33 U.S.C. § 1321a: Prevention of small oil…

Summary

The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere must set up a program to prevent and teach about small oil spills from boats and small facilities. They will work with the Department that runs the Coast Guard and other agencies. The program must include assessing where spills happen, doing outreach and training, and encouraging voluntary steps to prevent spills and improve responses for vessels and places that do not need a formal vessel response plan, such as recreational boats, commercial fishing boats, marinas, and aquaculture sites. The Under Secretary may give grants to sea grant colleges and institutes, state agencies, tribal governments, and other groups to do four things: study where small spills come from and how much occurs (focusing first on areas with the most spills in the past 10 years); run voluntary clean-marina programs with best practices; provide public education on preventing and cleaning up oil (for example, removing oil from bilges, safe refueling, and proper disposal); and support outreach about derelict vessels that might sink or leak oil. Congress authorized $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for this work.

Title 33, §1321a

Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Prevention and education program

The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating and other appropriate agencies, shall establish an oil spill prevention and education program for small vessels. The program shall provide for assessment, outreach, and training and voluntary compliance activities to prevent and improve the effective response to oil spills from vessels and facilities not required to prepare a vessel response plan under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), including recreational vessels, commercial fishing vessels, marinas, and aquaculture facilities. The Under Secretary may provide grants to sea grant colleges and institutes designated under section 1126 of this title and to State agencies, tribal governments, and other appropriate entities to carry out—

(1)regional assessments to quantify the source, incidence and volume of small oil spills, focusing initially on regions in the country where, in the past 10 years, the incidence of such spills is estimated to be the highest;

(2)voluntary, incentive-based clean marina programs that encourage marina operators, recreational boaters, and small commercial vessel operators to engage in environmentally sound operating and maintenance procedures and best management practices to prevent or reduce pollution from oil spills and other sources;

(3)cooperative oil spill prevention education programs that promote public understanding of the impacts of spilled oil and provide useful information and techniques to minimize pollution, including methods to remove oil and reduce oil contamination of bilge water, prevent accidental spills during maintenance and refueling and properly cleanup and dispose of oil and hazardous substances; and

(4)support for programs, including outreach and education to address derelict vessels and the threat of such vessels sinking and discharging oil and other hazardous substances, including outreach and education to involve efforts to the owners of such vessels.

(b)Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to carry out this section, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act June 30, 1948, ch. 758, as amended generally by Pub. L. 92–500, § 2, Oct. 18, 1972, 86 Stat. 816, which is classified generally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1251 of this title and Tables. Codification Section was enacted as part of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, and not as part of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act which comprises this chapter.

§1321a Prevention of Small Oil Spills