Public Law 87-167 87th Congress, S. 2187 August 30, 1961 AN ACT To implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954 Act, 1961. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- Oil Pollution tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act, to implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954, may be cited as the "Oil Pollution Act, 1961". SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.-As used in this Act, unless the Definitions. context otherwise requires (a) The term "convention" means the International Convention for the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954; (b) The term "discharge" in relation to oil or to an oily mixture means any discharge or escape howsoever caused; (c) The term "heavy diesel oil" means marine diesel oil, other than those distillates of which more than 50 per centum, by volume distills at a temperature not exceeding three hundred and forty degrees centigrade when tested by American Society for the Testing of Materials standard method D. 158/53; (d) The term "mile" means a nautical mile of six thousand and eighty feet or one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two meters; (e) The term "oil" means persistent oils, such as crude oil, fuel oil, heavy diesel oil, and lubricating oil. For the purposes of this legislation, the oil in an oily mixture of less than one hundred parts of oil in one million parts of the mixture, shall not be deemed to foul the surface of the sea; (f) The term "person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, or association; and any owner, operator, agent, master, officer, or employee of a ship; (g) The term "prohibited zones" means the zones described in section 12 of this Act as modified by notices, if any, of extension or reduction issued by the Secretary; (h) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Army; (i) The term "ship" means a seagoing ship of American registry except Prohibition. Exceptions. 75 Stat. 403. Penalties. (1) ships for the time being used as naval auxiliaries; (2) ships of under five hundred tons gross tonnage; (3) ships for the time being engaged in the whaling industry; (4) ships for the time being navigating the Great Lakes of North America and their connecting and tributary waters as far east as the lower exit of the Lachine Canal at Montreal in the Province of Quebec, Canada. SEC. 3. (a) Subject to the provisions of sections 4 and 5, the discharge by any person from any ship, which is a tanker, within any of the prohibited zones of oil or any oily mixture the oil in which fouls the surface of the sea, shall be unlawful. (b) Subject to the provisions of sections 4 and 5, any discharge by any person into the sea from a ship, other than a tanker, of oily ballast water or tank washings shall be made as far as practicable from land. As from July 26, 1961, paragraph (a) of this section shall apply to ships other than tankers as it applies to tankers, except that the prohibited zones in relation to ships other than tankers shall be those referred to in the schedule. SEC. 4. Section 3 shall not apply to (a) the discharge of oil or of an oily mixture from a ship for the purpose of securing the safety of the ship, preventing damage to the ship or cargo, or saving life at sea; or (b) the escape of oil, or of an oily mixture, resulting from damage to the ship or unavoidable leakage, if all reasonable precautions have been taken after the occurrence of the damage or discovery of the leakage for the purpose of preventing or minimizing the escape; (c) the discharge of sediment (i) which cannot be pumped from the cargo tanks of tankers by reason of its solidity; or (ii) which is residue arising from the purification or clarification of oil fuel or lubricating oil, Provided, That such discharge is made as far from land as is practicable. SEC. 5. Section 3 shall not apply to the discharge from the bilges of a ship (a) of any oily mixture, during the period of twelve months after the United States accepts the convention; (b) after the expiration of such period, of an oily mixture containing no oil other than lubricating oil. SEC. 6. Any person who violates any provision of this Act, except sections 8(b) and 9, or any regulation pre scribed in pursuance thereof, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $2,500 nor less than $500, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, for each offense. And any ship (other than a ship owned and operated by the United States) from which oil is discharged in violation of this Act, or any regulation prescribed in pursuance thereof, shall be liable for the pecuniary penalty specified in this section, and clearance of such ship from a port of the United States may be withheld until the penalty is paid, and said penalty shall constitute a lien on such ship which may be recovered in proceedings by libel in rem in the district court of the United States for any district within which the ship may be. SEC. 7. The Coast Guard may, subject to the provisions of section 4450 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (46 U.S.C. 239), suspend or revoke a license issued to the master or other licensed officer of any ship found violating the provisions of this Act or the regulations issued pursuant thereto. Enforcement. SEC. 8(a) In the administration of sections 1-12 of Administration. this Act, the Secretary may make use of the organization, equipment, and agencies, including engineering, clerical, and other personnel, employed under his direction in the improvement of rivers and harbors and in the enforcement of laws for the improvement of rivers and harbors and in the enforcement of laws for the preservation and protection of navigable waters. For the better enforcement of the provisions of said sections, the officers and agents of the United States in charge of river and harbor improvements and persons employed under them by authority of the Secretary, and officers and employees of the Bureau of Customs and the Coast Guard, shall have power and authority and it shall be their duty to swear out process and to arrest and take into custody, with or without process, any person who may violate any of said provisions: Provided, That no person shall be arrested without process for a violation not committed in the presence of some one of the aforesaid officials: And provided further, That whenever any arrest is made under the provisions of said sections the person so arrested shall be brought forthwith before a commissioner, judge, or court of the United States for examination of the offenses alleged against him; and such commissioner, judge, or court shall proceed in respect thereto as authorized by law in cases of crimes against the United States. Representatives of the Secretary and of the Bureau of Customs and Coast Guard of the United States may go on board and inspect any ship in a pro Oil record book. Regulations. Prohibited zones. Tankers. Exceptions. hibited zone or in a port of the United States as may be necessary for enforcement of this Act. (b) To implement article VII of the convention, ship fittings and equipment, and operating requirements thereof, shall be in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating. Any person found violating these regulations shall, in addition to any other penalty prescribed by law, be subject to a civil penalty not in excess of $100. SEC. 9. (a) There shall be carried in every ship an oil record book in the form specified in section 13 of this Act. In the event of discharge or escape of oil from a ship in a prohibited zone, a signed statement shall be made in the oil record book, by the officer or officers in charge of the operations concerned and by the master of the ship, of the circumstances of and the reason for the discharge or escape. (b) If any person fails to comply with the requirements imposed by or under this section, he shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 nor less than $500 and if any person makes an entry in any records kept in accordance with this Act which is to his knowledge false or misleading in any material particular, he shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 nor less than $500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both. SEC. 10. The Secretary may make regulations for the administration of sections 3, 4, 5, 8(a), and 9. SEC. 11. (a) The Secretary may make regulations empowering such persons as may be designated to go on board any ship to which the convention applies, while the ship is within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and to require production of any records required to be kept in accordance with the convention. (b) Should evidence be obtained that a ship registered in another country party to the convention has discharged oil in any prohibited zone, such evidence should be forwarded to the State Department for action in accordance with article X of the convention. SEC. 12. (a) Subject to paragraph (c) of this section, the prohibited zones in relation to tankers shall be all sea areas within fifty miles from land, with the following exceptions: (1) THE ADRIATIC ZONES. -Within the Adriatic Sea the prohibited zones off the coasts of Italy and Yugoslavia respectively shall each extend for a distance of fifty miles from land, excepting only the island of Vis. (2) THE NORTH SEA ZONE.-The North Sea Zone shall extend for a distance of one hundred miles from the coasts of the following countries Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and but not beyond the point where the limit of a one (3) THE ATLANTIC ZONE.-The Atlantic Zone shall (4) THE AUSTRALIAN ZONE.-The Australian Zone shall extend for a distance of one hundred and fifty miles from the coasts of Australia, except off the north and west coasts of the Australian mainland between the point opposite Thursday Island and the point on the west coast at 20 degrees south latitude. (b) Subject to paragraph (c) of this section the pro- Ships other hibited zones in relation to ships other than tankers shall be all sea areas within fifty miles from land with the following exceptions: (1) THE ADRIATIC ZONES.-Within the Adriatic Sea the prohibited zones off the coasts of Italy and Yugoslavia respectively shall each extend for a distance of twenty miles from land, excepting only the Island of Vis. After the expiration of a period of three years following the application of prohibited than tankers. |