I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1899
To establish a Gulf of Mexico economic and environmental protection
program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 28, 1993
Mr. LAUGHLIN (for himself, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr. ANDREWS of Texas, Mr.
BACCHUS of Florida, Mr. BACHUS of Alabama, Mr. BEVILL, Mr. BILI-
RAKIS, Mr. BLACKWELL, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. BROOKS, Mr.
BROWDER, Mr. BRYANT, Ms. BYRNE, Mr. CHAPMAN, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr.
COLEMAN, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. DANNER, Ms. ESHOO, Mr.
EVERETT, Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Mr. FROST, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas,
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. HAYES, Mr.
HILLIARD, Mr. HUTTO, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. LIVINGSTON, Mr. MCCUR-
DY, Mr. MONTGOMERY, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. PARKER, Mr.
PETERSON of Florida, Mr. PETRI, Mr. PICKLE, Mr. POSHARD, Mr. RA-
HALL, Mr. SANGMEISTER, Mr. SARPALIUS, Mr. SHAW, Mr. TANNER, Mr.
TAUZIN, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mr. TEJEDA, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr.
WASHINGTON, Mr. WILSON, and Mr. WISE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred jointly to the Committees on Merchant Marine and
Fisheries, Public Works and Transportation, and Science, Space, and
Technology
A BILL
To establish a Gulf of Mexico economic and environmental
protection program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gulf of Mexico Eco-
nomic and Environmental Protection Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—
(1) GULF OF MEXICO AS AN ECONOMIC AND
ENVIRONMENTAL
RESOURCE.—Congress finds that
the Gulf of Mexico is an extraordinary economic and
environmental resource that—
(A) accounts for 97 percent of offshore
natural gas, and 83 percent of offshore oil pro-
duction of the United States;
(B) generates, from oil and gas develop-
ment, Federal revenues that have historically
been exceeded only by revenues from the Fed-
eral income tax;
(C) contributes annually to the economy of
the United States, from tourism-related dollars,
approximately $20,000,000,000;
(D) accounts for 45 percent of the ship-
ping of imports and exports handled by the
ports of the United States;
(E) accounts for 11 of the 20 ports that
handle the greatest quantity of tonnage in the
United States;
(F) produces approximately 18 percent of
the commercial fish yield in the United States;
(G) yields more than 21⁄2 times the amount
of shrimp that is produced by all other shrimp
fisheries of the United States combined;
(H) borders about half of the total wetland
area of the continental United States; and
(I) provides critical estuarine habitat for
large populations of finfish, shellfish, waterfowl,
shorebirds, colonial nesting birds, and 75 per-
cent of the migratory waterfowl that traverses
the United States.
(2) 
ENVIRONMENTAL
CONCERNS.—Congress
finds that—
(A) the Gulf of Mexico is showing signs of
deterioration in environmental quality, including
excess nutrients, toxic substances and the pres-
ence of pathogens;
(B) concerns over human health have re-
sulted in the permanent or conditional closure
of 3,400,000 acres of shellfish growing areas
along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico;
(C) the region of the Gulf of Mexico is
experiencing 
extensive 
losses 
of 
marshes,
mangroves, and seagrass beds that are critical
and highly productive habitat for a wide variety
of estuarine and marine organisms;
(D) the Gulf of Mexico is uniquely suscep-
tible to catastrophic weather events that accel-
erate coastal erosion, destroy wetlands and
other critical habitat, hamper economic activity,
and threaten shipping and commerce;
(E) inherent oceanic and atmospheric cir-
culation patterns around the Gulf of Mexico
render the marine environment of the Gulf an
integral component of the environment of the
Wider Caribbean Region; and
(F) water from two thirds of the land area
of the 48 contiguous States plus a part of Can-
ada and over half the Republic of Mexico enters
the Gulf of Mexico, having a significant impact
on the Gulf.
(3) 
NATIONAL
CONSEQUENCES.—Congress
finds that—
(A) the Gulf of Mexico is a national treas-
ure that is beset by environmental deterioration
that is so extensive and complex that no single
Gulf State or Federal agency can address the
environmental problems alone; and
(B) the long-term deterioration of the envi-
ronmental quality of the Gulf of Mexico con-
stitutes a threat to the national interest.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) establish a comprehensive Gulf of Mexico
Program that coordinates the participation of Fed-
eral agencies and departments and agencies of
States and political subdivisions of States;
(2) develop a coordinated comprehensive joint
plan for the economic and environmental protection
of the Gulf;
(3) focus on improving water quality in the
Gulf of Mexico, reducing coastal erosion, ameliorat-
ing the economic loss of fisheries in the Gulf, and
other economic and environmental issues; and
(4) establish a Gulf of Mexico Program Office
to carry out the purposes referred to in paragraphs
(1) through (3).
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act, unless the context expressly im-
plies otherwise:
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency.
(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Agency’’ means the
Environmental Protection Agency.
(3) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the
Gulf of Mexico Executive Board established under
section 6(a).
(4) 
COMMITTEE.—The 
term 
‘‘Committee’’
means the Gulf Citizens Advisory Committee estab-
lished under section 6(b).
(5) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means
the Director of the Program Office.
(6) FEDERAL
AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal
agency’’ means the Environmental Protection Agen-
cy, the Department of the Army, the Department of
Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the
Department of Commerce, the Department of the
Interior, any other Federal agency that has jurisdic-
tion over coastal and marine resources, and any
other Federal agency that the Board determines to
be necessary to develop and implement the prelimi-
nary Plan or final Plan.
(7) FINAL
PLAN.—The term ‘‘final Plan’’
means the final coordinated comprehensive joint
plan for the Gulf promulgated by the Administrator
under section 7.
(8) GOVERNOR.—The term ‘‘Governor’’ means
a Governor of a Gulf State.
(9) GULF.—The term ‘‘Gulf’’ means the Gulf of
Mexico.
(10) GULF REGION.—The term ‘‘Gulf region’’
means the geographic region of the Gulf States and
the Gulf.
(11) GULF
STATE.—The term ‘‘Gulf State’’
means—
(A) Alabama;
(B) Florida;
(C) Louisiana;
(D) Mississippi; or
(E) Texas.
(12) GULF STATES.—The term ‘‘Gulf States’’
means the States referred to in subparagraphs (A)
through (E) of paragraph (11).
(13) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—
The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the
meaning provided in section 1201(a) of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1141(a)).
(14) NON-FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘non-
Federal agency’’ means any department or agency of
a Gulf State or political subdivision of a Gulf State
or an interstate entity referred to in section 6(a)(2).
The term shall include a Gulf port authority.
(15) PRELIMINARY PLAN.—The term ‘‘prelimi-
nary Plan’’ means the preliminary coordinated com-
prehensive joint plan for the Gulf that is developed
by the Board under section 7.
(16) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means
the Gulf of Mexico Program authorized under sec-
tion 4(a).
(17) PRIVATE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘private en-
tity’’ includes any local citizens group, institution of
higher education, private business, or nonprofit or-
ganization.
(18) PROGRAM OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Program
Office’’ means the Gulf of Mexico Program Office
established under section 5.
(19) WIDER
CARIBBEAN
REGION.—The term
‘‘Wider Caribbean region’’ means the Gulf of Mex-
ico, the Caribbean Sea, and areas of the Atlantic
Ocean adjacent to the Caribbean Sea, south of 30
degrees north latitude and within 200 nautical miles
of the Atlantic coast of the countries that are sig-
natories to the Convention for the Protection and
Development of the Marine Environment of the
Wider Caribbean Region, with Annex, done at
Cartagena on March 24, 1993 (TIAS 11085).
SEC. 4. GULF OF MEXICO PROGRAM.
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is hereby authorized an
interagency program for the preservation and protection
of the economic and environmental resources of the Gulf.
The program shall be known as the ‘‘Gulf of Mexico Pro-
gram’’. The Environmental Protection Agency shall serve
as the lead agency of the Program.
(b) REORGANIZATION OF EXISTING PROGRAM.—As
soon as is practicable, the Administrator shall reorganize
the Gulf of Mexico Program (as in effect on the day before
the date of enactment of this Act). The Administrator
shall transfer the functions of the program described in
this subsection to the Program.
(c) AGREEMENTS; MEMORANDA.—(1) To carry out
the interagency program, the Administrator shall enter
into an agreement or memorandum of understanding with
the head of each Federal agency for the participation of
the Federal agency in the activities of the Program.
(2) Participating Federal agencies may enter into
such a bilateral or multilateral agreement as may be nec-
essary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
(d) ACTIVITIES OF THE PROGRAM.—The activities of
the Program shall include the following activities, with re-