SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shipping and Environ-
mental Arctic Leadership Act’’ or the ‘‘SEAL Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ARCTIC.—The term ‘‘Arctic’’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 112 of the Arctic Re-
search and Policy Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4111). 
(2) ARCTIC
SEA
ROUTES.—The term ‘‘Arctic 
Sea Routes’’ means the international Northern Sea 
Route, the Transpolar Sea Route, and the North-
west Passage. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Arctic seas have historically been con-
sidered impassable and impractical maritime routes, 
but diminishing Arctic sea ice, better icebreaking 
technology, and global demand for Arctic resources 
has opened up opportunity for international trade 
routes through Arctic Ocean waters. 
(2) According to the National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration, over the last 20 years at-
mospheric temperatures have increased at a rate at 
least 3 times the global average, and as of 2011 sea 
ice thickness was 42 percent below what it was in 
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1979. If trends continue, summers may produce ice- 
free waters in the Arctic Ocean by the late 2030s. 
(3) The Bering Strait is experiencing signifi-
cant increases in international traffic from vessels 
using the Arctic Sea Routes. Increases in inter-
national traffic are projected to continue. 
(4) While the Arctic Council’s agreements on 
search and rescue, spill prevention and response, 
and initiatives through the International Maritime 
Organization to bring about a mandatory polar code 
are significant, little or no cooperation yet exists in 
the Arctic region to bring about needed maritime in-
frastructure, nor do Arctic coastal states and user 
states cooperate in establishing common seaway ad-
ministration. International coordination and invest-
ment in infrastructure for shipping routes, ice-
breaker service and refuge, ports, spill prevention 
and response, salvage, and LNG bunkering, would 
be collectively beneficial for all associated states, the 
environment, and global commerce. 
(5) Trans-Arctic shipping brings substantial 
commercial benefits. Shipping distance between Eu-
rope and Asia could be reduced by 4,500 nautical 
miles, saving a week’s time and 40 percent in freight 
shipping distances compared to alternative routes. 
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Through a voluntary tariff model, user nations from 
the remainder of the world can be invited to share 
with Arctic nations the capital and operating costs 
necessary for safe and reliable infrastructure in the 
Arctic Ocean and its approaches. 
(6) As this new frontier emerges, the United 
States should assume leadership to ensure safe, se-
cure, and reliable Arctic seaway development, and 
further to ensure that the Arctic becomes a place of 
international cooperation rather than competition or 
conflict. 
(7) Setting precedent for cooperative infrastruc-
ture investment and greater reliability in domestic 
and international shipping is the St. Lawrence Sea-
way between the United States and Canada, which 
links the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. The 
Seaway operates in internal waters, rather than 
international waters, but offers ship operators a co-
ordinated suite of services, similar to what is needed 
in the Arctic Ocean and its approaches. 
(8) The St. Lawrence Seaway Development 
Corporation, established in 1954, is a model for a 
United States Government corporation that con-
structs, operates, and maintains sea passage infra-
structure in water bodies shared with another na-
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tion. It corresponds with its Canadian counterpart, 
the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. 
In 2010 the Great Lakes-Seaway system gen-
erated— 
(A) 226,833 United States and Canadian 
jobs; 
(B) $33,600,000,000 in business revenue 
from maritime activity; and 
(C) $4,600,000,000 in Federal, State, pro-
vincial, and local tax revenue from maritime ac-
tivity. 
(9) In 2012 the Russian Duma passed legisla-
tion to create a single management agency called the 
Northern Sea Route Administration, to manage all 
infrastructural and navigational services across what 
Russia claims to be its Arctic territorial waters. This 
is a claim the United States and many other nations 
do not recognize. Russia is investing heavily into 
Northern Sea Route infrastructure, anticipating an 
increase in cargo transport from 1,800,000 tons in 
2010 to 64,000,000 tons by 2020. The Russian 
Northern Sea Route Administration charges escort 
fees for international cargo ships as high as 
$500,000, and aims to collect a share of revenues 
that might otherwise be paid as tariffs on the Suez 
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Canal where collections totaled $5,300,000,000 in 
2017. 
(10) The Russian Federation has considered 
legislation to require all energy traffic on the North-
ern Sea Route to be carried by Russian-flagged 
ships. 
(11) Rising transit in United States Arctic re-
gion waters necessitates a management agency and 
infrastructure investment in a transportation sys-
tem. As identified in the Ten-Year Prioritization of 
Infrastructure Needs in the United States Arctic 
prepared by the United States Committee on the 
Marine Transportation System Arctic Transpor-
tation Integrated Action Team for the United States 
Department of Transportation, there is a significant 
infrastructure gap in the Arctic in the areas of— 
(A) navigable waterways, such as waterway 
coordination with international stakeholders; 
(B) physical infrastructure, such as infra-
structure around Port Clarence and Port of 
Nome in Alaska to support commercial activity; 
(C) informational infrastructure, such as 
up-to-date nautical charts and electronic aids to 
navigation; 
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(D) MTS Response Services, such as emer-
gency response and rescue capabilities; and 
(E) vessel operations, such as United 
States icebreaking capabilities. 
(12) The Arctic offers economic value to the 
United States through commercial shipping and 
international trade routes, energy, mining, commer-
cial fishing, tourism, and tug and barge operations. 
The Arctic offers environmental and cultural value 
through ecological significance, unique wildlife, in-
digenous peoples and Alaskan communities, and sci-
entific research. The Arctic offers security value to 
the United States as a way to move United States 
vessels and forces between the world’s oceans, and 
through other waters. While the United States does 
not support mandatory tariffs in this region, it does 
not currently have a way to collect voluntary tariffs 
for providing assistance to vessels crossing through 
the Bering Strait or the Arctic Ocean. 
(13) Reinvesting into infrastructural and envi-
ronmental demands with funds collected from inter-
national shipping fees will be essential to the long- 
term viability of the Arctic. 
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(14) Environmental protection of the Arctic 
takes the form of pollution prevention, clean-up, and 
accident response. 
(15) Arctic prevention and clean-up involves all 
feasible efforts to remove or mitigate pollutants from 
the environment. Arctic ecosystems are more suscep-
tible to biological damage from pollutants than more 
temperate climates. Existing removable hazards, 
such as dumped radioactive waste and other toxic 
substances, must be handled. 
(16) Arctic pollution prevention takes collective 
adherence to regulations and best practices. United 
States leadership on clean practices in the Arctic will 
be essential in the ecosystem’s sustainability. Provi-
sion of bunkering facilities to enable the use of clean 
LNG fuels for ships will strengthen pollution preven-
tion. 
(17) Environmental response capabilities in the 
Arctic are weak, sparse, and have only begun to be 
internationally coordinated. Transportation of oil 
and gas and maritime traffic is expected to increase 
significantly in the Arctic, which will increase the 
risk of accidents. The Arctic region is particularly 
vulnerable to pollution from oil and gas shipping. 
Because oil spills in ice are considerably more com-
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plicated to address than oil spills in open waters, ef-
fects of oil spills could remain in the region for peri-
ods of 50 years or more. In 2010 the International 
Maritime Organization passed Guidelines for Ships 
Operating in Polar Waters, citing, ‘‘the need to en-
sure that all ship systems both are capable of func-
tioning effectively under anticipated operating condi-
tions and provide adequate levels of safety in acci-
dent and emergency situations’’. 
(18) In June 2014, the Government Account-
ability Office (GAO) reported that the Coast Guard 
was experiencing a gap in its heavy icebreaking ca-
pacity and was without a heavy icebreaker from 
2010 to 2013. Tariffs collected through this system 
can help United States public and private icebreaker 
capacity grow, and induce additional private invest-
ment in marine safety and services. 
(19) During the most recent United States 
Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, May 2017, the 
Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine En-
vironment Working Group established an Arctic 
Shipping Best Practices Information Forum to help 
serve as a resource hub of information, guidance, 
and guidelines that aid decision-makers involved in 
Arctic maritime navigation and those affected by 
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maritime operations related to the Polar Code. In-
surers of Arctic shipping encouraged this Forum to 
help bring about safer and more reliable shipping in 
the Arctic region, and to reduce losses. This Act is 
in support of the same goals. 
SEC. 4. CREATION OF THE ARCTIC SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT 
CORPORATION. 
There is hereby created, subject to the direction and 
supervision of the Secretary of Transportation, in conjunc-
tion with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense 
operating through the Secretary of the Army, and the Sec-
retary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is op-
erating, a body corporate to be known as the Arctic Sea-
way Development Corporation (hereinafter referred to as 
the ‘‘Corporation’’). 
SEC. 5. SERVICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation, 
in conjunction with the Secretary of the Department in 
which the Coast Guard is operating, the Secretary of De-
fense acting through the Secretary of the Army, and the 
Secretary of State, shall approve services for which the 
Corporation established under section 4 may charge a toll 
to vessels. 
(b) MANAGEMENT.— 
(1) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.— 
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(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is estab-
lished the Board of Directors of the Corpora-
tion (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Board of 
Directors’’), which shall be composed of 9 mem-
bers as described in subparagraph (B). 
(B) COMPOSITION.—The Board of Direc-
tors shall consist of— 
(i) the Chair of the Board of Direc-
tors to be appointed and designated by the 
President of the United States; 
(ii) the Administrator of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; 
(iii) the Secretary of State; 
(iv) the Secretary of Transportation; 
(v) the Secretary of the Department 
in which the Coast Guard is operating; and 
(vi) 4 senior representatives nomi-
nated by the Governor of Alaska and des-
ignated by the Secretary of Transpor-
tation, of whom— 
(I) 1 shall represent the govern-
ment of the State of Alaska; 
(II) 1 shall represent the Alaska 
business community; 
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(III) 1 shall represent the Alas-
kan coastal and subsistence commu-
nities affected by the Corporation; and 
(IV) 1 shall represent Alaskan 
maritime labor organizations. 
(C) TERMS.—Each member of the Board 
of Directors described in subparagraph (B)(vi) 
shall serve for a 4-year term or until a new 
member is designated. 
(D) MEETINGS.—The Board of Directors 
shall— 
(i) meet at the call of the Chair, not 
less often than once every 90 days; and 
(ii) conduct an annual meeting of the 
Corporation in the State of Alaska. 
(E) FUNCTIONS.—The Board of Directors 
shall develop a set of policy recommendations 
regarding the facilities and infrastructure nec-
essary to provide services related to safety and 
environmental protection and response for ves-
sels transiting the Arctic Sea Routes, includ-
ing— 
(i) the establishment of rules of meas-
urement for vessels and cargo on which 
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rates of charges or tolls for the services 
provided by the Corporation are based; and 
(ii) all other matters which the Board 
of Directors determines to be relevant. 
(2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The management of the 
Corporation shall be vested in an Administrator who 
shall be appointed by the Board of Directors with 
the approval of the Secretary of Transportation. 
SEC. 6. FUNCTIONS OF THE ARCTIC SEAWAY DEVELOP-
MENT CORPORATION. 
The functions of the Corporation are to provide serv-
ices related to safety and environmental protection and re-
sponse approved by the Secretary under section 5, includ-
ing— 
(1) constructing deep water port facilities in the 
Arctic to provide services necessary to manage and 
facilitate increased marine traffic, including cargo, 
tugs, commercial fuel bunkering, and icebreaker ves-
sels in the Arctic; 
(2) maintaining a relationship with east and 
west coast ports serving Arctic trade; 
(3) collaborating with the State of Alaska and 
the United States Coast Guard in the provision of 
icebreaker services, including the provision of facili-
ties, necessary for safe navigation of the Arctic; 
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(4) leasing private icebreakers and cooperating 
in offering services with icebreakers of other nations; 
(5) where necessary, constructing places of ref-
uge and aids to navigation within the Arctic; 
(6) making charts showing the locations of 
places of refuge readily available to all vessels oper-
ating in the Arctic; and 
(7) establishing strong ties among United 
States residents of the Arctic region, Arctic ship-
pers, and the maritime insurance industry by cre-
ating a system of maritime transportation in the 
Arctic that prevents loss of life, vessels, and cargo, 
and increases reliability of shipping in the Arctic. 
SEC. 7. GENERAL POWERS OF THE CORPORATION. 
For the purpose of carrying out its functions under 
this Act, the Corporation— 
(1) shall have succession in its corporate name; 
(2) may adopt and use a corporate seal, which 
shall be judicially noticed; 
(3) may sue and be sued in its corporate name; 
(4) may adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws, rules, 
and regulations governing the manner in which its 
business may be conducted and the powers vested in 
it may be exercised; 
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(5) may make and carry out contracts or agree-
ments as are necessary or advisable in the conduct 
of its business; 
(6) shall be held to be an inhabitant and resi-
dent of the third judicial district of the State of 
Alaska within the meaning on the laws of the United 
States relating to the venue of civil suits; 
(7) may appoint and fix compensation, in ac-
cordance with the provisions of subpart D of part 
III of title 5, United States Code, for such officers, 
attorneys, and employees as may be necessary for 
the conduct of its business, defining their authority 
and duties, and delegating to them such powers vest-
ed in the Corporation as the Administrator may de-
termine; 
(8) may acquire, by purchase, lease, property, 
and any interest therein, and may sell, lease, or oth-
erwise dispose of such property, as the Adminis-
trator deems necessary for the conduct of its busi-
ness; 
(9) shall determine the character and necessity 
for its obligations and expenditures, and the manner 
in which they shall be incurred, allowed, and paid, 
subject to provisions of law specifically applicable to 
government corporations; 
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(10) may impose, retain and expend a toll to 
provide for safety and environmental protection and 
response services provided by the Corporation and to 
carry out services approved by the Secretary under 
section 5; 
(11) may provide services and facilities, at rea-
sonable prices, to vessels operating in the Arctic; 
(12) if the United States portion of the revenue 
from the tolls charged to the users of any services 
provided under this section is applied solely towards 
the safety and environmental protection and re-
sponse services to vessels operating on the Arctic 
Sea Routes as specified in paragraph (11), may par-
ticipate with international entities in the ownership 
and operation of a tolling company, and may lease 
icebreakers, and enlist and return assets; 
(13) shall be credited with amounts received 
from any of the activities authorized under para-
graphs (10) and (11); 
(14) shall publish charts of locations of places 
of refuge to be made readily available to all vessels 
voyaging north of the Bering Straight in the interest 
of ensuring vessel safety; and 
(15) shall carry out other functions considered 
relevant by the Secretary of Transportation, in con-
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