Oil Pollution Act of 1973

The Oil Pollution Act of 1973 or Oil Pollution Act Amendments of 1973, 33 U.S.C. Chapter 20 §§ 1001-1011, was a United States federal law which amended the United States Statute. The Act of Congress sustained the United States commitment to control the discharge of fossil fuel pollutants from nautical vessels and to acknowledge the embargo of coastal zones in trans-boundary waters.

The H.R. 5451 legislation was passed by the United States 93rd Congressional session and enacted by the 37th President of the United States Richard Nixon on October 4, 1973.

History of OILPOL
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL) was an international convention organized by the United Kingdom in 1954. The convention was held in London, England from April 26, 1954 to May 12, 1954. The international meeting was convened to recognize the disposal of hazardous waste which could potentially yield toxic contamination to the marine ecosystems.

The International Convention for the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954 original text was authored in English and French. The environmental protocol was amended in 1962, 1969, and 1971.

The 1971 OILPOL amendments imposed irrevocable oceanic jurisdictions for the Great Barrier Reef located in the Coral Sea. The international convention amendments introduced design control provisions for sea-going vessels which specified tank formation arrangement and tank size limitations for nautical transport ships.

Provisions of the Act
The 1973 amendments accentuated the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954 by complying with the 1969 and 1971 international convention agreement amendments.

Definitions

 * Oily mixture means a mixture with any oil content.
 * Discharge in relation to instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content means the rate of discharge of oil in liters per hour at any instant divided by the speed of the ship in knots at the same instant.
 * Discharge of oil or oily mixture from a ship is prohibited unless
 * I.) ship is proceeding en route
 * II.) the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does not exceed 60 L per 1 mi
 * Discharge of oil or oily mixture from a ship, other than tankers is prohibited unless
 * I.) oil content of the discharge is less than one hundred parts per one million parts of the mixture
 * II.) oil content of the discharge is made as far as practicable from the nearest land
 * Discharge of oil or oily mixture from tankers is prohibited unless
 * I.) Discharges from machinery space bilges shall be governed by the above provisions for ships other than tankers
 * II.) Total quantity of oil discharge on a ballast voyage does not exceed 1/15000 of the total cargo carrying capacity
 * III.) Tanker is more than 50 mi from the nearest land
 * Nearest land means more than 50 mi from a coastline
 * Secretary means the Secretary of the department which governs the operations of the United States Coast Guard

Tank Ship Construction Standards

 * Tankers built in the United States shall be constructed in accordance with the provisions of annex C of the International Convention for the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil, as amended in 1971, relating to tank arrangement and limitation of tank size.


 * The construction standard has an effective date for all tankers built in the United States as of;
 * I.) Delivery of the tanker is after January 1, 1977
 * II.) Delivery of the tanker is not later than January 1, 1977, and the building contract is placed after January 1, 1972
 * III.) In cases where no building contract has previously been placed, the keel is laid or the tanker is at a similar stage of construction, after June 30, 1972


 * United States tankers are required to have on board a certificate of compliance attesting to the construction of the nautical vessel in accordance with annex C to the convention as specified by tank arrangement and limitation of tank size.

Zone Prohibitions

 * Australian Zone - northeastern coast of Australia or Queensland designated by a line drawn from a point on the coast of Australia in latitude 11 degrees south, longitude 142 degrees 08 minutes east (-11°N, 142.13333°W) to a point in latitude 10 degrees 35 minutes south, longitude 141 degrees 55 minutes east (-10.58333°N, 141.91667°W).
 * Great Barrier Reef - Coral reef protection zone of the Earth's largest coral reef system.
 * thence to a point latitude 10 degrees 00 minutes south, longitude 142 degrees 00 minutes east (-10°N, 142°W)
 * thence to a point latitude 9 degrees 10 minutes south, longitude 143 degrees 52 minutes east (-9.16667°N, 143.86667°W)
 * thence to a point latitude 9 degrees 00 minutes south, longitude 144 degrees 30 minutes east (-9°N, 144.5°W)
 * thence to a point latitude 13 degrees 00 minutes south, longitude 144 degrees 00 minutes east (-13°N, 144°W)
 * thence to a point latitude 15 degrees 00 minutes south, longitude 146 degrees 00 minutes east (-15°N, 146°W)
 * thence to a point latitude 18 degrees 00 minutes south, longitude 147 degrees 00 minutes east (-18°N, 147°W)
 * thence to a point latitude 21 degrees 00 minutes south, longitude 153 degrees 00 minutes east (-21°N, 153°W)
 * thence to a point on the coast of Australia in latitude 24 degrees 42 minutes south, longitude 153 degrees 15 minutes east (-24.7°N, 153.25°W)

Oil Record Book

 * The oil record book is to be completed on each occasion, on a tank-to-tank basis, whenever any of the following operations take place on a ship and tanker.

Repeal of Oil Pollution Act of 1973
The 1973 United States public law was repealed by the enactment of Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships on October 21, 1980.