§335 — Title 14 Coast Guard | U.S. Code

Summary

Requires the Secretary to run a program to find, fix, and prevent pollution and other environmental dangers at current and former Coast Guard sites and on Coast Guard vessels. The program must clean up hazardous substances and pollutants, stop other serious environmental harms, tear down unsafe buildings (including at closed sites), and prevent future contamination at active facilities. Three defined terms: "environment"/"facility"/"person"/"release"/"removal"/"remedial"/"response" use the meanings in CERCLA section 101 (42 U.S.C. 9601); "hazardous substance" uses CERCLA section 101 but also includes "oil" as in Clean Water Act section 311 (33 U.S.C. 1321); "pollutant" uses the meaning in Clean Water Act section 502 (33 U.S.C. 1362). The Secretary must act for releases at Coast Guard-owned, leased, or operated sites and vessels, and at sites held by the United States when the contamination happened, except when a potentially responsible party is already responding under CERCLA section 122 (42 U.S.C. 9622). The Coast Guard may hire or work with other federal, state, or local groups, and will indemnify cleanup contractors if fair insurance for long-term liability is not available when the contract is signed. Money appropriated for these functions is put into a Coast Guard account set by the Commandant and remains available until spent. The President must show the Coast Guard cleanup funding separately in the annual budget under 31 U.S.C. 1105. Recoveries under CERCLA section 107 (42 U.S.C. 9607) go back into that account. Each year the Commandant must send a prioritized list of projects for funding to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation at the same time the President’s budget is submitted.

Title 14, §335

Coast Guard — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)For the purposes of this section—

(1)“environment”, “facility”, “person”, “release”, “removal”, “remedial”, and “response” have the same meaning they have in section 101 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9601);

(2)“hazardous substance” has the same meaning it has in section 101 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9601), except that it also includes the meaning given “oil” in section 311 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1321); and

(3)“pollutant” has the same meaning it has in section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362).

(b)(1)The Secretary shall carry out a program of environmental compliance and restoration at current and former Coast Guard facilities.

(2)Program goals include:

(A)Identifying, investigating, and cleaning up contamination from hazardous substances and pollutants.

(B)Correcting other environmental damage that poses an imminent and substantial danger to the public health or welfare or to the environment.

(C)Demolishing and removing unsafe buildings and structures, including buildings and structures at former Coast Guard facilities.

(D)Preventing contamination from hazardous substances and pollutants at current Coast Guard facilities.

(3)(A)The Secretary shall respond to releases of hazardous substances and pollutants—

(i)at each Coast Guard facility the United States owns, leases, or otherwise possesses;

(ii)at each Coast Guard facility the United States owned, leased, or otherwise possessed when the actions leading to contamination from hazardous substances or pollutants occurred; and

(iii)on each vessel the Coast Guard owns or operates.

(B)Subparagraph (A) of this paragraph does not apply to a removal or remedial action when a potentially responsible person responds under section 122 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9622).

(C)The Secretary shall pay a fee or charge imposed by a State authority for permit services for disposing of hazardous substances or pollutants from Coast Guard facilities to the same extent that nongovernmental entities are required to pay for permit services. This subparagraph does not apply to a payment that is the responsibility of a lessee, contractor, or other private person.

(4)The Secretary may agree with another Federal agency for that agency to assist in carrying out the Secretary’s responsibilities under this section. The Secretary may enter into contracts, cooperative agreements, and grant agreements with State and local governments to assist in carrying out the Secretary’s responsibilities under this section. Services that may be obtained under this paragraph include identifying, investigating, and cleaning up off-site contamination that may have resulted from the release of a hazardous substance or pollutant at a Coast Guard facility.

(5)section 119 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9619) applies to response action contractors that carry out response actions under this section. The Coast Guard shall indemnify response action contractors to the extent that adequate insurance is not generally available at a fair price at the time the contractor enters into the contract to cover the contractor’s reasonable, potential, long-term liability.

(c)(1)All sums appropriated to carry out the Coast Guard’s environmental compliance and restoration functions under this section or another law shall be credited or transferred to an appropriate Coast Guard account, as determined by the Commandant and remain available until expended.

(2)Funds may be obligated or expended from such account to carry out the Coast Guard’s environmental compliance and restoration functions under this section or another law.

(3)In proposing the budget for any fiscal year under section 1105 of title 31, the President shall set forth separately the amount requested for the Coast Guard’s environmental compliance and restoration activities under this section or another law.

(4)Amounts recovered under section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9607) for the Secretary’s response actions at current and former Coast Guard facilities shall be credited to an appropriate Coast Guard account, as determined by the Commandant.

(d)The Commandant shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a prioritized list of projects eligible for environmental compliance and restoration funding for each fiscal year concurrent with the President’s budget submission for that fiscal year.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, referred to in text, probably means the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, Pub. L. 96–510, Dec. 11, 1980, 94 Stat. 2767, which is classified principally to chapter 103 (§ 9601 et seq.) of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 9601 of Title 42 and Tables.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 335 was renumbered section 2181 of this title.

Amendments

2025—Pub. L. 119–60 renumbered section 318 of this title as this section.

§335 Environmental Compliance and Restoration Program