Title 33, Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-102
§1473 Consultations and Determinations Respecting Creation of Hazards to Human Health, Etc.; Criteria for Determinations Respecting Grave and Imminent Dangers of Major Harmful Consequences to United States Coastline or Related Interests
Title 33 › CHAPTER 28 — POLLUTION CASUALTIES ON THE HIGH SEAS: UNITED STATES INTERVENTION › § 1473
Summary
After consulting EPA and Commerce, the Secretary must decide if an unlisted substance could harm people, marine life, coastal uses, or beaches, and consider those harms for immediate threats to U.S. coasts.
Full Legal Text
Title 33, §1473
Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Secretary, after consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of Commerce, shall determine when a substance other than those enumerated in the protocol is liable to create a hazard to human health, to harm living resources, to damage amenities, or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea.
(b)In determining whether there is grave and imminent danger of major harmful consequences to the coastline or related interests of the United States, the Secretary shall consider the interests of the United States directly threatened or affected including but not limited to, human health, fish, shellfish, and other living marine resources, wildlife, coastal zone and estuarine activities, and public and private shorelines and beaches.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1978—Pub. L. 95–302 added subsec. (a), designated existing provisions as subsec. (b), and inserted “human health,” before “fish”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1978 AmendmentFor
Effective Date
of amendment by Pub. L. 95–302, see section 2 of Pub. L. 95–302, set out as a note under section 1487 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
33 U.S.C. § 1473
Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102