Opinion ID: 202809
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Section 4(a) Tow Vessel Manning Requirement in Buzzards Bay

Text: We have concluded that the state's tank barge manning requirements for Buzzards Bay must be reconsidered under overlap analysis. For similar reasons, we also conclude that a remand is necessary on the state's tow vessel manning provisions. The state nonetheless asks us to go farther. It points out that the text of Title II addresses tank vessels, not tow vessels, see 46 U.S.C. § 3702(a), and it contends that the two are not the same. [16] Accordingly, the state argues that section 4(a) cannot be within the scope of Title II, and the provision's validity must instead be considered under Title I conflict preemption analysis. The United States disagrees with this interpretation of the PWSA. It argues that although the PWSA expressly addresses tank vessels, and not tow vessels, that fact is immaterial. The definition of tank vessel includes any vessel that carries . . . oil or hazardous material in bulk as cargo, and not just vessels that are constructed or adapted to carry . . . oil or hazardous material in bulk as cargo. Id. § 2101(39). That definition, in the United States' view, can encompass a tug vessel when it pushes, pulls, or hauls a vessel containing oil or hazardous material (although the vessel would not be within the scope of the definition when it carries some other type of cargo). This interpretation is based on an argument that when a vessel carrying oil or other hazardous material is not self-propelled and requires a tug (as would be the case with a barge), the tug and the non-self-propelled vessel effectively become one vessel which carries the cargo. The state responds that a 2004 amendment added towing vessels to the list of vessels covered by a separate chapter of Title 46 of the United States Code, but did not similarly add towing vessels to the list of vessels covered by Title II of the PWSA. See Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004, Pub.L. No. 108-293, § 415, 118 Stat. 1028, 1047 (codified at 46 U.S.C. § 3301(15)). The amended section already applied to tank vessels. 46 U.S.C. § 3301(10). The state argues that this means the term tank vessel does not encompass towing vessels. The district court held that although Title II does not expressly use the term tow vessels, this was a legally insignificant distinction. Massachusetts, 440 F.Supp.2d at 36-37. The district court adopted the United States' argument that towing vessels that are pushing, pulling, or hauling tank barges carrying oil or other hazardous materials are, as part of the tow-barge combination, `tank vessels' and are, thus, within the scope of Title II. Id. at 37. The court explained that adoption of the state's proposed distinction between tank vessels and tow vessels would undermine important federal interests: The towing vessel, although it does not physically carry the oil, is the crucial element of the tow-barge combination and, therefore, poses the most risk to the marine environment. Defendants' argument, furthermore, would give the Coast Guard exclusive jurisdiction to regulate one form of tank vessel, self-propelled tankers, but would grant concurrent jurisdiction with the states to regulate the driving force of the tow-tank barge combination. That result would make little practical sense and would hinder the Congressional goal of creating uniform national regulations for all tank vessels. Id. This led the court to hold that the matter was clearly within Title II, and so section 4(a) was field preempted. Id. Our resolution of this appeal does not require us to determine if the state or the federal government has correctly interpreted the meaning of `tank vessel.' Even if the federal government's interpretation is correct, our discussion in Part III.A shows why overlap analysis would still be required before a court could find preemption as a matter of law. That is sufficient for us to reverse the district court's decision to grant judgment on the pleadings, and to remand this issue. [17]