[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1684 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1684

To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act to impose penalties and provide for the recovery of removal 
  costs and damages in connection with certain discharges of oil from 
            foreign offshore units, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2015

 Mr. Curbelo of Florida (for himself, Mr. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Young 
 of Alaska, Mr. Sires, and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act to impose penalties and provide for the recovery of removal 
  costs and damages in connection with certain discharges of oil from 
            foreign offshore units, 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 ``Foreign Spill Protection Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. LIABILITY OF OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF FOREIGN OFFSHORE UNITS.

    Section 1002 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2702) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Foreign Offshore Units.--In any case in which there is a 
discharge, or substantial threat of discharge, of oil from a foreign 
offshore unit that reaches or threatens to reach the navigable waters 
or adjoining shorelines or the exclusive economic zone, the owner or 
operator of the facility--
            ``(1) is liable for the removal costs and damages specified 
        in subsection (b) that result from such incident; and
            ``(2) shall be treated as a responsible party with respect 
        to the incident for the purposes of this Act in the same manner 
        as a responsible party for an offshore facility.''.

SEC. 3. PENALTIES FOR DISCHARGE OF OIL FROM FOREIGN OFFSHORE UNITS.

    Section 311(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
U.S.C. 1321(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(13) Foreign offshore units.--
                    ``(A) Discharges of oil reaching navigable 
                waters.--In any case in which there is a discharge of 
                oil from a foreign offshore unit that reaches the 
                navigable waters of the United States, adjoining 
                shorelines, or waters of the contiguous zone--
                            ``(i) the discharge shall be subject to the 
                        prohibition in paragraph (3); and
                            ``(ii) the owner or operator of the unit 
                        shall be subject to the penalties established 
                        under this subsection.
                    ``(B) Foreign offshore unit defined.--In this 
                paragraph, the term `foreign offshore unit' has the 
                meaning given that term in section 1001 of the Oil 
                Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701).''.

SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to a 
discharge, or substantial threat of discharge, of oil occurring after 
the date of enactment of this Act.
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