Offshore Accountability Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5695 To require operators of offshore oil and gas facilities to report failures of critical systems to the Secretary of Interior, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2020 Mr. MCEACHIN (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. CARBAJAL, and Mr. BUCHANAN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To require operators of offshore oil and gas facilities to report failures of critical systems to the Secretary of Interior, and for other purposes. 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 referred to as the ‘‘Offshore Ac- 4 countability Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not more than 30 days after the 7 discovery of an equipment failure of a critical system oper- 8 ated at an offshore oil or gas facility, the operator of such 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Jan 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5695.IH H5695 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5695 IH facility shall provide a written notice of such failure to 1 the Secretary and the manufacturer of such equipment. 2 (b) INVESTIGATION.— 3 (1) ANALYSIS REPORT.—Subject to subsection 4 (d), an operator required to provide notice to the 5 Secretary under subsection (a) shall ensure that an 6 investigation and an equipment failure analysis are 7 completed within 120 days of the failure to deter- 8 mine the cause of such failure. The operator shall 9 provide an analysis report to the Secretary and to 10 the manufacturer of such equipment documenting 11 such investigation and any corrective action taken. 12 (2) PUBLICATION.—Not more than 30 days 13 after receiving an analysis report submitted under 14 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall make such anal- 15 ysis report available to the public on the Department 16 of Interior website. 17 (c) EXTENSION.—An operator required to provide an 18 analysis report under subsection (b) may request an exten- 19 sion of up to 60 days from the Secretary for such require- 20 ment by submitting a written request detailing how such 21 operator will complete the investigation and report re- 22 quired by subsection (b). The Secretary shall review and 23 respond to such request not later than 30 days after the 24 date on which such request is submitted, and may not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Jan 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5695.IH H5695 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5695 IH grant more than one such extension with respect to a sin- 1 gle investigation and report. 2 (d) NOTICE OF CHANGE IN EQUIPMENT OR PROCE- 3 DURES.—An operator required to provide a notice under 4 subsection (a) shall— 5 (1) not more than 30 days after receiving notice 6 from a manufacturer of any critical system that 7 made changes in the design of a critical system as 8 the result of the reported failure, report in writing 9 such notice to the Secretary; and 10 (2) not more than 30 days after a change in 11 such operator’s operating or repair procedures as a 12 result of the reported failure, report in writing such 13 change to the Secretary. 14 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 15 (1) BLOWOUT PREVENTER SYSTEM.—The term 16 ‘‘blowout preventer system’’ means a wellhead device 17 or combination of devices that is specifically de- 18 signed to prevent the uncontrolled release of gas, oil, 19 or other fluids or hydrocarbons. 20 (2) CRITICAL SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘critical sys- 21 tem’’ means safety and pollution prevention equip- 22 ment or a blowout preventer system. 23 (3) EQUIPMENT FAILURE.—The term ‘‘equip- 24 ment failure’’ means any conditions that prevents 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Jan 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5695.IH H5695 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5695 IH equipment from meeting its functional specifications 1 or purpose. 2 (4) OPERATOR.—The term ‘‘operator’’ means 3 the operator of an offshore oil or gas facility. 4 (5) SAFETY AND POLLUTION PREVENTION 5 EQUIPMENT.—The term ‘‘safety and pollution pre- 6 vention system’’ means any equipment that is spe- 7 cifically designed to prevent a malfunction or failure 8 of an offshore well, resulting in injury or loss of life, 9 damage to the environment, or serious damage to 10 the equipment, including— 11 (A) surface safety valves and actuators; 12 (B) boarding shutdown valves and the ac- 13 tuators of such valves; 14 (C) underwater safety valves and actu- 15 ators; 16 (D) subsurface safety valves and associated 17 safety valve locks and landing nipples; and 18 (E) gas lift shutdown valves and actuators 19 associated with such valves. 20 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 21 the Secretary of the Interior. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Jan 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5695.IH H5695 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS