H.R. 5608: Better Oil Spill Response Plan Act of 2010
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H.R. 5608: Better Oil Spill Response Plan Act of 2010
111th Congress · introduced 2010-06-25 · Environmental Protection · Latest: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
federal
Follow this bill, step by step
- Where it came from: introduced 2010-06-25 · official record
- Who proposed it: Rep. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA-7] · what a sponsor is
- What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
- Where it stands now: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
- If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.
Official title
Better Oil Spill Response Plan Act of 2010
Plain summary
Better Oil Spill Response Plan Act of 2010 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the President, every five years, to publish and provide to each Area Committee an estimate of the worst case discharges that are possible in each area described in an Area Contingency Plan based on the oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities that are planned or being conducted at various locations and depths in each area. Requires the President to revise the National Contingency Plan and the regulations concerning the National Response System to take into account: (1) the adequacy of the Plan to respond to the volume, source, and duration of the discharge caused by the explosion involving the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon; (2) any findings and options related to the Plan made by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling; and (3) the estimate of the worst case discharges. Requires the President to revise the Plan whenever the estimate of the worst case discharges materially changes. Requires Area Contingency Plans to be adequate to mitigate or remove (currently, to remove) a worst case discharge. Sets forth provisions concerning revision and presidential review of: (1) Area Contingency Plans; and (2) tank vessel, nontank vessel, and facility response plans to discharges of oil or hazardous substances. Repeals provisions authorizing the President to permit a vessel or facility to operate without an approved response plan if the owner or operator certifies the availability of private personnel and equipment to respond to a worst case discharge or substantial threat of such a discharge. Directs the President to require owners or operators of vessels or facilities that are required to submit response plans to demonstrate annually their capacity to implement such plans. Requires a dispersant schedule prepared under the National Contingency Plan to include specified information regarding the safety and efficacy of the dispersants, other chemicals, and other spill mitigating devices and substances. Prohibits the President from placing such a substance on such schedule unless the President receives satisfactory assurances that the manufacturer will publicly disclose the ingredients of any such substance that will be used to carry out a National Contingency Plan, Area Contingency Plan, or vessel or facility response plan in response to a discharge declared to be a spill of national significance. Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require compliance with the Clean Water Act's response plan requirements.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
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What does this mean? (plain words)
Official text
Better Oil Spill Response Plan Act of 2010
Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes
Officials and money
Sponsor: Rep. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA-7] · 1 cosponsors
Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.
Cosponsors on this site
Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA-7] reported raising $6.0 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.
No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.
Words on this page, explained (1)
- Rulemaking
- The process agencies use to write regulations that carry out laws passed by Congress or a legislature. Usually an agency publishes a proposed rule, takes public comments, then publishes a final rule.
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-111hr5608.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/111/hr>
Record fed-us-cong111-hr5608 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong111 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong111