March 26, 1975
Page 8694
By Mr. MUSKIE:
S. 1341. A bill to establish a 200-mile Marine Pollution Control Zone. Referred to the Committee on Commerce, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on Public Works, by unanimous consent.
200-MILE MARINE POLLUTION CONTROL ZONE
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I am today introducing a bill which would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 and the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 to extend U.S. vessel pollution control jurisdiction 200 miles from our coast.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 and the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 affirm our country's jurisdiction over pollution from vessels in our territorial seas which presently extend 3 miles from our coastline.
The Ports and Waterways Safety Act mandates the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate design and construction standards with which all vessels of certain cargoes must comply for the purposes of reducing the pollution of our territorial seas and our coastline.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act gives the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency authority to establish liability and penalty limits for discharges of oil and hazardous substances into the navigable waters of the United States. It also gives the Environmental Protection Agency authority to establish standards of performance for vessels to control the discharge of sewage into the navigable waters of the United States.
The amendment which I am introducing today would extend these same jurisdictions to a limit of 200 miles. It would continue to require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate regulations to achieve the objectives of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act, and it would require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to set limits of liability for discharges of oil and hazardous substances and standards of performance controlling the discharge of sewage from vessels in the 200-mile zone, just as he presently has that responsibility out to the 3-mile limit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
I believe Congress should consider such an extension of pollution control jurisdiction for several reasons.
First, pollution of our coastal waters, our coastline, and the oceans continues at an accelerated rate. There is no need to detail the increasing threat that oil pollution from vessels poses to the marine and coastal environments of this Nation. The significance of this threat is underscored by a study of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which recently found that "oil globules in massive proportions infect nearly 700,000 square miles of blue water from Cape Cod to the Caribbean Sea." Suffice it to say that the waters surrounding, the United States and the U.S. coastline continue to be polluted by discharges of oil, hazardous substances, and sewage from vessels, creating substantial hazards to the resources of the marine and coastal environments including fish, shellfish, wildlife, marine and coastal ecosystems, and recreation and scenic values.
Second, while pollution continues to be a serious and potentially devastating problem, the international community has been unable to take effective remedial measures. Last year, under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization, a United Nations specialized agency, an international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships was negotiated in London. But the prescriptions in that convention are inadequate to reduce pollution, to an acceptable level. Many of us had hoped that the Law of the Sea Conference would successfully address this problem.
I had the privilege of attending the conference at Caracas as a member of the U.S. delegation. I was disappointed to find that pollution control was and continues to be relegated to a low priority, and many countries, perhaps a majority, have made it clear that they do not desire strict standards for pollution control.
Many believe that the Law of the Sea Conference will adopt a lowest common denominator consensus in the pollution area, and thus fail to resolve the problem of continuing vessel-source pollution. Furthermore, if conventions like the IMCO Convention and a Law of the Sea treaty are ultimately accepted by the international community, they will establish the basis for internationally agreed standards.
It is entirely consistent with the concept of those conventions for the United States to pass domestic legislation which implements those standards; which allows the establishment of stricter standards; and which permits the adoption of additional measures necessary for the protection of our marine environment. Delegations at Caracas did agree that the treaty would sanction a 200-mile zone in which coastal states would have jurisdictional rights, and one of those rights must be vessel-source pollution control.
Finally, other measures involving extension of U.S. jurisdiction are now being considered by Congress. A bill which would extend jurisdiction over fishing to 200 miles was approved in committee last year and has been introduced again this Congress. I have supported that bill. In 1974, both Senate and House committees considered bills which would establish a system of U.S. regulation over deep sea mining, and those bills have again been introduced. Control over pollution of our coastal area and the ocean is no less important than the protection of our fishing interests and our mining interests.
Some governmental agencies and officials believe, as a general proposition, that national extensions of jurisdiction are unwise. They argue that such extensions have questionable foundation in international law and may prejudice our efforts at the Law of the Sea Conference to negotiate a comprehensive treaty which will be generally accepted by the international community. I do not now agree with these arguments.
The Law of the Sea negotiations thus far have pointed to the fact that a Law of the Sea Treaty will not adequately resolve the pollution problem. Thus, while it may have been sensible not to consider national legislation when there was a substantial probability that a Law of the Sea Treaty would address this issue adequately, that situation no longer exists. Furthermore, even if a Law of the Sea Treaty were to establish an international regime, the United States, as I have indicated, would still want to have the authority and the jurisdiction to adopt stricter standards and additional measures for the ocean area surrounding its coastline.
Negotiations under the Law of the Sea Conference begin again this month. I hope our negotiators will recognize the determination of the United States to protect its coastline and surrounding waters from vessel-source pollution. I believe this bill will help in their consideration of this issue.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be included in the RECORD following these remarks.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
S. 1341
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That–
TITLE I
SEC. 101. Section 311(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (86 Stat. 862) is amended to add a new paragraph as follows–
"(15) 'navigable waters' for the purposes of this section includes these waters defined in section 502(7) and the belt of the seas which has as its inner boundary the outer limit of the territorial seas, and as its seaward boundary a line drawn so that each point on the line is 197 nautical miles from the inner boundary or is coterminous with a water depth of 200 meters, which ever is further seaward; except that in any area between the United States and a foreign country, where the line of equidistance between the United States and such foreign county is less than 200 nautical miles, there shall be substituted for the line measured seaward 197 nautical miles from the outer limit of the territorial seas, such line of equidistance."
SEC. 102. Section 312 (a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (86 Stat. 871) is amended to add a new paragraph as follows–
"(10) 'navigable waters' for the purposes of this section includes those waters defined in section 502(7) and the belt of the seas which has as its inner boundary the outer limit of the territorial seas, and as its seaward boundary a line drawn so that each point on the line is 197 nautical miles from the inner boundary or is coterminous with a water depth of 200 meters, whichever is further seaward; except that in any area between the United States and a foreign country where the line of equidistance between the United States and such foreign country is less than 200 nautical miles, there shall be substituted for the line measured seaward 197 nautical miles from the outer limit of the territorial seas, such line of equidistance."
TITLE II
SEC. 201. Section 102 of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 (86 Stat. 424) is hereby amended to redesignate subsections (b)-(e) as (h)-(k) respectively and to insert new subsections (b)-(g) as follows–
"(b) For the purposes of this Act, the term 'navigable waters' means the waters of the United States, the territorial seas, and the Marine Pollution Control Zone.
"(c) For the purposes of this Act, the term 'territorial seas' means the belt of the seas measured from the line of ordinary low water along that portion of the coast which is in direct contact with the open sea and the line marking the seaward limit of the inland waters, and extending seaward a distance of three nautical miles.
"(d) For the purposes of this Act, the term 'Marine Pollution Control Zone' means the belt of the seas which has as its inner boundary the outer limit of the territorial seas, and as its seaward boundary a line drawn so that each point on the line is 197 nautical miles from the inner boundary or is coterminous with a water depth of 200 meters, whichever is further seaward; except that in any area between the United States and a foreign country, where the line of equidistance between the United States and such foreign country is less than 200 nautical miles, there shall be substituted for the line measured seaward 197 nautical miles from the outer limit of the territorial seas, such line of equidistance.
"(e) For the purposes of this Act, the term 'Secretary' means Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating.
"(f) For the purposes of this Act, the term 'Administrator' means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
"(g) For the purposes of this Act, the term 'standard of performance' means a standard for the control of the discharge of pollutants which reflects the greatest degree of effluent reduction which the Administrator determines to be achievable through application of the best available demonstrated control technology, processes, operating methods, or other alternatives including, which practicable, a standard permitting no discharge of pollutants."
SEC. 202. (a) The first sentence of subsection (3) of section 4417a of the Revised Statutes of the United States (48 U.S.C. 391a), as amended by the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 (86 Stat. 424), is hereby amended to insert the phrase "and subject to the provisions of subsection (4), below", between the words "applies," and "such".
(b) Subsection (4) of such section 4417a of the Revised Statutes is hereby redesignated as subsection (5) and is amended to insert in the first sentence the phrase "or the Administrator" between the words "Secretary" and "under"; to insert the phrase "or Administrator" between the words "Secretary" and "shall"; to strike the words "the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency" and insert in lieu thereof the phrase "one another". The second sentence of redesignated subsection (5) is hereby amended to insert the phrase "and Administrator" between the words "Secretary" and "shall".
(c) Such section 4417a of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to insert a new subsection (4) as follows
"(4) (A) The Administrator shall promulgate regulations establishing standards of performance for all vessels to which this section applies, within the navigable waters. Any rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary under subsection (3), above shall be designed to achieve such standards of performance.
"(B) If the Administrator has reason to believe that regulations for the protection of the marine environment proposed by the Secretary under subsection (3), above, would not achieve the standards of performance set forth in regulations promulgated by the Administrator, or do not adequately protect the marine environment, the Administrator shall consult with the Secretary and may request the Secretary to review, and report to the Administrator on the advisability of prescribing modified, amended or additional regulations. Any such request shall be published in the Federal Register and shall include a detailed statement of the information on which it is based. The Secretary shall complete the review requested and shall report to the Administrator within such time as the Administrator specifies in the request, which time may not be less than 90 days from the time the request was made. The Secretary's report shall be accompanied by a detailed statement of his findings and the reasons for his conclusions, and shall be published in the Federal Register, except in a case in which the Administrator's request proposed specific action to be taken by the Secretary, and the Secretary's report indicates such action will be taken."
(d) Subsections (5)-(13) of such section 4417a of the Revised Statutes are hereby redesignated as subsections (6)-(14) respectively.
(e) Redesignated subsection (8) is hereby amended to strike the word "(7)" wherever it appears and insert in lieu thereof the word "(8)".
(f) Paragraph (C) of redesignated subsection (8) is amended to add the following sentences–
"Not later than January 1, 1976, the Secretary shall conduct a thorough review of all rules and regulations already promulgated with respect to United States flag vessels engaged in the coastwide trade to determine whether any stricter standards or additional measures are necessary or desirable to further the goals of this Act. The Secretary shall consult with the Administrator in making such assessments and determinations."
(g) Paragraph (D) of redesignated subsection (8) is amended to add the following sentence–
"The Secretary and the Administrator are authorized to establish stricter standards or additional measures for the protection of the marine environment for United States flag vessels engaged in the coastwise trade than for any vessels operating in the foreign trade, and are authorized to establish standards stricter than and measures additional to those internationally established for any vessels to which this section applies operating in the navigable waters."
Mr. MUSKIE subsequently said: Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill I introduced earlier to establish a 200-mile marine pollution control zone be jointly referred to the Committees on Commerce, Foreign Relations, and Public Works.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.