I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 882

To reduce the risk of oil pollution and improve the safety of navigation

in San Francisco Bay by removing hazards to navigation, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 27, 1997

Mr. MILLER of California (for himself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. FILNER, Ms. ESHOO,

Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. STARK, and Mrs. TAUSCHER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To reduce the risk of oil pollution and improve the safety

of navigation in San Francisco Bay by removing hazards

to navigation, 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 ‘‘San Francisco Bay

5 Shipping and Fisheries Enhancement Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) San Francisco Bay is a vital environmental,

2 industrial, and recreational resource to the San

3 Francisco Bay area and to the Nation.

4 (2) Over 800 tank vessels enter San Francisco

5 Bay each year, carrying hundreds of millions of gal6 lons of oil and other hazardous substances.

7 (3) The small oil spill of October 28, 1996,

8 showed that current safeguards against oil pollution

9 are inadequate, and that even small oil spills in San

10 Francisco Bay are both costly to mitigate and harm11 ful to the environment, including fish, mammals,

12 and birds.

13 (4) Because of the bathymetry of San Fran14 cisco Bay, the Coast Guard has been unable to make

15 needed improvements in the routing of tankers and

16 other deep draft vessels.

17 (5) The presence of multiple underwater haz18 ards less than 40 feet below the surface and in close

19 proximity to shipping lanes, combined with increased

20 traffic of tankers with drafts in excess of 45 feet,

21 significantly increase the likelihood of collisions that

22 would result in the release of substantial amounts of

23 oil or other hazardous substances, severely damaging

24 both the economy and the environment of the San

25 Francisco Bay area.
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1 (6) Removing hazards to navigation to allow

2 greater separation of vessels carrying oil or other

3 hazardous substances is a simple and economical

4 step that can be taken to reduce substantially the

5 risk of oil pollution, improve the safety of naviga6 tion, and reduce threats to the fish, wildlife, and en7 vironment of San Francisco Bay.

8 SEC. 3. NAVIGATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Army shall

10 develop and carry out in accordance with this section a

11 navigation project in San Francisco Bay, California, to re12 move underwater hazards to navigation in the vicinity of

13 Alcatraz Island.

14 (b) REROUTING OF VESSEL TRAFFIC.—The Sec15 retary shall design the navigation project under this sec16 tion to facilitate the rerouting of vessel traffic in San

17 Francisco Bay to minimize the risk of an oil or hazardous

18 substance spill resulting from collisions between vessels or

19 with an underwater hazard.

20 (c) MINIMIZATION OF IMPACT.—In developing and

21 carrying out the navigation project under this section, the

22 Secretary shall minimize, to the maximum extent prac23 ticable, impacts on the environment and on commercial

24 and recreational fisheries.

25 (d) PLAN.—
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1 (1) GENERAL REQUIREMENT.—In consultation

2 with appropriate Federal, State, and local govern3 ment agencies and in accordance with applicable

4 Federal and State environmental laws, the Secretary

5 shall develop a plan for implementation of the navi6 gation project under this section.

7 (2) CONTENTS.—The plan shall include initial

8 design and engineering, underwater hazard removal,

9 and, if needed, environmental mitigation.

10 (3) TARGET DATES.—

11 (A) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The first phase

12 of the plan shall be completed within 1 year of

13 the date of the enactment of this Act and shall

14 consist of a feasibility study for the project de15 scribed in subsection (a). The feasibility study

16 shall include scoping, development of alternative

17 designs for the project, cost/benefit analysis,

18 and selection of final project design. In con19 ducting the cost/benefit analysis and selecting a

20 final project design, the Secretary shall consider

21 the economic and environmental benefits of oil

22 spill aversion reasonably to be expected from

23 the completion of the project.

24 (B) IMPLEMENTATION.—The second phase

25 of the plan shall be completed not later than 3
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1 years after the date of the enactment of this

2 Act and shall consist of underwater hazard re3 moval, transportation, and disposal of the re4 moved material in accordance with the final

5 project design.

6 (C) MITIGATION AND MONITORING.—The

7 final phase of the plan shall consist of any miti8 gation needed due to environmental impacts,

9 and environmental monitoring of removal, dis10 posal, and mitigation sites (if different from the

11 disposal site or sites), shall commence as soon

12 as is practicable after the completion of the im13 plementation phase, and shall continue for not

14 less than 5 years thereafter.

15 (e) NON-FEDERAL PARTICIPATION.—The non-Fed16 eral share of the cost of developing and carrying out the

17 project under this section shall be 25 percent.

18 (f) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than the last

19 day of each of the time periods referred to in subsection

20 (d)(3), the Secretary shall report to Congress on the

21 progress being made toward development and implementa22 tion of the project under this section.
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1 SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF NAVIGATION LANES.

2 The Commandant of the Coast Guard shall modify

3 navigation lanes and reroute vessel traffic after the com4 pletion of the second phase of the navigation project re5 quired by section 3 to improve the safety and efficiency

6 of vessel traffic in San Francisco Bay, California. In car7 rying out this section, the Commandant shall develop a

8 vessel routing program that minimizes the risk of an oil

9 or hazardous substance spill in San Francisco Bay.

10 SEC. 5. OIL SPILL RISK ASSESSMENT.

11 (a) SURVEY.—In consultation with the Federal Mari12 time Administration, the Commandant of the Coast Guard

13 shall survey vessels owned by, or operated under contract

14 for, the Federal Maritime Administration for risks for oil

15 spills or other hazards to human health or the environ16 ment.

17 (b) STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES.—In surveying

18 vessels under this section, the Commandant shall use the

19 same standards and procedures as are used in inspecting

20 similarly situated private vessels.

21 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date

22 of the enactment of this Act, the Commandant shall sub23 mit to Congress and the Administrator of the Federal

24 Maritime Administration a report describing any oil spill

25 risks determined in the survey conducted under this sec26 tion and making recommendations for corrective actions
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1 for such risks, including estimates of the costs of those

2 actions.

3 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

4 For fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1997,

5 there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary

6 of the Army and the Commandant of the Coast Guard

7 such sums as may be necessary to carry out their respec8 tive duties under this Act. Such sums shall remain avail9 able until expended.

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