§51704 Training for Maritime Oil Pollution Prevention, Response, and Clean-up

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must help approved maritime schools set up training programs for oil spill prevention, response, and clean-up. The Secretary may give those schools certain U.S.-built offshore supply and tug/supply vessels that the Maritime Administration holds after a loan default under chapter 537, and the vessels are transferred with clear title (no liens). The vessels come with rules: the Secretary chooses where to place them; schools must use them for training and make the vessel and qualified students available to federal, state, or local spill responders during a spill; schools cannot sell, alter, or otherwise dispose of the vessel without the Secretary’s permission; they may not compete with private vessels documented under chapter 121 or state law unless needed to carry out the program; and when a school no longer needs a vessel it must return it to the Secretary, who may reassign or dispose of it.