Sens. Murkowski and Begich Introduce Legislation to Raise Oil Spill Liability Fund to $10 billion
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich have introduced legislation to expand the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF) to $10 billion by raising the fee the oil industry pays on each barrel.
The bill (S.3309) also removes the "sunset" provisions in the law so the fund will always be accessible to those impacted by oil spills. Nothing in the bill would limit the liability of oil companies or other responsible parties.
"The liability fund provides a critical, industry-funded source of compensation that's immediately available to address spill-related impacts," said Sen. Murkowski, R-Alaska. "It's now clear that we need to increase the overall size of the fund to ensure that it's available in the unlikely event that there's more than one accident at a time."
"There's no question we need more resources for oil spill research and prevention. This bill is a solid first step toward that goal," said Sen. Begich, D-Alaska. "I'll be working with Sen. Murkowski and other members of Congress to beef up efforts to deal with oil spills. Alaska has historically led the nation in developing new technologies that allow us to develop oil and gas responsibly, so we need build on that expertise."
Sen. Murkowski expects additional and similar measures will be introduced by Gulf of Mexico senators in the coming days. Her amendment builds on her previous efforts to ensure the nation has an adequate response fund to address major oil spills.
In 2005, Sen. Murkowski proposed increasing the industry per-barrel fee that supports the liability fund by 60 percent. Her new amendment make sure the fund would not be depleted by a single catastrophic spill.
"While this won't resolve all of the potential issues arising from the Deepwater Horizon accident, it's one of several steps the Senate should take to see that we're prepared to respond adequately in the unlikely event of future spills," Sen. Murkowski said.
The bill would:
- Raise the industry-funded liability reserve amount to $10 billion.
- Raise the per barrel fee from 8 cents per barrel to 9 cents per barrel immediately. This 12.5 percent increase in the per-barrel fee is estimated to raise up to $612 million annually.
- Remove the sunset provision from the law so that the liability fund will automatically restore itself in the event of future spills
The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund currently contains about $1.6 billion and is set to expire in 2017. The fund was established by Congress in 1986, but not activated until after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. In 2005, Sen. Murkowski sponsored an amendment raising the fee from 5 cents to 8 cents a barrel.
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