42 U.S.C. § 9119
Each license shall include such conditions as may be necessary and appropriate to ensure that construction and operation of the ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship are conducted with reasonable regard for navigation, fishing, energy production, scientific research, or other uses of the high seas, either by citizens of the United States or by other nations in their exercise of the freedoms of the high seas as recognized under the Convention of the High Seas and the general principles of international law.
The Administrator shall promulgate regulations specifying under what conditions and in what circumstances the thermal plume of an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship licensed under this chapter will be deemed-
Such regulations shall also provide for the Administrator to mediate or arbitrate any disputes among licensees regarding the extent to which the thermal plume of one licensee's facility or plantship impinges on the operation of another licensee's facility or plantship.
The Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall promulgate, after consultation with the Administrator, and shall enforce, regulations governing the movement and navigation of ocean thermal energy conversion plantships licensed under this chapter to ensure that the thermal plume of such an ocean thermal energy conversion plantship does not unreasonably impinge on so as to degrade the thermal gradient used by the operation of any other ocean thermal energy conversion plantship or facility except in case of force majeure or with the consent of owner of the other such plantship or facility, and to ensure that the thermal plume of such an ocean thermal energy conversion plantship does not impinge on so as to adversely affect the territorial sea or area of national resource jurisdiction, as recognized by the United States, of any other nation unless the Secretary of State has approved such impingement after consultation with such nation.
42 U.S.C. § 9119
EDITORIAL NOTES
REFERENCES IN TEXTThis chapter, referred to in subsecs. (b) and (c), was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 96-320, Aug. 3, 1980, 94 Stat. 974, known as the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Act of 1980, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 9101 of this title and Tables.
AMENDMENTS1984-Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 98-623, §602(e)(2), substituted "national resource jurisdiction" for "natural resource jurisdiction".Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 98-623, §602(e)(15), struck out par. (3) which prohibited a licensee of an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship under this chapter, except in the case of force majeure, from permitting foreign vessels to call at, or load or unload cargo at, or otherwise use such facility or plantship unless the foreign state involved had specifically agreed to recognize the jurisdiction of the United States over the vessel and its personnel while such vessel was located in the safety zone and the vessel owner or operator had designated an agent in the United States for receipt of service of process for legal claims or proceedings arising from activities of the vessel or its personnel while located in such zone. See section 9118(d)(3) of this title.Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98-623, §602(e)(16), substituted "the thermal plume of such" for "the thermal plume such of" in second place appearing, and substituted "impingement" for "impingment".
STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES
TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONSFor transfer of authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Coast Guard, including the authorities and functions of the Secretary of Transportation relating thereto, to the Department of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see sections 468(b), 551(d), 552(d),and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6.
- Administrator
- "Administrator" means the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
- State
- "State" means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and any other Commonwealth, territory, or possession over which the United States has jurisdiction;
- construction
- "construction" means any activities conducted at sea to supervise, inspect, actually build, or perform other functions incidental to the building, repairing, or expanding of an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship or any of its components, including but not limited to, piledriving, emplacement of mooring devices, emplacement of cables and pipelines, and deployment of the cold water pipe, and alterations, modifications, or additions to an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship;
- facility
- "facility" means an ocean thermal energy conversion facility;
- high seas
- "high seas" means that part of the oceans lying seaward of the territorial sea of the United States and outside the territorial sea, as recognized by the United States, of any other nation;
- licensee
- "licensee" means the holder of a valid license for the ownership, construction, and operation of an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship that was issued, transferred, or renewed pursuant to this chapter;
- ocean thermal energy conversion facility
- "ocean thermal energy conversion facility" means any facility which is standing, fixed or moored in whole or in part seaward of the highwater mark and which is designed to use temperature differences in ocean water to produce electricity or another form of energy capable of being used directly to perform work, and includes any equipment installed on such facility to use such electricity or other form of energy to produce, process, refine, or manufacture a product, and any cable or pipeline used to deliver such electricity, fresh water, or product to shore, and all other associated equipment and appurtenances of such facility, to the extent they are located seaward of the highwater mark;
- ocean thermal energy conversion plantship
- "ocean thermal energy conversion plantship" means any vessel which is designed to use temperature differences in ocean water while floating unmoored or moving through such water, to produce electricity or another form of energy capable of being used directly to perform work, and includes any equipment installed on such vessel to use such electricity or other form of energy to produce, process, refine, or manufacture a product, and any equipment used to transfer such product to other vessels for transportation to users, and all other associated equipment and appurtenances of such vessel;
- plantship
- "plantship" means an ocean thermal energy conversion plantship;
- thermal plume
- "thermal plume" means the area of the ocean in which a significant difference in temperature, as defined in regulations by the Administrator, occurs as a result of the operation of an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship; and
- Secretary
- The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.1 See References in Text note below.
- owner
- The term "owner" means, with respect to federally assisted housing, the entity or private person, including a cooperative or public housing agency, that has the legal right to lease or sublease dwelling units in such housing.