Oil Pollution Research and Development Program Reauthorization Act of 2011
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Energy and Environment.
Oil Pollution Research and Development Program Reauthorization Act of 2011 - Amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to revise provisions concerning the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research. Revises Committee membership. Requires the Committee, acting through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to: (1) develop a national information clearinghouse on oil discharge; and (2) submit a plan for the implementation of the oil pollution research, development, and demonstration program at least every five years.
Requires oil pollution research and technology plans to identify: (1) regional oil pollution research needs ; (2) information needed to conduct risk assessment and risk analysis research to effectively prevent oil discharges; and (3) a methodology for the solicitation, evaluation, preapproval, funding, and utilization of technologies and research projects in advance of oil discharges.
Requires the oil pollution research, development, and demonstration program to provide for research, development, and demonstration of new or improved technologies which are effective in preventing, detecting, containing, recovering, or mitigating (currently preventing or mitigating) oil discharges and which protect the environment. Revises provisions concerning the evaluation of such technologies.
Requires the Committee, in establishing a research program to monitor and scientifically evaluate the environmental effects of oil discharge (including long-term effects), to act through the Administrator of NOAA. Revises requirements for program elements.
Requires the Committee, acting through the Administrator of NOAA (currently the Department of Commerce), to monitor and scientifically evaluate the long-term environmental effects of oil discharges under certain circumstances.
Removes requirements that the Coast Guard conduct port oil pollution minimization demonstration projects with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Requires oil pollution technology testing and evaluations to be given priority over all other activities performed at the Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Environmental Test Tank Research Center in New Jersey.
Requires the Committee to engage in international cooperation on oil pollution research, development, and demonstration activities.
The summary continues for 3 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on April 14, 2011. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 6, 2011: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
LYNN WOOLSEY (D-CA) introduced it on April 14, 2011, and 15 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 15 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 14, 2011, 5628 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5606 days ago, on May 6, 2011.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers