Washington (December 7, 2022) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, released the following statement today praising inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY23 of his legislative priorities outlined in the Oil Spill Response Review Act and the Expanding Maritime Environmental and Technical Assistance Program (META) Act.

“I am proud that my legislative efforts to protect coastal communities and encourage stronger, more secure safeguards that will help to prevent oil spills from becoming even more disastrous have been secured in the NDAA for this coming fiscal year. As we build up our clean energy future, we have an obligation to maintain our climate goals and commitments to coastal communities and their waters.”

Senator Markey succeeded in getting major provisions of the oil spill legislation included in the bipartisan Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, which was included in the NDAA. These provisions would direct the Coast Guard to develop and implement a program to improve oil spill response by periodically reviewing and auditing vessel response plans (VRPs), oil spill response drills, and responses to oil spill incidents that require the mobilization of contracted resources. As a result of Senator Markey’s legislation, the NDAA would also require annual review and updates to the Coast Guard Response Resource Inventory and other Coast Guard tools used to document the availability of oil spill response equipment to ensure that such information remains current.

The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, also includes several amendments introduced by Senator Markey to increase protection of marine mammals including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. These amendments afford better opportunities for research and near real-time monitoring efforts.

Additionally, the NDAA includes a provision to expand the funding of the Maritime Environmental and Technical Assistance program within the Maritime Administration (MARAD) from $3 million to $15 million. Senator Markey’s legislation called for a doubling of the baseline funding in order to more strongly prioritize the decarbonization of the shipping and maritime sector.

The MARAD Reauthorization bill within NDAA also includes labor language to ensure unions can access offshore wind workforce development funds, which Senator Markey worked to get included and which is similar to Senator Markey’s Offshore Wind Jobs and Opportunity Act.

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