I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2693 

To amend title VII of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2009 

Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself and Mr. BAIRD) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To amend title VII of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 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 ‘‘Federal Oil Spill Re5 search Program Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL OIL SPILL RESEARCH COMMITTEE. 

7 Title VII of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 

8 2761) is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating section 7002 as section 

10 7007; and 


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1 (2) by amending section 7001 to read as fol2 lows: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 7001. FEDERAL OIL SPILL RESEARCH COMMITTEE. 

4 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall estab6 lish an interagency committee to be known as the 

7 Federal oil spill research committee (in this title re8 ferred to as the ‘Committee’). 

9 ‘‘(2) CHAIR.—The President shall designate a 

10 representative of the National Oceanic and Atmos11 pheric Administration to serve as chairperson. 

12 ‘‘(b) COMPOSITION.—The members of the Committee 

13 shall include representatives from the National Oceanic 

14 and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Coast 

15 Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency, and such 

16 other Federal agencies as the President may designate. 

17 ‘‘(c) FUNCTION OF THE COMMITTEE.—The Com18 mittee shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) coordinate a comprehensive Federal oil 

20 spill research program (in this title referred to as 

21 the ‘program’) in accordance with section 7002 to 

22 coordinate oil pollution research, technology develop23 ment, and demonstration among the Federal agen24 cies, in cooperation and coordination with industry, 

25 institutions of higher education, research instituVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:31 Jun 04, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2693.IH H2693

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1 tions, State and tribal governments, and other rel2 evant stakeholders; 

3 ‘‘(2) complete a research assessment (in this 

4 title referred to as the ‘assessment’) on the status of 

5 the oil spill prevention and response capabilities in 

6 accordance with section 7003; and 

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

8 this title referred to as the ‘plan’) in accordance 

9 with section 7004.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. FEDERAL OIL SPILL RESEARCH PROGRAM. 

11 Title VII of such Act (33 U.S.C. 2761) is further 

12 amended by inserting after section 7001 (as amended by 

13 section 2 of this Act) the following new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 7002. FEDERAL OIL SPILL RESEARCH PROGRAM. 

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

16 program for conducting oil pollution research, develop17 ment, and demonstration. 

18 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The program estab19 lished under subsection (a) shall provide for research, de20 velopment, and demonstration technologies, practices, and 

21 procedures that provide for effective and direct response 

22 to prevent, detect, recover, or mitigate oil discharges and 

23 include— 

24 ‘‘(1) new technologies to detect accidental or in25 tentional overboard oil discharges; 


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1 ‘‘(2) transport and fate of oil, including trajec2 tory and behavior predictions due to location, weath3 er patterns, hydrographic data, and water condi4 tions; 

5 ‘‘(3) response capabilities, such as improved 

6 booms, oil skimmers, and storage capacity; 

7 ‘‘(4) research and training, in coordination with 

8 the National Response Team, to improve the re9 moval of oil discharge quickly and effectively; 

10 ‘‘(5) decision support systems for contingency 

11 planning and response; and 

12 ‘‘(6) improvement of options for oily/oiled waste 

13 dispersal.’’. 

14 SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESEARCH ASSESSMENT. 

15 Title VII of such Act (33 U.S.C. 2761) is further 

16 amended by inserting after section 7002 (as added by sec17 tion 3 of this Act) the following new section: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 7003. FEDERAL RESEARCH ASSESSMENT. 

19 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

20 of this section, the Committee shall submit to Congress 

21 an assessment of the status of oil spill prevention and re22 sponse capabilities that— 

23 ‘‘(1) identifies research programs conducted 

24 and technologies developed by governments, institu25 tions of higher education, and industry; 


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1 ‘‘(2) assesses the status of knowledge on oil pol2 lution prevention, response, and mitigation tech3 nologies; 

4 ‘‘(3) identifies regional oil pollution research 

5 needs and priorities for a coordinated program of re6 search at the regional level developed in consultation 

7 with State, local, and tribal governments; 

8 ‘‘(4) assesses the status of spill response equip9 ment and determines areas in need of improvement, 

10 including amount, age, quality, effectiveness, or nec11 essary technological improvements; 

12 ‘‘(5) assesses the status of real-time data avail13 able to mariners, researchers, and responders, in14 cluding weather, hydrographic data, and water con15 ditions, and the impact of incomplete and inacces16 sible data on preventing, detecting, or mitigating oil 

17 discharges; and 

18 ‘‘(6) is subject to a 90-day public comment pe19 riod and shall address suggestions received and in20 corporate public input received, as appropriate.’’. 

21 SEC. 5. FEDERAL RESEARCH INTERAGENCY PLAN. 

22 Title VII of such Act (33 U.S.C. 2761) is further 

23 amended by inserting after section 7003 (as added by sec24 tion 4 of this Act) the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 7004. FEDERAL RESEARCH INTERAGENCY PLAN. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

3 ‘‘(1) PLAN.—Not later than 1 year after the 

4 submission of the assessment required under section 

5 7003, the Committee shall submit to Congress the 

6 plan that shall establish the priorities for Federal oil 

7 spill research and development. 

8 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—In the development 

9 of the plan, the Committee shall consider and utilize 

10 recommendations by the National Academy of 

11 Sciences and information from State, local, and trib12 al governments. 

13 ‘‘(b) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—The plan shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) suggest changes to the program to improve 

15 the rates of oil recovery and spill mitigation; 

16 ‘‘(2) make recommendations to improve tech17 nologies, practices, and procedures to provide for ef18 fective and direct response to oil spills; 

19 ‘‘(3) make recommendations to improve the 

20 quality of real-time data available to mariners, re21 searchers, and responders; and 

22 ‘‘(4) be subject to a 90-day public comment pe23 riod and address suggestions received and incor24 porate public input received, as appropriate.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. EXTRAMURAL GRANTS. 

2 Title VII of such Act (33 U.S.C. 2761) is further 

3 amended by inserting after section 7004 (as added by sec4 tion 5 of this Act) the following new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 7005. EXTRAMURAL GRANTS. 

6 ‘‘In the execution of the program, the Secretary of 

7 Commerce, acting through the Administrator of the Na8 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shall— 

9 ‘‘(1) award competitive grants to institutions of 

10 higher education or other research institutions to 

11 carry out projects to advance research and develop12 ment and to demonstrate technologies for pre13 venting, detecting, or mitigating oil discharges that 

14 are relevant to the goals and priorities of the plan; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(2) incorporate a competitive, merit-based 

17 process for awarding grants that may be conducted 

18 jointly with other participating agencies.’’. 

19 SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT. 

20 Title VII of such Act (33 U.S.C. 2761) is further 

21 amended by inserting after section 7005 (as added by sec22 tion 6 of this Act) the following new section: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 7006. ANNUAL REPORT. 

24 ‘‘Concurrent with the annual submission of the Presi25 dent’s budget to Congress, the Committee shall submit an 

26 annual report to Congress that describes the activities and 


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1 results of the program during the previous fiscal year and 

2 outlines the objectives for the next fiscal year.’’. 

3 SEC. 8. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE PARTICIPATION. 

4 The Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Ad5 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad6 ministration, shall contract with the National Academy of 

7 Sciences to— 

8 (1) assess and evaluate, not later than 1 year 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the status 

10 of Federal oil spill research and development as of 

11 the day before the date of enactment of this Act; 

12 (2) submit a report to the Federal oil spill re13 search committee established under section 

14 7001(a)(1) of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and to 

15 Congress evaluating the conclusions and rec16 ommendations from the Federal research assessment 

17 under section 7003 of such Act to be utilized in the 

18 creation of the Federal oil spill research plan under 

19 section 7004 of such Act; and 

20 (3) submit a report to Congress, not later than 

21 1 year after the Federal oil spill research commit22 tee’s submission of such plan, evaluating the plan re23 quired by section 7004 of such Act. 


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1 SEC. 9. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING CHANGES. 

2 (a) USE OF FUNDS.—Section 1012(a)(5) of the Oil 

3 Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2712(a)(5)) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) in subparagraph (A), by adding ‘‘and’’ after 

6 the semicolon; and 

7 (2) by striking subparagraph (C). 

8 (b) NATIONAL ACADEMY.—Section 5001(c) of such 

9 Act (33 U.S.C. 2731(c)) is amended by striking paragraph 

10 (4). 

11 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—Section 2 of such Act is 

12 amended by striking the items in the table of contents re13 lated to sections 7001 and 7002 and inserting the fol14 lowing: 

Sec. 7001. Federal oil spill research committee. 

Sec. 7002. Federal oil spill research program. 

Sec. 7003. Federal research assessment. 

Sec. 7004. Federal research interagency plan. 

Sec. 7005. Extramural grants. 

Sec. 7006. Annual report. 

Sec. 7007. Submerged oil program. 

Æ 


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