Referred to the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 8, 2006
Oil Spill Prevention Act of 2005 - Prohibits the operator of a tank vessel from contracting or agreeing to transfer oil to or from an onshore or offshore facility, or a vessel with a capacity over 250 barrels in U.S. waters, unless: (1) a qualified person in charge of operations oversees the operation on the barge; and (2) at least one other person qualified as a tanker-assistant is on board to maintain an oil spill watch during the transfer.
Requires a person or facility conducting vessel refueling and bunkering operations, or the lightering of petroleum products, or person or facility transferring low flammability fuel oil between an onshore or offshore facility and a vessel with an oil capacity of over 250 barrels, to: (1) deploy, prior to the transfer of such oil, a boom that completely contains the area around the vessel and that meets Coast Guard (CG) adopted standards; and (2) submit an operations plan to the CG prior to commencement of nighttime refueling operations.
Requires a person or facility conducting refueling and bunkering operations, and a person or facility transferring fuel oil between an onshore or offshore facility and a tank barge fitted with a cargo tank liquid overfill protection system, to have an overfill control panel on the dock capable of receiving an alarm and shutdown signal from the cargo tank overfill sensor system.
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Requires an operator of a tank vessel to provide annual documentation of repairs or alterations made to a cargo tank liquid overfill protection system to the CG Office of Marine Inspection.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 15, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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