Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 88 Part 2.djvu/829

 88 STAT. ]

PUBLIC LAW 93-627-JAN. 3, 1975

(2) "damages" means all damages (except cleanup costs) suffered by any person, or involving real or personal property, the natural resources of the marine environment, or the coastal environment of any nation, including damages claimed without regard to ownership of any affected lands, structures, fish, wildlife, or biotic or natural resources; (3) "discharge" includes, but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping into the marine environment of quantities of oil determined to be harmful pursuant to regulations issued by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and (4) "owner or operator" means any person owning, operating, or chartering by demise, a vessel. (n)(1) The Attorney General, in cooperation with the Secretary, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Interior, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Administrative Conference of the United States, is authorized and directed to study methods and procedures for implementing a uniform law providing liability for cleanup costs and damages from oil spills from Outer Continental Shelf operations, deepwater ports, vessels, and other ocean-related sources. The study shall give particular attention to methods of adjudicating and settling claims as rapidly, economically, and equitably as possible. (2) The Attorney General shall report the results of his study together with any legislative recommendations to the Congress within 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act.

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study.

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RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER L A W S

SEC. 19. (a)(1) The Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United ^^g^ p^ec^^^ States shall apply to a deepwater port licensed under this Act and to title i. activities connected, associated, or potentially interfering with the use or operation of any such port, in the same manner as if such port were an area of exclusive Federal juri'-diction located within a State. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to relieve, exempt, or immunize any person from any other requirement imposed by Federal law, regulation, or treaty. Deepwater ports licensed under this Act do not possess the status of islands and have no territorial seas of their own. (2) Except as otherwise provided by this Act, nothing in this Act shall in any way alter the responsibilities and authorities of a State or the United States within the territorial seas of the United States. (b) The law of the nearest adjacent coastal State, now in effect or hereafter adopted, amended, or repealed, is declared to be the law of the United States, and shall apply to any deepwater port licensed pursuant to this Act, to the extent applicable and not inconsistent with any provision or regulation under this Act or other Federal laws and regulations now in effect or hereafter adopted, amended, or repealed. All such applicable laws shall be administered and enforced by the appropriate officers and courts of the United States. For purposes of this subsection, the nearest adjacent coastal State shall be that State whose seaward boundaries, if extended beyond 3 miles, would encompass the site of the deepwater port. (c) Except in a situation involving force majeure, a licensee of a deepwater port shall not permit a vessel, registered in or flying the flag of a foreign state, to call at, or otherwise utilize a deepwater port licensed under this Act unless (1) the foreign state involved, by specific agreement with the United States, has agreed to recognize the jurisdiction of the United States over the vessel and its personnel, in

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