42 U.S.C. § 9117
The Administrator shall initiate a program to assess the effects on the environment of ocean thermal energy conversion facilities and plantships. The program shall include baseline studies of locations where ocean thermal energy conversion facilities or plantships are likely to be sited or operated; and research; and monitoring of the effects of ocean thermal energy conversion facilities and plantships in actual operation. The purpose of the program shall be to assess the environmental effects of individual ocean thermal energy facilities and plantships, and to assess the magnitude of any cumulative environmental effects of large numbers of ocean thermal energy facilities and plantships.
The program shall be designed to determine, among other things-
Within 180 days after August 3, 1980, the Administrator shall prepare a plan to carry out the program described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, including necessary funding levels for the next 5 fiscal years, and submit the plan to the Congress.
The program established by subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall be reduced to the minimum necessary to perform baseline studies and to analyze monitoring data, when the Administrator determines that the program has resulted in sufficient knowledge to make the determinations enumerated in subsection (b) of this section with an acceptable level of confidence.
The issuance of any license for ownership, construction, and operation of an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship shall be deemed to be a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment for purposes of section 4332(2)(C) of this title. For all timely applications covering proposed facilities in a single application area, and for each application relating to a proposed plantship, the Administrator shall, pursuant to such section 4332(2)(C) of this title and in cooperation with other involved Federal agencies and departments, prepare a single environmental impact statement, which shall fulfill the requirement of all Federal agencies in carrying out their responsibilities pursuant to this chapter to prepare an environmental impact statement. Each such draft environmental impact statement relating to proposed facilities shall be prepared and published within 180 days after notice of the initial application has been published pursuant to section 9112(d) of this title. Each such draft environmental impact statement relating to a proposed plantship shall be prepared and published within 180 days after notice of the application has been published pursuant to section 9112(d) of this title. Each final environmental impact statement shall be published not later than 90 days following the date on which public hearings are concluded pursuant to section 9112(g) of this title. The Administrator may extend the deadline for publication of a specific draft or final environmental impact statement to a later specified time for good cause shown in writing.
An ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship licensed under this subchapter shall be deemed not to be a "vessel or other floating craft" for the purposes of section 1362(12)(B) of title 33.
42 U.S.C. § 9117
EDITORIAL NOTES
REFERENCES IN TEXTThis chapter, referred to in subsecs. (b)(4) and (e), 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.
- application
- "application" means any application submitted under this chapter (A) for issuance of a license for the ownership, construction, and operation of an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or plantship; (B) for transfer or renewal of any such license; or (C) for any substantial change in any of the conditions and provisions of any such license;
- 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;
- 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;
- plantship
- "plantship" means an ocean thermal energy conversion plantship;
- Administrator
- The term "Administrator" means the Administrator of General Services.