[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5607 Introduced in House (IH)]

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 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, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 2010

 Mr. Markey of Massachusetts introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Science and Technology, and in addition to 
  the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined 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 hydrocarbons 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

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 DEVELOPMENT.

    (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 `Advisory 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 `blowout preventer' 
        means a device installed on an offshore well that uses one or 
        more valves, rams, or preventers to control or stop any 
        otherwise uncontrolled flow of hydrocarbons or drilling fluids 
        from the well.
            ``(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 Safety 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 inspect, 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 requirements of this section, to provide awards to support the 
development, demonstration, and commercialization of innovative 
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 innovative 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 competitive basis, based on--
            ``(1) potential for commercialization of the relevant 
        technology;
            ``(2) potential to enhance industry's capacity to prevent, 
        stop, or contain a large-scale accidental discharge 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 requirements of this subsection, which 
        shall describe the ongoing and prospective activities of the 
        program 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 
                established pursuant to section 7001 of the Oil 
                Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2761).
            ``(3) Publication.--Not later than November 30 of 2010 and 
        each calendar year thereafter through 2016, the Secretary shall 
        transmit to Congress and publish on the Internet the annual 
        plan for the succeeding year, together with the recommendations 
        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 Secretary shall establish an 
        independent advisory committee to be known as the SOS Fund 
        Technical Advisory Committee.
            ``(2) Membership.--The Advisory Committee shall consist of 
        at least 9 members. Each member shall have extensive research 
        or operational knowledge of safety technologies associated with 
        offshore oil and gas exploration and production. The Secretary 
        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 reappointed only 
        once for an additional 3-year term.
            ``(3) Duties.--The Advisory Committee shall advise the 
        Secretary on the development and implementation 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 Advisory 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.
            ``(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, including--
                            ``(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 Conservation 
                        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).
            ``(4) Obligation authority.--Monies in the Fund shall be 
        available to the Secretary for obligation, or to cover the 
        Secretary's costs of administering the program in accordance 
        with the limitation in paragraph (5), under this section 
        without fiscal year limitation, to remain available until 
        expended.
            ``(5) Administrative costs.--For each of fiscal 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 administering 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.''.
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