The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“INTRODUCTION OF STOP OIL SPILLS ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1211-E1212 on June 25, 2010.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF STOP OIL SPILLS ACT
______
HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY
of massachusetts
in the house of representatives
Friday, June 25, 2010
Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the death of 11 workers on April 20, 2010, the American people have watched helplessly as millions of barrels of oil have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. It has become obvious that the technologies to drill ever deeper for oil and gas have developed rapidly, but the technologies needed to prevent or stop catastrophic spills have not. That is why I am introducing the Stop Oil Spills Act, or the SOS Act. If we are going to drill ultra-deep, we must be able to make that drilling ultra-safe and to stop any spill ultra-fast.
The SOS Act repeals Sections 999A through 999H of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and establishes in its place the ``Innovative Offshore Drilling Safety Technology Program.'' The bill takes $50 million per year in oil and gas royalty payments, which currently are directed to a 2005 Energy Policy Act program that subsidizes industry development of deepwater drilling technology, and redirects those funds to a Department of Energy grant program to develop next-generation technologies to prevent or stop offshore drilling spills. This new program will help ensure that we avoid future offshore well blowouts like the one that led to the current disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and that in the event of a blowout, that we have the right tools on hand to stop the spill quickly and effectively.
The latest estimates are that between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil are spewing into our territorial waters every day. While BP gave assurance that it could respond to a spill of more than four times this amount, the reality is quite different. In attempt after failed attempt to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf, from ``top kill'' to ``top hat'' to ``junk shot'', BP has demonstrated that it is not prepared to deal with the consequences of a deepwater well blowout with such great pressures and depths. With other companies' spill response plans virtually mirroring those of BP's, it appears that the industry as a whole is equally unprepared.
Over the last three years, the five largest independent oil producers amassed nearly $289 billion dollars in profits, invested a total of $39 billion to explore for new oil and gas deposits, and invested more than
$10 billion in research and development. And yet over that time, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and BP invested an average of just $20 million per year in research and development on safety, accident prevention, and spill response technologies and capabilities. BP CEO Tony Hayward's admission that his company lacks the tools to respond to the current spill is the direct result of a pattern of investment that prioritizes ultra-deep drilling over ultra-safe drilling.
The SOS Act will not increase costs to taxpayers. The bill is paid for by redirecting royalty payments that are now being used to subsidize industry development of deepwater drilling technologies, something that industry has the resources and incentives to perform on its own. The SOS Act will ensure that the technologies we will need to respond to the next oil spill are being developed and tested with the Federal government's support and guidance.
The bill requires the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretary of Interior, to establish a program within six months 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 deep-water and ultra-deepwater operations.
The awards will focus on new technologies or innovative improvements to existing technologies. These include blowout preventers, secondary control systems, remotely operated vehicles or technologies to stop or capture hydrocarbons from offshore wells. The bill directs the Secretary to select projects on a competitive basis, based primarily on the potential for commercialization of the relevant technology and the potential to enhance industry's capacity to prevent, stop or contain a large-scale spill from offshore drilling operations.
The program will be carried out in accordance with an annual plan prepared by the Secretary that takes into consideration recommendations from a Technical Advisory Committee established by the bill, as well as recommendations from the independent commission established by the President to investigate the Deepwater Horizon spill and the existing Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research. The annual plan shall be transmitted annually to Congress and made available on the Internet.
Finally, the bill establishes a Stop Oil Spills (SOS) Fund in the U.S. Treasury and moves funds from the existing industry research and development subsidy program from the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into this new Fund. 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, $50,000,000 shall be deposited into the Fund. Monies in the Oil SOS Fund shall be available to the Secretary for obligation without fiscal year limitation and up to five percent of the monies may cover the costs of administering the program.
We will continue to be susceptible to the risk of deepwater blowouts and hydrocarbon spills as long as we are dependant on petroleum to meet our energy needs. While we work to reduce and eliminate this dangerous dependence, we must do everything in our power to decrease the likelihood of a catastrophic spill and increase our capacity to stop it and respond to it. The SOS Act will put us on the path of improving the safety of our drilling operations and ensuring that the appropriate tools are in the toolbox to respond if another spill emergency ever occurs.
____________________
