I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5607 
To provide for the establishment of a program to support the development, 
demonstration, and commercialization of innovative technologies to pre-
vent, stop, or capture large-scale accidental discharges of oil or other 
hydrocarbons from offshore oil and gas drilling operations, including 
deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 25, 2010 
Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Science and Technology, and in addition to 
the Committee on Natural Resources, 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 provide for the establishment of a program to support 
the development, demonstration, and commercialization 
of innovative technologies to prevent, stop, or capture 
large-scale accidental discharges of oil or other hydro-
carbons from offshore oil and gas drilling operations, 
including deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Oil Spills Act’’ 
or the ‘‘SOS Act’’. 
SEC. 2. OFFSHORE DRILLING SAFETY TECHNOLOGY DEVEL-
OPMENT. 
(a) Subtitle J of title IX of the Energy Policy Act 
of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16371–16378) is amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘Subtitle J—Offshore Drilling 
Safety Technology Development 
‘‘SEC. 999. INNOVATIVE OFFSHORE DRILLING SAFETY 
TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The term ‘Advi-
sory Committee’ means the SOS Fund Technical 
Advisory Committee established under subsection 
(f). 
‘‘(2) AWARD.—The term ‘award’ means a 
grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. 
‘‘(3) BLOWOUT PREVENTER.—The term ‘blow-
out preventer’ means a device installed on an off-
shore well that uses one or more valves, rams, or 
preventers to control or stop any otherwise uncon-
trolled flow of hydrocarbons or drilling fluids from 
the well. 
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‘‘(4) 
DEEPWATER.—The 
term 
‘deepwater’ 
means a water depth that is greater than 200 but 
less than 1,500 meters. 
‘‘(5) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Safe-
ty and Offshore Spills (SOS) Fund established 
under subsection (g). 
‘‘(6) REMOTELY
OPERATED
VEHICLE.—The 
term ‘remotely operated vehicle’ means a remotely 
controlled unmanned submersible vehicle, used to in-
spect, control, or perform operations on a blowout 
preventer or other subsea drilling equipment. 
‘‘(7) SECONDARY CONTROL SYSTEM.—The term 
‘secondary control system’ means a system, such as 
a deadman, autoshear, or acoustic switch, designed 
to activate blowout preventer components to shut in 
an offshore well in the event of an emergency event 
such as a loss of communication with or power to 
the blowout preventer. 
‘‘(8) ULTRA-DEEPWATER.—The term ‘ultra- 
deepwater’ means a water depth that is equal to or 
greater than 1,500 meters. 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the 
Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Interior, 
shall establish a program, in accordance with the require-
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ments of this section, to provide awards to support the 
development, demonstration, and commercialization of in-
novative technologies to prevent, stop, or capture large- 
scale accidental discharges of oil or other hydrocarbons 
from offshore oil and gas drilling operations, including 
deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations. 
‘‘(c) FOCUS AREAS FOR AWARDS.—Awards provided 
under this section shall focus on new technologies or inno-
vative improvements to existing technologies, including— 
‘‘(1) blowout preventers; 
‘‘(2) secondary control systems; 
‘‘(3) remotely operated vehicles; and 
‘‘(4) prefabricated systems or technologies to 
stop or capture a large-scale hydrocarbon discharge 
from an offshore well, at or near the source of such 
discharge, in the event of the failure of a blowout 
preventer. 
‘‘(d) PROJECT SELECTION.—The Secretary shall 
issue solicitations for applications for awards under this 
section and shall select projects for awards, on a competi-
tive basis, based on— 
‘‘(1) potential for commercialization of the rel-
evant technology; 
‘‘(2) potential to enhance industry’s capacity to 
prevent, stop, or contain a large-scale accidental dis-
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charge of oil or other hydrocarbons from offshore 
drilling operations; and 
‘‘(3) such other factors as the Secretary may 
prescribe. 
‘‘(e) ANNUAL PLAN.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The program under this 
section shall be carried out pursuant to annual plans 
prepared by the Secretary in accordance with the re-
quirements of this subsection, which shall describe 
the ongoing and prospective activities of the pro-
gram under this section. 
‘‘(2) OUTSIDE
BODIES.—In formulating each 
annual plan under this subsection, the Secretary 
shall— 
‘‘(A) solicit and take into consideration 
recommendations from the Advisory Committee; 
and 
‘‘(B) take into consideration the needs 
identified and recommendations set forth by 
any independent commission established by the 
President to investigate the Deepwater Horizon 
oil spill and by the Interagency Coordinating 
Committee on Oil Pollution Research estab-
lished pursuant to section 7001 of the Oil Pol-
lution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2761). 
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‘‘(3) PUBLICATION.—Not later than November 
30 of 2010 and each calendar year thereafter 
through 2016, the Secretary shall transmit to Con-
gress and publish on the Internet the annual plan 
for the succeeding year, together with the rec-
ommendations provided by the Advisory Committee 
with regard to such plan. 
‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec-
retary shall establish an independent advisory com-
mittee to be known as the SOS Fund Technical Ad-
visory Committee. 
‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The Advisory Committee 
shall consist of at least 9 members. Each member 
shall have extensive research or operational knowl-
edge of safety technologies associated with offshore 
oil and gas exploration and production. The Sec-
retary shall appoint Advisory Committee members, 
including a chair and vice-chair of the Advisory 
Committee. Terms shall be 3 years in length, except 
for initial terms, which may be up to 5 years in 
length to allow staggering. Members may be re-
appointed only once for an additional 3-year term. 
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‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The Advisory Committee shall 
advise the Secretary on the development and imple-
mentation of programs under this section, including 
by reviewing and providing recommendations with 
regard to each annual plan under subsection (e). 
‘‘(4) COMPENSATION.—A member of the Advi-
sory Committee shall serve without compensation 
but shall receive travel expenses in accordance with 
applicable provisions under subchapter I of chapter 
57 of title 5, United States Code. 
‘‘(g) FUNDING.— 
‘‘(1) FUND.—There is hereby established in the 
Treasury of the United States a separate fund to be 
known as the Safety and Offshore Spill (SOS) 
Fund. 
‘‘(2) OIL AND GAS LEASE INCOME.—For each 
of fiscal years 2011 through 2017, from any Federal 
royalties, rents, and bonuses derived from Federal 
onshore and offshore oil and gas leases issued under 
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
1331 et seq.) which are deposited in the Treasury, 
and after distribution of any such funds as described 
in paragraph (3), $50,000,000 shall be deposited 
into the Fund. 
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‘‘(3) PRIOR DISTRIBUTIONS.—The distributions 
described in paragraph (2) are those required by 
law— 
‘‘(A) to States and to the Reclamation 
Fund under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 
U.S.C. 191(a)); and 
‘‘(B) to other funds receiving monies from 
Federal oil and gas leasing programs, includ-
ing— 
‘‘(i) any recipients pursuant to section 
8(g) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 
Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(g)); 
‘‘(ii) the Land and Water Conserva-
tion Fund, pursuant to section 2(c) of the 
Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 
1965 (16 U.S.C. 4601–5(c)); 
‘‘(iii) the Historic Preservation Fund, 
pursuant to section 108 of the National 
Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 
470h); and 
‘‘(iv) the coastal impact assistance 
program established under section 31 of 
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 
U.S.C. 1356a). 
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‘‘(4) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—Monies in the 
Fund shall be available to the Secretary for obliga-
tion, or to cover the Secretary’s costs of admin-
istering the program in accordance with the limita-
tion in paragraph (5), under this section without fis-
cal year limitation, to remain available until ex-
pended. 
‘‘(5) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—For each of fis-
cal years 2011 through 2017, the Secretary may use 
not more than 5 percent of the monies deposited in 
the Fund to cover the Secretary’s costs of admin-
istering the program under this section.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The items relating 
to subtitle J of title IX in the table of contents of the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005 are amended to read as follows: 
‘‘Subtitle J—Offshore Drilling Safety Technology Development 
‘‘Sec. 999. Innovative offshore drilling safety technology program.’’. 
Æ 
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