Concerned About Oil Spills, Bill Young Unveils SAFEGUARDS Act

The dean of Floridas congressional delegation, Republican U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, proposed the SAFEGUARDS Act (Secure All Facilities to Effectively Guard the United States Against and Respond to Dangerous Spills) in Congress to avoid future disasters resulting from oil spills.

The SAFEGUARDS Act addresses some of the systematic breakdowns which led to the BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, said Young. My legislation requires that there must be a full-scale response plan in place and that the oil spill response plan must account for a true worst-case scenario, including the uncontrolled discharge of oil resulting from the failure of a blowout preventer or other containment devices.

Young added his bill would also ensure better federal management of an offshore oil disaster.

While the Coast Guard is ultimately responsible for leading the governments response to an oil spill in Americas coastal waters, it is not required to approve oil spill response plans submitted by oil rigs, said Young. Instead, each rig is required to submit their spill response plans to the Minerals Management Service, an agency we learned has had many well-documented issues with administering rig safety standards. The Coast Guard must be involved at all levels of the planning and permitting stage to ensure a fully coordinated response effort. If the Coast Guard has to clean up the spills, it should have the authority to review and certify the cleanup plans ahead of time. The SAFEGUARDS Act will make this a requirement for all current and future oil rigs, as well as to establish the commandant of the Coast Guard as the national incident commander to oversee the federal governments response to large oil spills in coastal waters.

Finally, my legislation addresses inadequacies in federal response efforts highlighted by the current spill, concluded Young. The framework of the National Contingency Plan, which is the federal government response plan for all oil spills, has not been updated since 1994. The SAFEGUARDS Act will require the response plan to be updated at least every five years. Further, this bill will require the EPA to begin monitoring water quality within 48 hours after an oil spill is discovered. It is important for the public to have accurate information about how our water, our wildlife and our beaches are being affected as quickly as possible.