Spill Response and Prevention Surety Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 865 To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to establish an oil spill response and prevention grant program and provide for advances from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend and modify the application of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund financing rate, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 25, 2019 Mr. SULLIVAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to establish an oil spill response and prevention grant program and pro- vide for advances from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend and modify the application of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund financing rate, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Spill Response and 4 Prevention Surety Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 865 IS SEC. 2. OIL SPILL RESPONSE AND PREVENTION. 1 (a) OIL SPILL RESPONSE AND PREVENTION GRANT 2 PROGRAM.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title IV of the 4 Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–380; 104 5 Stat. 509) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘SEC. 4119. OIL SPILL RESPONSE AND PREVENTION GRANT 8 PROGRAMS. 9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 10 ‘‘(1) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘Committee’ 11 means the Interagency Coordinating Committee on 12 Oil Pollution Research established by section 13 7001(a)(1). 14 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 15 tity’ means an institution of higher education that— 16 ‘‘(A) is located in an eligible State in which 17 oil spills present a real and constant threat; 18 ‘‘(B) has a broad base of competence in 19 fields relating to— 20 ‘‘(i) ocean, coastal, river, or Great 21 Lakes resources; or 22 ‘‘(ii) the modeling of, efficacy of re- 23 sponses to, and fates and effects of oil 24 spills; 25 ‘‘(C) is located in an area in which— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 865 IS ‘‘(i) academic, engineering, and infra- 1 structure resources exist to adequately ad- 2 dress ongoing and future threats of oil 3 spills; 4 ‘‘(ii) Federal, State, industry, and 5 academic resources are being directed to 6 address threats of oil spills; 7 ‘‘(iii) planned future developments 8 would intensify or exacerbate threats of oil 9 spills; and 10 ‘‘(iv) research and development efforts 11 would have the greatest impact on oil spill 12 response and prevention; 13 ‘‘(D) if proposing to conduct research on 14 oil spill response and prevention in an ice-im- 15 pacted environment, has significant demon- 16 strable experience in the conduct of research in 17 ice-impacted environments; and 18 ‘‘(E) if proposing to conduct research in 19 partnership with, or to subcontract work to, a 20 foreign or private entity, is partnering with, or 21 subcontracting to, a foreign or private entity 22 that is uniquely equipped to support the re- 23 search being proposed. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 865 IS ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘eligible 1 State’ means a State— 2 ‘‘(A)(i) in which a marine oil terminal or 3 transportation facility is located; or 4 ‘‘(ii) that the Secretary determines has a 5 substantial risk of oil spills through any other 6 means of transportation; and 7 ‘‘(B) with respect to which the Secretary 8 has approved a proposal for the conduct of oil 9 spill response or prevention activities or pro- 10 grams. 11 ‘‘(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 12 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 13 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAMS.—To enable a 14 better understanding of oil spills and oil spill response, 15 and to prevent oil spills, there are established— 16 ‘‘(1) a program under which the Secretary shall 17 biennially award grants to eligible entities for the 18 conduct of oil spill response research and technology 19 development activities and programs and oil spill 20 prevention activities and programs that the Sec- 21 retary determines to be of substantial merit, includ- 22 ing the conduct of research on oil spill response and 23 prevention in ice-impacted environments; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 865 IS ‘‘(2) a program under which the Secretary shall 1 annually award grants to eligible States for the con- 2 duct of oil spill prevention activities and programs in 3 the eligible States, including— 4 ‘‘(A) equipment and technology upgrades; 5 ‘‘(B) upgrades to, and promotion of opti- 6 mal use of, spill prevention and response train- 7 ing facilities; 8 ‘‘(C) support of strategic plans to address 9 aging bulk oil storage and transportation infra- 10 structure; 11 ‘‘(D) risk assessments and studies; and 12 ‘‘(E) abandoned and derelict vessel identi- 13 fication, remediation, and removal. 14 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 15 under the program established by paragraph (1) or (2) 16 of subsection (b), an eligible entity or eligible State, as 17 applicable, shall submit to the Secretary an application at 18 such time, in such manner, and containing such informa- 19 tion as the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 20 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION.— 21 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY GRANT PROGRAM.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In coordinating, 23 prioritizing, and awarding grants under the 24 program established by subsection (b)(1), to en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 865 IS sure alignment with the principal objectives es- 1 tablished in the Oil Pollution Research and 2 Technology Plan of the Committee under sec- 3 tion 7001(b), the Secretary shall coordinate 4 with, and solicit recommendations from, the 5 Committee. 6 ‘‘(B) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The rec- 7 ommendations provided by the Committee 8 under subparagraph (A) shall incorporate feed- 9 back from— 10 ‘‘(i) oil and gas industry representa- 11 tives with expertise in relevant oil spill re- 12 sponse research; and 13 ‘‘(ii) members of academia with the 14 expertise described in clause (i). 15 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE STATE GRANT PROGRAM.—In 16 evaluating applications under the grant program es- 17 tablished by subsection (b)(2), the Secretary may so- 18 licit recommendations from— 19 ‘‘(A) other relevant Federal departments 20 and agencies; and 21 ‘‘(B) the Committee, with respect to any 22 research activity or program relating to oil spill 23 prevention proposed in such an application. 24 ‘‘(e) FUNDING.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 865 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount of interest 1 produced by investments in the Fund— 2 ‘‘(A) $10,000,000, as indexed for United 3 States dollar inflation from the date of enact- 4 ment of this section (as measured by the Con- 5 sumer Price Index), shall be available bienni- 6 ally, without further appropriation, to carry out 7 the grant program established by subsection 8 (b)(1); and 9 ‘‘(B) $25,000,000, as indexed for United 10 States dollar inflation from the date of enact- 11 ment of this section (as measured by the Con- 12 sumer Price Index), shall be available annually, 13 without further appropriation, to carry out the 14 grant program established by subsection (b)(2). 15 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the 16 amounts made available under subparagraphs (A) 17 and (B) of paragraph (1) that are not otherwise ap- 18 propriated, the Secretary may use not more than 2 19 percent for the administrative expenses of the Sec- 20 retary in carrying out the grant programs estab- 21 lished by paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively, of 22 subsection (b) for each fiscal year.’’. 23 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 24 tents of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 865 IS prec. 2701) is amended by inserting after the item 1 relating to section 4118 the following: 2 ‘‘Sec. 4119. Oil spill response and prevention grant programs.’’. (3) EXPENDITURE AUTHORITY.—Section 3 9509(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 4 amended— 5 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 6 (A), by striking ‘‘section 6002(b)’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘section 4119 or 6002(b)’’; 8 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking 9 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 10 (C) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 11 period at the end and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and 12 (D) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(G) for carrying out the grant programs 14 under section 4119 of the Oil Pollution Act of 15 1990.’’. 16 (b) ADVANCES OF AMOUNTS FROM OIL SPILL LI- 17 ABILITY TRUST FUND.—Section 6002(b) of the Oil Pollu- 18 tion Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2752(b)) is amended— 19 (1) in the fourth sentence, by striking ‘‘Sums’’ 20 and inserting the following: 21 ‘‘(4) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.—The 22 amounts’’; 23 (2) in the third sentence— 24 (A) by striking ‘‘by the Coast Guard’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 865 IS (B) by striking ‘‘Amounts advanced’’ and 1 inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(3) REPAYMENT OF ADVANCED AMOUNTS.— 3 Any amounts advanced under paragraph (2)’’; 4 (3) by striking the second sentence and insert- 5 ing the following: 6 ‘‘(2) ADVANCE OF FUNDS.—To the extent that 7 the amount under paragraph (1) is not adequate, 8 the Coast Guard— 9 ‘‘(A) may obtain from the Fund one or 10 more advances of such sums as may be nec- 11 essary, up to a maximum of $100,000,000, with 12 the total amount of all advances not to exceed 13 the amounts available under section 9509(c)(2) 14 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and 15 ‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the date 16 on which each advance is obtained under sub- 17 paragraph (A), and annually thereafter until all 18 advances are repaid, shall submit to the Com- 19 mittees on Commerce, Science, and Transpor- 20 tation and Finance of the Senate and the Com- 21 mittees on Transportation and Infrastructure 22 and Ways and Means of the House of Rep- 23 resentatives a report that describes— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 865 IS ‘‘(i) the amount advanced under that 1 subparagraph; and 2 ‘‘(ii) the facts and circumstances ne- 3 cessitating, supporting, and justifying the 4 advance.’’; and 5 (4) in the first sentence— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘, as amended by this Act’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘(33 U.S.C. 1321(c))’’; and 8 (B) by striking ‘‘Subsection (a) shall not 9 apply to sections’’ and inserting the following: 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall not 11 apply to section’’. 12 (c) APPLICABILITY OF OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST 13 FUND FINANCING RATE.— 14 (1) PERMANENT EXTENSION AND PERIODIC 15 SUSPENSION.—Subsection (f) of section 4611 of the 16 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read 17 as follows: 18 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION OF OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST 19 FUND FINANCING RATE.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Oil Spill Liability 21 Trust Fund financing rate under subsection (c) shall 22 not apply during any period— 23 ‘‘(A) beginning on the day after the last 24 day of any calendar quarter for which the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 865 IS retary estimates that, as of the close of that 1 quarter, the unobligated balance in the Oil Spill 2 Liability Trust Fund is more than 3 $7,000,000,000, and 4 ‘‘(B) ending 30 days after the last day of 5 any subsequent calendar quarter for which the 6 Secretary estimates that, as of the close of that 7 quarter, such unobligated balance is $5,000,000 8 or less. 9 ‘‘(2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—In the case of 10 any calendar year beginning after December 31, 11 2019, the $7,000,000,000 amount in paragraph 12 (1)(A) and the $5,000,000,000 amount in paragraph 13 (1)(B) shall each be increased by an amount equal 14 to— 15 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 16 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter- 17 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 18 year, by substituting ‘2018’ for ‘2016’ in sub- 19 paragraph (A)(ii) thereof. 20 Any increase determined under the preceding sen- 21 tence shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of 22 $100,000,000.’’. 23 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 24 by this subsection shall apply to crude oil received 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 865 IS or petroleum products entered after the date that is 1 7 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 2 (d) MODIFICATION OF LIMITATION ON OIL SPILL LI- 3 ABILITY TRUST FUND EXPENDITURES.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 5 9509(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 6 amended— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘$1,000,000,000’’ in clause 8 (i) and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000,000’’; 9 (B) by striking ‘‘$500,000,000’’ in clause 10 (ii) and inserting ‘‘$1,000,000,000’’; and 11 (C) by striking ‘‘1,000,000,000 PER INCI- 12 DENT, ETC’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘PER 13 INCIDENT LIMITATIONS’’. 14 (2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Section 15 9509(c)(2) of such Code is amended by adding at 16 the end the following new subparagraph: 17 ‘‘(C) INFLATION ADJUSTMENTS.—In the 18 case of any calendar year beginning after De- 19 cember 31, 2019, the $2,000,000,000 amount 20 in subparagraph (A)(i) and the $1,000,000,000 21 amount in subparagraph (A)(ii) shall each be 22 increased by an amount equal to— 23 ‘‘(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S865.IS S865 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 865 IS ‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de- 1 termined under section 1(f)(3) for the [Text truncated for display. 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