1451 note), 

4 the Secretary shall establish in the Department of 

5 the Interior an office to carry out the royalty and 

6 revenue management functions vested in the Sec7 retary by this Act and the Federal Oil and Gas Roy8 alty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1701 et 

9 seq.). 

10 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—The office established under 

11 paragraph (1) shall be headed by a Director, who 

12 shall be appointed by the President, by and with the 

13 advice and consent of the Senate. 

14 ‘‘(3) COMPENSATION.—The Director shall be 

15 compensated at the rate provided for level V of the 

16 Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title 5, 

17 United States Code. 

18 ‘‘(4) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Director shall be a 

19 person who, by reason of professional background 

20 and demonstrated ability and experience, is specially 

21 qualified to carry out the duties of the office. 

22 ‘‘(c) OCS SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY

23 BOARD.— 

24 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es25 tablish, under the Federal Advisory Committee Act 


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1 (5 U.S.C. App.), an Outer Continental Shelf Safety 

2 and Environmental Advisory Board (referred to in 

3 this subsection as the ‘Board’), to provide the Sec4 retary and the Directors of the bureaus established 

5 under this section with independent peer-reviewed 

6 scientific and technical advice on safe and environ7 mentally compliant energy and mineral resource ex8 ploration, development, and production activities. 

9 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.— 

10 ‘‘(A) SIZE.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall 

12 consist of not more than 12 members, cho13 sen to reflect a range of expertise in sci14 entific, engineering, management, and 

15 other disciplines related to safe and envi16 ronmentally compliant energy and mineral 

17 resource exploration, development, and 

18 production activities. 

19 ‘‘(ii) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary 

20 shall consult with the National Academy of 

21 Sciences and the National Academy of En22 gineering to identify potential candidates 

23 for membership on the Board. 

24 ‘‘(B) TERM.—The Secretary shall appoint 

25 Board members to staggered terms of not more 


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1 than 4 years, and shall not appoint a member 

2 for more than 2 consecutive terms. 

3 ‘‘(C) CHAIR.—The Secretary shall appoint 

4 the Chair for the Board. 

5 ‘‘(3) MEETINGS.—The Board shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) meet not less than 3 times per year; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(B) at least once per year, shall host a 

9 public forum to review and assess the overall 

10 safety and environmental performance of outer 

11 Continental Shelf energy and mineral resource 

12 activities. 

13 ‘‘(4) REPORTS.—Reports of the Board shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) be submitted to Congress; and 

15 ‘‘(B) made available to the public in an 

16 electronically accessible form. 

17 ‘‘(5) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the 

18 Board, other than full-time employees of the Federal 

19 Government, while attending a meeting of the Board 

20 or while otherwise serving at the request of the Sec21 retary or the Director while serving away from their 

22 homes or regular places of business, may be allowed 

23 travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsist24 ence, as authorized by section 5703 of title 5, 


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1 United States Code, for individuals in the Federal 

2 Government serving without pay. 

3 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL PERSONNEL AUTHORITIES.— 

4 ‘‘(1) DIRECT HIRING AUTHORITY FOR CRITICAL

5 PERSONNEL.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec7 tions 3104, 3304, and 3309 through 3318 of 

8 title 5, United States Code, the Secretary may, 

9 upon a determination that there is a severe 

10 shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need 

11 for particular positions, recruit and directly ap12 point highly qualified accountants, scientists, 

13 engineers, or critical technical personnel into 

14 the competitive service, as officers or employees 

15 of any of the organizational units established 

16 under this section. 

17 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In exercising the 

18 authority granted under subparagraph (A), the 

19 Secretary shall ensure that any action taken by 

20 the Secretary— 

21 ‘‘(i) is consistent with the merit prin22 ciples of chapter 23 of title 5, United 

23 States Code; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) complies with the public notice 

2 requirements of section 3327 of title 5, 

3 United States Code. 

4 ‘‘(2) CRITICAL PAY AUTHORITY.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec6 tion 5377 of title 5, United States Code, and 

7 without regard to the provisions of that title 

8 governing appointments in the competitive serv9 ice or the Senior Executive Service and chap10 ters 51 and 53 of that title (relating to classi11 fication and pay rates), the Secretary may es12 tablish, fix the compensation of, and appoint in13 dividuals to critical positions needed to carry 

14 out the functions of any of the organizational 

15 units established under this section, if the Sec16 retary certifies that— 

17 ‘‘(i) the positions— 

18 ‘‘(I) require expertise of an ex19 tremely high level in a scientific or 

20 technical field; and 

21 ‘‘(II) any of the organizational 

22 units established in this section would 

23 not successfully accomplish an impor24 tant mission without such an indi25 vidual; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) exercise of the authority is nec2 essary to recruit an individual exceptionally 

3 well qualified for the position. 

4 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS.—The authority grant5 ed under subparagraph (A) shall be subject to 

6 the following conditions: 

7 ‘‘(i) The number of critical positions 

8 authorized by subparagraph (A) may not 

9 exceed 40 at any 1 time in either of the 

10 bureaus established under this section. 

11 ‘‘(ii) The term of an appointment 

12 under subparagraph (A) may not exceed 4 

13 years. 

14 ‘‘(iii) An individual appointed under 

15 subparagraph (A) may not have been an 

16 employee of the Department of the Interior 

17 during the 2-year period prior to the date 

18 of appointment. 

19 ‘‘(iv) Total annual compensation for 

20 any individual appointed under subpara21 graph (A) may not exceed the highest total 

22 annual compensation payable at the rate 

23 determined under section 104 of title 3, 

24 United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘(v) An individual appointed under 

2 subparagraph (A) may not be considered 

3 to be an employee for purposes of sub4 chapter II of chapter 75 of title 5, United 

5 States Code. 

6 ‘‘(C) NOTIFICATION.—Each year, the Sec7 retary shall submit to Congress a notification 

8 that lists each individual appointed under this 

9 paragraph. 

10 ‘‘(3) REEMPLOYMENT OF CIVILIAN RETIR11 EES.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding part 

13 553 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (re14 lating to reemployment of civilian retirees to 

15 meet exceptional employment needs), or suc16 cessor regulations, the Secretary may approve 

17 the reemployment of an individual to a par18 ticular position without reduction or termi19 nation of annuity if the hiring of the individual 

20 is necessary to carry out a critical function of 

21 any of the organizational units established 

22 under this section for which suitably qualified 

23 candidates do not exist. 


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1 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS.—An annuitant hired 

2 with full salary and annuities under the author3 ity granted by subparagraph (A)— 

4 ‘‘(i) shall not be considered an em5 ployee for purposes of subchapter III of 

6 chapter 83 and chapter 84 of title 5, 

7 United States Code; 

8 ‘‘(ii) may not elect to have retirement 

9 contributions withheld from the pay of the 

10 annuitant; 

11 ‘‘(iii) may not use any employment 

12 under this paragraph as a basis for a sup13 plemental or recomputed annuity; and 

14 ‘‘(iv) may not participate in the Thrift 

15 Savings Plan under subchapter III of 

16 chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code. 

17 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION ON TERM.—The term of 

18 employment of any individual hired under sub19 paragraph (A) may not exceed an initial term 

20 of 2 years, with an additional 2-year appoint21 ment under exceptional circumstances. 

22 ‘‘(e) CONTINUITY OF AUTHORITY.—Subject to the 

23 discretion granted by Reorganization Plan Number 3 of 

24 1950 (64 Stat. 1262; 43 U.S.C. 1451 note), any reference 

25 in any law, rule, regulation, directive, or instruction, or 


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1 certificate or other official document, in force immediately 

2 prior to the date of enactment of this section— 

3 ‘‘(1) to the Minerals Management Service that 

4 pertains to any of the duties and authorities de5 scribed in this section shall be deemed to refer and 

6 apply to the appropriate bureaus and offices estab7 lished under this section; 

8 ‘‘(2) to the Director of the Minerals Manage9 ment Service that pertains to any of the duties and 

10 authorities described in this section shall be deemed 

11 to refer and apply to the Director of the bureau or 

12 office under this section to whom the Secretary has 

13 assigned the respective duty or authority; and 

14 ‘‘(3) to any other position in the Minerals Man15 agement Service that pertains to any of the duties 

16 and authorities described in this section shall be 

17 deemed to refer and apply to that same or equiva18 lent position in the appropriate bureau or office es19 tablished under this section.’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 5316 of 

21 title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Direc22 tor, Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior’’ and 

23 inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘Bureau Directors, Department of the Interior 

25 (2). 


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1 ‘‘Director, Royalty and Revenue Office, Depart2 ment of the Interior.’’. 

3 SEC. 105. SAFETY, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND FINANCIAL RE4 FORM OF THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF 

5 LANDS ACT. 

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2 of the Outer Conti7 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331) is amended by 

8 adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(r) SAFETY CASE.—The term ‘safety case’ means 

10 a complete set of safety documentation that provides a 

11 basis for determining whether a system is adequately safe 

12 for a given application in a given environment.’’. 

13 (b) ADMINISTRATION OF LEASING.—Section 5(a) of 

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

15 1334(a)) is amended in the second sentence— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary may at any 

17 time’’ and inserting ‘‘The Secretary shall’’; and 

18 (2) by inserting after ‘‘provide for’’ the fol19 lowing: ‘‘operational safety, the protection of the ma20 rine and coastal environment,’’. 

21 (c) MAINTENANCE OF LEASES.—Section 6 of the 

22 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1335) is 

23 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(f) REVIEW OF BOND AND SURETY AMOUNTS.— 

2 Not later than May 1, 2011, and every 5 years thereafter, 

3 the Secretary shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) review the minimum financial responsi5 bility requirements for mineral leases under sub6 section (a)(11); and 

7 ‘‘(2) adjust for inflation based on the Consumer 

8 Price Index for all Urban Consumers published by 

9 the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of 

10 Labor, and recommend to Congress any further 

11 changes to existing financial responsibility require12 ments necessary to permit lessees to fulfill all obliga13 tions under this Act or the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 

14 (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). 

15 ‘‘(g) PERIODIC FISCAL REVIEWS AND REPORTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) ROYALTY RATES.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

18 after the date of enactment of this subsection 

19 and every 4 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 

20 carry out a review of, and prepare a report that 

21 describes— 

22 ‘‘(i) the royalty and rental rates in23 cluded in new offshore oil and gas leases 

24 and the rationale for the rates; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) whether, in the view of the Sec2 retary, the royalty and rental rates de3 scribed in subparagraph (A) would yield a 

4 fair return to the public while promoting 

5 the production of oil and gas resources in 

6 a timely manner; and 

7 ‘‘(iii) whether, based on the review, 

8 the Secretary intends to modify the royalty 

9 or rental rates. 

10 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—In carrying 

11 out a review and preparing a report under sub12 paragraph (A), the Secretary shall provide to 

13 the public an opportunity to participate. 

14 ‘‘(2) COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF FISCAL SYS15 TEM.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

17 after the date of enactment of this subsection 

18 and every 4 years thereafter, the Secretary in 

19 consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, 

20 shall carry out a comprehensive review of all 

21 components of the Federal offshore oil and gas 

22 fiscal system, including requirements and 

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1 ments, regulatory compliance costs, oil and gas 

2 fees, and other significant financial elements. 

3 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The review shall in4 clude— 

5 ‘‘(i) information and analyses com6 paring the offshore bonus bids, rents, roy7 alties, taxes, and fees of the Federal Gov8 ernment to the offshore bonus bids, rents, 

9 royalties, taxes, and fees of other resource 

10 owners (including States and foreign coun11 tries); and 

12 ‘‘(ii) an assessment of the overall off13 shore oil and gas fiscal system in the 

14 United States, as compared to foreign 

15 countries. 

16 ‘‘(C) INDEPENDENT ADVISORY COM17 MITTEE.—In carrying out a review under this 

18 paragraph, the Secretary shall convene and seek 

19 the advice of an independent advisory com20 mittee comprised of oil and gas and fiscal ex21 perts from States, Indian tribes, academia, the 

22 energy industry, and appropriate nongovern23 mental organizations. 

24 ‘‘(D) REPORT.—The Secretary shall pre25 pare a report that contains— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the contents and results of the re2 view carried out under this paragraph for 

3 the period covered by the report; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) any recommendations of the Sec5 retary and the Secretary of the Treasury 

6 based on the contents and results of the 

7 review. 

8 ‘‘(E) COMBINED REPORT.—The Secretary 

9 may combine the reports required by para10 graphs (1) and (2)(D) into 1 report. 

11 ‘‘(3) REPORT DEADLINE.—Not later than 30 

12 days after the date on which the Secretary completes 

13 each report under this subsection, the Secretary 

14 shall submit copies of the report to— 

15 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Energy and Nat16 ural Resources of the Senate; 

17 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Finance of the 

18 Senate; 

19 ‘‘(C) the Committee on Natural Resources 

20 of the House of Representatives; and 

21 ‘‘(D) the Committee on Ways and Means 

22 of the House of Representatives.’’. 

23 (d) LEASES, EASEMENTS, AND RIGHTS-OF-WAY.— 

24 Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 


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1 U.S.C. 1337) is amended by striking subsection (d) and 

2 inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(d) DISQUALIFICATION FROM BIDDING.—No bid 

4 for a lease may be submitted by any entity that the Sec5 retary finds, after prior public notice and opportunity for 

6 a hearing— 

7 ‘‘(1) is not meeting due diligence, safety, or en8 vironmental requirements, constituting significant 

9 infractions, on other leases; or 

10 ‘‘(2)(A) is a responsible party for a vessel or a 

11 facility from which oil is discharged, for purposes of 

12 section 1002 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 

13 U.S.C. 2702); and 

14 ‘‘(B) has failed to meet the obligations of the 

15 responsible party under that Act to provide com16 pensation for covered removal costs and damages.’’. 

17 (e) EXPLORATION PLANS.—Section 11 of the Outer 

18 Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1340) is amend19 ed— 

20 (1) in subsection (c)— 

21 (A) in the fourth sentence of paragraph 

22 (1), by striking ‘‘within thirty days of its sub23 mission’’ and inserting ‘‘by the deadline de24 scribed in paragraph (5)’’; 


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1 (B) by striking paragraph (3) and insert2 ing the following: 

3 ‘‘(3) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An exploration plan 

5 submitted under this subsection shall include, 

6 in such degree of detail as the Secretary by reg7 ulation may require— 

8 ‘‘(i) a complete description and sched9 ule of the exploration activities to be un10 dertaken; 

11 ‘‘(ii) a description of the equipment to 

12 be used for the exploration activities, in13 cluding— 

14 ‘‘(I) a description of the drilling 

15 unit; 

16 ‘‘(II) a statement of the design 

17 and condition of major safety-related 

18 pieces of equipment; 

19 ‘‘(III) a description of any new 

20 technology to be used; and 

21 ‘‘(IV) a statement demonstrating 

22 that the equipment to be used meets 

23 the best available commercial tech24 nology requirements under section 

25 21(b); 


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1 ‘‘(iii) a map showing the location of 

2 each well to be drilled; 

3 ‘‘(iv)(I) a scenario for the potential 

4 blowout of the well involving the highest 

5 expected volume of liquid hydrocarbons; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(II) a complete description of a re8 sponse plan to control the blowout and 

9 manage the accompanying discharge of hy10 drocarbons, including— 

11 ‘‘(aa) the technology and esti12 mated timeline for regaining control 

13 of the well; and 

14 ‘‘(bb) the strategy, organization, 

15 and resources to be used to avoid 

16 harm to the environment and human 

17 health from hydrocarbons; and 

18 ‘‘(v) any other information determined 

19 to be relevant by the Secretary. 

20 ‘‘(B) DEEPWATER WELLS.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Before conducting 

22 exploration activities in water depths 

23 greater than 500 feet, the holder of a lease 

24 shall submit to the Secretary for approval 

25 a deepwater operations plan prepared by 


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1 the lessee in accordance with this subpara2 graph. 

3 ‘‘(ii) TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 A deepwater operations plan under this 

5 subparagraph shall be based on the best 

6 available commercial technology to ensure 

7 safety in carrying out the exploration activ8 ity and the blowout response plan. 

9 ‘‘(iii) SYSTEMS ANALYSIS RE10 QUIRED.—The Secretary shall not approve 

11 a deepwater operations plan under this 

12 subparagraph unless the plan includes a 

13 technical systems analysis of— 

14 ‘‘(I) the safety of the proposed 

15 exploration activity; 

16 ‘‘(II) the blowout prevention 

17 technology; and 

18 ‘‘(III) the blowout and spill re19 sponse plans.’’; and 

20 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(5) DEADLINE FOR APPROVAL.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a lease 

23 issued under a sale held after March 17, 2010, 

24 the deadline for approval of an exploration plan 


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1 referred to in the fourth sentence of paragraph 

2 (1) is— 

3 ‘‘(i) the date that is 90 days after the 

4 date on which the plan or the modifica5 tions to the plan are submitted; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) the date that is not later than an 

7 additional 180 days after the deadline de8 scribed in clause (i), if the Secretary 

9 makes a finding that additional time is 

10 necessary to complete any environmental, 

11 safety, or other reviews. 

12 ‘‘(B) EXISTING LEASES.—In the case of a 

13 lease issued under a sale held on or before 

14 March 17, 2010, the Secretary, with the con15 sent of the holder of the lease, may extend the 

16 deadline applicable to the lease for such addi17 tional time as the Secretary determines is nec18 essary to complete any environmental, safety, or 

19 other reviews. 

20 ‘‘(C) EFFECT ON TERM OF LEASE.—In the 

21 case of any extension of the deadline for ap22 proval of an exploration plan under this Act, 

23 the additional time taken by the Secretary shall 

24 not be assessed against the term of the associ25 ated lease.’’; 


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1 (2) by redesignating subsections (e) through (h) 

2 as subsections (f) through (i), respectively; and 

3 (3) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(d) DRILLING PERMITS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, by 

7 regulation, require that any lessee operating under 

8 an approved exploration plan obtain a permit— 

9 ‘‘(A) before the lessee drills a well in ac10 cordance with the plan; and 

11 ‘‘(B) before the lessee significantly modi12 fies the well design originally approved by the 

13 Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(2) ENGINEERING REVIEW REQUIRED.—The 

15 Secretary may not grant any drilling permit until 

16 the date of completion of a full review of the well 

17 system by not less than 2 agency engineers, includ18 ing a written determination that— 

19 ‘‘(A) critical safety systems (including 

20 blowout prevention) will use best available com21 mercial technology; and 

22 ‘‘(B) blowout prevention systems will in23 clude redundancy and remote triggering capa24 bility. 


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1 ‘‘(3) MODIFICATION REVIEW REQUIRED.—The 

2 Secretary may not approve any modification of a 

3 permit without a determination, after an additional 

4 engineering review, that the modification will not 

5 compromise the safety of the well system previously 

6 approved. 

7 ‘‘(4) OPERATOR SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL

8 MANAGEMENT REQUIRED.—The Secretary may not 

9 grant any drilling permit or modification of the per10 mit until the date of completion and approval of a 

11 safety and environmental management plan that— 

12 ‘‘(A) is to be used by the operator during 

13 all well operations; and 

14 ‘‘(B) includes— 

15 ‘‘(i) a description of the expertise and 

16 experience requirements of crew members 

17 who will be present on the rig; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) designation of at least 2 environ19 mental and safety managers that— 

20 ‘‘(I) are or will be employees of 

21 the operator; 

22 ‘‘(II) would be present on the rig 

23 at all times; and 

24 ‘‘(III) have overall responsibility 

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1 agement of the well system and spill 

2 response plan; and 

3 ‘‘(C) not later than May 1, 2012, requires 

4 that all employees on the rig meet the training 

5 and experience requirements under section 

6 21(b)(4). 

7 ‘‘(e) DISAPPROVAL OF EXPLORATION PLAN.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall dis9 approve an exploration plan submitted under this 

10 section if the Secretary determines that, because of 

11 exceptional geological conditions in the lease areas, 

12 exceptional resource values in the marine or coastal 

13 environment, or other exceptional circumstances, 

14 that— 

15 ‘‘(A) implementation of the exploration 

16 plan would probably cause serious harm or 

17 damage to life (including fish and other aquatic 

18 life), property, mineral deposits, national secu19 rity or defense, or the marine, coastal or human 

20 environments; 

21 ‘‘(B) the threat of harm or damage would 

22 not disappear or decrease to an acceptable ex23 tent within a reasonable period of time; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) the advantages of disapproving the 

2 exploration plan outweigh the advantages of ex3 ploration. 

4 ‘‘(2) COMPENSATION.—If an exploration plan is 

5 disapproved under this subsection, the provisions of 

6 subparagraphs (B) and (C) of section 25(h)(2) shall 

7 apply to the lease and the plan or any modified plan, 

8 except that the reference in section 25(h)(2) to a de9 velopment and production plan shall be considered to 

10 be a reference to an exploration plan.’’. 

11 (f) OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LEASING PRO12 GRAM.—Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

13 Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (a)— 

15 (A) in the second sentence, by inserting 

16 after ‘‘national energy needs’’ the following: 

17 ‘‘and the need for the protection of the marine 

18 and coastal environment and resources’’; 

19 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘con20 siders’’ and inserting ‘‘gives equal consideration 

21 to’’; and 

22 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘, to the 

23 maximum extent practicable,’’; 

24 (2) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

2 the end; 

3 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe4 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(5) provide technical review and oversight of 

7 the exploration plan and a systems review of the 

8 safety of the well design and other operational deci9 sions; 

10 ‘‘(6) conduct regular and thorough safety re11 views and inspections, and; 

12 ‘‘(7) enforce all applicable laws (including regu13 lations).’’; 

14 (3) in the second sentence of subsection (d)(2), 

15 by inserting ‘‘, the head of an interested Federal 

16 agency,’’ after ‘‘Attorney General’’; 

17 (4) in the first sentence of subsection (g), by in18 serting before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, 

19 including existing inventories and mapping of ma20 rine resources previously undertaken by the Depart21 ment of the Interior and the National Oceanic and 

22 Atmospheric Administration, information provided 

23 by the Department of Defense, and other available 

24 data regarding energy or mineral resource potential, 

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1 reational uses, habitat, conservation, and military 

2 uses on the outer Continental Shelf’’; and 

3 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(i) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

6 out a program of research and development to en7 sure the continued improvement of methodologies for 

8 characterizing resources of the outer Continental 

9 Shelf and conditions that may affect the ability to 

10 develop and use those resources in a safe, sound, 

11 and environmentally responsible manner. 

12 ‘‘(2) INCLUSIONS.—Research and development 

13 activities carried out under paragraph (1) may in14 clude activities to provide accurate estimates of en15 ergy and mineral reserves and potential on the outer 

16 Continental Shelf and any activities that may assist 

17 in filling gaps in environmental data needed to de18 velop each leasing program under this section. 

19 ‘‘(3) LEASING ACTIVITIES.—Research and de20 velopment activities carried out under paragraph (1) 

21 shall not be considered to be leasing or pre-leasing 

22 activities for purposes of this Act.’’. 

23 (g) ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES.—Section 20 of the 

24 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1346) is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (f) 

2 as subsections (b) through (g), respectively; 

3 (2) by inserting before subsection (b) (as so re4 designated) the following: 

5 ‘‘(a) COMPREHENSIVE AND INDEPENDENT STUD6 IES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop 

8 and carry out programs for the collection, evalua9 tion, assembly, analysis, and dissemination of envi10 ronmental and other resource data that are relevant 

11 to carrying out the purposes of this Act. 

12 ‘‘(2) SCOPE OF RESEARCH.—The programs 

13 under this subsection shall include— 

14 ‘‘(A) the gathering of baseline data in 

15 areas before energy or mineral resource devel16 opment activities occur; 

17 ‘‘(B) ecosystem research and monitoring 

18 studies to support integrated resource manage19 ment decisions; and 

20 ‘‘(C) the improvement of scientific under21 standing of the fate, transport, and effects of 

22 discharges and spilled materials, including deep 

23 water hydrocarbon spills, in the marine environ24 ment. 


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1 ‘‘(3) USE OF DATA.—The Secretary shall en2 sure that information from the studies carried out 

3 under this section— 

4 ‘‘(A) informs the management of energy 

5 and mineral resources on the outer Continental 

6 Shelf including any areas under consideration 

7 for oil and gas leasing; and 

8 ‘‘(B) contributes to a broader coordination 

9 of energy and mineral resource development ac10 tivities within the context of best available 

11 science. 

12 ‘‘(4) INDEPENDENCE.—The Secretary shall cre13 ate a program within the appropriate bureau estab14 lished under section 32 that shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) be programmatically separate and 

16 distinct from the leasing program; 

17 ‘‘(B) carry out the environmental studies 

18 under this section; 

19 ‘‘(C) conduct additional environmental 

20 studies relevant to the sound management of 

21 energy and mineral resources on the outer Con22 tinental Shelf; 

23 ‘‘(D) provide for external scientific review 

24 of studies under this section, including through 


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1 appropriate arrangements with the National 

2 Academy of Sciences; and 

3 ‘‘(E) subject to the restrictions of sub4 sections (g) and (h) of section 18, make avail5 able to the public studies conducted and data 

6 gathered under this section.’’; and 

7 (3) in the first sentence of subsection (b)(1) (as 

8 so redesignated), by inserting ‘‘every 3 years’’ after 

9 ‘‘shall conduct’’. 

10 (h) SAFETY RESEARCH AND REGULATIONS.—Section 

11 21 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

12 1347) is amended— 

13 (1) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by 

14 striking ‘‘Upon the date of enactment of this sec15 tion,’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than May 1, 2011, 

16 and every 3 years thereafter,’’; 

17 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(b) BEST AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGIES AND PRAC20 TICES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In exercising respective re22 sponsibilities under this Act, the Secretary, and the 

23 Secretary of the Department in which the Coast 

24 Guard is operating, shall require, on all new drilling 

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1 tent practicable, on existing operations, the use of 

2 the best available and safest commercial technologies 

3 and practices, if the failure of equipment would have 

4 a significant effect on safety, health, or the environ5 ment. 

6 ‘‘(2) IDENTIFICATION OF BEST AVAILABLE

7 TECHNOLOGIES.—Not later than May 1, 2011, the 

8 Secretary shall identify and publish a list, to be up9 dated and maintained to reflect technological ad10 vances, of best available commercial technologies for 

11 key areas of well design and operation, including 

12 blowout prevention and blowout and oil spill re13 sponse. 

14 ‘‘(3) SAFETY CASE.—Not later than May 1, 

15 2011, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations re16 quiring a safety case be submitted along with each 

17 new application for a permit to drill on the outer 

18 Continental Shelf. 

19 ‘‘(4) EMPLOYEE TRAINING.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than May 1, 

21 2011, the Secretary shall promulgate regula22 tions setting standards for training for all 

23 workers on offshore facilities (including mobile 

24 offshore drilling units) conducting energy and 

25 mineral resource exploration, development, and 


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1 production operations on the outer Continental 

2 Shelf. 

3 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The training 

4 standards under this paragraph shall require 

5 that employers of workers described in subpara6 graph (A)— 

7 ‘‘(i) establish training programs ap8 proved by the Secretary; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) demonstrate that employees in10 volved in the offshore operations meet 

11 standards that demonstrate the aptitude of 

12 the employees in critical technical skills. 

13 ‘‘(C) EXPERIENCE.—The training stand14 ards under this section shall require that any 

15 offshore worker with less than 5 years of ap16 plied experience in offshore facilities operations 

17 pass a certification requirement after receiving 

18 the appropriate training. 

19 ‘‘(D) MONITORING TRAINING COURSES.— 

20 The Secretary shall ensure that Department 

21 employees responsible for inspecting offshore fa22 cilities monitor, observe, and report on training 

23 courses established under this paragraph, in24 cluding attending a representative number of 


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1 the training sessions, as determined by the Sec2 retary.’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(g) TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND RISK ASSESS5 MENT PROGRAM.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

7 out a program of research, development, and risk as8 sessment to address technology and development 

9 issues associated with outer Continental Shelf en10 ergy and mineral resource activities, with the pri11 mary purpose of informing the role of research, de12 velopment, and risk assessment relating to safety, 

13 environmental protection, and spill response. 

14 ‘‘(2) SPECIFIC AREAS OF FOCUS.—The program 

15 under this subsection shall include research, develop16 ment, and other activities related to— 

17 ‘‘(A) risk assessment, using all available 

18 data from safety and compliance records both 

19 within the United States and internationally; 

20 ‘‘(B) analysis of industry trends in tech21 nology, investment, and interest in frontier 

22 areas; 

23 ‘‘(C) analysis of incidents investigated 

24 under section 22; 


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1 ‘‘(D) reviews of best available commercial 

2 technologies, including technologies associated 

3 with pipelines, blowout preventer mechanisms, 

4 casing, well design, and other associated infra5 structure related to offshore energy develop6 ment; 

7 ‘‘(E) oil spill response and mitigation; 

8 ‘‘(F) risks associated with human factors; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(G) renewable energy operations. 

11 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION SHARING ACTIVITIES.— 

12 ‘‘(A) DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES.—The Sec13 retary shall carry out programs to facilitate the 

14 exchange and dissemination of scientific and 

15 technical information and best practices related 

16 to the management of safety and environmental 

17 issues associated with energy and mineral re18 source exploration, development, and produc19 tion. 

20 ‘‘(B) INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION.— 

21 The Secretary shall carry out programs to co22 operate with international organizations and 

23 foreign governments to share information and 

24 best practices related to the management of 

25 safety and environmental issues associated with 


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1 energy and mineral resource exploration, devel2 opment, and production. 

3 ‘‘(4) REPORTS.—The program under this sub4 section shall provide to the Secretary, each Bureau 

5 Director under section 32, and the public quarterly 

6 reports that address— 

7 ‘‘(A) developments in each of the areas 

8 under paragraph (2); and 

9 ‘‘(B)(i) any accidents that have occurred in 

10 the past quarter; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) appropriate responses to the acci12 dents. 

13 ‘‘(5) INDEPENDENCE.—The Secretary shall cre14 ate a program within the appropriate bureau estab15 lished under section 32 that shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) be programmatically separate and 

17 distinct from the leasing program; 

18 ‘‘(B) carry out the studies, analyses, and 

19 other activities under this subsection; 

20 ‘‘(C) provide for external scientific review 

21 of studies under this section, including through 

22 appropriate arrangements with the National 

23 Academy of Sciences; and 

24 ‘‘(D) make available to the public studies 

25 conducted and data gathered under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(6) USE OF DATA.—The Secretary shall en2 sure that the information from the studies and re3 search carried out under this section inform the de4 velopment of safety practices and regulations as re5 quired by this Act and other applicable laws.’’. 

6 (i) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 22 of the Outer Conti7 nental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1348) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (d)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (i) in the first sentence, by inserting 

11 ‘‘, each loss of well control, blowout, activa12 tion of the shear rams, and other accident 

13 that presented a serious risk to human or 

14 environmental safety,’’ after ‘‘fire’’; and 

15 (ii) in the last sentence, by inserting 

16 ‘‘as a condition of the lease’’ before the pe17 riod at the end; 

18 (B) in the last sentence of paragraph (2), 

19 by inserting ‘‘as a condition of lease’’ before the 

20 period at the end; 

21 (2) in subsection (e)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘(e) The’’ and inserting the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(e) REVIEW OF ALLEGED SAFETY VIOLATIONS.— 

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The’’; and 


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1 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(2) INVESTIGATION.—The Secretary shall in3 vestigate any allegation from any employee of the 

4 lessee or any subcontractor of the lessee made under 

5 paragraph (1).’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end of the section the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(g) INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the request of the Sec10 retary, the National Transportation Safety Board 

11 may conduct an independent investigation of any ac12 cident, occurring in the outer Continental Shelf and 

13 involving activities under this Act, that does not oth14 erwise fall within the definition of an accident or 

15 major marine casualty, as those terms are used in 

16 chapter 11 of title 49, United States Code. 

17 ‘‘(2) TRANSPORTATION ACCIDENT.—For pur18 poses of an investigation under this subsection, the 

19 accident that is the subject of the request by the 

20 Secretary shall be determined to be a transportation 

21 accident within the meaning of that term in chapter 

22 11 of title 49, United States Code. 

23 ‘‘(h) INFORMATION ON CAUSES AND CORRECTIVE

24 ACTIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each incident inves2 tigated under this section, the Secretary shall 

3 promptly make available to all lessees and the public 

4 technical information about the causes and correc5 tive actions taken. 

6 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC DATABASE.—All data and reports 

7 related to an incident described in paragraph (1) 

8 shall be maintained in a database that is available 

9 to the public. 

10 ‘‘(i) INSPECTION FEE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent necessary to 

12 fund the inspections described in this paragraph, the 

13 Secretary shall collect a non-refundable inspection 

14 fee, which shall be deposited in the Ocean Energy 

15 Enforcement Fund established under paragraph (3), 

16 from the designated operator for facilities subject to 

17 inspection under subsection (c). 

18 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es19 tablish, by rule, inspection fees— 

20 ‘‘(A) at an aggregate level equal to the 

21 amount necessary to offset the annual expenses 

22 of inspections of outer Continental Shelf facili23 ties (including mobile offshore drilling units) by 

24 the Department of the Interior; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) using a schedule that reflects the dif2 ferences in complexity among the classes of fa3 cilities to be inspected. 

4 ‘‘(3) OCEAN ENERGY ENFORCEMENT FUND.— 

5 There is established in the Treasury a fund, to be 

6 known as the ‘Ocean Energy Enforcement Fund’ 

7 (referred to in this subsection as the ‘Fund’), into 

8 which shall be deposited amounts collected under 

9 paragraph (1) and which shall be available as pro10 vided under paragraph (4). 

11 ‘‘(4) AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—Notwithstanding 

12 section 3302 of title 31, United States Code, all 

13 amounts collected by the Secretary under this sec14 tion— 

15 ‘‘(A) shall be credited as offsetting collec16 tions; 

17 ‘‘(B) shall be available for expenditure only 

18 for purposes of carrying out inspections of 

19 outer Continental Shelf facilities (including mo20 bile offshore drilling units) and the administra21 tion of the inspection program; 

22 ‘‘(C) shall be available only to the extent 

23 provided for in advance in an appropriations 

24 Act; and 

25 ‘‘(D) shall remain available until expended. 


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1 ‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORTS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 

3 days after the end of each fiscal year beginning 

4 with fiscal year 2011, the Secretary shall sub5 mit to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

6 Resources of the Senate and the Committee on 

7 Natural Resources of the House of Representa8 tives a report on the operation of the Fund dur9 ing the fiscal year. 

10 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—Each report shall in11 clude, for the fiscal year covered by the report, 

12 the following: 

13 ‘‘(i) A statement of the amounts de14 posited into the Fund. 

15 ‘‘(ii) A description of the expenditures 

16 made from the Fund for the fiscal year, in17 cluding the purpose of the expenditures. 

18 ‘‘(iii) Recommendations for additional 

19 authorities to fulfill the purpose of the 

20 Fund. 

21 ‘‘(iv) A statement of the balance re22 maining in the Fund at the end of the fis23 cal year.’’. 


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1 (j) REMEDIES AND PENALTIES.—Section 24 of the 

2 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1350) is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(b) CIVIL PENALTY.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 

8 through (3), if any person fails to comply with this 

9 Act, any term of a lease or permit issued under this 

10 Act, or any regulation or order issued under this 

11 Act, the person shall be liable for a civil administra12 tive penalty of not more than $75,000 for each day 

13 of continuance of each failure. 

14 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary may as15 sess, collect, and compromise any penalty under 

16 paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(3) HEARING.—No penalty shall be assessed 

18 under this subsection until the person charged with 

19 a violation has been given the opportunity for a 

20 hearing. 

21 ‘‘(4) ADJUSTMENT.—The penalty amount speci22 fied in this subsection shall increase each year to re23 flect any increases in the Consumer Price Index for 

24 All Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of 

25 Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor.’’; 


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1 (2) in subsection (c)— 

2 (A) in the first sentence, by striking 

3 ‘‘$100,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$10,000,000’’; and 

4 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘The penalty amount specified in this sub6 section shall increase each year to reflect any 

7 increases in the Consumer Price Index for All 

8 Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of 

9 Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor.’’; 

10 and 

11 (3) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘, or with 

12 reckless disregard,’’ after ‘‘knowingly and willfully’’. 

13 (k) OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUC14 TION.—Section 25 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

15 Act (43 U.S.C. 1351) is amended by striking ‘‘, other than 

16 the Gulf of Mexico,’’ each place it appears in subsections 

17 (a)(1), (b), and (e)(1). 

18 (l) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—Section 29 of the 

19 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1355) is 

20 amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 29. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST. 

22 ‘‘(a) RESTRICTIONS ON EMPLOYMENT.—No full-time 

23 officer or employee of the Department of the Interior who 

24 directly or indirectly discharges duties or responsibilities 

25 under this Act shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) within 2 years after his employment with 

2 the Department has ceased— 

3 ‘‘(A) knowingly act as agent or attorney 

4 for, or otherwise represent, any other person 

5 (except the United States) in any formal or in6 formal appearance before; 

7 ‘‘(B) with the intent to influence, make 

8 any oral or written communication on behalf of 

9 any other person (except the United States) to; 

10 or 

11 ‘‘(C) knowingly aid, advise, or assist in— 

12 ‘‘(i) representing any other person 

13 (except the United States in any formal or 

14 informal appearance before; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) making, with the intent to influ16 ence, any oral or written communication 

17 on behalf of any other person (except the 

18 United States) to, 

19 any department, agency, or court of the United 

20 States, or any officer or employee thereof, in connec21 tion with any judicial or other proceeding, applica22 tion, request for a ruling or other determination, 

23 regulation, order lease, permit, rulemaking, inspec24 tion, enforcement action, or other particular matter 

25 involving a specific party or parties in which the 


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1 United States is a party or has a direct and sub2 stantial interest which was actually pending under 

3 his official responsibility as an officer or employee 

4 within a period of one year prior to the termination 

5 of such responsibility or in which he participated 

6 personally and substantially as an officer or em7 ployee; 

8 ‘‘(2) within 1 year after his employment with 

9 the Department has ceased— 

10 ‘‘(A) knowingly act as agent or attorney 

11 for, or otherwise represent, any other person 

12 (except the United States) in any formal or in13 formal appearance before; 

14 ‘‘(B) with the intent to influence, make 

15 any oral or written communication on behalf of 

16 any other person (except the United States) to; 

17 or 

18 ‘‘(C) knowingly aid , advise, or assist in — 

19 ‘‘(i) representing any other person 

20 (except the United States in any formal or 

21 informal appearance before, or 

22 ‘‘(ii) making, with the intent to influ23 ence, any oral or written communication 

24 on behalf of any other person (except the 

25 United States) to, 


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1 the Department of the Interior, or any officer or em2 ployee thereof, in connection with any judicial, rule3 making, regulation, order, lease, permit, regulation, 

4 inspection, enforcement action, or other particular 

5 matter which is pending before the Department of 

6 the Interior or in which the Department has a direct 

7 and substantial interest; or 

8 ‘‘(3) accept employment or compensation, dur9 ing the 1-year period beginning on the date on which 

10 employment with the Department has ceased, from 

11 any person (other than the United States) that has 

12 a direct and substantial interest— 

13 ‘‘(A) that was pending under the official 

14 responsibility of the employee as an officer or 

15 employee of the Department during the 1-year 

16 period preceding the termination of the respon17 sibility; or 

18 ‘‘(B) in which the employee participated 

19 personally and substantially as an officer or em20 ployee. 

21 ‘‘(b) PRIOR EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS.—No 

22 full-time officer or employee of the Department of the In23 terior who directly or indirectly discharges duties or re24 sponsibilities under this Act shall participate personally 

25 and substantially as a Federal officer or employee, 


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1 through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, 

2 the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, in a 

3 proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other de4 termination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusa5 tion, inspection, enforcement action, or other particular 

6 matter in which, to the knowledge of the officer or em7 ployee— 

8 ‘‘(1) the officer or employee or the spouse, 

9 minor child, or general partner of the officer or em10 ployee has a financial interest; 

11 ‘‘(2) any organization in which the officer or 

12 employee is serving as an officer, director, trustee, 

13 general partner, or employee has a financial interest; 

14 ‘‘(3) any person or organization with whom the 

15 officer or employee is negotiating or has any ar16 rangement concerning prospective employment has a 

17 financial interest; or 

18 ‘‘(4) any person or organization in which the of19 ficer or employee has, within the preceding 1-year 

20 period, served as an officer, director, trustee, general 

21 partner, agent, attorney, consultant, contractor, or 

22 employee has a financial interest. 

23 ‘‘(c) GIFTS FROM OUTSIDE SOURCES.—No full-time 

24 officer or employee of the Department of the Interior who 

25 directly or indirectly discharges duties or responsibilities 


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1 under this Act shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or accept 

2 any gift in violation of subpart B of part 2635 of title 

3 V, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations). 

4 ‘‘(d) EXEMPTIONS.—The Secretary may, by rule, ex5 empt from this section clerical and support personnel who 

6 do not conduct inspections, perform audits, or otherwise 

7 exercise regulatory or policy making authority under this 

8 Act. 

9 ‘‘(e) PENALTIES.— 

10 ‘‘(1) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any person who 

11 violates paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a) or 

12 subsection (b) shall be punished in accordance with 

13 section 216 of title 18, United States Code. 

14 ‘‘(2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Any person who vio15 lates subsection (a)(3) or (c) shall be punished in ac16 cordance with subsection (b) of section 216 of title 

17 18, United States Code.’’. 

18 SEC. 106. STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF THE MORATORIA ON 

19 NEW DEEPWATER DRILLING IN THE GULF OF 

20 MEXICO ON EMPLOYMENT AND SMALL BUSI21 NESSES. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy, acting 

23 through the Energy Information Administration, shall 

24 publish a monthly study evaluating the effect of the mora25 toria which followed from the blowout and explosion of the 


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1 mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon that oc2 curred on April 20, 2010, and resulting hydrocarbon re3 leases into the environment, on employment and small 

4 businesses. 

5 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act and at the beginning of each 

7 month thereafter during the effective period of the mora8 toria described in subsection (a), the Secretary of Energy, 

9 acting through the Energy Information Administration, 

10 shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Re11 sources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 

12 Commerce of the House of Representatives a report re13 garding the results of the study conducted under sub14 section (a), including— 

15 (1) a survey of the effect of the moratoria on 

16 deepwater drilling on employment in the industries 

17 directly involved in oil and natural gas exploration in 

18 the outer Continental Shelf; 

19 (2) a survey of the effect of the moratoria on 

20 employment in the industries indirectly involved in 

21 oil and natural gas exploration in the outer Conti22 nental Shelf, including suppliers of supplies or serv23 ices and customers of industries directly involved in 

24 oil and natural gas exploration; 


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1 (3) an estimate of the effect of the moratoria 

2 on the revenues of small business located near the 

3 Gulf of Mexico and, to the maximum extent prac4 ticable, throughout the United States; and 

5 (4) any recommendations to mitigate possible 

6 negative effects on small business concerns resulting 

7 from the moratoria. 

8 SEC. 107. REFORM OF OTHER LAW. 

9 Section 388(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (43 

10 U.S.C. 1337 note; Public Law 109–58) is amended by 

11 adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(4) FEDERAL AGENCIES.—Any head of a Fed13 eral department or agency shall, on request of the 

14 Secretary, provide to the Secretary all data and in15 formation that the Secretary determines to be nec16 essary for the purpose of including the data and in17 formation in the mapping initiative, except that no 

18 Federal department or agency shall be required to 

19 provide any data or information that is privileged or 

20 proprietary.’’. 

21 SEC. 108. SAFER OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION. 

22 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORITY.—Section 999A of the En23 ergy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16371) is amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘ultra-deepwater’’ and in2 serting ‘‘deepwater’’; and 

3 (B) by inserting ‘‘well control and accident 

4 prevention,’’ after ‘‘safe operations,’’; 

5 (2) in subsection (b)— 

6 (A) by striking paragraph (1) and insert7 ing the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) Deepwater architecture, well control and 

9 accident prevention, and deepwater technology, in10 cluding drilling to deep formations in waters greater 

11 than 500 feet.’’; and 

12 (B) by striking paragraph (4) and insert13 ing the following: 

14 ‘‘(4) Safety technology research and develop15 ment for drilling activities aimed at well control and 

16 accident prevention performed by the Office of Fos17 sil Energy of the Department.’’; and 

18 (3) in subsection (d)— 

19 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

20 ‘‘NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORA21 TORY’’ and inserting ‘‘OFFICE OF FOSSIL EN22 ERGY OF THE DEPARTMENT’’; and 

23 (B) by striking ‘‘National Energy Tech24 nology Laboratory’’ and inserting ‘‘Office of 

25 Fossil Energy of the Department’’. 


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1 (b) DEEPWATER AND UNCONVENTIONAL ONSHORE

2 NATURAL GAS AND OTHER PETROLEUM RESEARCH AND

3 DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.—Section 999B of the Energy 

4 Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16372) is amended— 

5 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘ULTRA6 DEEPWATER AND UNCONVENTIONAL ONSHORE

7 NATURAL GAS AND OTHER PETROLEUM’’ and 

8 inserting ‘‘SAFE OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION AND

9 ACCIDENT PREVENTION’’; 

10 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘, by increas11 ing’’ and all that follows through the period at the 

12 end and inserting ‘‘and the safe and environmentally 

13 responsible exploration, development, and production 

14 of hydrocarbon resources.’’; 

15 (3) in subsection (c)(1)— 

16 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 

17 and (E) as subparagraphs (E) and (F), respec18 tively; and 

19 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (C) 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(D) projects will be selected on a competi22 tive, peer-reviewed basis.’’; and 

23 (4) in subsection (d)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘ultra25 deepwater’’ and inserting ‘‘deepwater’’; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (7)— 

2 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

3 (I) in the subparagraph heading, 

4 by striking ‘‘ULTRA-DEEPWATER’’ and 

5 inserting ‘‘DEEPWATER’’; 

6 (II) by striking ‘‘development 

7 and’’ and inserting ‘‘research, develop8 ment, and’’; and 

9 (III) by striking ‘‘as well as’’ and 

10 all that follows through the period at 

11 the end and inserting ‘‘aimed at im12 proving operational safety of drilling 

13 activities, including well integrity sys14 tems, well control, blowout prevention, 

15 the use of non-toxic materials, and in16 tegrated systems approach-based 

17 management for exploration and pro18 duction in deepwater.’’; 

19 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

20 ‘‘and environmental mitigation’’ and in21 serting ‘‘use of non-toxic materials, drilling 

22 safety, and environmental mitigation and 

23 accident prevention’’; 

24 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by inserting 

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1 trol and systems integrity,’’ after ‘‘includ2 ing’’; and 

3 (iv) by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(D) SAFETY AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION

6 TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOP7 MENT.—Awards from allocations under section 

8 999H(d)(4) shall be expended on areas includ9 ing— 

10 ‘‘(i) development of improved cement11 ing and casing technologies; 

12 ‘‘(ii) best management practices for 

13 cementing, casing, and other well control 

14 activities and technologies; 

15 ‘‘(iii) development of integrity and 

16 stewardship guidelines for— 

17 ‘‘(I) well-plugging and abandon18 ment; 

19 ‘‘(II) development of wellbore 

20 sealant technologies; and 

21 ‘‘(III) improvement and stand22 ardization of blowout prevention de23 vices.’’; and 

24 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(8) STUDY; REPORT.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) STUDY.—As soon as practicable after 

2 the date of enactment of this paragraph, the 

3 Secretary shall enter into an arrangement with 

4 the National Academy of Sciences under which 

5 the Academy shall conduct a study to deter6 mine— 

7 ‘‘(i) whether the benefits provided 

8 through each award under this subsection 

9 during calendar year 2011 have been maxi10 mized; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) the new areas of research that 

12 could be carried out to meet the overall ob13 jectives of the program. 

14 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—Not later than January 1, 

15 2012, the Secretary shall submit to the appro16 priate committees of Congress a report that 

17 contains a description of the results of the 

18 study conducted under subparagraph (A). 

19 ‘‘(C) OPTIONAL UPDATES.—The Secretary 

20 may update the report described in subpara21 graph (B) for the 5-year period beginning on 

22 the date described in that subparagraph and 

23 each 5-year period thereafter.’’; 

24 (5) in subsection (e)— 

25 (A) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (i) in the second sentence of subpara2 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘to the Secretary 

3 for review’’ after ‘‘submit’’; and 

4 (ii) in the first sentence of subpara5 graph (B), by striking ‘‘Ultra-Deepwater’’ 

6 and all that follows through ‘‘and such Ad7 visory Committees’’ and inserting ‘‘Pro8 gram Advisory Committee established 

9 under section 999D(a), and the Advisory 

10 Committee’’; and 

11 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(6) RESEARCH FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDA13 TIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary, in 

14 consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and 

15 the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

16 Agency, shall publish in the Federal Register an an17 nual report on the research findings of the program 

18 carried out under this section and any recommenda19 tions for implementation that the Secretary, in con20 sultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the 

21 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

22 Agency, determines to be necessary.’’; 

23 (6) in subsection (i)— 

24 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

25 ‘‘UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY’’ and 


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1 inserting ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR’’; 

2 and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘, through the United 

4 States Geological Survey,’’; and 

5 (7) in the first sentence of subsection (j), by 

6 striking ‘‘National Energy Technology Laboratory’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘Office of Fossil Energy of the De8 partment’’. 

9 (c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR AWARDS.— 

10 Section 999C(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

11 U.S.C. 16373(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘an ultra-deep12 water technology or an ultra-deepwater architecture’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘a deepwater technology’’. 

14 (d) PROGRAM ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—Section 

15 999D of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16374) 

16 is amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 999D. PROGRAM ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 

18 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 270 days 

19 after the date of enactment of the Oil Spill Response Im20 provement Act of 2010, the Secretary shall establish an 

21 advisory committee to be known as the ‘Program Advisory 

22 Committee’ (referred to in this section as the ‘Advisory 

23 Committee’). 

24 ‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Committee 

2 shall be composed of members appointed by the Sec3 retary, including— 

4 ‘‘(A) individuals with extensive research 

5 experience or operational knowledge of hydro6 carbon exploration and production; 

7 ‘‘(B) individuals broadly representative of 

8 the affected interests in hydrocarbon produc9 tion, including interests in environmental pro10 tection and safety operations; 

11 ‘‘(C) representatives of Federal agencies, 

12 including the Environmental Protection Agency 

13 and the Department of the Interior; 

14 ‘‘(D) State regulatory agency representa15 tives; and 

16 ‘‘(E) other individuals, as determined by 

17 the Secretary. 

18 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Com20 mittee shall not include individuals who are 

21 board members, officers, or employees of the 

22 program consortium. 

23 ‘‘(B) CATEGORICAL REPRESENTATION.—In 

24 appointing members of the Advisory Committee, 

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1 viduals described in any of subparagraphs (A), 

2 (B), (D), or (E) of paragraph (1) comprises 

more than 1 3 ⁄3 of the membership of the Advi4 sory Committee. 

5 ‘‘(c) SUBCOMMITTEES.—The Advisory Committee 

6 may establish subcommittees for separate research pro7 grams carried out under this subtitle. 

8 ‘‘(d) DUTIES.—The Advisory Committee shall— 

9 ‘‘(1) advise the Secretary on the development 

10 and implementation of programs under this subtitle; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(2) carry out section 999B(e)(2)(B). 

13 ‘‘(e) COMPENSATION.—A member of the Advisory 

14 Committee shall serve without compensation but shall be 

15 entitled to receive travel expenses in accordance with sub16 chapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code. 

17 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITION.—The Advisory Committee shall 

18 not make recommendations on funding awards to par19 ticular consortia or other entities, or for specific 

20 projects.’’. 

21 (e) DEFINITIONS.—Section 999G of the Energy Pol22 icy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16377) is amended— 

23 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘200 but less 

24 than 1,500 meters’’ and inserting ‘‘500 feet’’; 

25 (2) by striking paragraphs (8), (9), and (10); 


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1 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 

2 (7) and (11) as paragraphs (4) through (9) and 

3 (10), respectively; 

4 (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(2) DEEPWATER ARCHITECTURE.—The term 

7 ‘deepwater architecture’ means the integration of 

8 technologies for the exploration for, or production of, 

9 natural gas or other petroleum resources located at 

10 deepwater depths. 

11 ‘‘(3) DEEPWATER TECHNOLOGY.—The term 

12 ‘deepwater technology’ means a discrete technology 

13 that is specially suited to address 1 or more chal14 lenges associated with the exploration for, or produc15 tion of, natural gas or other petroleum resources lo16 cated at deepwater depths.’’; and 

17 (5) in paragraph (10) (as redesignated by para18 graph (3)), by striking ‘‘in an economically inacces19 sible geological formation, including resources of 

20 small producers’’. 

21 (f) FUNDING.—Section 999H of the Energy Policy 

22 Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16378) is amended— 

23 (1) in the first sentence of subsection (a) by 

24 striking ‘‘Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Nat25 ural Gas and Other Petroleum Research Fund’’ and 


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1 inserting ‘‘Safe and Responsible Energy Production 

2 Research Fund’’; 

3 (2) in subsection (d)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘35 per5 cent’’ and inserting ‘‘21.5 percent’’; 

6 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘32.5 

7 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘21 percent’’; 

8 (C) in paragraph (4)— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘25 percent’’ and in10 serting ‘‘30 percent’’; 

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘complementary re12 search’’ and inserting ‘‘safety technology 

13 research and development’’; and 

14 (iii) by striking ‘‘contract manage15 ment,’’ and all that follows through the pe16 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘and contract 

17 management.’’; and 

18 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(5) 20 percent shall be used for research ac20 tivities required under sections 20 and 21 of the 

21 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1346, 

22 1347).’’. 

23 (3) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘Ultra-Deep24 water and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other 

25 Petroleum Research Fund’’ and inserting ‘‘Safer Oil 


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1 and Gas Production and Accident Prevention Re2 search Fund’’. 

3 (g) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subtitle J of title 

4 IX of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16371 

5 et seq.) is amended in the subtitle heading by striking 

6 ‘‘Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Nat7 ural Gas and Other Petroleum Resources’’ and 

8 inserting ‘‘Safer Oil and Gas Production and Ac9 cident Prevention’’. 

10 SEC. 109. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON OUTER CONTI11 NENTAL SHELF OIL SPILL PREVENTION. 

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

13 Legislative branch the National Commission on Outer 

14 Continental Shelf Oil Spill Prevention (referred to in this 

15 section as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

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

17 are— 

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

19 causes relating to the Deepwater Horizon explosion 

20 and oil spill of 2010; 

21 (2) to ascertain, evaluate, and report on the evi22 dence developed by all relevant governmental agen23 cies regarding the facts and circumstances sur24 rounding the incident; 


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1 (3) to build upon the investigations of other en2 tities, and avoid unnecessary duplication, by review3 ing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations 

4 of— 

5 (A) the Committees on Energy and Nat6 ural Resources and Commerce, Science, and 

7 Transportation of the Senate; 

8 (B) the Committee on Natural Resources 

9 and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Inves10 tigations of the House of Representatives; and 

11 (C) other Executive branch, congressional, 

12 or independent commission investigations into 

13 the Deepwater Horizon incident of 2010, other 

14 fatal oil platform accidents and major spills, 

15 and major oil spills generally; 

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

17 the circumstances surrounding the incident, and the 

18 extent of the preparedness of the United States for, 

19 and immediate response of the United States to, the 

20 incident; and 

21 (5) to investigate and report to the President 

22 and Congress findings, conclusions, and rec23 ommendations for corrective measures that may be 

24 taken to prevent similar incidents. 

25 (c) COMPOSITION OF COMMISSION.— 


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1 (1) MEMBERS.—The Commission shall be com2 posed of 10 members, of whom— 

3 (A) 1 member shall be appointed by the 

4 President, who shall serve as Chairperson of the 

5 Commission; 

6 (B) 1 member shall be appointed by the 

7 majority or minority (as the case may be) lead8 er of the Senate from the Republican Party and 

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

10 leader of the House of Representatives from the 

11 Republican Party, who shall serve as Vice 

12 Chairperson of the Commission; 

13 (C) 2 members shall be appointed by the 

14 senior member of the leadership of the Senate 

15 from the Democratic Party; 

16 (D) 2 members shall be appointed by the 

17 senior member of the leadership of the House 

18 of Representatives from the Republican Party; 

19 (E) 2 members shall be appointed by the 

20 senior member of the leadership of the Senate 

21 from the Republican Party; and 

22 (F) 2 members shall be appointed by the 

23 senior member of the leadership of the House 

24 of Representatives from the Democratic Party. 

25 (2) QUALIFICATIONS; INITIAL MEETING.— 


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1 (A) POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION.—Not 

2 more than 5 members of the Commission shall 

3 be from the same political party. 

4 (B) NONGOVERNMENTAL APPOINTEES.— 

5 An individual appointed to the Commission may 

6 not be a current officer or employee of the Fed7 eral Government or any State or local govern8 ment. 

9 (C) OTHER QUALIFICATIONS.—It is the 

10 sense of Congress that individuals appointed to 

11 the Commission should be prominent United 

12 States citizens, with national recognition and 

13 significant depth of experience and expertise in 

14 such areas as— 

15 (i) engineering; 

16 (ii) environmental compliance; 

17 (iii) health and safety law (particu18 larly oil spill legislation); 

19 (iv) oil spill insurance policies; 

20 (v) public administration; 

21 (vi) oil and gas exploration and pro22 duction; 

23 (vii) environmental cleanup; and 

24 (viii) fisheries and wildlife manage25 ment. 


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1 (D) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—All 

2 members of the Commission shall be appointed 

3 on or before September 15, 2010. 

4 (E) INITIAL MEETING.—The Commission 

5 shall meet and begin the operations of the Com6 mission as soon as practicable after the date of 

7 enactment of this Act. 

8 (3) QUORUM; VACANCIES.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—After the initial meet10 ing of the Commission, the Commission shall 

11 meet upon the call of the Chairperson or a ma12 jority of the members of the Commission. 

13 (B) QUORUM.—6 members of the Commis14 sion shall constitute a quorum. 

15 (C) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Com16 mission shall not affect the powers of the Com17 mission, but shall be filled in the same manner 

18 in which the original appointment was made. 

19 (d) FUNCTIONS OF COMMISSION.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The functions of the Com21 mission are— 

22 (A) to conduct an investigation that— 

23 (i) investigates relevant facts and cir24 cumstances relating to the Deepwater Ho25 rizon incident of April 20, 2010, and the 


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1 associated oil spill thereafter, including any 

2 relevant legislation, Executive order, regu3 lation, plan, policy, practice, or procedure; 

4 and 

5 (ii) may include relevant facts and cir6 cumstances relating to— 

7 (I) permitting agencies; 

8 (II) environmental and worker 

9 safety law enforcement agencies; 

10 (III) national energy require11 ments; 

12 (IV) deepwater and 

13 ultradeepwater oil and gas exploration 

14 and development; 

15 (V) regulatory specifications, 

16 testing, and requirements for offshore 

17 oil and gas well explosion prevention; 

18 (VI) regulatory specifications, 

19 testing, and requirements offshore oil 

20 and gas well casing and cementing 

21 regulation; 

22 (VII) the role of congressional 

23 oversight and resource allocation; and 

24 (VIII) other areas of the public 

25 and private sectors determined to be 


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1 relevant to the Deepwater Horizon in2 cident by the Commission; 

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

4 lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon in5 cident of April 20, 2010, regarding the struc6 ture, coordination, management policies, and 

7 procedures of the Federal Government, and, if 

8 appropriate, State and local governments and 

9 nongovernmental entities, and the private sec10 tor, relative to detecting, preventing, and re11 sponding to those incidents; and 

12 (C) to submit to the President and Con13 gress such reports as are required under this 

14 section containing such findings, conclusions, 

15 and recommendations as the Commission deter16 mines to be appropriate, including proposals for 

17 organization, coordination, planning, manage18 ment arrangements, procedures, rules, and reg19 ulations. 

20 (2) RELATIONSHIP TO INQUIRY BY CONGRES21 SIONAL COMMITTEES.—In investigating facts and 

22 circumstances relating to energy policy, the Commis23 sion shall— 

24 (A) first review the information compiled 

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1 ommendations of, the committees identified in 

2 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection 

3 (b)(3); and 

4 (B) after completion of that review, pursue 

5 any appropriate area of inquiry, if the Commis6 sion determines that— 

7 (i) those committees have not inves8 tigated that area; 

9 (ii) the investigation of that area by 

10 those committees has not been completed; 

11 or 

12 (iii) new information not reviewed by 

13 the committees has become available with 

14 respect to that area. 

15 (e) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 

16 (1) HEARINGS AND EVIDENCE.—The Commis17 sion or, on the authority of the Commission, any 

18 subcommittee or member of the Commission, may, 

19 for the purpose of carrying out this section— 

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

21 such times and places, take such testimony, re22 ceive such evidence, and administer such oaths; 

23 and 

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

25 attendance and testimony of such witnesses and 


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1 the production of such books, records, cor2 respondence, memoranda, papers, documents, 

3 tapes, and materials; 

4 as the Commission or such subcommittee or member con5 siders to be advisable. 

6 (2) SUBPOENAS.— 

7 (A) ISSUANCE.— 

8 (i) IN GENERAL.—A subpoena may be 

9 issued under this paragraph only— 

10 (I) by the agreement of the 

11 Chairperson and the Vice Chair12 person; or 

13 (II) by the affirmative vote of 6 

14 members of the Commission. 

15 (ii) SIGNATURE.—Subject to clause 

16 (i), a subpoena issued under this para17 graph— 

18 (I) shall bear the signature of the 

19 Chairperson or any member des20 ignated by a majority of the Commis21 sion; 

22 (II) and may be served by any 

23 person or class of persons designated 

24 by the Chairperson or by a member 


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1 designated by a majority of the Com2 mission for that purpose. 

3 (B) ENFORCEMENT.— 

4 (i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of con5 tumacy or failure to obey a subpoena 

6 issued under subparagraph (A), the United 

7 States district court for the district in 

8 which the subpoenaed person resides, is 

9 served, or may be found, or where the sub10 poena is returnable, may issue an order re11 quiring the person to appear at any des12 ignated place to testify or to produce docu13 mentary or other evidence. 

14 (ii) JUDICIAL ACTION FOR NON15 COMPLIANCE.—Any failure to obey the 

16 order of the court may be punished by the 

17 court as a contempt of that court. 

18 (iii) ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT.—In 

19 the case of any failure of any witness to 

20 comply with any subpoena or to testify 

21 when summoned under authority of this 

22 subsection, the Commission may, by major23 ity vote, certify a statement of fact consti24 tuting such failure to the appropriate 

25 United States attorney, who may bring the 


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1 matter before the grand jury for action, 

2 under the same statutory authority and 

3 procedures as if the United States attorney 

4 had received a certification under sections 

5 102 through 104 of the Revised Statutes 

6 (2 U.S.C. 192 through 194). 

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

8 such extent and in such amounts as are provided in 

9 appropriation Acts, enter into contracts to enable 

10 the Commission to discharge the duties of the Com11 mission under this section. 

12 (4) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may 

14 secure directly from any Executive department, 

15 bureau, agency, board, commission, office, inde16 pendent establishment, or instrumentality of the 

17 Federal Government, information, suggestions, 

18 estimates, and statistics for the purposes of this 

19 section. 

20 (B) COOPERATION.—Each Federal depart21 ment, bureau, agency, board, commission, of22 fice, independent establishment, or instrumen23 tality shall, to the extent authorized by law, fur24 nish information, suggestions, estimates, and 

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1 quest made by the Chairperson, the Chair2 person of any subcommittee created by a major3 ity of the Commission, or any member des4 ignated by a majority of the Commission. 

5 (C) RECEIPT, HANDLING, STORAGE, AND

6 DISSEMINATION.—Information shall be received, 

7 handled, stored, and disseminated only by mem8 bers of the Commission and the staff of the 

9 Commission in accordance with all applicable 

10 laws (including regulations and Executive or11 ders). 

12 (5) ASSISTANCE FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

13 (A) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRA14 TION.—The Administrator of General Services 

15 shall provide to the Commission on a reimburs16 able basis administrative support and other 

17 services for the performance of the functions of 

18 the Commission. 

19 (B) OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND AGEN20 CIES.—In addition to the assistance prescribed 

21 in subparagraph (A), departments and agencies 

22 of the United States may provide to the Com23 mission such services, funds, facilities, staff, 

24 and other support services as are determined to 

25 be advisable and authorized by law. 


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

2 and dispose of gifts or donations of services or prop3 erty, including travel, for the direct advancement of 

4 the functions of the Commission. 

5 (7) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Commission may 

6 use the United States mails in the same manner and 

7 under the same conditions as departments and agen8 cies of the United States. 

9 (f) PUBLIC MEETINGS AND HEARINGS.— 

10 (1) PUBLIC MEETINGS AND RELEASE OF PUB11 LIC VERSIONS OF REPORTS.—The Commission 

12 shall— 

13 (A) hold public hearings and meetings, to 

14 the extent appropriate; and 

15 (B) release public versions of the reports 

16 required under paragraphs (1) and (2) of sub17 section (j). 

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

19 the Commission shall be conducted in a manner con20 sistent with the protection of proprietary or sensitive 

21 information provided to or developed for or by the 

22 Commission as required by any applicable law (in23 cluding a regulation or Executive order). 

24 (g) STAFF OF COMMISSION.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 (A) APPOINTMENT AND COMPENSATION.— 

2 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Chairperson, 

3 in consultation with the Vice Chairperson 

4 and in accordance with rules agreed upon 

5 by the Commission, may, without regard to 

6 the civil service laws (including regula7 tions), appoint and fix the compensation of 

8 a staff director and such other personnel 

9 as are necessary to enable the Commission 

10 to carry out the functions of the Commis11 sion. 

12 (ii) MAXIMUM RATE OF PAY.—No rate 

13 of pay fixed under this subparagraph may 

14 exceed the equivalent of that payable for a 

15 position at level V of the Executive Sched16 ule under section 5316 of title 5, United 

17 States Code. 

18 (B) PERSONNEL AS FEDERAL EMPLOY19 EES.— 

20 (i) IN GENERAL.—The staff director 

21 and any personnel of the Commission who 

22 are employees shall be considered to be 

23 employees under section 2105 of title 5, 

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1 ters 63, 81, 83, 84, 85, 87, 89, and 90 of 

2 that title. 

3 (ii) MEMBERS OF COMMISSION.— 

4 Clause (i) shall not apply to members of 

5 the Commission. 

6 (2) DETAILEES.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—An employee of the 

8 Federal Government may be detailed to the 

9 Commission without reimbursement. 

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

11 the employee shall be without interruption or 

12 loss of civil service status or privilege. 

13 (3) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTER14 MITTENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Com15 mission may procure temporary and intermittent 

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

17 5, United States Code, at rates for individuals that 

18 do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate 

19 of basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive 

20 Schedule under section 5316 of that title. 

21 (h) COMPENSATION AND TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

22 (1) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.— 

23 (A) NON-FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—A mem24 ber of the Commission who is not an officer or 

25 employee of the Federal Government shall be 


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1 compensated at a rate equal to the daily equiva2 lent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed 

3 for level IV of the Executive Schedule under 

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

5 each day (including travel time) during which 

6 the member is engaged in the performance of 

7 the duties of the Commission. 

8 (B) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—A member of 

9 the Commission who is an officer or employee 

10 of the Federal Government shall serve without 

11 compensation in addition to the compensation 

12 received for the services of the member as an 

13 officer or employee of the Federal Government. 

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

15 Commission shall be allowed travel expenses, includ16 ing per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates author17 ized for an employee of an agency under subchapter 

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

19 away from the home or regular place of business of 

20 the member in the performance of the duties of the 

21 Commission. 

22 (i) SECURITY CLEARANCES FOR COMMISSION MEM23 BERS AND STAFF.— 

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

25 the appropriate Federal agencies or departments 


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1 shall cooperate with the Commission in expeditiously 

2 providing to the members and staff of the Commis3 sion appropriate security clearances, to the max4 imum extent practicable, pursuant to existing proce5 dures and requirements. 

6 (2) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.—No person 

7 shall be provided with access to proprietary informa8 tion under this section without the appropriate secu9 rity clearances. 

10 (j) REPORTS OF COMMISSION; ADJOURNMENT.— 

11 (1) INTERIM REPORTS.—The Commission may 

12 submit to the President and Congress interim re13 ports containing such findings, conclusions, and rec14 ommendations for corrective measures as have been 

15 agreed to by a majority of members of the Commis16 sion. 

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

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

19 Commission shall submit to the President and Con20 gress a final report containing such findings, conclu21 sions, and recommendations for corrective measures 

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

23 the Commission. 

24 (3) TEMPORARY ADJOURNMENT.— 


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

2 all the authority provided under this section, 

3 shall adjourn and be suspended, respectively, on 

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

5 the final report is submitted under paragraph 

6 (2). 

7 (B) ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES BEFORE

8 TERMINATION.—The Commission may use the 

9 60-day period referred to in subparagraph (A) 

10 for the purpose of concluding activities of the 

11 Commission, including— 

12 (i) providing testimony to committees 

13 of Congress concerning reports of the 

14 Commission; and 

15 (ii) disseminating the final report sub16 mitted under paragraph (2). 

17 (C) RECONVENING OF COMMISSION.—The 

18 Commission shall stand adjourned until such 

19 time as the President or the Secretary of 

20 Homeland Security declares an oil spill of na21 tional significance to have occurred, at which 

22 time— 

23 (i) the Commission shall reconvene in 

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


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1 (ii) the authority of the Commission 

2 under this section shall be of full force and 

3 effect. 

4 (k) FUNDING.— 

5 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

6 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

7 this section— 

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

9 which the Commission convenes; and 

10 (B) $3,000,000 for each fiscal year there11 after in which the Commission convenes. 

12 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available to 

13 carry out this section shall be available— 

14 (A) for transfer to the Commission for use 

15 in carrying out the functions and activities of 

16 the Commission under this section; and 

17 (B) until the date on which the Commis18 sion adjourns for the fiscal year under sub19 section (j)(3). 

20 (l) NONAPPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL ADVISORY COM21 MITTEE ACT.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 

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

23 (m) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST FOR CERTAIN COM24 MISSION MEMBERS.—Notwithstanding any other provi25 sion of law, any member of a federally sponsored presiVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:20 Jul 26, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00084 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3643.PCS S3643

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1 dential commission that is a senior official in an organiza2 tion that is engaged in legal action that is materially rel3 evant to the work of the Commission shall be excluded 

4 from making recommendations to the President. 

5 SEC. 110. CLASSIFICATION OF OFFSHORE SYSTEMS. 

6 (a) REGULATIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

8 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary and 

9 the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast 

10 Guard is operating shall jointly issue regulations re11 quiring systems (including existing systems) used in 

12 the offshore exploration, development, and produc13 tion of oil and gas in the outer Continental Shelf to 

14 be constructed, maintained, and operated so as to 

15 meet classification, certification, rating, and inspec16 tion standards that are necessary— 

17 (A) to protect the health and safety of af18 filiated workers; and 

19 (B) to prevent environmental degradation. 

20 (2) THIRD-PARTY VERIFICATION.—The stand21 ards established by regulation under paragraph (1) 

22 shall be verified through certification and classifica23 tion by independent third parties that— 


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1 (A) have been preapproved by both the 

2 Secretary and the Secretary of the Department 

3 in which the Coast Guard is operating; and 

4 (B) have no financial conflict of interest in 

5 conducting the duties of the third parties. 

6 (3) MINIMUM SYSTEMS COVERED.—At a min7 imum, the regulations issued under paragraph (1) 

8 shall require the certification and classification by 

9 an independent third party who meets the require10 ments of paragraph (2) of— 

11 (A) mobile offshore drilling units; 

12 (B) fixed and floating drilling or produc13 tion facilities; 

14 (C) drilling systems, including risers and 

15 blowout preventers; and 

16 (D) any other equipment dedicated to the 

17 safety systems relating to offshore extraction 

18 and production of oil and gas. 

19 (4) EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary and the Sec20 retary of the Department in which the Coast Guard 

21 is operating may waive the standards established by 

22 regulation under paragraph (1) for an existing sys23 tem only if— 

24 (A) the system is of an age or type where 

25 meeting such requirements is impractical; and 


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1 (B) the system poses an acceptably low 

2 level of risk to the environment and to human 

3 safety. 

4 (b) AUTHORITY OF COAST GUARD.—Nothing in this 

5 section preempts or interferes with the authority of the 

6 Coast Guard. 

7 SEC. 111. SAVINGS PROVISIONS. 

8 (a) EXISTING LAW.—All regulations, rules, stand9 ards, determinations, contracts and agreements, memo10 randa of understanding, certifications, authorizations, ap11 pointments, delegations, results and findings of investiga12 tions, or any other actions issued, made, or taken by, or 

13 pursuant to or under, the authority of any law (including 

14 regulations) that resulted in the assignment of functions 

15 or activities to the Secretary, the Director of the Minerals 

16 Management Service (including by delegation from the 

17 Secretary), or the Department (as related to the imple18 mentation of the purposes referenced in this title) that 

19 were in effect on the date of enactment of this Act shall 

20 continue in full force and effect after the date of enact21 ment of this Act unless previously scheduled to expire or 

22 until otherwise modified or rescinded by this title or any 

23 other Act. 


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1 (b) EFFECT ON OTHER AUTHORITIES.—This title 

2 does not amend or alter the provisions of other applicable 

3 laws, unless otherwise noted. 

4 SEC. 112. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

5 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

6 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

7 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

8 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

9 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

10 by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, pro11 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

12 vote on passage. 

13 TITLE II—OIL SPILL 

14 COMPENSATION 

15 Subtitle A—Oil Spill Liability 

16 PART I—OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 1990 

17 SEC. 201. LIABILITY LIMITS. 

18 (a) PRESIDENTIAL ESTABLISHMENT OF LIMITS.— 

19 Section 1004 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 

20 2704) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(e) LIMITS FOR STRICT LIABILITY.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of sub23 section (a)(3), after a 60-day period of public notice 

24 and comment beginning on the date of enactment of 

25 this subsection, and from time to time thereafter, 


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1 the President shall establish a set of limits for strict 

2 liability for damages for incidents occurring from 

3 offshore facilities (other than deepwater ports) cov4 ered by Outer Continental Shelf leases issued after 

5 the date of enactment of the Oil Spill Response Im6 provement Act of 2010. 

7 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The limits for strict li8 ability established under paragraph (1) shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) take into account the availability of 

10 insurance products for offshore facilities; and 

11 ‘‘(B) be otherwise based equally on and 

12 categorized by— 

13 ‘‘(i) the water depth of the lease; 

14 ‘‘(ii) the minimum projected well 

15 depth of the lease; 

16 ‘‘(iii) the proximity of the lease to oil 

17 and gas emergency response equipment 

18 and infrastructure; 

19 ‘‘(iv) the likelihood of the offshore fa20 cility covered by the lease to encounter 

21 broken sea ice; 

22 ‘‘(v) the record and historical number 

23 of regulatory violations of the leaseholder 

24 under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

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1 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 

2 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) (or the absence of 

3 such a record or violations); 

4 ‘‘(vi) the estimated hydrocarbon re5 serves of the lease; 

6 ‘‘(vii) the estimated well pressure, ex7 pressed in pounds per square inch, of the 

8 reservoir associated with the lease; 

9 ‘‘(viii) the availability and projected 

10 availability, including through borrowing 

11 authority, of funds in the Oil Spill Liability 

12 Trust Fund established by section 9509 of 

13 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 

14 ‘‘(ix) other available remedies under 

15 law; 

16 ‘‘(x) the estimated economic value of 

17 nonenergy coastal resources that may be 

18 impacted by a spill of national significance 

19 involving the offshore facility covered by 

20 the lease; 

21 ‘‘(xi) whether the offshore facility cov22 ered by the lease employs a subsea or sur23 face blowout preventer stack; and 

24 ‘‘(xii) the availability of industry pay25 ments under subsection (f). 


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1 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE.—In no 

2 case shall the strict liability limits under this sub3 section for the applicable offshore facility be less 

4 than the maximum amount of public liability insur5 ance that is broadly available for related offshore en6 vironmental incidents. 

7 ‘‘(f) LIABILITY OF INDUSTRY.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If an incident on the Outer 

9 Continental Shelf results in economic damages 

10 claims exceeding the maximum amount for strict li11 ability for economic damages to be paid by the re12 sponsible party under subsection (a)(3), the claims 

13 in excess of the maximum amount for strict liability 

14 for economic damages under subsection (a)(3) shall 

15 be paid initially, in an amount not to exceed a total 

16 of $20,000,000,000, by all other entities operating 

17 offshore facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf on 

18 the date of the incident, as determined by the Sec19 retary of the Interior, in accordance with paragraph 

20 (2). 

21 ‘‘(2) PROPORTIONAL PAYMENT.—The amount 

22 of liability claims to be paid under paragraph (1) by 

23 an entity described in that paragraph shall be deter24 mined by the Secretary of the Interior based on the 

25 proportion that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the number of offshore facilities oper2 ated by the entity on the Outer Continental 

3 Shelf; bears to 

4 ‘‘(B) the total number of offshore facilities 

5 operated by all entities on the Outer Conti6 nental Shelf. 

7 ‘‘(3) OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND.—Eco8 nomic damages that exceed the amounts available 

9 under subsection (a)(3) and paragraph (1) shall be 

10 paid from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and 

11 amounts made available to the Fund under part II 

12 of the Oil Spill Response Improvement Act of 

13 2010.’’. 

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

15 (1) LIMIT FOR OFFSHORE FACILITIES.—Section 

16 1004(a) of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 

17 2704(a)) is amended— 

18 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘,,’’ and 

19 inserting a comma; and 

20 (B) by striking paragraph (3) and insert21 ing the following: 

22 ‘‘(3) for an offshore facility (except a deepwater 

23 port) covered by an Outer Continental Shelf lease— 

24 ‘‘(A) if the lease was issued prior to the 

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1 provement Act of 2010, the total of all removal 

2 costs plus $75,000,000; and 

3 ‘‘(B) if the lease was issued on or after the 

4 date of enactment of the Oil Spill Response Im5 provement Act of 2010, the total of all removal 

6 costs plus the limit for strict liability for dam7 ages for that offshore facility established by the 

8 President under subsection (e); and’’. 

9 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—Section 6002(b) of the Oil 

10 Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2752(b)) is 

11 amended in the first sentence by inserting 

12 ‘‘1004(f),’’ after ‘‘sections’’. 

13 SEC. 202. ADVANCE PAYMENT. 

14 Section 1012 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 

15 U.S.C. 2712) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(l) ADVANCE PAYMENTS.—The President shall pro18 mulgate regulations that allow advance payments to be 

19 made from the Fund to States and political subdivisions 

20 of States for actions taken to prepare for and mitigate 

21 substantial threats from the discharge of oil.’’. 


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1 PART II—OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND 

2 SEC. 211. RATE OF TAX FOR OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST 

3 FUND. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4611 of the Internal Rev5 enue Code of 1986 (relating to the imposition of tax) is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 

8 following new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENTS TO TEMPORARY SUSPEN10 SION OF OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST FUND FINANC11 ING RATE.—In the case of any calendar quarter in 

12 which the Secretary estimates that, as of the close 

13 of the previous quarter, the unobligated balance in 

14 the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is greater than 

15 $10,000,000,000, the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund 

16 financing shall be 0 cents a barrel.’’; and 

17 (2) by striking subsection (f). 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

19 this section shall apply on and after the first day of the 

20 first calendar quarter after the date of enactment of this 

21 Act. 

22 (c) NEW REVENUES TO THE OIL SPILL LIABILITY

23 TRUST FUND.—Notwithstanding section 3302 of title 31, 

24 United States Code, the revenue resulting from any in25 crease in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund financing rate 


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1 under this section or the amendments made by this section 

2 shall— 

3 (1) be credited only as offsetting collections for 

4 the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund; 

5 (2) be available for expenditure only for pur6 poses of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund; and 

7 (3) remain available until expended. 

8 SEC. 212. LIMITATIONS ON EXPENDITURES AND BOR9 ROWING AUTHORITY. 

10 (a) LIMITATIONS ON EXPENDITURES.—Section 

11 9509(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating 

12 to expenditures from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund) 

13 is amended— 

14 (1) by striking paragraph (2); 

15 (2) by striking ‘‘EXPENDITURES’’ in the sub16 section heading and all that follows through 

17 ‘‘Amounts in’’ in paragraph (1) and inserting ‘‘EX18 PENDITURES.—Amounts in’’; and 

19 (3) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through 

20 (F) as paragraphs (1) through (6), respectively, and 

21 indenting appropriately. 

22 (b) AUTHORITY TO BORROW.—Section 9509(d) of 

23 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to authority 

24 to borrow from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund) is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking 

2 ‘‘$1,000,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$10,000,000,000’’; 

3 and 

4 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

5 (A) by striking subparagraph (B); and 

6 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 

7 subparagraph (B). 

8 Subtitle B—Federal Oil Spill 

9 Research 

10 SEC. 221. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this subtitle: 

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

13 means the Commandant of the Coast Guard. 

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

15 the program for oil spill response established pursu16 ant to section 230. 

17 SEC. 222. FEDERAL OIL SPILL RESEARCH. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Oil Pollution Act 

19 of 1990 is amended— 

20 (1) by inserting before section 7001 (33 U.S.C. 

21 2761) the following: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 7000. DEFINITIONS. 

23 ‘‘In this title: 

24 ‘‘(1) ASSESSMENT.—The term ‘assessment’ 

25 means the research assessment on the status of the 


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1 oil spill prevention and response capabilities con2 ducted under section 7004. 

3 ‘‘(2) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘Committee’ 

4 means the Interagency Committee established under 

5 section 7001. 

6 ‘‘(3) PLAN.—The term ‘plan’ means the Fed7 eral oil spill research plan developed under section 

8 7005. 

9 ‘‘(4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means 

10 the Federal oil spill research program established 

11 under section 7003.’’; 

12 (2) by redesignating section 7002 (33 U.S.C. 

13 2762) as section 7009; 

14 (3) in section 7001 (33 U.S.C. 2761), by strik15 ing subsections (b) through (e) and inserting the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(b) REGIONAL SUBCOMMITTEES.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall estab19 lish— 

20 ‘‘(A) a regional subcommittee for each of 

21 the Gulf of Mexico and Arctic regions of the 

22 United States; and 

23 ‘‘(B) such other regional subcommittees as 

24 the Committee determines to be necessary. 


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1 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION.—In accordance with the 

2 program, each regional subcommittee established 

3 under this subsection shall coordinate with the Com4 mittee and other relevant State, national, and inter5 national bodies with expertise in the region to re6 search and develop technologies for use in the pre7 vention, detection, recovery, mitigation, and evalua8 tion of effects of incidents in the regional environ9 ment.’’; and 

10 (4) by inserting after section 7001 (33 U.S.C. 

11 2761) the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 7002. FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMITTEE. 

13 ‘‘The Committee shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) coordinate a comprehensive Federal oil 

15 spill research and development program in accord16 ance with section 7003 to coordinate oil pollution re17 search, technology development, and demonstration 

18 among the Federal agencies, in cooperation and co19 ordination with industry, institutions of higher edu20 cation, research institutions, State and tribal govern21 ments, and other relevant stakeholders; 

22 ‘‘(2) conduct a research assessment on the sta23 tus of the oil spill prevention and response capabili24 ties in accordance with section 7004; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) develop a Federal oil spill research plan in 

2 accordance with section 7005. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 7003. FEDERAL OIL SPILL RESEARCH PROGRAM. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall establish a 

5 program for conducting oil pollution research, develop6 ment, and demonstration. 

7 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program estab8 lished under subsection (a) shall provide for research, de9 velopment, and demonstration technologies, practices, and 

10 procedures that provide for effective and direct response 

11 to prevent, detect, recover, or mitigate oil discharges, in12 cluding— 

13 ‘‘(1) new technologies to detect accidental or in14 tentional overboard oil discharges; 

15 ‘‘(2) models and monitoring capabilities to pre16 dict the transport and fate of oil, including trajec17 tory and behavior predictions due to location, weath18 er patterns, hydrographic data, and water condi19 tions, including Arctic sea ice environments; 

20 ‘‘(3) containment and well-control capabilities, 

21 including drilling of relief wells, containment struc22 tures, and injection technologies; 

23 ‘‘(4) response capabilities, such as improved 

24 dispersants, biological treatment methods, booms, oil 


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1 skimmers, containment vessels, and offshore and on2 shore storage capacity; 

3 ‘‘(5) research and training, in coordination with 

4 the National Response Team, to improve the re5 moval of oil discharge quickly and effectively; 

6 ‘‘(6) decision support systems for contingency 

7 planning and response; 

8 ‘‘(7) improvement of options for oily or oiled 

9 waste dispersal; 

10 ‘‘(8) technologies, methods, and standards for 

11 use in protecting personnel and for volunteers that 

12 may participate in incident responses, including— 

13 ‘‘(A) training; 

14 ‘‘(B) adequate supervision; 

15 ‘‘(C) protective equipment; 

16 ‘‘(D) maximum exposure limits; and 

17 ‘‘(E) decontamination procedures; and 

18 ‘‘(9) technologies and methods to prevent, de19 tect, recover, and mitigate oil discharges in polar en20 vironments. 

21 ‘‘(c) STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF RE22 SPONSE TECHNIQUES.—Notwithstanding any other provi23 sion of law, the Coast Guard shall conduct reasonable en24 vironmental studies of oil discharge prevention or mitiga25 tion technologies, including the use of small quantities of 


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1 oil for testing of in situ burning, chemical dispersants, and 

2 herding agents, upon and within navigable waters of the 

3 United States, if the Coast Guard, in consultation with 

4 the Committee, determines that the information to be ob5 tained cannot be adequately obtained through a laboratory 

6 or simulated experiment. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 7004. FEDERAL RESEARCH ASSESSMENT. 

8 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

9 of Oil Spill Response Improvement Act of 2010, the Com10 mittee shall submit to Congress an assessment of the sta11 tus of oil spill prevention and response capabilities that— 

12 ‘‘(1) identifies research programs conducted 

13 and technologies developed by governments, institu14 tions of higher education, and industry; 

15 ‘‘(2) assesses the status of knowledge on oil pol16 lution prevention, response, and mitigation tech17 nologies; 

18 ‘‘(3) identifies regional oil pollution research 

19 needs and priorities for a coordinated program of re20 search at the regional level developed in consultation 

21 with State, local, and tribal governments; 

22 ‘‘(4) assesses the status of spill response equip23 ment and determines areas in need of improvement, 

24 including quantity, age, quality, effectiveness, or 

25 necessary technological improvements; 


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1 ‘‘(5) assesses the status of real-time data avail2 able to mariners, researchers, and responders, in3 cluding weather, hydrographic, and water condition 

4 data, and the impact of incomplete and inaccessible 

5 data on preventing, detecting, or mitigating oil dis6 charges; and 

7 ‘‘(6) is subject to a 90-day public comment pe8 riod and addresses suggestions received and incor9 porates public input received, as appropriate. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 7005. FEDERAL INTERAGENCY RESEARCH PLAN. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

12 ‘‘(1) PLAN.—Not later than 60 days after the 

13 date on which the President submits to Congress, 

14 pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, United States 

15 Code, a budget for fiscal year 2012, and for each 

16 fiscal year thereafter, the Committee shall submit to 

17 Congress a plan that establishes the priorities for 

18 Federal oil spill research and development. 

19 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—In the development 

20 of the plan, the Committee shall consider rec21 ommendations by the National Academy of Sciences 

22 and information from State, local, and tribal govern23 ments. 

24 ‘‘(b) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—The plan shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) make recommendations to improve tech2 nologies and practices to prevent oil spills; 

3 ‘‘(2) suggest changes to the program to improve 

4 the rates of oil recovery and spill mitigation; 

5 ‘‘(3) make recommendations to improve tech6 nologies, practices, and procedures to provide for ef7 fective and direct response to oil spills; 

8 ‘‘(4) make recommendations to improve the 

9 quality of real-time data available to mariners, re10 searchers, and responders; and 

11 ‘‘(5) be subject to a 90-day public comment pe12 riod and address suggestions received and incor13 porate public input received, as appropriate. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 7006. EXTRAMURAL GRANTS. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program, the 

16 Committee shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) award competitive grants to institutions of 

18 higher education or other research institutions to 

19 carry out projects— 

20 ‘‘(A) to advance research and development; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) to demonstrate technologies for pre23 venting, detecting, or mitigating oil discharges 

24 that are relevant to the goals and priorities of 

25 the plan; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) incorporate a competitive, merit-based 

2 process for awarding grants that may be conducted 

3 jointly with other participating agencies. 

4 ‘‘(b) REGIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAM.— 

5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF REGION.—In this sub6 section, the term ‘region’ means a Coast Guard dis7 trict as described in part 3 of subchapter A of chap8 ter I of title 33, Code of Federal Regulations 

9 (1989). 

10 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM.—Consistent with the program, 

11 the Committee shall coordinate the provision of com12 petitive grants to institutions of higher education or 

13 other research institutions (or groups of those insti14 tutions) for the purpose of conducting a coordinated 

15 research program relating to the aspects of oil pollu16 tion with respect to each region, including research 

17 on such matters as— 

18 ‘‘(A) prevention; 

19 ‘‘(B) removal mitigation; and 

20 ‘‘(C) the effects of discharged oil on re21 gional environments. 

22 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall 

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1 resented on the Committee of a solicitation for 

2 grants under this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(B) FORM AND CONTENT.—The applica4 tion for a grant under this subsection shall be 

5 in such form and contain such information as 

6 shall be required in the published solicitation. 

7 ‘‘(C) REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS.—Each 

8 application for a grant under this subsection 

9 shall be— 

10 ‘‘(i) reviewed by the Committee; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) at the option of the Committee, 

12 included among applications recommended 

13 by the Committee for approval in accord14 ance with paragraph (5). 

15 ‘‘(D) PROVISION OF GRANTS.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A granting agency 

17 represented on the Committee shall provide 

18 the grants recommended by the Committee 

19 unless the granting agency— 

20 ‘‘(I) decides not to provide the 

21 grant due to budgetary or other com22 pelling considerations; and 

23 ‘‘(II) publishes in the Federal 

24 Register the reasons for such a deter25 mination. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) FUNDS FOR GRANTS.—No grants 

2 may be provided by any agency under this 

3 subsection from any funds authorized to 

4 carry out this paragraph unless the grant 

5 award has first been recommended by the 

6 Committee under subparagraph (C)(ii). 

7 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any institution of 

9 higher education or other research institution 

10 (or a group of those institutions) may apply for 

11 a grant for the regional research program es12 tablished under this subsection. 

13 ‘‘(B) LOCATION OF APPLICANT.—An appli14 cant described in subparagraph (A) shall be lo15 cated in the region, or in a State a part of 

16 which is in the region, for which the project 

17 covered by the grant application is proposed to 

18 be carried out as part of the regional research 

19 program. 

20 ‘‘(C) GROUP APPLICATIONS.—With respect 

21 to an application described in subparagraph (A) 

22 from a group of institutions referred to in that 

23 subparagraph, the 1 or more entities that will 

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1 cated in the region, or in a State a part of 

2 which is in the region, for which the project is 

3 proposed as part of the regional research pro4 gram. 

5 ‘‘(5) RECOMMENDATIONS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall 

7 make recommendations on grants in such a 

8 manner as to ensure an appropriate balance 

9 within a region among the various aspects of oil 

10 pollution research, including— 

11 ‘‘(i) prevention; 

12 ‘‘(ii) removal; 

13 ‘‘(iii) mitigation; and 

14 ‘‘(iv) the effects of discharged oil on 

15 regional environments. 

16 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.—In addition 

17 to the requirements described in subparagraph 

18 (A), the Committee shall make recommenda19 tions for the approval of grants based on 

20 whether— 

21 ‘‘(i) there are available to the appli22 cant for use in carrying out this paragraph 

23 demonstrated research resources; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the applicant demonstrates the 

2 capability of making a significant contribu3 tion to regional research needs; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) the projects that the applicant 

5 proposes to carry out under the grant— 

6 ‘‘(I) are consistent with the plan 

7 under section 7005; and 

8 ‘‘(II) would further the objectives 

9 of the program established under sec10 tion 7003. 

11 ‘‘(6) TERM OF GRANTS; REVIEW; COST-SHAR12 ING.—A grant provided under this subsection 

13 shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) be for a period of up to 3 years; 

15 ‘‘(B) be subject to annual review by the 

16 granting agency; and 

17 ‘‘(C) provide not more than 80 percent of 

18 the costs of the research activities carried out 

19 in connection with the grant. 

20 ‘‘(7) PROHIBITION ON USE OF GRANT FUNDS.— 

21 No funds made available to carry out this subsection 

22 may be used for— 

23 ‘‘(A) the acquisition of real property (in24 cluding buildings); or 

25 ‘‘(B) the construction of any building. 


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1 ‘‘(8) EFFECT ON OTHER AUTHORITY.—Nothing 

2 in this paragraph alters or abridges the authority 

3 under existing law of any Federal agency to provide 

4 grants, or enter into contracts or cooperative agree5 ments, using funds other than those authorized in 

6 this Act for the purpose of carrying out this sub7 section. 

8 ‘‘(9) FUNDING.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

10 subparagraph (B), for each of fiscal years 2011 

11 through 2015, not less than $32,000,000 of 

12 amounts in the Fund shall be available to carry 

13 out the regional research program under this 

14 subsection, to be available in equal amounts for 

15 the regional research program in each region. 

16 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL GRANTS.—If the agen17 cies represented on the Committee determine 

18 that regional research needs exist that cannot 

19 be addressed by the amount of funds made 

20 available under subparagraph (A), the agencies 

21 may use authority under subsection (a) to make 

22 additional grants to meet those needs. 

23 ‘‘SEC. 7007. ANNUAL REPORT. 

24 ‘‘Concurrent with the submission of the Federal 

25 interagency research plan pursuant to section 7005, the 


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1 Committee shall submit to Congress an annual report that 

2 describes the activities and results of the program during 

3 the previous fiscal year and described the objectives of the 

4 program for the next fiscal year. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 7008. FUNDING. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts in the Fund for 

7 each fiscal year, not more than $50,000,000 shall be avail8 able to carry out this section (other than section 7006(b)) 

9 for the fiscal year. 

10 ‘‘(b) APPROPRIATIONS.—All activities authorized 

11 under this title, including under section 7006(b), shall be 

12 subject to the availability of appropriations.’’. 

13 SEC. 223. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE PARTICIPA14 TION. 

15 The Commandant shall enter into an arrangement 

16 with the National Academy of Sciences under which the 

17 Academy shall— 

18 (1) not later than 1 year after the date of en19 actment of this Act, assess and evaluate the status 

20 of Federal oil spill research and development as of 

21 the day before the date of enactment of this Act; 

22 (2) submit to Congress and the Federal Oil 

23 Spill Research Committee established under section 

24 7002 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 a report eval25 uating the conclusions and recommendations from 


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1 the Federal research assessment under section 7004 

2 of that Act to be used in the development of the 

3 Federal oil spill research plan under section 7005 of 

4 that Act; and 

5 (3) not later than 1 year after the Federal 

6 interagency research plan is submitted to Congress 

7 under section 7005 of that Act, evaluate, and report 

8 to Congress on, the plan. 

9 SEC. 224. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

10 (a) USE OF FUNDS.—Section 1012(a)(5)(A) of the 

11 Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2712(a)(5)(A)) is 

12 amended by striking ‘‘$25,000,000’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘$50,000,000’’. 

14 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

15 section 2 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. prec. 

16 2701) is amended by striking the items relating to sections 

17 7001 and 7002 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 7000. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 7001. Oil pollution research and development program. 

‘‘Sec. 7002. Functions of the Committee. 

‘‘Sec. 7003. Federal oil spill research program. 

‘‘Sec. 7004. Federal research assessment. 

‘‘Sec. 7005. Federal interagency research plan. 

‘‘Sec. 7006. Extramural grants. 

‘‘Sec. 7007. Annual report. 

‘‘Sec. 7008. Funding. 

‘‘Sec. 7009. Submerged oil program.’’. 


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1 SEC. 225. OIL SPILL RESPONSE AUTHORITY. 

2 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Inci3 dent Commander of the Coast Guard may authorize the 

4 use of dispersants in response to a spill of oil from— 

5 (1) any facility or vessel located in, on, or under 

6 any of the navigable waters of the United States; 

7 and 

8 (2) any facility of any kind that is subject to 

9 the jurisdiction of the United States and that is lo10 cated in, on, or under any other waters. 

11 SEC. 226. MARITIME CENTER OF EXPERTISE. 

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

13 a Maritime Center of Expertise for Maritime Oil Spill and 

14 Hazardous Substance Release Response. 

15 (b) DUTIES.—The Center shall— 

16 (1) serve as the primary Federal facility for 

17 Coast Guard personnel to obtain qualifications to 

18 perform the duties of a regional response team co19 chair, a Federal on-scene coordinator, or a Federal 

20 on-scene coordinator representative; 

21 (2) train Federal, State, and local first respond22 ers in the incident command system structure, mari23 time oil spill and hazardous substance release re24 sponse techniques and strategies, and public affairs; 

25 (3) work with academic and private sector re26 sponse training centers to develop and standardize 


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1 maritime oil spill and hazardous substance release 

2 response training and techniques; 

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

4 demonstration for maritime oil spill and hazardous 

5 substance release response equipment, technologies, 

6 and techniques to prevent or mitigate maritime oil 

7 discharges and hazardous substance releases; 

8 (5) maintain not less than 2 incident manage9 ment and assistance teams, 1of which shall be ready 

10 to deploy anywhere in the continental United States 

11 within 24 hours after an incident or event; 

12 (6) conduct marine environmental response 

13 standardization visits with Coast Guard Federal on14 scene coordinators; 

15 (7) administer and coordinate Coast Guard par16 ticipation in the National Preparedness for Response 

17 Exercise Program; and 

18 (8) establish and maintain Coast Guard marine 

19 environmental response doctrine. 

20 SEC. 227. NATIONAL STRIKE FORCE. 

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

22 a National Strike Force to facilitate preparedness for and 

23 response to maritime oil spill and hazardous substance re24 lease incidents. 

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


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1 (1) shall consist of— 

2 (A) a National Strike Force Coordination 

3 Center; 

4 (B) strike force teams, including— 

5 (i) 1 team for the Atlantic Ocean; 

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

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

8 and 

9 (C) a public information assist team; and 

10 (2) may include, on the direction of the Com11 mandant, 1 or more teams for the northwest Pacific 

12 Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. 

13 (c) NATIONAL STRIKE FORCE COORDINATION CEN14 TER DUTIES.—The National Strike Force Coordination 

15 Center shall— 

16 (1) provide support and standardization guid17 ance to the regional strike teams; 

18 (2) maintain a response resource inventory of 

19 maritime oil spill and hazardous substance release 

20 response, marine salvage, and marine firefighting 

21 equipment maintained by certified oil spill response 

22 organizations as well as equipment listed in a vessel 

23 or facility oil spill response plan, as required by sec24 tion 311(j) of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

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


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1 (3) oversee the maintenance and adequacy of 

2 Coast Guard environmental response equipment; 

3 (4) certify and inspect maritime oil spill re4 sponse organizations; and 

5 (5) maintain the National Area Contingency 

6 Plan library. 

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

8 Force Response Teams shall— 

9 (1) provide rapid response support in incident 

10 management, site safety, contractor performance 

11 monitoring, resource documentation, response strate12 gies, hazard assessment, oil spill dispersant, in situ 

13 burn and other technologies, prefabrication of con14 tainment technology, operational effectiveness moni15 toring, and high-capacity lightering and offshore 

16 skimming capabilities; 

17 (2) train Coast Guard units in environmental 

18 pollution response and incident command systems, 

19 test and evaluate pollution response equipment, and 

20 operate as liaisons with response agencies within the 

21 areas of responsibility of the respective units; 

22 (3) maintain sufficient maritime oil spill and 

23 hazardous substance release assets to ensure the 

24 protection of human health and the environment in 

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1 lease, including the prefabrication of oil spill con2 tainment equipment; and 

3 (4) maintain the capability to mobilize per4 sonnel and equipment to respond to an oil spill or 

5 hazardous substance release anywhere in the conti6 nental United States within 24 hours of such an 

7 event. 

8 (e) PUBLIC INFORMATION ASSIST TEAM DUTIES.— 

9 The Public Information Assist Team shall maintain the 

10 capability— 

11 (1) to provide crisis communication during oil 

12 spills, hazardous material releases, marine accidents, 

13 and other disasters, including staffing and managing 

14 public affairs and intergovernmental communication; 

15 (2) provide public information and communica16 tions training to Federal, State, and local agencies 

17 and industry personnel; and 

18 (3) maintain the capability to mobilize per19 sonnel and equipment to respond to an oil spill or 

20 hazardous substance release anywhere in the conti21 nental United States within 24 hours after such an 

22 event. 


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1 SEC. 228. DISTRICT PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE 

2 TEAMS. 

3 The Commandant shall maintain district prepared4 ness response teams— 

5 (1) to maintain Coast Guard environmental re6 sponse equipment; 

7 (2) to administer area contingency plans; 

8 (3) to administer the National Preparedness for 

9 Response Exercise Program; 

10 (4) to conduct responder incident command sys11 tem training and health and safety training; 

12 (5) to provide Federal on-scene coordinator 

13 technical advice; 

14 (6) to coordinate district pollution response op15 erations; 

16 (7) to support regional response team cochairs; 

17 (8) to coordinate district participation with the 

18 regional interagency steering committee of the Fed19 eral Emergency Management Agency; and 

20 (9) to conduct response public affairs and joint 

21 information center training. 

22 SEC. 229. OIL SPILL RESPONSE ORGANIZATIONS. 

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

24 organization that is listed under an oil spill response plan 

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


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

2 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(j)) shall be— 

3 (1) certified by the Coast Guard; and 

4 (2) inspected at least once each year to ensure 

5 that the organization has the capabilities to meet the 

6 requirements delegated to the organization under 

7 applicable oil spill response plans. 

8 (b) CERTIFICATION CRITERIA AND REQUIRE9 MENTS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact10 ment of this Act, the Commandant shall develop criteria 

11 and requirements for certifying and classifying maritime 

12 oil spill response organizations. 

13 (c) INVENTORY OF MARITIME OIL SPILL RESPONSE

14 EQUIPMENT.—Each certified maritime oil spill response 

15 organization and any facility regulated by the Coast 

16 Guard that is not using a maritime oil spill response orga17 nization to meet the facility oil spill response plan require18 ments of section 311(j) of the Federal Water Pollution 

19 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(j)) shall— 

20 (1) maintain a current list of the maritime oil 

21 spill response equipment of the organization or facil22 ity; and 

23 (2) submit a copy of that list to the National 

24 Strike Force Coordination Center. 


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

2 oil spill response organization experiences a decrease in 

3 the maritime oil spill response assets of the organization, 

4 the organization shall report the decrease to the National 

5 Strike Force Coordination Center and the Captain of the 

6 Port in which that organization operates. 

7 SEC. 230. PROGRAM FOR OIL SPILL AND HAZARDOUS SUB8 STANCE RELEASE RESPONSE. 

9 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH PROGRAM.—The 

10 Commandant shall establish a program for oil spill and 

11 hazardous substance release response, within the Maritime 

12 Center of Expertise for Oil Spill Response, to conduct re13 search, development, testing, and demonstration for oil 

14 spill and hazardous substance release response equipment, 

15 technologies, and techniques to prevent or mitigate oil dis16 charges and hazardous substance releases. 

17 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program under sub18 section (a) shall include— 

19 (1) research, development, testing, and dem20 onstration of new or improved methods (including 

21 the use of dispersants and biological treatment 

22 methods) for the containment, recovery, removal, 

23 and disposal of oil and hazardous substances; 

24 (2) assistance for— 


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1 (A) the development of improved designs 

2 for vessel operations (including vessel oper3 ations in Arctic waters) and facilities that are 

4 regulated by the Coast Guard; and 

5 (B) improved operational practices; 

6 (3) research and training, in consultation with 

7 the National Response Team, to improve the ability 

8 of private industry and the Federal Government to 

9 respond to an oil discharge or a hazardous substance 

10 release; 

11 (4) a list of oil spill and hazardous substance 

12 containment, recovery, removal, and disposal tech13 nology that is approved for use by the Commandant 

14 and is made publicly available, in such manner as is 

15 determined to be appropriate by the Commandant; 

16 and 

17 (5) a process for the Federal Government, 

18 State and local governments, private industry, aca19 demic institutions, and nongovernmental organiza20 tions to submit systems, equipment, and technologies 

21 for testing and evaluation. 

22 (c) GRANTS FOR OIL SPILL RESPONSE.—The Com23 mandant shall have the authority to make grants to or 

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1 tions to conduct research and development for oil spill re2 sponse equipment, technology, and techniques. 

3 (d) COORDINATION.—The Commandant shall carry 

4 out the program in coordination with the Interagency Co5 ordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research estab6 lished pursuant to section 7001(a) of the Oil Pollution Act 

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

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

9 sums as are necessary to carry out this section for fiscal 

10 years 2010 through 2015 from funds appropriated to the 

11 research, development, and testing program account of the 

12 Coast Guard for those years. 

13 SEC. 230a. OIL AND HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE LIABILITY. 

14 Section 311 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

15 Act (33 U.S.C. 1321) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (c)(2)(B)— 

17 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

18 end; 

19 (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at 

20 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

21 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(iii) immediately deploy cleanup and 

23 mitigation assets owned by the Federal 

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1 viduals or entities or foreign countries, to 

2 the location of discharge.’’; and 

3 (2) in subsection (d)(2), by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘(N) Establishment of a clear, accountable 

6 chain of command throughout the jurisdictions 

7 impacted by the discharge. 

8 ‘‘(O) Establishment of a system and proce9 dures that ensure coordination with, and 

10 prompt response to, State and local officials.’’. 

11 Subtitle C—Oil and Gas Leasing 

12 SEC. 231. REVENUE SHARING FROM OUTER CONTINENTAL 

13 SHELF AREAS IN CERTAIN COASTAL STATES. 

14 Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

15 (43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended by adding at the end the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(i) REVENUE SHARING FROM OUTER CONTI18 NENTAL SHELF AREAS IN CERTAIN COASTAL STATES.— 

19 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection through 

20 subsection (j): 

21 ‘‘(A) COASTAL POLITICAL SUBDIVISION.— 

22 The term ‘coastal political subdivision’ of a 

23 coastal State means a county-equivalent sub24 division of a coastal State all or part of which— 


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1 ‘‘(i) lies within the coastal zone (as 

2 defined in section 304 of the Coastal Zone 

3 Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 

4 1453)); and 

5 ‘‘(ii) the closest point of which is not 

6 more than 300 statute miles from the geo7 graphic center of any leased tract. 

8 ‘‘(B) COASTAL STATE.—The term ‘coastal 

9 State’ means a State with a coastal seaward 

10 boundary within 300 statute miles distance of 

11 the geographic center of a leased tract in an 

12 outer Continental Shelf planning area that— 

13 ‘‘(i) as of January 1, 2000, had no oil 

14 or natural gas production; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) is not a Gulf producing State (as 

16 defined in section 102 of the Gulf of Mex17 ico Energy Security Act of 2006 (43 

18 U.S.C. 1331 note; Public Law 109–432)). 

19 ‘‘(C) DISTANCE.—The terms ‘distance’ and 

20 ‘distances’ mean minimum great circle distance 

21 and distances, respectively. 

22 ‘‘(D) LEASED TRACT.—The term ‘leased 

23 tract’ means a tract leased under this Act for 

24 the purpose of drilling for, developing, and pro25 ducing oil or natural gas resources. 


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1 ‘‘(E) OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF

2 AREA.—The term ‘outer Continental Shelf area’ 

3 means— 

4 ‘‘(i) any area withdrawn from disposi5 tion by leasing by the ‘Memorandum on 

6 Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the United 

7 States Outer Continental Shelf from Leas8 ing Disposition’, from 34 Weekly Comp. 

9 Pres. Doc. 1111, dated June 12, 1998; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) any area of the outer Continental 

11 Shelf as to which Congress has denied the 

12 use of appropriated funds or other means 

13 for preleasing, leasing, or related activities. 

14 ‘‘(2) POST LEASING REVENUES.—If the Gov15 ernor or the Legislature of a coastal State requests 

16 the Secretary to allow leasing in an outer Conti17 nental Shelf area and the Secretary allows the leas18 ing, in addition to any bonus bids, the coastal State 

19 shall, without further appropriation or action, re20 ceive, from leasing of the area, 37.5 percent of— 

21 ‘‘(A) any lease rental payments; 

22 ‘‘(B) any lease royalty payments; 

23 ‘‘(C) any royalty proceeds from a sale of 

24 royalties taken in kind by the Secretary; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) any other revenues from a bidding 

2 system under section 8. 

3 ‘‘(3) ALLOCATION AMONG COASTAL POLITICAL

4 SUBDIVISIONS OF STATES.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

6 pay 20 percent of the allocable share of each 

7 coastal State, as determined under this sub8 section, directly to certain coastal political sub9 divisions of the coastal State. 

10 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For each leased 

12 tract used to calculate the allocation of a 

13 coastal State, the Secretary shall pay the 

14 coastal political subdivisions within 300 

15 miles of the geographic center of the leased 

16 tract based on the relative distance of such 

17 coastal political subdivisions from the 

18 leased tract in accordance with this sub19 paragraph. 

20 ‘‘(ii) DISTANCES.—For each coastal 

21 political subdivision described in clause (i), 

22 the Secretary shall determine the distance 

23 between the point on the coastal political 

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1 graphic center of the leased tract and the 

2 geographic center of the tract. 

3 ‘‘(iii) PAYMENTS.—The Secretary 

4 shall divide and allocate the qualified outer 

5 Continental Shelf revenues derived from 

6 the leased tract among coastal political 

7 subdivisions described in clause (i) in 

8 amounts that are inversely proportional to 

9 the applicable distances determined under 

10 clause (ii). 

11 ‘‘(4) CONSERVATION ROYALTY.—After making 

12 distributions under paragraphs (1) and (2) and sec13 tion 31, the Secretary shall, without further appro14 priation or action, distribute a conservation royalty 

15 equal to 12.5 percent of Federal royalty revenues de16 rived from an area leased under this section from all 

17 areas leased under this section for any year, into the 

18 land and water conservation fund established under 

19 section 2 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund 

20 Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–5) to provide financial 

21 assistance to States under section 6 of that Act (16 

22 U.S.C. 460l–8). 

23 ‘‘(5) DEFICIT REDUCTION.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—After making distribu25 tions in accordance with paragraphs (1) and (2) 


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1 and in accordance with section 31, the Sec2 retary shall, without further appropriation or 

3 action, distribute an amount equal to 50 per4 cent of Federal royalty revenues derived from 

5 all areas leased under this section for any year, 

6 into direct Federal deficit reduction. 

7 ‘‘(B) BUDGETARY TREATMENT.—Any 

8 amounts distributed into direct Federal deficit 

9 reduction under this paragraph shall not be in10 cluded for purposes determining budget levels 

11 under section 201 of S. Con. Res. 21 (110th 

12 Congress).’’. 

13 SEC. 232. REVENUE SHARING FROM AREAS IN ALASKA AD14 JACENT ZONE. 

15 Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

16 (43 U.S.C. 1344) (as amended by section 231) is amended 

17 by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(j) REVENUE SHARING FROM AREAS IN ALASKA

19 ADJACENT ZONE.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para21 graph (2), effective beginning on the date that is 5 

22 years after the date of enactment of this subsection, 

23 revenues from production that derives from an area 

24 in the Alaska Adjacent Zone shall be distributed in 


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1 the same proportion and for the same uses as pro2 vided in subsection (i). 

3 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION AMONG REGIONAL CORPORA4 TIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

6 pay 33 percent of any allocable share of the 

7 State of Alaska, as determined under this sec8 tion, directly to certain Regional Corporations 

9 established under section 7(a) of the Alaska 

10 Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 

11 1606(a)). 

12 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For each leased 

14 tract used to calculate the allocation of the 

15 State of Alaska, the Secretary shall pay 

16 the Regional Corporations, after deter17 mining those Native villages within the re18 gion of the Regional Corporation which are 

19 within 300 miles of the geographic center 

20 of the leased tract based on the relative 

21 distance of such villages from the leased 

22 tract, in accordance with this paragraph. 

23 ‘‘(ii) DISTANCES.—For each such vil24 lage, the Secretary shall determine the dis25 tance between the point in the village closVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:20 Jul 26, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00128 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3643.PCS S3643

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1 est to the geographic center of the leased 

2 tract and the geographic center of the 

3 tract. 

4 ‘‘(iii) PAYMENTS.—The Secretary 

5 shall divide and allocate the qualified outer 

6 Continental Shelf revenues derived from 

7 the leased tract among the qualifying Re8 gional Corporations in amounts that are 

9 inversely proportional to the distances of 

10 all of the Native villages within each quali11 fying region. 

12 ‘‘(iv) REVENUES.—All revenues re13 ceived by each Regional Corporation shall 

14 be— 

15 ‘‘(I) treated by the Regional Cor16 poration as revenue subject to the dis17 tribution requirements of section 

18 7(i)(1)(A) of the Alaska Native 

19 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 

20 1606(i)(1)(A)); and 

21 ‘‘(II) divided annually by the Re22 gional Corporation among all 12 Re23 gional Corporations in accordance 

24 with section 7(i) of that Act. 


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1 ‘‘(v) FURTHER DISTRIBUTION.—A Re2 gional Corporation receiving revenues 

3 under clause (iv)(II) shall further dis4 tribute 50 percent of the revenues received 

5 in accordance with section 7(j) of the Alas6 ka Native Claims Settlement Act (43 

7 U.S.C. 1606(j)).’’. 

8 SEC. 233. ACCELERATED REVENUE SHARING TO PROMOTE 

9 COASTAL RESILIENCY AMONG GULF PRO10 DUCING STATES. 

11 Section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security 

12 Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 1331 note; Public Law 109–432) 

13 is amended— 

14 (1) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(b) ALLOCATION AMONG GULF PRODUCING STATES

17 FOR FISCAL YEARS 2010 AND THEREAFTER.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the provisions of 

19 this subsection, for fiscal year 2010 and each fiscal 

20 year thereafter, the amount made available under 

21 subsection (a)(2)(A) from a covered lease described 

22 in paragraph (2) shall be allocated to each Gulf pro23 ducing State in amounts that are inversely propor24 tional to the respective distances between the point 

25 on the coastline of each Gulf producing State that 


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1 is closest to the geographic center of each historical 

2 lease site and the geographic center of the historical 

3 lease site, as determined by the Secretary. 

4 ‘‘(2) COVERED LEASE.—A covered lease re5 ferred to in paragraph (1) means a lease entered 

6 into for— 

7 ‘‘(A) the 2002–2007 planning area; 

8 ‘‘(B) the 181 Area; or 

9 ‘‘(C) the 180 South Area. 

10 ‘‘(3) MINIMUM ALLOCATION.—The amount allo11 cated to a Gulf producing State each fiscal year 

12 under paragraph (1) shall be at least 10 percent of 

13 the amounts available under subsection (a)(2)(A). 

14 ‘‘(4) HISTORICAL LEASE SITES.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara16 graph (B), for purposes of this subsection, the 

17 historical lease sites in the 2002–2007 planning 

18 area shall include all leases entered into by the 

19 Secretary for an area in the Gulf of Mexico 

20 during the period beginning on October 1, 1982 

21 (or an earlier date if practicable, as determined 

22 by the Secretary), and ending on December 31, 

23 2015. 

24 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENT.—Effective January 1, 

25 2022, and every 5 years thereafter, the ending 


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1 date described in subparagraph (A) shall be ex2 tended for an additional 5 calendar years. 

3 ‘‘(5) PAYMENTS TO COASTAL POLITICAL SUB4 DIVISIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

6 pay 20 percent of the allocable share of each 

7 Gulf producing State, as determined under 

8 paragraphs (1) and (3), to the coastal political 

9 subdivisions of the Gulf producing State. 

10 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION.—The amount paid by 

11 the Secretary to coastal political subdivisions 

12 shall be allocated to each coastal political sub13 division in accordance with subparagraphs (B), 

14 (C), and (E) of section 31(b)(4) of the Outer 

15 Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 

16 1356a(b)(4)).’’; and 

17 (2) by striking subsection (f). 

18 SEC. 234. COASTAL IMPACT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM AMEND19 MENTS. 

20 Section 31(c) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

21 Act (43 U.S.C. 1356a(c)) is amended by adding at the 

22 end the following: 

23 ‘‘(5) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS; AVAIL24 ABILITY OF FUNDING.—On approval of a State plan 

25 under this section, the Secretary shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) immediately disburse payments allo2 cated under this section to the State or political 

3 subdivision; and 

4 ‘‘(B) other than requiring notification to 

5 the Secretary of the projects being carried out 

6 under the State plan, not subject a State or po7 litical subdivision to any additional require8 ments, including application requirements, to 

9 receive payments under this section.’’. 

10 SEC. 235. PRODUCTION OF OIL FROM CERTAIN ARCTIC 

11 OFFSHORE LEASES. 

12 Section 5 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

13 (43 U.S.C. 1334) is amended by adding at the end the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(k) OIL TRANSPORTATION IN ARCTIC WATERS.— 

16 The Secretary shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) require that oil produced from Federal 

18 leases in Arctic waters in the Chukchi Sea planning 

19 area, Beaufort Sea planning area, or Hope Basin 

20 planning area be transported by pipeline to the 

21 Trans-Alaska Pipeline System; and 

22 ‘‘(2) provide for, and issue appropriate permits 

23 for, the transportation of oil from Federal leases in 

24 Arctic waters in preproduction phases (including ex25 ploration) by means other than pipeline.’’. 


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1 SEC. 236. USE OF STIMULUS FUNDS TO OFFSET SPENDING. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The unobligated balance of each 

3 amount appropriated or made available under the Amer4 ican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 

5 111–5; 123 Stat. 115) (other than under title X of division 

6 A of that Act) is rescinded, on a pro rata basis, by an 

7 aggregate amount that equals the amounts necessary to 

8 offset any net increase in spending or foregone revenues 

9 resulting from this subtitle and the amendments made by 

10 this subtitle. 

11 (b) REPORT.—The Director of the Office of Manage12 ment and Budget shall submit to each congressional com13 mittee the amounts rescinded under subsection (a) that 

14 are within the jurisdiction of the committee. 

15 TITLE III—GUIDANCE ON MORA16 TORIUM ON OUTER CONTI17 NENTAL SHELF DRILLING 

18 SEC. 301. LIMITATION OF MORATORIUM ON CERTAIN PER19 MITTING AND DRILLING ACTIVITIES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The moratorium set forth in the 

21 decision memorandum of the Secretary of the Interior en22 titled ‘‘Decision memorandum regarding the suspension of 

23 certain offshore permitting and drilling activities on the 

24 Outer Continental Shelf’’ and dated July 12, 2010, and 

25 any suspension of operations issued in connection with the 


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1 moratorium, shall not apply to an applicant for a permit 

2 to drill if the Secretary determines that the applicant— 

3 (1) has complied with the notice entitled ‘‘Na4 tional Notice to Lessees and Operators of Federal 

5 Oil and Gas Leases, Outer Continental Shelf 

6 (OCS)’’ dated June 8, 2010 (NTL No. 2010–N05) 

7 and the notice entitled ‘‘National Notice to Lessees 

8 and Operators of Federal Oil and Gas Leases, Outer 

9 Continental Shelf (OCS)’’ dated June 18, 2010 

10 (NTL No. 2010–N06); and 

11 (2) has completed all required safety inspec12 tions. 

13 (b) DETERMINATION ON PERMIT.—Not later than 30 

14 days after the date on which the Secretary makes a deter15 mination that an applicant has complied with paragraphs 

16 (1) and (2) of subsection (a), the Secretary shall make 

17 a determination on whether to issue the permit. 

18 (c) NO SUSPENSION OF CONSIDERATION.—No Fed19 eral entity shall suspend the active consideration of, or 

20 preparatory work for, permits required to resume or ad21 vance activities suspended in connection with the morato22 rium. 

23 SEC. 302. DEEPWATER HORIZON INCIDENT. 

24 Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, the Secretary shall develop, and expeditiously 


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1 begin implementation of, a plan to ensure that onshore 

2 oil and natural gas development on Federal land would 

3 provide full energy resource compensation for offshore oil 

4 and natural gas resources not being developed and Federal 

5 revenues not being generated for the benefit of the United 

6 States Treasury during such time as any offshore morato7 rium is in place in response to the incident involving the 

8 mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon. 


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Calendar No. 483 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3643 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

purposes. moratorium on deepwater drilling, and for other prove oil spill compensation, to terminate the resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, to imto reform the management of energy and mineral 

JULY 26, 2010 

Read the second time and place on the calendar 


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