gress pass legislation establishing a single, national standard of strict liability for oil spills. He also requested that the Secretary of Transportation develop new rules for oil tanker standards and that the Coast Guard examine each foreign flag tanker calling at U.S. ports at least once each year. The text of President Carter's message appears below: The recent series of oil tanker accidents in and near American waters is a grave reminder of the risks associated with marine transportation of oil. Though we can never entirely eliminate these risks, we can reduce them. Today I am announcing a diverse but interrelated group of measures designed to do so. These measures are both international and domestic. Pollution of the oceans by oil is a global problem requiring global solutions. I intend to communicate directly with the leaders of a number of major maritime nations to solicit their support for international action. Oil pollution is also a serious domestic problem requiring prompt and effective action by the Federal Government to reduce the danger to American lives, the American economy, and American beaches and shorelines, and the steps I am taking will do this. The following measures are designed to achieve three objectives: First, to reduce oil pollution caused by tanker accidents and by routine operational discharges from all vessels; Second, to improve our ability to deal swiftly and effectively with oil spills when they do occur; and Third, to provide full and dependable compensation to victims of oil pollution damage. These are the measures I recommend: • RATIFICATION of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. I am transmitting this far-reaching and comprehensive treaty to the Senate for its advice and consent. This Convention, by imposing segregated ballast requirements for new large oil tankers and placing stringent controls on all oil discharges from ships, represents an important multilateral step toward reducing the risk of marine oil pollution. In the near future, I will submit implementing legislation to the Congress. REFORM of ship construction and equipment standards. I am instructing the Secretary of Transportation to develop new rules for oil tanker standards within 60 days. These regulations will apply to all oil tankers over 20,000 deadweight tons, U.S. and foreign, which call at American ports. These regulations will include: -Double bottoms on all new tankers; -Segregated ballast on all tankers; -Backup radar systems, including collision avoidance equipment, on all tankers; and -Improved emergency steering standards for all tankers. These requirements will be fully effective within five years. Where technological improvements and alternatives can be shown to achieve the same degree of protection against pollution, the rules will allow their use. 257-179 O 79 40 Experience has shown that ship construction and equipment standards are effective only if backed by a strong enforcement program. Because the quality of inspections by some nations falls short of U.S. practice, I have instructed the Department of State and the Coast Guard to begin diplomatic efforts to improve the present international system of inspection and certification. In addition, I recommend the immediate scheduling of a special international conference for late 1977 to consider these construction and inspection measures. • IMPROVEMENT of crew standards and training. I am instructing the Secretary of Transportation to take immediate steps to raise the licensing and qualification standards for American crews. The international requirements for crew qualifications, which are far from strict, will be dealt with by a major international conference we will participate in next year. I am instructing the Secretary of Transportation to identify additional requirements which should be discussed, and if not included, may be imposed by the United States after 1978 on the crews of all ships calling at American ports. • DEVELOPMENT of Tanker Boarding Program and U.S. Marine Safety Information System. Starting immediately, the Coast Guard will board and examine each foreign flag tanker calling at American ports at least once a year and more often if necessary. This examination will insure that the ship meets all safety and environmental protection regulations. Those ships which fail to do so may be denied access to U.S. ports or, in some cases, denied the right to leave until the deficiencies have been corrected. The information gathered by this boarding program will permit the Coast Guard to identify individual tankers having histories of poor maintenance, accidents, and pollution violations. We will also require that the names of tanker owners, major stockholders, and changes in vessel names be disclosed and included in this Marine Safety Information System. APPROVAL of Comprehensive Oil Pollution Liability and Compensation Legislation. I am transmitting appropriate legislation to establish a single, national standard of strict liability for oil spills. This legislation is designed to replace the present fragmented, overlapping systems of federal and state liability laws and compensation funds. It will also create a $200 million fund to clean up oil spills and compensate victims for oil pollution damages. • IMPROVEMENT of Federal ability to respond to oil pollution emergencies. I have directed the appropriate Federal agencies, particularly the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency, in cooperation with state and local governments to improve our ability to contain and minimize the damaging effects of oil spills. The goal is an ability to respond within six hours to a spill of 100,000 tons. Oil pollution of the oceans is a serious problem that calls for concentrated, energetic, and prompt attention. I believe these measures constitute an effective program to control it. My Administration pledges its best efforts, in cooperation with the international community, the Congress, and the public, to preserve the Earth's oceans and their resources. 13 Weekly Comp. of Pres. Doc. 408-409 (Mar. 21, 1977). The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, with protocols and annexes was done on Nov. 2, 1973. The text of this Convention which had not entered into force by Dec. 31, 1977, may be found in S. Ex. E, 95th Cong., 1st Sess., and 12 International Legal Materials 1319. For the text of Navigation Safety and Vessel Inspection Regulations issued by the Dept. of Transportation on Jan. 21, 1977, to deal in part with the problem of oil tanker accidents, see 42 Fed. Reg. 5956 et seq. (1977). On March 22, 1977, President Carter transmitted to the U.S. Senate for advice and consent to ratification the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, done at London on November 2, 1973, together with Annexes I and II thereof, and two related Protocols. For the information of the Senate, the President also sent the report of the Department of State concerning this Convention. President Carter indicated in his message to the Senate that the Convention "deals comprehensively with operational discharges from vessels, establishes strict controls over oil discharges, and imposes regulations for discharges of other pollutants" and that "[i]t also creates standards for the construction and design of ships which will carry these hazardous cargoes." The report of the Department of State submitted by Acting Secretary of State Warren Christopher on March 17, 1977, described the Convention in further detail as follows: The Convention's stated purpose is the complete elimination of intentional pollution of the marine environment and the minimization of accidental discharges. It is the product of extensive preparatory work by governments and private organizations, including environmental groups, shipping industry representatives, and many others. It is a comprehensive agreement dealing with the many types of vessel operational discharges which pollute the marine environment. Such operational discharges account for 85% of all oil entering the oceans from marine transport operations. The Convention will not solve all pollution threats to the oceans, but I believe that it is a critical step forward in the current program of international and domestic actions to combat vessel pollution. The major thrust of the Convention is to require strict regulations for the carriage of noxious liquid substances in bulk, including crude petroleum, refined petroleum products and other chemicals. All discharges of oil are prohibited within 50 nautical miles of the nearest land. Sludge and other oily wastes must be discharged into reception facilities to be provided at ports. All tankers will be required to be fitted with features which will make compliance feasible. All new tankers of 70,000 DWT or over will be required to have segregated ballast. All tankers must have slop tanks, oil discharge monitoring and control systems, and oily water separating equipment. In addition to the specific technical requirements of the Convention, several legal mechanisms are established to achieve more effective implementation. All Parties to the Convention will be re quired to apply the Convention regulations to all vessels using their ports, including those of non-Party nations. This will ensure that non-Parties cannot financially undercut vessels of Parties and thus remove an economic incentive to avoid the Convention requirements. The Convention also includes an innovative rapid amendment procedure utilizing the Marine Environment Protection Committee of IMCO [Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization] to develop amendments to the Convention's Annexes. This will enable the Convention to keep pace with technological advances, and hopefully eliminate the need for time consuming major renegotiations in the future. During the negotiations on the Convention, an effort was made by several major maritime nations to restrict national powers to apply domestic regulations more stringent than prevailing international standards to foreign vessels in ports. That effort was defeated by the United States and others. The Law of the Sea Conference's Revised Single Negotiating Text affirms the right of the United States to establish and enforce more stringent domestic regulations in its ports. In doing so, of course, the United States would have to comply with other specific obligations it has assumed, such as the requirement to accept flag State certificates of compliance with the regulations of the 1960 Safety of Life at Sea Convention absent clear grounds for believing that there is non-compliance. With regard to the application of the Convention, the Articles apply to all ships operating in the marine environment. However, the negotiating history indicates that Annexes I and II were intended to be applied to sea-going vessels and not to all vessels including those used in internal waters. We have raised this question with a number of other countries active in the negotiations, and we are now satisfied that our interpretation is correct. We will indicate our understanding on this point when we file our notice of ratification of the Convention. The Convention includes three optional Annexes, dealing with pollution from packaged harmful substances, sewage and garbage. These Annexes remain under study, and the Senate's advice and consent to their ratification is not now being sought. These Annexes are being transmitted for the information of the Senate. Exec. E. 95th Cong., 1st Sess., iii-vi. On July 25, 1977, President Carter transmitted for the advice and consent of the Senate the Protocol Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Marine Pollution by Substances Other than Oil (the Protocol), adopted at London on November 2, 1973, by the International Conference on Marine Pollution, which is sponsored by the Inter-Government Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO). President Carter described in part the purposes of the Protocol in his letter of transmittal as follows: The Protocol complements the 1969 International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties by providing that, under certain circumstances, governments may take action on the high seas to protect the interests of their coastal areas from marine pollution caused by substances other than oil. A list of such substances, compiled by the InterGovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization [IMCO], accompanies the Protocol. Under the terms of the Protocol, the list can be amended to reflect future technological developments. The Protocol is evidence of awareness by the international community that oil is not the only potential source of marine pollution, and that steps must be taken to prevent or reduce damage from other substances as well. . . . S. Ex. L, 95th Cong., 1st Sess., III. President Carter also transmitted on July 25, 1977, a report on the Protocol submitted to him by Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher on July 14, 1977. This report describes, inter alia, how the Protocol identifies hazardous "substances other than oil," permits a party to take action to prevent a "grave or imminent danger" to its coastline or related interests, and provides conciliation and arbitration procedures after such preventive action has been taken. A portion of the report follows: * The "substances other than oil" are identified as "those substances enumerated in a list which shall be established by an appropriate body designated by the Organization (IMCO) and which shall be annexed to the present Protocol, and those other substances which are liable to create hazards to human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea." The list was established by the Marine Environment Protection Committee of IMCO and is now annexed to the Protocol. It includes the "light" oils (heavy oils having been covered by the Convention), and numerous other chemical and radioactive contaminants. The Protocol also provides procedures for amendment of the list. The Protocol provides that: Parties to the present Protocol may take such measures on the high seas as may be necessary to prevent, mitigate or eliminate grave and imminent danger to their coastine or related interests from pollution or threat of pollution by substances other than oil following upon a maritime casualty or acts related to such a casualty, which may reasonably be expected to result in major harmful consequences. By this provision (which has a comparable provision in the Convention), a State is authorized to destroy a vessel or take any other action necessary to avoid a "grave or imminent danger." It was anticipated, however, that the provision would be more frequently invoked to permit a State to take charge of a vessel or to superintend a contractor in the salvage or pumping out of a vessel. The comparable provision in the Convention was invoked in 1976 to |