[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1890 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1890

    To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require, as a 
     condition and term of any exploration plan or development and 
 production plan submitted under that Act, that the applicant for the 
plan must submit an oil spill containment and clean-up plan capable of 
   handling a worst-case scenario oil spill, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 2011

 Ms. Tsongas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require, as a 
     condition and term of any exploration plan or development and 
 production plan submitted under that Act, that the applicant for the 
plan must submit an oil spill containment and clean-up plan capable of 
   handling a worst-case scenario oil spill, 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 ``Save America from Environmentally 
Reckless Drilling Act'' or the ``SAFER Drilling Act''.

SEC. 2. OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS OIL SPILL CONTAINMENT AND CLEAN-UP PLANS.

    The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 32. OIL SPILL CONTAINMENT AND CLEAN-UP PLANS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall require, as a condition and 
term of any exploration plan or any development and production plan 
submitted under this Act, that--
            ``(1) the applicant submit and implement an oil spill 
        containment and clean-up plan capable of handling a worst-case 
        scenario oil spill; and
            ``(2) the Secretary and the Administrator of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency must approve the plan.
    ``(b) Contents.--The plan required under paragraph (1) shall--
            ``(1) address the factors of--
                    ``(A) a continuous oil spill;
                    ``(B) depth of an oil spill;
                    ``(C) multiple events;
                    ``(D) inclement weather;
                    ``(E) changes in technology;
                    ``(F) seafloor instability and processes; and
                    ``(G) the formation of methane hydrates;
            ``(2) address such other factors as the Secretary considers 
        appropriate;
            ``(3) address the contingency that early attempts to 
        contain a spill may fail;
            ``(4) include specific redundancy mechanisms to contain a 
        spill;
            ``(5) use best available control technology both to contain 
        a spill and mitigate its environmental impacts; and
            ``(6) demonstrate adequate technology, organization, 
        resources, and capacity to both contain and to prevent 
        shoreline contamination by a significant proportion of a worst-
        case spill, and to provide for long-term clean-up and 
        remediation of the marine and coastal environments.
    ``(c) Submission to EPA.--The Secretary shall submit the oil spill 
containment and clean-up plan to the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency for approval, denial, or approval conditional upon 
modification. The Administrator shall give approval only if the 
applicant has demonstrated adequate technology, organization, 
resources, and capacity both to contain and to prevent shoreline 
contamination by a significant proportion of a worst-case spill, and to 
provide for long-term clean-up and remediation of the marine and 
coastal environments.
    ``(d) Lease Cancellation.--
            ``(1) In general.--If the holder of a lease under this Act 
        fails to submit an exploration plan or development and 
        production plan in accordance with this section, or fails to 
        implement an oil spill containment and clean-up plan approved 
        by the Secretary and the Administrator for purposes of this 
        section, the Secretary may cancel the lease.
            ``(2) Compensation not required.--Cancellation of a lease 
        under this subsection shall not entitle a lessee to any 
        compensation.
    ``(e) Application.--This section shall only apply with respect to 
exploration plans and development and production plans required under 
leases under this Act issued after the date of the enactment of the 
Save America from Environmentally Reckless Drilling Act.''.
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