PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Permits for transporting or dumping material must say what material is allowed, how much, where it will end or be dumped, and any rules needed to match an approved site plan. The EPA Administrator or the appropriate Secretary may add special monitoring rules and any other needed conditions. Permits can last up to 7 years. The agency can charge processing fees and require reports. It can also issue general permits for certain materials if they are expected to cause minimal harm. All permits must be reviewed from time to time and can be limited, changed, or revoked if monitoring shows the dumping would not meet the rules. Before any limit or revocation, the permit holder must get notice and a chance for a hearing. Applicants must give the information the agency needs. Permit applications and final decisions are public records. A copy of each issued permit must be kept on the vessel and another sent to the Coast Guard’s Secretary. For low-level radioactive waste, no permit may be issued during the two-year period beginning January 6, 1983, unless the EPA Administrator approves limited research under strict conditions and monitoring. Starting two years after January 6, 1983, the agency cannot issue permits for radioactive waste unless the applicant prepares a detailed Radioactive Material Disposal Impact Assessment (listing materials and containers, environmental and economic impacts, contingency and monitoring plans, State consistency, alternatives, and public input) and the Administrator includes strict monitoring terms, sends the assessment to two Congressional committees, and Congress approves a special joint resolution within 90 days of continuous session. Continuity of session is broken only by adjournment sine die, and certain short adjournments are excluded when counting the 90 days.

Title 33, §1414

Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Designated and included conditions

Permits issued under this subchapter shall designate and include (1) the type of material authorized to be transported for dumping or to be dumped; (2) the amount of material authorized to be transported for dumping or to be dumped; (3) the location where such transport for dumping will be terminated or where such dumping will occur; (4) such requirements, limitations, or conditions as are necessary to assure consistency with any site management plan approved pursuant to section 1412(c) of this title; (5) any special provisions deemed necessary by the Administrator or the Secretary, as the case may be, after consultation with the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, for the monitoring and surveillance of the transportation or dumping; and (6) such other matters as the Administrator or the Secretary, as the case may be, deems appropriate. Permits issued under this subchapter shall be issued for a period of not to exceed 7 years.

(b)Permit processing fees; reporting requirements

The Administrator or the Secretary, as the case may be, may prescribe such processing fees for permits and such reporting requirements for actions taken pursuant to permits issued by him under this subchapter as he deems appropriate.

(c)General permits

Consistent with the requirements of section 1412 and 1413 of this title, but in lieu of a requirement for specific permits in such case, the Administrator or the Secretary, as the case may be, may issue general permits for the transportation for dumping, or dumping, or both, of specified materials or classes of materials for which he may issue permits, which he determines will have a minimal adverse environmental impact.

(d)Review

Any permit issued under this subchapter shall be reviewed periodically and, if appropriate, revised. The Administrator or the Secretary, as the case may be, may limit or deny the issuance of permits, or he may alter or revoke partially or entirely the terms of permits issued by him under this subchapter, for the transportation for dumping, or for the dumping, or both, of specified materials or classes of materials, where he finds, based upon monitoring data from the dump site and surrounding area, that such materials cannot be dumped consistently with the criteria and other factors required to be applied in evaluating the permit application. No action shall be taken under this subsection unless the affected person or permittee shall have been given notice and opportunity for a hearing on such action as proposed.

(e)Information for review and evaluation of applications

The Administrator or the Secretary, as the case may be, shall require an applicant for a permit under this subchapter to provide such information as he may consider necessary to review and evaluate such application.

(f)Public information

Information received by the Administrator or the Secretary, as the case may be, as a part of any application or in connection with any permit granted under this subchapter shall be available to the public as a matter of public record, at every stage of the proceeding. The final determination of the Administrator or the Secretary, as the case may be, shall be likewise available.

(g)Display of issued permits

A copy of any permit issued under this subchapter shall be placed in a conspicuous place in the vessel which will be used for the transportation or dumping authorized by such permit, and an additional copy shall be furnished by the issuing official to the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, or its designee.

(h)Low-level radioactive waste; research purposes

Notwithstanding any provision of this subchapter to the contrary, during the two-year period beginning on January 6, 1983, no permit may be issued under this subchapter that authorizes the dumping of any low-level radioactive waste unless the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency determines—

(1)that the proposed dumping is necessary to conduct research—

(A)on new technology related to ocean dumping, or

(B)to determine the degree to which the dumping of such substance will degrade the marine environment;

(2)that the scale of the proposed dumping is limited to the smallest amount of such material and the shortest duration of time that is necessary to fulfill the purposes of the research, such that the dumping will have minimal adverse impact upon human health, welfare, and amenities, and the marine environment, ecological systems, economic potentialities, and other legitimate uses;

(3)after consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, that the potential benefits of such research will outweigh any such adverse impact; and

(4)that the proposed dumping will be preceded by appropriate baseline monitoring studies of the proposed dump site and its surrounding environment.

Each permit issued pursuant to this subsection shall be subject to such conditions and restrictions as the Administrator determines to be necessary to minimize possible adverse impacts of such dumping.

(i)Radioactive Material Disposal Impact Assessment; Congressional approval

(1)Two years after January 6, 1983, the Administrator may not issue a permit under this subchapter for the disposal of radioactive waste material until the applicant, in addition to complying with all other requirements of this subchapter, prepares, with respect to the site at which the disposal is proposed, a Radioactive Material Disposal Impact Assessment which shall include—

(A)a listing of all radioactive materials in each container to be disposed, the number of containers to be dumped, the structural diagrams of each container, the number of curies of each material in each container, and the exposure levels in rems at the inside and outside of each container;

(B)an analysis of the environmental impact of the proposed action, at the site at which the applicant desires to dispose of the material, upon human health and welfare and marine life;

(C)any adverse environmental effects at the site which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented;

(D)an analysis of the resulting environmental and economic conditions if the containers fail to contain the radioactive waste material when initially deposited at the specific site;

(E)a plan for the removal or containment of the disposed nuclear material if the container leaks or decomposes;

(F)a determination by each affected State whether the proposed action is consistent with its approved Coastal Zone Management Program;

(G)an analysis of the economic impact upon other users of marine resources;

(H)alternatives to the proposed action;

(I)comments and results of consultation with State officials and public hearings held in the coastal States that are nearest to the affected areas;

(J)a comprehensive monitoring plan to be carried out by the applicant to determine the full effect of the disposal on the marine environment, living resources, or human health, which plan shall include, but not be limited to, the monitoring of exterior container radiation samples, the taking of water and sediment samples, and fish and benthic animal samples, adjacent to the containers, and the acquisition of such other information as the Administrator may require; and

(K)such other information which the Administrator may require in order to determine the full effects of such disposal.

(2)The Administrator shall include, in any permit to which paragraph (1) applies, such terms and conditions as may be necessary to ensure that the monitoring plan required under paragraph (1)(J) is fully implemented, including the analysis by the Administrator of the samples required to be taken under the plan.

(3)The Administrator shall submit a copy of the assessment prepared under paragraph (1) with respect to any permit to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate.

(4)(A)Upon a determination by the Administrator that a permit to which this subsection applies should be issued, the Administrator shall transmit such a recommendation to the House of Representatives and the Senate.

(B)No permit may be issued by the Administrator under this Act for the disposal of radioactive materials in the ocean unless the Congress, by approval of a resolution described in paragraph (D) within 90 days of continuous session of the Congress beginning on the date after the date of receipt by the Senate and the House of Representatives of such recommendation, authorizes the Administrator to grant a permit to dispose of radioactive material under this Act.

(C)For purposes of this subsection—

(1)continuity of session of the Congress is broken only by an adjournment sine die;

(2)the days on which either House is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a day certain are excluded in the computation of the 90 day calendar period.

(D)For the purposes of this subsection, the term “resolution” means a joint resolution, the resolving clause of which is as follows: “That the House of Representatives and the Senate approve and authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to grant a permit to _____ under the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 to dispose of radioactive materials in the ocean as recommended by the Administrator to the Congress on _____, 19_.”; the first blank space therein to be filled with the appropriate applicant to dispose of nuclear material and the second blank therein to be filled with the date on which the Administrator submits the recommendation to the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This Act and the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, referred to in subsec. (i)(4)(B), (D), is Pub. L. 92–532, Oct. 23, 1972, 86 Stat. 1052, which is classified generally to this chapter, chapter 41 (§ 2801 et seq.) of this title, and chapters 32 (§ 1431 et seq.) and 32A (§ 1447 et seq.) of Title 16, Conservation. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1401 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1992—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–580, § 507(b), inserted at end “Permits issued under this subchapter shall be issued for a period of not to exceed 7 years.” Pub. L. 102–580, § 507(a), amended cl. (4) generally. Prior to amendment, cl. (4) read as follows: “the length of time for which the permits are valid and their expiration date;”. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 102–580, § 507(c), inserted “, based upon monitoring data from the dump site and surrounding area,” after “where he finds”. 1987—Subsec. (i)(4)(D). Pub. L. 100–17 inserted “to _____” after “grant a permit”. 1983—Subsecs. (h), (i). Pub. L. 97–424 added subsecs. (h) and (i).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective 6 months after Oct. 23, 1972, see section 110(a) of Pub. L. 92–532, set out as a note under section 1411 of this title.

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. Abolition of House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of House of Representatives abolished and its jurisdiction transferred by House Resolution No. 6, One Hundred Fourth Congress, Jan. 4, 1995. For treatment of references to Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, see section 1(b)(3) of Pub. L. 104–14, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress.

§1414 Permit Conditions