[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5868 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5868

To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to establish conditions 
   for the issuance of oil and gas leases under that Act to prevent 
   discharges of oil in operations under such leases, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2010

Mr. Hall of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to establish conditions 
   for the issuance of oil and gas leases under that Act to prevent 
   discharges of oil in operations under such leases, 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 ``Safe Drill Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The April 20, 2010, explosion and sinking of the mobile 
        offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon resulted in the 
        largest discharge of petroleum in the history of the United 
        States.
            (2) The disaster has cost the Nation tens of billions of 
        dollars in economic damages and widespread devastation of 
        natural resources.
            (3) For more than three months, tens of thousands of 
        barrels of oil have been discharged into the Gulf of Mexico by 
        the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
            (4) Evidence shows that the use of acoustic switches and 
        blowout preventers can greatly reduce the chance of an 
        uncontrolled oil spill.
            (5) BP p.l.c. has already spent more than $4,000,000,000 in 
        direct response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
            (6) The total cost of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will 
        likely soar past the $20,000,000,000 claims fund established by 
        BP p.l.c. for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
            (7) Acoustic switches cost approximately $500,000 per oil 
        well.

SEC. 3. CONDITIONS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF NEW OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASES.

    Section 8(d) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
1337(d)) is amended by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(d)'', and by adding 
at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2) The Secretary shall require, as a condition and term of any 
oil and gas lease under this section, that the lessee certify that the 
lessee will--
            ``(A) use the best available technology for all operations 
        under the lease, including acoustic sensors; and
            ``(B) adopt and implement a comprehensive plan to respond 
        to and clean up any discharge of oil occurring in operation 
        under the lease.''.

SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS FOR EXISTING OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASES.

    (a) Best Available Technology.--
            (1) Certification requirement.--The Secretary of the 
        Interior shall require that each person that on the date of the 
        enactment of this Act holds an oil and gas lease issued under 
        the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) 
        must certify, by not later than 6 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, that they use the best available 
        technology in all operations under the lease.
            (2) Termination of operations.--The Secretary--
                    (A) may order such a person to suspend operations 
                if the person has not made the certification required 
                under paragraph (1) by not later than 6 months after 
                the date of enactment of this Act; and
                    (B) shall cancel the lease if the person has not 
                made the certification required under paragraph (1) by 
                not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of 
                this Act.
    (b) Comprehensive Response Plan.--
            (1) Certification requirement.--The Secretary of the 
        Interior shall require that each person that on the date of the 
        enactment of this Act holds an oil and gas lease issued under 
        the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) 
        must certify, by not later than 6 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, that they have adopted and implemented a 
        comprehensive plan to respond to and clean up any discharge of 
        oil occurring in operation under the lease.
            (2) Termination of operations.--The Secretary--
                    (A) may order such a person to suspend operations 
                if the person has not made the certification required 
                under paragraph (1) by not later than 6 months after 
                the date of enactment of this Act; and
                    (B) shall cancel the lease if the person has not 
                made the certification required under paragraph (1) by 
                not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of 
                this Act.

SEC. 5. REVIEW OF BLOWOUT PREVENTERS, EMERGENCY SHUTOFF SYSTEMS, AND 
              OTHER OIL DISCHARGE PREVENTION TECHNOLOGY.

    Section 5(b) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 
1334(b)) is amended by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(b)'', and by adding 
at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2) The Secretary of the Interior shall--
            ``(A) to review blowout preventers, emergency shutoff 
        systems, and other oil discharge prevention technology 
        (including emerging technology) that is or may be used for oil 
        and gas drilling operations under leases under this Act; and
            ``(B) revise regulations under this Act governing the use 
        of such technology as necessary based on that review.''.
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