Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
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The Legacy Continues The Coast Guard continues to serve as the nation's guardian in the Arctic — more than 115 years since the Overland Expedition. Coast Guard operations in this remote region have continued to improve maritime safety and mobility, protect natural resources, ensure law enforcement, and prevent maritime disasters. Harkening back to the Overland Expedition, in 2012, the CGC Healy cleared a path north for the Russianfagged vessel Renda to help deliver emergency fuel to Nome, Alaska.2 This last decade has seen incredible re-emergence of multinational maritime interest in the far northern reaches of Coast Guard District 17 and the Arctic Ocean. As average winter ice coverage continues to decline to unprecedented levels, more people have begun to utilize now accessible waterways and economic resources. The Coast Guard has responded to these changes by: • • • conducting a waterways analysis to assess the need for aids to navigation, serving as the nation's delegation lead to the Arctic Council Oil Spill task force in developing spill response policy and regulation in the region, establishing temporary forward operating locations in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, Nome, Kotzebue and Barrow to address operational needs.3 Ensuring the success of our statutory missions in the region requires having assets and training in place, but it will also require the Coast Guard to carry out its role as an agency that promulgates regulations to protect the maritime environment. How the Coast Guard Regulates the Arctic In 2012, the U.S. Department of Interior gave Royal Dutch Shell permits for operations in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, including preliminary drilling of casings into no-oil-bearing zones and to create mudline cellars in preparation for future exploratory drilling.4 Decades before Shell's endeavor, commercial operations in the Arctic provided the genesis for crucial Coast Guard regulation. For example, the grounding of the Exxon Valdez in 1989 — the largest marine safety response that the Coast Guard had ever undertaken — led to the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), with signifcant regulatory implementation given to the Coast Guard.5 www.uscg.mil/proceedings Prior to the OPA 90 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (now commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act), Coast Guard marine pollution regulation and prevention was mainly derived from a combination of environmental statutes. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, the Act to Prevent Pollution From Ships (the 1973 U.S. implementation of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act required the Coast Guard to prepare for marine pollution incidents. The Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 and the Port and Tanker Safety Act of 1978 provided Coast Guard captains of the port the authority to control activities at waterfront facilities and on vessels in U.S. waters.6 With this collection of statutory authorities, the Coast Guard could take some regulatory action to prevent and control marine casualties, but many key provisions that allow for contingency planning, improved vessel design, and immediate funding for response were absent. In contrast to the pre-existing regulatory framework, OPA 90 improved the federal government's ability to provide resources to respond to oil spills through the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. In addition, OPA 90 provided new requirements for government and industry contingency planning through new requirements, such as the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan and Facility and Vessel Response Plans. Under this statutory framework, the Coast Guard also promulgated a set of pollution prevention regulations for ships and waterfront facilities including: • • • • inspection programs for vessels carrying oil and hazardous cargoes, procedural and personnel requirements for oil transfer operations, construction requirements (segregated ballast tanks), operational requirements. OPA 90 created signifcant improvements to the Coast Guard oil spill response and prevention authorities including promulgation of the double hull requirement. On June 29, 1999, Rear Admiral Robert North, Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety and Envicontinued on page 45 Summer 2013 Proceedings 43