Ellington

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation yesterday to make oil-spill clean up and deepwater drilling safer, the Associated Press is reporting.

One bill increases the amount of money the government can spend on new cleanup methods and technology from $22 million to $48 million. The other bill promotes further research on devices such as the blowout preventer that are used to prevent accidents.

The first measure significantly increases authorized funding for the Interagency Oil Spill Research and Development Program, created by the 1990 Oil Pollution Act that coordinates federal research for new technologies to prevent and respond to oil spills.