Offshore Production and Safety Act of 2011
Latest action. Motion to proceed to consideration of measure, under the order of 5/16/2011, not having achieved 60 votes in the affirmative, withdrawn in Senate. (consideration: continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) S3086)
Offshore Production and Safety Act of 2011 - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to require an exploration plan to incorporate a third-party reviewed response plan which describes the means and timeline to contain and terminate an ongoing discharge of oil.
Requires the Secretary to certify, as a prerequisite to plan approval, the technological feasibility of methods proposed to be used under a response plan, as demonstrated by the potential lessee through simulation, demonstration, or other means.
Directs the Secretary of Energy (DOE), acting through the DOE Office of Science, to use specified funds to study, in collaboration with the DOE Office of Fossil Energy, means of improving prevention methodologies and technological responses to oil spills and mitigating the effects of oil spills on natural habitat.
Requires the DOE Secretary, as part of the study, to convene a task force to assess: (1) such methodologies and technological response to the blowout and explosion of the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010, and the resulting hydrocarbon releases into the environment; as well as (2) the adequacy of existing technologies for prevention and responses to deep water oil spills.
Directs the Comptroller General to study existing federal capabilities and legal authorities to prevent and respond to oil spills.
Instructs the Secretary to conduct certain oil and gas lease sales within specified deadlines.
States that such lease sales are considered to satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
Prohibits the Secretary from issuing a permit without ensuring that the proposed drilling operations meet all: (1) critical safety system requirements, including blowout prevention; and (2) oil spill response and containment requirements. Requires the Secretary to decide whether to issue a permit within 30 days after receiving an application. Allows up to two 15-day extensions of such deadline. Prescribes implementation procedures.
Imposes a deadline for a final decision on certain permit applications under existing leases.
The summary continues for 6 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 Senate" stage on May 11, 2011. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Motion to proceed to consideration of measure, under the order of 5/16/2011, not having achieved 60 votes in the affirmative, withdrawn in Senate. (consideration: CR S3086)
Civibrief does not map this action to a stage in the process. See the official record.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
The latest action on file does not map to a stage Civibrief recognizes, so the page will not name one. The record's own words are the reliable fact here.
The record's latest action, on May 18, 2011: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure, under the order of 5/16/2011, not having achieved 60 votes in the affirmative, withdrawn in Senate. (consideration: CR S3086)
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 has no outstanding steps 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?
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced it on May 11, 2011, and 22 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 22 Republicans.
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 May 11, 2011, 5601 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5594 days ago, on May 18, 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
- SenateMotion to proceed to consideration of measure, under the order of 5/16/2011, not having achieved 60 votes in the affirmative, withdrawn in Senate. (consideration: CR S3086)
- HouseNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action