II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3492 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require the drilling 

of emergency relief wells, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 15, 2010 

Mr. LAUTENBERG introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require 

the drilling of emergency relief wells, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Relief Well 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the April 20, 2010, explosion and sinking of 

9 the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon 

10 resulted in the largest release of petroleum in the 


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1 history of the United States, causing tens of billions 

2 of dollars in economic damages and widespread dev3 astation of natural resources; 

4 (2) numerous attempts over several months 

5 failed to stem the flow of oil from the Deepwater 

6 Horizon incident, including the use of— 

7 (A) a containment dome to cover the leak; 

8 (B) a top kill procedure to plug the well 

9 with viscous drilling fluid; 

10 (C) a junk shot to clog the well with var11 ious waste materials; and 

12 (D) a cut and cap procedure to excise a 

13 damaged riser pipe and apply an oil collection 

14 device; 

15 (3) all of the attempts described in paragraph 

16 (2) failed to permanently stop the flow of oil; 

17 (4) drilling emergency relief wells is the most 

18 effective procedure to permanently stop the flow of 

19 oil from a damaged well; 

20 (5) the success of relief wells in stopping oil 

21 spills has been demonstrated in the Ixtoc Spill in 

22 Mexico in 1979 and the Montara Spill in Australia 

23 in 2009, which were 2 of the largest oil spills in re24 cent history; 


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1 (6) although emergency relief wells successfully 

2 stopped the Ixtoc and Montara spills, the emergency 

3 relief wells— 

4 (A) took several months to complete; and 

5 (B) required multiple successive attempts 

6 before finally stopping the flow of oil; 

7 (7) other governments have maintained emer8 gency relief well policies to ensure that preparations 

9 are made for emergency relief wells before an emer10 gency blowout; 

11 (8) although no measure can prevent a spill or 

12 leak or make drilling safe, relief wells are the most 

13 proven way of stopping a spill or leak after a spill 

14 or leak has occurred; and 

15 (9) if emergency wells had been prepared at the 

16 mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon at 

17 the initiation of drilling, months of disaster relief 

18 measures could have been eliminated, and tens of 

19 millions of gallons of oil could have been prevented 

20 from entering the Gulf of Mexico and damaging the 

21 surrounding economies and natural resources. 


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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE OUTER CONTINENTAL 

2 SHELF LANDS ACT. 

3 (a) GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL EXPLO4 RATIONS.—Section 11 of the Outer Continental Shelf 

5 Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1340) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (c)(3)— 

7 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

8 ‘‘and’’; 

9 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 

10 subparagraph (E); and 

11 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (C) 

12 the following: 

13 ‘‘(D) a plan for drilling at least 1 emer14 gency relief well concurrently with the drilling 

15 of the proposed well; and’’; and 

16 (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘(3) EMERGENCY RELIEF WELL.—Any explor19 atory drilling conducted under a lease shall be ac20 companied by the concurrent drilling of at least 1 

21 emergency relief well, subject to any applicable re22 quirements established by the Secretary. 

23 ‘‘(4) ALTERNATIVE MEASURES.—The Secretary, 

24 in consultation with the Administrator of the Envi25 ronmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of 

26 Commerce, may require, as an alternative to the 


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1 emergency relief well requirement under paragraph 

2 (3), measures that the Secretary, after a period of 

3 notice and public comment, determines would be at 

4 least as effective at stopping a major release from a 

5 proposed well as the measures required under that 

6 paragraph.’’. 

7 (b) OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUC8 TION.—Section 25 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

9 Act (43 U.S.C. 1351) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (c)— 

11 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and 

12 (6) as paragraphs (6) and (7), respectively; and 

13 (B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(5) a plan for drilling at least 1 emergency re16 lief well concurrently with the proposed well;’’; and 

17 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(m) EMERGENCY RELIEF WELLS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any development and pro20 duction drilling conducted under a lease granted 

21 under this Act shall be accompanied by the concur22 rent drilling of at least 1 emergency relief well, sub23 ject to any applicable requirements established by 

24 the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ALTERNATIVE MEASURES.—The Secretary, 

2 in consultation with the Administrator of the Envi3 ronmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of 

4 Commerce, may require, as an alternative to the 

5 emergency relief well requirement under paragraph 

6 (1), measures that the Secretary, after a period of 

7 notice and public comment, determines would be at 

8 least as effective at stopping a major release from a 

9 proposed well as the measures required under that 

10 paragraph.’’. 

Æ 


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