Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 104 Part 1.djvu/589

 PUBLIC LAW 101-380 —AUG. 18, 1990 104 STAT. 555 (1) admiralty and maritime law; or (2) the jurisdiction of the district courts of the United States with respect to civil actions under admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors in all cases all other remedies to which they are otherwise entitled. SEC. 6002. ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS. 33 USC 2752. (a) REQUIRED. —Except as provided in subsection (b), amounts in the Fund shall be available only as provided in annual appropriation Acts. (b) EXCEPTIONS.— Subsection (a) shall not apply to sections 1006(f), 1012(a)(4), or 500603), and shall not apply to an amount not to exceed $50,000,000 in any fiscal year which the President may make available from the Fund to carry out section 311(c) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended by this Act, and to initiate the assessment of natural resources damages required under section 1006. Sums to which this subsection applies shall remain available until expended. SEC. 6003. OUTER BANKS PROTECTION. Outer Banks Protection Act (a) SHORT TITLE.—T h is section may be cited as the "Outer Banks North Carolina. Protection Act". 33 USC 2753. 0>) FINDINGS.— The Congress finds that— (1) the Outer Banks of North Carolina is an area of exceptional environmental fragility and beauty; (2) the annual economic benefits of commercial and recreational fishing activities to North Carolina, which could be adversely affected by oil or gas development offshore the State's coast, exceeds $1,000,000,000; (3) the major industry in coastal North Carolina is tourism, which is subject to potentially significant disruption by offshore oil or gas development; (4) the physical oceanographic characteristics of the area offshore North Carolina between Cape Hatteras and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay are not well understood, being affected by Gulf Stream western boundary perturbations and accompanying warm filaments, warm and cold core rings which separate from the Gulf Stream, wind stress, outflow from the Chesa- - peake Bay, Gulf Stream meanders, and intrusions of Virginia coastal waters around and over the Diamond shoals; (5) diverse and abundant fisheries resources occur in the western boundary area of the Gulf Stream offshore North Carolina, but little is understood of the complex ecological relationships between the life histories of those species and their physical, chemical, and biological environment; (6) the environmental impact statements prepared for Outer Continental Shelf lease sales numbered 56 (1981) and 78 (1983) contain insufficient and outdated environmental information from which to make decisions on approval of additional oil and gas leasing, exploration, and development activities; (7) the draft environmental report, dated November 1, 1989, and the preliminary final environmental report dated June 1, 1990, prepared pursuant to a July 14, 1989 memorandum of understanding between the State of North Carolina, the Department of the Interior, and the Mobil Oil Company, have not allayed concerns about the adequacy of the environmental information available to determine whether to proceed with

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