§2734 — Title 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must, within one year after August 18, 1990, expand and improve the Port of Valdez Vessel Traffic Service so it can track oil tankers from the Trans‑Alaska Pipeline when they travel through Prince William Sound and sound an alarm if a tanker leaves the designated navigation routes. To do this, the Secretary must get, install, and operate extra equipment (like radar, closed‑circuit TV, satellite tracking, or other shipboard surveillance), train and place staff, issue final rules, and send a report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives about whether Coast Guard personnel should have direct control of tanker movements using the upgraded VTS.

Title 33, §2734

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of Transportation shall within one year after August 18, 1990—

(1)acquire, install, and operate such additional equipment (which may consist of radar, closed circuit television, satellite tracking systems, or other shipboard dependent surveillance), train and locate such personnel, and issue such final regulations as are necessary to increase the range of the existing VTS system in the Port of Valdez, Alaska, sufficiently to track the locations and movements of tank vessels carrying oil from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline when such vessels are transiting Prince William Sound, Alaska, and to sound an audible alarm when such tankers depart from designated navigation routes; and

(2)submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report on the feasibility and desirability of instituting positive control of tank vessel movements in Prince William Sound by Coast Guard personnel using the Port of Valdez, Alaska, VTS system, as modified pursuant to paragraph (1).

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2002—Par. (2). Pub. L. 107–295 substituted “Transportation and Infrastructure” for “Merchant Marine and Fisheries”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Coast Guard, including the authorities and functions of the Secretary of Transportation relating thereto, to the Department of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see section 468(b), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6.

§2734 Vessel traffic service system