On the one-year anniversary of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, Rep. Lynn Woolsey announced that she has reintroduced legislation, the Oil Pollution Research and Development Program Authorization Act (H.R. 1568), to make oil spill response more effective by strengthening federal interagency research and development (R&D) coordination.

“The Gulf spill of 2010 was first and foremost an act of environmental recklessness and negligence,” said Rep. Woolsey, a senior Democrat on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.  “But we could have been better prepared for a spill of this magnitude – with advanced technologies to mitigate the damage and a streamlined process to coordinate the clean-up effort.” 

Under current law, there are 14 agencies with some piece of jurisdiction over federal investments in oil spill prevention, response and mitigation R&D.  H.R. 1568 would streamline the committee in charge of coordinating this R&D to include representatives from the Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior.  This allows the agencies with the most expertise to lead the effort toward common solutions, working in a more efficient way, and allows the other 10 agencies to play a lesser role. 

Rep. Woolsey’s bill also would double funding for federal oil spill R&D, which has remained flat since 1990, a step recommended by the President’s commission on the Gulf spill.  “While industry continues to invest heavily in technology that allows them to drill in deeper and deeper waters, we are shortchanging technologies that help prevent, respond to and mitigate oil spills,” Rep. Woolsey said, “As long as we continue to drill offshore, it’s imperative that we keep pace with investments that make offshore drilling as safe as possible.”

The impetus for Rep. Woolsey’s legislation, first offered in 2009, was not the Gulf spill, but a relatively smaller 2007 spill in the San Francisco Bay.  “Throughout that ordeal, there was confusion about who was in charge and what technologies were available to assess and clean up the mess,” she added.  “We heard time and time again from first responders about the inadequacy of the tools at their disposal, which were in many cases no better than what was available in the wake of Exxon Valdez nearly 20 years earlier.  Had my bill become law in 2009, we would have had a more effective response to last year’s Gulf disaster.”

Rep. Woolsey’s bill originally passed the House by unanimous vote in the summer of 2010, but the Senate failed to act. 

“The anniversary of the Gulf spill is the perfect moment to focus our attention on these issues and reconsider my legislation,” Rep. Woolsey said.  “We can’t let excessive bureaucracy get in the way when disaster strikes.  We must make sure our clean-up technology is state-of-the-art.  And we can’t wait for yet another devastating oil spill before we act.”