I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5631 
To establish the Gulf Coast Conservation Corps under the direction of the 
President in order to create jobs cleaning up the oil spill and restoring 
the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding areas, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 29, 2010 
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Mr. MEEK of Florida, and Mr. JOHN-
SON of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee 
on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish the Gulf Coast Conservation Corps under the 
direction of the President in order to create jobs cleaning 
up the oil spill and restoring the Gulf of Mexico and 
surrounding areas, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gulf Coast Conserva-
tion Corps Act of 2010’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) On April 20, 2010, the mobile offshore drill-
ing unit Deepwater Horizon, operated by BP, P.L.C. 
(in this Act referred to as ‘‘BP’’), exploded and 
sank, triggering the oil spill that is the worst envi-
ronmental disaster in the history of the United 
States. 
(2) Since then, BP has been unsuccessful in 
stemming the discharge of oil into the Gulf of Mex-
ico, currently estimated at a rate of up to 60,000 
barrels of oil per day. 
(3) Many who live in the area of the Gulf of 
Mexico are dependent on the Gulf for their liveli-
hoods. 
(4) The fishing industry, including seafood 
processing and related wholesale and retail busi-
nesses, supports over 200,000 jobs with related eco-
nomic activity of $5,500,000,000. 
(5) As of May 25, 2010, commercial and rec-
reational fishing were prohibited within a 54,096 
square-mile area, approximately 22 percent of Fed-
eral waters of the Gulf Exclusive Economic Zone. 
(6) The tourist industry contributed 620,000 
jobs and over $9,000,000,000 in wages to the Gulf 
region. 
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(7) The oil spill will require a dedicated and 
trained workforce working over an extended period 
of time to clean up and restore the damage. 
(8) Contracts and cooperative agreements be-
tween Federal agencies and State and local govern-
ments and other entities empower communities and 
are cost-effective tools that provide positive social 
and environmental benefits. The use of such con-
tracts and agreements should be encouraged as a 
means to rehabilitate public land affected or altered 
by the BP oil spill, and enhance and maintain envi-
ronmentally important land and water. 
(9) Joint collaborations between the Federal 
agencies, private businesses, and local, State, and 
Federal service and conservation corps are particu-
larly beneficial, as the collaborations provide the op-
portunity to prepare for productive lives while en-
gaged in meaningful and educational public service 
opportunities, and the public with cost-saving human 
resources to assist in conserving, maintaining, and 
protecting public land. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to create a Gulf Coast Conservation Corps 
to perform rehabilitation and enhancement projects 
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in any area of the Gulf of Mexico affected by the oil 
discharged as a result of the explosion on and sink-
ing of the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater 
Horizon by creating a workforce to collect the oil 
discharged, and restore affected wildlife and dam-
aged ecosystems, in such areas; 
(2) to create jobs in the Gulf of Mexico region 
that offer unemployed individuals a chance to obtain 
skills and experience so that they are better 
equipped to gain productive employment related to 
environmental restoration; and 
(3) to provide such individuals the opportunity 
to serve their communities and the Country. 
SEC. 4. GULF COAST CONSERVATION CORPS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Gulf 
Coast Conservation Corps (in this Act referred to as the 
‘‘Corps’’), which shall be administered by the President 
and shall carry out rehabilitation and enhancement 
projects described in subsection (b). 
(b) 
REHABILITATION
AND
ENHANCEMENT 
PROJECTS.—The President, through the Corps, shall hire 
individuals that meet the requirements described in sub-
section (c) to carry out rehabilitation and enhancement 
projects involving the construction, maintenance, cleaning, 
and restoration (including the restoration of wildlife and 
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