Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 196 § 196.180 — Compact provisions

Compact provisions. The provisions of the Pacific Ocean Resources Compact are as follows: ______________________________________________________________________________ ARTICLE I Findings and Purpose A. The parties recognize: (1) The States of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington and the Province of British Columbia have a common interest in the protection of marine and coastal resources. This common interest results from: (a) The fluid, dynamic ocean currents and atmospheric winds that carry pollutants beyond one party’s coastal area to another. (b) The migratory nature of many important living marine resources that depend upon the marine habitat of various parties for different parts of their lifecycle. (c) The economic reliance of each party upon renewable resources of the ocean. (d) The use of the ocean for transport of oil and other hazardous substances between ports in the various parties and other nations. (e) A regional interest in providing a stable environment for those communities dependent upon ocean resources and ocean trade for a livelihood. (2) Some marine resource activities, such as fisheries, are currently highly managed with regard for their regional or transboundary nature through existing state programs, regional fisheries councils, interstate compacts and international treaties. Because there are existing formal mechanisms for interstate cooperation and coordination for these marine resource activities, this compact is not intended to encompass these activities or to grant to the Pacific Ocean Resources Compact authority to regulate resource allocation or management as it may pertain to the use and consumption of marine resources. (3) A formal interstate agreement does not exist to address and resolve issues of mutual concern or to coordinate individual programs of the parties that affect regional interests in the areas of: (a) Prevention of oil and hazardous substance spills; (b) Transportation of oil and other hazardous substances; (c) Oil and hazardous substance spill response planning; (d) Environmental monitoring and research; and (e) Ocean resource management. (4) Each party has jurisdiction over the submerged and submersible lands within its territorial sea and responsibility for management of many marine resources and ocean uses. Each party has unique natural resource, social, economic and political conditions for which local management by the individual party is the most appropriate. (5) Parties now do not have an effective means to address mutual concerns related to transport of oil and hazardous substances in waters within and beyond the party’s jurisdiction that may jeopardize ocean resources and uses important to one or more coastal parties. (6) The 1983 Presidential Proclamation of the 200-mile United States Exclusive Economic Zone has created the opportunity for all coastal states to more fully exercise and assert their responsibilities pertaining to the protection, conservation and development of ocean resources under United States jurisdiction. (7) Citizens of the Pacific states and the Province of British Columbia are increasingly concerned with the environmental integrity of the ocean and protection of all ocean resources. (8) Recent studies conducted in the wake of major accidental releases of oil or hazardous substances have concluded that the existing system of response to spills could be improved in the following ways to provide better protection of ocean resources: (a) Enhanced personnel training and qualifications; (b) Improved vessel design and integrity; (c) Better mechanisms for cost recovery by the states or the province; (d) Improved coordination in regulatory oversight; (e) Enhanced traffic management; and (f) An improved information base dealing with marine and coastal environments. (9) A spill or discharge of oil or hazardous substance from an ocean-going vessel has the potential of causing major regional impacts. B. Therefore, the purposes of this compact shall be: (1) To assist in the promotion of interstate commerce by encouraging uniform regulation of the transportation of oil or hazardous substance within the compact zone. (2) To provide a legal mechanism to regulate certain ocean activities within the United States Exclusive Economic Zone. (3) To enhance regional coordination of issues of critical importance. (4) To work with federal agencies to advance the best interest of the region. (5) To foster regional cooperation and pooling of resources to reduce costs and increase effective use of scarce resources. (6) To monitor activities of concern to the parties. (7) To address issues of mutual concern to the Pacific states and the Province of British Columbia and enhance the parties’ influence over activities of concern that are not now addressed through existing compacts, including: (a) Spill prevention; (b) Transportation of oil and other hazardous substances; (c)