I 111th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5727 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 13, 2010 Mr. Shuster introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide for the establishment of a process for quickly and effectively soliciting, assessing, and deploying offshore oil and hazardous substance cleanup technologies, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Oil Spill Cleanup Technologies Act of 2010.

2.

Findings

Congress finds that— (1)the response to the discharge of oil in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from the explosion on, and sinking of, the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon has shown the Federal Government to be lacking in significant technologies to clean up offshore oil spills; (2)following the discharge, the Federal Government was not prepared to accept potentially valuable cleanup ideas and valuable time may have been lost in finding cleanup solutions due to the lack of an established process; and (3)establishing a process for soliciting, assessing, and deploying offshore oil and hazardous substance cleanup technologies is necessary to ensure that the Federal Government is better prepared to handle incoming technologies in the event of a future offshore discharge.

3.

Oil and hazardous substance cleanup technologies

Section 311(j) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(j)) is amended by adding at the end the following: (9)

Oil and hazardous substance cleanup technologies

The President, acting through the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating and in coordination with the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies, shall— (A)establish a process for— (i)quickly and effectively soliciting, assessing, and deploying offshore oil and hazardous substance cleanup technologies in the event of a discharge or substantial threat of a discharge of oil or a hazardous substance in United States waters; and (ii)effectively coordinating with other appropriate agencies, industry, academia, small businesses, and others to ensure the best technology available is implemented in the event of such a discharge or threat; and (B)maintain a database on best available oil and hazardous substance cleanup technologies in the event of a discharge or substantial threat of a discharge of oil or a hazardous substance in United States waters. .