II

Calendar No. 235

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 711

[Report No. 106–124]

To allow for the investment of joint Federal and State funds from the

civil settlement of damages from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 24, 1999

Mr. MURKOWSKI (for himself and Mr. STEVENS) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

JULY 28, 1999

Reported by Mr. MURKOWSKI, with an amendment

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

A BILL

To allow for the investment of joint Federal and State funds

from the civil settlement of damages from the Exxon

Valdez oil spill, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2

S 711 RS

1 SECTION 1. AMENDMENT OF CONSENT DECREE

2 (a) PURPOSE.—INVESTMENT OF JOINT TRUST

3 FUNDS—Notwithstanding any other provision of law,

4 upon the joint motion of the United States and the State

5 of Alaska and the issuance of an appropriate order by the

6 United States District Court for the District of Alaska,

7 the joint trust funds, or any portion thereof, including any

8 interest accrued thereon, previously received or to be re9 ceived by the United States and the State of Alaska pursu10 ant to the Agreement and Consent Decree issued in

11 United States v. Exxon Corporation, et al. (No. A91–082

12 CIV) and State of Alaska v. Exxon Corporation, et al.

13 (No. A91–083 CIV) (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Consent

14 Decree’’), may be deposited in—

15 (1) the Natural Resource Damage Assessment

16 and Restoration Fund (hereafter referred to as the

17 ‘‘Fund’’) established in title I of the Department of

18 the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations

19 Act, 1992 (Public Law 102–154, 43 U.S.C. 147b);

20 (2) accounts outside the United States Treas21 ury (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘outside accounts’’);

22 or

23 (3) both.

24 Any funds deposited in an outside account shall be in25 vested in incoming-producing obligations and other instru26 ments or securities that have been determined unani-
3

S 711 RS

1 mously by the Federal and State natural resource trustees

2 for the Exxon Valdez oil spill to have a high degree of

3 reliability and security.

4 (b) Joint trust funds deposited in the Fund or an

5 outside account that have been approved unanimously by

6 the trustees for expenditure by or through a State or Fed7 eral agency shall be transferred promptly from the Fund

8 or the outside account to such agency.

9 (c) The transfer of joint trust funds outside the Court

10 Registry shall not affect the supervisory jurisdiction of the

11 District Court under the Consent Decree or the Memo12 randum of Agreement and Consent Decree in United

13 States v. State of Alaska (No. A91–081–CIV) over all ex14 penditures of the joint trust fund.

15 (d) Nothing herein shall affect the requirement of

16 section 207 of the Dire Emergency Supplemental Appro17 priations and Transfers for Relief From the Effects of

18 Natural Disasters, for Other Urgent Needs, and for the

19 Incremental Cost of ‘‘Operation Desert Shield/Desert

20 Storm’’ Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–229, U.S.C. 1474b

21 note) that amounts received by the United States and des22 ignated by the trustees for the expenditure by or through

23 a Federal agency must be deposited into the Fund.
4

S 711 RS

1 (e) Any interest accrued under the authority in this

2 Act shall be used only for a peer reviewed grant program,

3 consisting of—

4 (1) marine research, including applied fisheries

5 research;

6 (2) monitoring and

7 (3) restoration, other than habitat acquisition,

8 and additionally for community and economic res9 toration projects and facilities (including projects

10 proposed by the communities of the EVOS Region

11 or the fishing industry).

12 (f) The trustees shall administer grants authorized

13 by this Act.

14 (g) The authority provided in this Act shall expire

15 on September 30, 2002, unless by September 30, 2001,

16 the trustees have submitted to the Congress a report rec17 ommending a structure the Trustees believe would be most

18 effective and appropriate for the administration and ex19 penditure of remaining funds and interest received. Upon

20 the expiration of the authorities granted in this Act all

21 monies in the Fund or outside accounts shall be returned

22 to the Court Registry.

23 SECTION 1.

24 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and

25 subject to the provisions of subsections (e) and (g), upon
5

S 711 RS

1 the joint motion of the United States and the State of Alas2 ka and the issuance of an appropriate order by the United

3 States District Court for the District of Alaska, the joint

4 trust funds, or any portion thereof, including any interest

5 accrued thereon, previously received or to be received by the

6 United States and the State of Alaska pursuant to the

7 Agreement and Consent Decree issued in United States v.

8 Exxon Corporation, et al. (No. A91–082 CIV) and State

9 of Alaska v. Exxon Corporation, et al. (No. A91–083 CIV)

10 (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Consent Decree’’), may be de11 posited in—

12 (1) the Natural Resource Damage Assessment

13 and Restoration Fund (hereafter referred to as the

14 ‘‘Fund’’) established in title I of the Department of

15 the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,

16 1992 (Public Law 102–154, 43 U.S.C. 1474b);

17 (2) accounts outside the United States Treasury

18 (hereafter referred to as ‘‘outside accounts’’); or

19 (3) both.

20 Any funds deposited in an outside account may be invested

21 only in income-producing obligations and other instru22 ments or securities that have been determined unanimously

23 by the Federal and State natural resource trustees for the

24 Exxon Valdez oil spill (‘‘trustees’’) to have a high degree

25 of reliability and security.
6

S 711 RS

1 (b) Joint trust funds deposited in the Fund or an out2 side account that have been approved unanimously by the

3 Trustees for expenditure by or through a State or Federal

4 agency shall be transferred promptly from the Fund or the

5 outside account to the State of Alaska or United States

6 upon the joint request of the governments.

7 (c) The transfer of joint trust funds outside the Court

8 Registry shall not affect the supervisory jurisdiction of the

9 District Court under the Consent Decree or the Memo10 randum of Agreement and Consent Decree in United States

11 v. State of Alaska (No. A91–081–CIV) over all expenditures

12 of the joint trust funds.

13 (d) Nothing herein shall affect the requirement of sec14 tion 207 of the Dire Emergency Supplemental Appropria15 tions and Transfers for Relief From the Effects of Natural

16 Disasters, for Other Urgent Needs, and for the Incremental

17 Cost of ‘‘Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm’’ Act of 1992

18 (Public Law 102–229, 42 U.S.C. 1474b note) that amounts

19 received by the United States and designated by the trustees

20 for the expenditure by or through a Federal agency must

21 be deposited into the Fund.

22 (e) All remaining settlement funds are eligible for the

23 investment authority granted under subsection (a) of this

24 act so long as they are managed and allocated consistent
7

S 711 RS

1 with the Resolution of the Trustees adopted March 1, 1999,

2 concerning the Restoration Reserve, as follows:

3 (1) $55 million of the funds remaining on Octo4 ber 1, 2002, and the associated earnings thereafter

5 shall be managed and allocated for habitat protection

6 programs including small parcel habitat acquisitions.

7 Such sums shall be reduced by—

8 (A) the amount of any payments made after

9 the date of enactment of this Act from the Joint

10 Trust Funds pursuant to an agreement between

11 the Trustee Council and Koniag, Inc. which in12 cludes those lands which are presently subject to

13 the Koniag Non-Development Easement, includ14 ing, but not limited to, the continuation or

15 modification of such Easement; and

16 (B) payments in excess of $6.32 million for

17 any habitat acquisition or protection from the

18 joint trust funds after the date of enactment of

19 this Act and prior to October 1, 2002, other than

20 payments for which the Council is currently obli21 gated through purchase agreements with the Ko22 diak Island Borough, Afognak Joint Venture and

23 the Eyak Corporation.
8

S 711 RS

1 (2) All other funds remaining on October 1,

2 2002, and the associated earnings shall be used to

3 fund a program, consisting of—

4 (A) marine research, including applied fish5 eries research;

6 (B) monitoring; and

7 (C) restoration, other than habitat acquisi8 tion, which may include community and eco9 nomic restoration projects and facilities (includ10 ing projects proposed by the communities of the

11 EVOS Region or the fishing industry), consistent

12 with the Consent Decree.

13 (f) The Federal trustees and the State trustees, to the

14 extent authorized by State law, are authorized to issue

15 grants as needed to implement this program.

16 (g) The authority provided in this Act shall expire on

17 September 30, 2002, unless by September 30, 2001, the

18 Trustees have submitted to the Congress a report recom19 mending a structure the Trustees believe would be most ef20 fective and appropriate for the administration and expendi21 ture of remaining funds and interest received. Upon the ex22 piration of the authorities granted in this Act all monies

23 in the Fund or outside accounts shall be returned to the

24 Court Registry or other account permitted by law.

Calendar No. 235

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 711

[Report No. 106–124]

A BILL

To allow for the investment of joint Federal and

purposes.from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and for otherState funds from the civil settlement of damages

JULY 28, 1999

Reported with an amendment