Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 94 Part 3.djvu/838

 94 STAT. 3482 Effective date.

42 USC

1962d-16. "State."

Transportation. Report to Congress.

PUBLIC LAW 96-597—DEC. 24, 1980

SEC. 605. Effective October 1, 1981, section 22 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-251) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "(c) For the purposes of this section, the term 'State' means the several States of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.". SEC. 606. (a) The Congress finds that— (1) the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands is composed over two thousand islands scattered over three million square miles of the North Pacific Ocean with a total land area of only seven hundred square miles supporting approximately one hundred thousand persons; (2) the health, safety, welfare, as well as the political, social, and economic development of the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands are totally dependent on the adequacy and regularity of inter-island transportation; (3) the principal form of inter-island transportation, especially for the outer islands is and will continue to be surface transportation; (4) at present inter-island surface transportation is completely dependent on uncertain supplies of increasingly expensive imported fuel; (5) recent developments in sail-assisted technology offer the potential for alleviating the dependence of the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands on imported fuel for surface transportation, thereby improving the capability for regular supply schedules to the various islands, relieving the fiscal burden on local governments caused by the costs of imported fuel, and strengthening the bsise for political, social, and economic development of the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. (b) In order to ascertain the potential for sail-assisted technology for inter-island transportation in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Secretary of the Interior is directed to review the transportation needs of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and submit a report to the Congress by October 1, 1981, on his findings and recommendations. (c) In preparing his report, the Secretary of the Interior shall consider, but is not limited to, frequency of services, present and alternative routes, cargo delivery, operating costs, port and docking availability and adequacy, and the impact on energy costs of the use of a second generation of inter-island field trip vessels using sailassisted technology. The report shall set forth a scientific analysis of the potential applications of sail-assisted technology as a means of reducing energy costs for inter-island transportation including, but not limited to, statistics on windspeed, direction, wave heights and currents; possible design configurations and specifications for sailassisted vessels; cost estimates for construction, financing, and operation; and such other information as he deems appropriate to determine the feasibility of sail-assisted technology for inter-island transportation. (d) The Secretary is directed to consult with appropriate representatives of the various local government units in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands as well as the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Defense in preparing the report.

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