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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1758

To establish a Stewardship Endowment Fund to fund activities for the restoration of injured natural resources in Alaska resulting from the

T/V EXXON VALDEZ oil spill, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 20 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Mr. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To establish a Stewardship Endowment Fund to fund activities for the restoration of injured natural resources in

Alaska resulting from the T/V 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stewardship Endow5 ment Fund Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS, PURPOSE, AND INTENT OF CONGRESS.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) for national security purposes, the United

2 States requires steady and secure sources of oil as

3 well as other sources of energy;

4 (2) while protecting the oil-producing capabili5 ties of the United States is important, it is also im6 portant to protect the environment from which the

7 oil is drawn;

8 (3) following the discharge of oil from the T/V

9 EXXON VALDEZ on March 23 and 24, 1989,

10 when the vessel went aground on Bligh Reef in

11 Prince William Sound, Alaska, a settlement was

12 reached;

13 (4) under the terms of the Agreement and Con14 sent Decree (as described in section 207 of Public

15 Law 102–229) that the Federal Government and the

16 State of Alaska entered into with the Exxon Cor17 poration, Exxon will pay a total sum of

18 $900,000,000 over a period of 10 years for damages

19 and environmental restoration to the Federal Gov20 ernment and the State of Alaska (referred to in this

21 section as ‘‘settlement funds’’);

22 (5) the placement of a portion of the settlement

23 funds in a Stewardship Endowment Fund would cre24 ate a stream of income over and above the initial

25 settlement funds that could be used to meet the
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1 needs of environmental restoration over a period

2 that extends beyond the 10-year period specified in

3 paragraph (4);

4 (6)(A) catastrophic failures with respect to

5 salmon fisheries in Prince William Sound, and other

6 biological events, indicate an urgent need to carry

7 out long-term multidisciplinary research efforts to

8 enable the full implementation of an effective res9 toration and enhancement program; and

10 (B) the research should fully examine all pos11 sible causes of, and solutions to, the problems de12 scribed in subparagraph (A);

13 (7) similar failures with respect to other salmon

14 fisheries and changes in the populations and ratios

15 of other species further indicate that a broad ap16 proach to scientific investigation may be necessary

17 to determine whether events in Prince William

18 Sound concerning salmon fisheries may be caused

19 by, or affected by, events in other geographic areas;

20 (8) a stable source of research funding is need21 ed in order to provide for long-term research nec22 essary for the successful restoration and enhance23 ment of Prince William Sound; and

24 (9) the Endowment Fund referred to in para25 graph (5) would facilitate the administration of the
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1 settlement funds by the Trustees designated by the

2 President and the Governor of the State of Alaska

3 to act, for the purposes of the Comprehensive Envi4 ronmental Response, Compensation, and Liability

5 Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) and the Fed6 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et

7 seq.), as trustees of natural resources injured, lost,

8 or destroyed as a result of the discharge of oil from

9 the T/V EXXON VALDEZ;

10 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to estab11 lish in the Treasury of the United States a Stewardship

12 Endowment Fund in order to create a stream of income

13 that will carry out the purposes specified in the Memoran14 dum of Agreement and Consent Decree that the United

15 States and the State of Alaska entered into on August

16 28, 1991, for a period that extends beyond the payment

17 period referred to in subsection (a)(4).

18 (c) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—It is the intent of Con19 gress that the conservative use of settlement funds and

20 earnings from the settlement funds should be encouraged

21 in order to provide for the maintenance of restoration and

22 enhancement activities for Prince William Sound (includ23 ing providing for long-term scientific studies and eco24 system research necessary to support restoration and en25 hancement activities).
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1 SEC. 3. STEWARDSHIP ENDOWMENT FUND.

2 Title XXX of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Public

3 Law 102–486) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new section:

5 ‘‘SEC. 3022. STEWARDSHIP ENDOWMENT FUND.

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

7 ‘‘(1) AGREEMENT AND CONSENT DECREE.—

8 The term ‘Agreement and Consent Decree’ means

9 the Agreement and Consent Decree described in sec10 tion 207 of Public Law 102–229 (105 Stat. 1715)

11 and approved by the United States District Court

12 for the District of Alaska on October 8, 1991.

13 ‘‘(2) ENDOWMENT FUND.—The term ‘Endow14 ment Fund’ means the Stewardship Endowment

15 Fund established pursuant to subsection (b).

16 ‘‘(3) NATURAL RESOURCES.—The term ‘natural

17 resources’ has the meaning given the term in the

18 Agreement and Consent Decree.

19 ‘‘(4) OIL SPILL.—The term ‘Oil Spill’ means

20 the grounding of the T/V EXXON VALDEZ on

21 Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on

22 March 23 and 24, 1989, and the resulting oil spill.

23 ‘‘(5) RESTORATION.—

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘restoration’

25 means any action, in addition to response and
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1 cleanup activities required or authorized by

2 State or Federal law, that endeavors to—

3 ‘‘(i) restore—

4 ‘‘(I) a natural resource injured,

5 lost, or destroyed as a result of the

6 Oil Spill to the pre-spill condition; and

7 ‘‘(II) the services provided by the

8 resource; or

9 ‘‘(ii) replace or substitute for the in10 jured, lost, or destroyed resources and af11 fected services.

12 ‘‘(B) PHASES OF INJURY INCLUDED.—The

13 term includes all phases of injury assessment,

14 restoration, replacement, and enhancement of

15 natural resources, and the acquisition of equiva16 lent resources and services.

17 ‘‘(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means

18 the Secretary of the Treasury.

19 ‘‘(7) SETTLEMENT FUNDS.—The term ‘settle20 ment funds’ means the settlement funds established

21 pursuant to the Agreement and Consent Decree.

22 ‘‘(8) TRUSTEES.—The term ‘Trustees’ means

23 the officials designated by the President and the

24 Governor of the State of Alaska to act, for the pur25 poses of the Comprehensive Environmental Re-
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1 sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42

2 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) and the Federal Water Pollu3 tion Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), as trust4 ees of natural resources injured, lost, or destroyed as

5 a result of the Oil Spill.

6 ‘‘(b) STEWARDSHIP ENDOWMENT FUND.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

8 provision of law, there is established in the Treasury

9 of the United States a Stewardship Endowment

10 Fund to facilitate the restoration of natural re11 sources in Alaska injured as a result of the Oil Spill.

12 The Fund shall consist of such sums as are depos13 ited in the Fund pursuant to paragraph (2) and any

14 interest earned on investments of the Fund pursuant

15 to paragraph (3).

16 ‘‘(2) DEPOSITS.—The Trustees may transfer

17 from the settlement funds to the Secretary, for de18 posit in the Endowment Fund, a portion of the set19 tlement funds.

20 ‘‘(3) INVESTMENTS.—The Secretary, with the

21 unanimous consent of the Trustees, shall invest the

22 corpus and income of the Endowment Fund in fed23 erally insured bank savings accounts or comparable

24 interest-bearing accounts, certificates of deposit,

25 money market funds, mutual funds, obligations of
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1 the United States, or other instruments and securi2 ties (as determined by the Secretary, with the unani3 mous consent of the Trustees). The Secretary, with

4 the concurrence of the Trustees, shall, to the maxi5 mum extent practicable, ensure that the investments

6 made pursuant to this paragraph generate a suffi7 cient amount of income to carry out the purposes re8 ferred to in subsection (c)(2)(B).

9 ‘‘(c) WITHDRAWALS AND EXPENDITURES.—

10 ‘‘(1) CORPUS PROHIBITION.—A withdrawal or

11 expenditure may be made from the corpus of the

12 Endowment Fund with the unanimous consent of

13 the Trustees.

14 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIVE WITHDRAWALS.—

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—On request of the

16 Trustees, the Secretary shall transfer, at least

17 annually, all or a portion of, the income of the

18 Endowment Fund to the Trustees for expendi19 ture by the Trustees in a manner consistent

20 with subparagraph (B).

21 ‘‘(B) USE OF TRANSFERRED FUNDS.—

22 Funds may be transferred to the Trustees, and

23 expended by the Trustees, only for restora24 tion.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

2 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Energy

3 Policy Act of 1992 (106 Stat. 2776 et seq.) is amended

4 by adding after the item relating to section 3021 the fol5 lowing new item:

‘‘Sec. 3022. Stewardship Endowment Fund.’’.

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