I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5356 
To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to increase the cap on liability 
for economic damages resulting from an oil spill, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 20, 2010 
Mr. BLUNT (for himself, Mr. MILLER of Florida, and Mr. BONNER, intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Trans-
portation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to increase the 
cap on liability for economic damages resulting from 
an oil spill, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Oil Spill Response and Assistance Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—COMPENSATION 
Sec. 101. Emergency preparedness. 
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Sec. 102. Oil pollution liability and compensation. 
Sec. 103. Effective date. 
TITLE II—REPORTS 
Sec. 201. Reports regarding Gulf of Mexico oil spill. 
TITLE I—COMPENSATION 
SEC. 101. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Oil Pollution Act 
of 1990 (Public Law 101–380; 104 Stat. 509) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘Subtitle D—Emergency 
Preparedness for Discharges 
‘‘SEC. 4401. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date of enactment of this subtitle, the Secretary shall by 
regulation require the development and deployment of cer-
tain technology for use in the event of a breach or explo-
sion at, or a significant discharge of oil from, a deepwater 
port, offshore facility, or tank vessel (referred to in this 
section as a ‘covered event’). 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations shall re-
quire— 
‘‘(1)(A) the development, for use in capping un-
derwater oil wells affected by a covered event, tech-
nology that is— 
‘‘(i) capable of funneling discharges of oil 
from an underwater oil well to a containment 
vessel at the ocean surface; and 
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‘‘(ii) effective at water depths at least 
2,000 feet deeper than the limits of oil and gas 
production on the outer Continental Shelf as of 
the date of enactment of this subtitle; and 
‘‘(B) the purchase and deployment by the Sec-
retary of those engineered capping technologies in 
such number of locations throughout the United 
States (including the navigable waters), to be deter-
mined by the Secretary, as would permit deployment 
and use of the domes to respond to a covered event 
not later than 24 hours after the time at which the 
covered event occurred; 
‘‘(2)(A) the development of flame-proof booms 
capable of functioning in the open ocean with waves 
of not more than 6 feet in height; and 
‘‘(B) the purchase and deployment by the Sec-
retary of those booms at such locations and in such 
lengths or quantities as would permit, as determined 
by the Secretary— 
‘‘(i) the use of the booms in response to a 
covered event not later than 24 hours after the 
time at which the covered event occurred; and 
‘‘(ii) the complete surrounding of 100 
square miles of open ocean within that period 
of time; and 
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‘‘(3) the development, and purchase and deploy-
ment by the Secretary, of remote operated vehicles 
for use in the open ocean that are— 
‘‘(A) equipped with acoustic technology; 
‘‘(B) capable of welding and cutting or 
torching below 15,000 feet of water; and 
‘‘(C) stationed at such locations, as deter-
mined by the Secretary, as would enable the re-
mote operated vehicles to be available for use in 
an area affected by a covered event not later 
than 24 hours after the time at which the cov-
ered event occurred.’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. prec. 2701) is 
amended by inserting at the end of the items relating to 
title IV the following: 
‘‘Subtitle D—Emergency Preparedness for Discharges of Oil 
‘‘Sec. 4401. Emergency preparedness.’’. 
SEC. 102. OIL POLLUTION LIABILITY AND COMPENSATION. 
Section 1004 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 
U.S.C. 2704) is amended by striking subsection (a) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(a) LIMITS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided in this section, subject to paragraph (2), the 
total of the liability of a responsible party under sec-
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tion 1002 and any removal costs incurred by, or on 
behalf of, the responsible party, with respect to each 
incident shall not exceed, as indexed for United 
States dollar inflation from the date of enactment of 
the Oil Spill Response and Assistance Act (as meas-
ured by the Consumer Price Index)— 
‘‘(A) for a tank vessel, the greater of— 
‘‘(i) with respect to a single-hull ves-
sel, including a single-hull vessel fitted 
with double sides only or a double bottom 
only, $6,000 per gross ton; 
‘‘(ii) with respect to a vessel other 
than a vessel referred to in clause (i), 
$3,800 per gross ton; or 
‘‘(iii)(I) with respect to a vessel great-
er than 3,000 gross tons that is— 
‘‘(aa) a vessel described in clause 
(i), $44,000,000; or 
‘‘(bb) a vessel described in clause 
(ii), $32,000,000; or 
‘‘(II) with respect to a vessel of 3,000 
gross tons or less that is— 
‘‘(aa) a vessel described in clause 
(i), $12,000,000; or 
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‘‘(bb) a vessel described in clause 
(ii), $8,000,000; 
‘‘(B) for any other vessel, $1,900 per gross 
ton or $1,600,000, whichever is greater; 
‘‘(C) for an offshore facility except a deep-
water port, the total of all removal costs plus 
$150,000,000; and 
‘‘(D) for any onshore facility and a deep-
water port, $700,000,000. 
‘‘(2) ALTERNATIVE LIMITATION.—If the aggre-
gate amount of net after-tax profits of a responsible 
party generated during the 4 full financial reporting 
quarters preceding the date of an incident involving 
a vessel or facility described in paragraph (1) ex-
ceeds the limitation on liability for the category of 
incident described in that paragraph, the total of the 
liability of the responsible party under section 1002 
and any removal costs incurred by, or on behalf of, 
the responsible, with respect to each such incident 
shall not exceed, as indexed for United States dollar 
inflation from the date of enactment of the Oil Spill 
Response and Assistance Act (as measured by the 
Consumer Price Index), an amount equal to that ag-
gregate amount of those profits.’’. 
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SEC. 103. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This title and the amendments made by this title take 
effect on April 15, 2010. 
TITLE II—REPORTS 
SEC. 201. REPORTS REGARDING GULF OF MEXICO OIL 
SPILL. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) HEAD OF AN APPROPRIATE FEDERAL AGEN-
CY.—The term ‘‘head of an appropriate Federal 
agency’’ means the head of a Federal agency that 
has carried out an activity with respect to the oil 
spill. 
(2) OIL SPILL.—The term ‘‘oil spill’’ means the 
oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in April 
2010. 
(b) STUDY.—As soon as practicable after the date of 
enactment of this Act, each head of an appropriate Fed-
eral agency shall carry out a study— 
(1) to examine the effectiveness of the coordina-
tion of actions carried out by the Federal Govern-
ment relating to the oil spill; and 
(2) to determine the success of each action car-
ried out by the Federal Government in response to 
the oil spill. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than September 1, 2010, 
each head of an appropriate Federal Agency shall submit 
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to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that 
contains a description of— 
(1) the results of the study carried out under 
subsection (b); and 
(2) the effectiveness and success of each activity 
carried out by the Federal Government in response 
to the oil spill. 
Æ 
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