Clean Hull Act of 2009

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3360) to amend title 46, United States Code, to establish requirements to ensure the security and safety of passengers and crew on cruise vessels, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3360.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009, H.R. 3360, as amended.

This legislation, authored by Congresswoman Doris Matsui, would require that cruise vessels calling on the United States take reasonable steps to improve the physical safety and security of their vessels. The legislation also would require cruise vessels to report to U.S. authorities allegations of specific crimes on cruise ships.

Almost all of the nearly 200 cruise vessels embarking and disembarking passengers in the United States are registered in foreign countries. As a result, U.S. laws apply directly to these vessels and to those sailing on these vessels only when they are sailing in U.S. waters.

While available statistics suggest that crime is infrequent on cruise vessels, many Americans do not realize, when they step on a cruise ship, they are stepping on what becomes a floating piece of some other country's jurisdiction as soon as it is more than 12 miles from United States shores.

Unfortunately, for those who are the victims of crime on cruise vessels, the implications of this reality become clear only after they learn that the laws applying to the cruise vessels may not and often do not extend to them the kinds of protections United States laws would extend.

Additionally, the unique circumstances of life at sea, particularly if a vessel is far from the kinds of law enforcement resources that are available on land, often make the prosecution of those accused of committing a crime on a cruise ship very difficult. As a result, though crime is infrequent on cruise vessels, so are prosecutions of those accused of crimes.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, I held two hearings to examine the issue of crime on cruise ships. I believe H.R. 3360 responds directly to the problems we examined in our hearings by requiring reasonable alteration in vessel design, equipment, and construction standards to increase the physical safety and security of passengers. For example, H.R. 3360 requires that cruise vessels install peepholes or similar features in cabin doors so passengers can identify who is at their door without having to open it. H.R. 3360 also requires that cruise vessels have railings that are at least 42 inches high to help prevent passengers from falling overboard.

To ensure that those who are victims of sexual assaults have immediate access to state-of-the-art medical care, H.R. 3360 requires that cruise ships have onboard trained personnel who can provide treatment to assault victims, collect evidence to support prosecutions, and administer antiretroviral medications as soon as possible. The legislation also requires that a store of such medications be maintained on cruise vessels.

H.R. 3360 also specifies certain crimes that must be reported to U.S. authorities, and it requires the Secretary of Transportation to maintain an Internet site that provides a numerical accounting of the crimes reported to U.S. authorities. Such statistics will be aggregated by individual cruise lines, and cruise lines will be required to maintain a link to the site on their own Web pages.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I applaud the work of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui) who has worked tirelessly on this issue and given it just a tremendous, tremendous effort. I applaud her and thank her on behalf of the Congress and a grateful Nation.

I urge all of the Members of the House to join me in passing H.R. 3360, as amended.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Homeland Security,

Washington, DC, November 12, 2009.

Hon. James L. Oberstar,

Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Oberstar, I write to you regarding H.R. 3360,

the ``Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009.''

H.R. 3360 contains provisions that fall within the

jurisdiction of the Committee on Homeland Security. I

recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this

legislation before the House in an expeditious manner and,

accordingly, I will not seek a sequential referral of the

bill. However, agreeing to waive consideration of this bill

should not be construed as the Committee on Homeland Security

waiving, altering, or otherwise affecting its jurisdiction

over subject matters contained in the bill which fall within

its Rule X jurisdiction.

Further, I request your support for the appointment of an

appropriate number of Members of the Committee on Homeland

Security to be named as conferees during any House-Senate

conference convened on H.R. 3360 or similar legislation. I

also ask that a copy of this letter and your response be

included in the legislative report on H.R. 3360 and in the

Congressional Record during floor consideration of this bill.

I look forward to working with you as we prepare to pass

this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Bennie G. Thompson,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui), who is the sponsor of the bill and who has been so helpful to our committee and our subcommittee on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Richardson). She is a strong member of our subcommittee and certainly one who has championed this cause too.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished chairman of our committee, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar). I want to thank him as he rises for all of his hard work.

I yield the gentleman 1\1/2\ additional minutes.

May I inquire as to how much time we have remaining?

We have no additional speakers. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to make it very clear, Mr. Speaker, that this was an effort of the victim groups and the cruise ship industry. As Chairman Oberstar said, there was a lot of work that went into this legislation with folks actually sitting down and coming up with reasonable and balanced solutions to these problems.

I want to thank all of the folks that did that. And I also take a moment to thank Mr. LoBiondo and certainly Mr. Mica and definitely our chairman, Mr. Oberstar. This is one of those bipartisan efforts that has yielded a win-win-win, a win certainly for this Congress, a win for those people who find themselves taking a vacation on cruise ships, and certainly a win for law enforcement as they try to make sure that they address any kind of issues that may come up, and the industry. It's a win-win-win-win.

So I think that what we have done is approach this in a very balanced way, a very measured way, but a way which addresses all of the issues that we attempted to address. And certainly we thank Ms. Dishman and the other victims who have had difficult circumstances happen to them for bringing their testimony. As Chairman Oberstar said, this kind of testimony is very difficult for someone to present themselves, not only to the Congress but on C-SPAN and for the world to hear what they went through. But yet and still, the fact is that they sacrificed so that we can have this kind of legislation.

With that, I would urge our colleagues to vote for this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Chair of the subcommittee, Mr. Cummings, for his leadership on this issue, and Mr. LoBiondo for his participation in the hearings that we've held and the markup in the crafting of this very important legislation. It's an issue that I've been dealing with for 35 years, since I've served in the House.

I started my service, of course, on the Public Works Committee, as it was called then, but also on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, which has jurisdiction over our waters and the water environment and the ocean environment. Many years ago I gave a talk to a maritime group and quoted the poet Coleridge, citing our ocean environment and the ocean itself as deep, dark, heaving, endless and mysterious.

Deep it is. Deeper than perhaps the Himalaya chain.

Dark in its greatest depths, heaving in the worst of storms, mysterious, and we are beginning to unlock the mysteries of the ocean.

Endless it is not. Endless has given rise to the notion we can discharge whatever refuge we have of humanity into the ocean because it is endless. It is not. The drift nets that continue to kill with no social redeeming purpose; the trash of plastic that we discharge into the oceans and that gather in a swirl where Pacific Ocean currents meet and gather thousands of square miles of plastics that are ingested by whales, and one was found starving because it had ingested so much Styrofoam it couldn't process food. It is not endless. And neither are the chemicals that we discharge into it. They don't just fall harmlessly into the bottom and go out of sight. They enter into the food chain.

I learned in my earliest service on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee and on the Merchant Marine Subcommittee the need to protect the hull and vessels from fouling, that our large, deep, draft merchant vessels can accumulate up to 6,000 tons of plants--yes, plants that will grow and the accumulation on the hulls--and creatures and shellfish and, of course, the well-known and oft-referenced barnacles. And that accumulation can slow down the vessel, can cause up to a 40- percent reduction in speed and 40-percent increase in fuel.

And science was enlisted to find a coating for hulls that would inhibit plant growth, and they found one: tributyltin. And like so many of these great discoveries, it has terrible side effects. It is causing shell deformation in oysters, neurotoxic and genetic effects in other marine species, and it's been found in the fatty tissue of whales and dolphins and sharks and other sea creatures. And it just goes on into the food chain. It is like PCB on land. We have to stop this.

There is happily an international convention on toxics in the marine environment, and we need to be a part of that. We need to be a leader, even though our merchant fleet has gone downhill. From the time I was elected and took office in 1975, we had 800 merchant vessels in the fleet. We were eighth in the world's fleets. That was dead last.

But at one time we had 25 million dead weight tons of shipping, we had 5,500 merchant vessels. We were number one in the world. Well, now the Cosco, the Chinese shipping company, is the number one, they have the greatest number of vessels. They have 25 million dead weight tons of merchant shipping.

I thank the gentleman.

And the Maersk fleet of Denmark now carrying 13,000 containers on vessels a thousand feet in length, and other behemoths that ply the waters. And they are all accumulating these organisms and this tributyltin material being applied to the hulls. And it's all being sloughed off into the oceans

So while we are, as a flag-carrier nation, small in the picture, our leadership is still huge. We have to take this step, this important step to prevent the continued pollution of the oceans and of their marine life within it so that some day we can return to Coleridge and find the ocean deep, dark, heaving, endless, and mysterious; and clean, inhabitable, useful for itself and for humanity.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3618, the ``Clean Hull Act of 2009''. I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), the Ranking Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Cummings and Ranking Member LoBiondo for their bipartisan support of this much needed legislation.

Enacting H.R. 3618 will make the necessary changes in U.S. law to comply with the requirements of the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Antifouling Systems on Ships (Convention), which was adopted by the International Maritime Organization in October 2001 and entered into force on September 17, 2008.

Biological fouling is the unwanted accumulation of microorganisms, plants, and animals on structures that are exposed to the marine environment. Fouling can accelerate corrosion on a vessel's hull and on offshore and coastal marine structures. Antifouling is the process of removing or preventing the accumulation of biological fouling organisms.

In less than six months, a deep draft tank vessel's hull can accumulate up to 6,000 tons of fouling material if it is not treated with an antifouling application. Such fouling can cause significant economic and environmental impacts by increasing a vessel's fuel consumption by up to 40 percent. Biological fouling has also been a conduit for the transfer of invasive species into ecosystems.

Over the past 50 years, there have been a number of antifouling substances used to treat structures, but the most toxic to date has been tributyltin (TBT). Over time, TBT has been found in marine animals (including dolphins and whales) and in the waters of marinas, ports, harbors, open seas, and oceans. TBT has caused significant environmental and monetary impact by causing shell deformations in oysters, and neurotoxic and genetic effects in other marine species.

Since 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency has prohibited the sale or application

of paints containing TBT in the United States by enforcing the Organotin Anti-Fouling Paint Control Act of 1988 (OAPCA). In OAPCA, organotin-based antifouling paints are prohibited on some vessels less than 25 meters and the leaching rate of antifouling paints on larger vessels is limited.

H.R. 3618 will ban all vessels using antifouling paint containing TBT from entering the United States, further protecting our marine environment from this dangerous chemical. It also prohibits a person from selling or distributing organotin or an antifouling system containing organotin and from applying an antifouling system containing organotin on any ship to which H.R. 3618 applies.

H.R. 3618 will give the Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency the authority to ban foreign-flag ships from entering the United States if they have their hulls covered with paint containing TBT. The Convention will ultimately replace the OAPCA.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3618, the ``Clean Hull Act of 2009''.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3618) to provide for implementation of the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships, 2001, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3618.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, I rise today in strong support of the Clean Hull Act of 2009, H.R. 3618, as amended, which would institute the legal changes needed to bring the United States into full compliance with the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti- Fouling Systems on Ships. I commend the chairman of the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Congressman Oberstar, for his hard work on this legislation, and for his tireless commitment to ensuring that we do all that we can to minimize the impact of our transportation systems on our environment. I also commend the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Mica, and the ranking member of the Coast Guard Subcommittee, Congressman LoBiondo, for their work on this legislation.

On June 10, I convened the subcommittee to examine the impact on the marine environment of the use of coatings on the hulls of ships containing the compound tributyltin, better known as TBT. Such coatings are applied to prevent hull fouling. In the maritime world, the term ``fouling'' is defined as the unwanted growth of biological material, such as barnacles and algae, on a surface immersed in water. Because such material can slow a ship's movement through the water and can be transferred from one body of water to another, ship owners and operators have attempted throughout the history of maritime transportation to eliminate the accumulation of such materials through a variety of methods.

In the 1960s and 70s, hull coatings were developed that had as their main ingredient the compound TBT. At that time, TBT was hailed as the best anti-fouling agent ever developed. Unfortunately, as so often happened in that period, a product that showed promise was rushed to market before the full range of its impacts on the environment was understood. Over the years, it has become clear that TBT is highly toxic to marine life, including crustaceans, fish and even marine mammals. TBT has caused alterations in oyster shells, and has caused female dog whelks, a type of snail, to begin developing male sexual characteristics. There's even some evidence that TBT is bio- accumulative, meaning that larger animals can ingest it as they consume smaller animals on the food chain. Thus, the IMO reports that traces of TBT contamination have now been found even in whales.

I note that the use of TBT is already strictly regulated by U.S. law, specifically, under the Organotin Anti-Fouling Paint Control Act of 1998. Under this Act, the sale and most applications of TBT coatings are already prohibited in the United States. However, the best way of controlling the use of TBT is by the U.S. accession to the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships. The Convention was adopted by the International Maritime Organization in October of 2001 to ban the use of hull coatings that contain TBT. The Convention came into force internationally on September 17, 2008. The United States Senate gave its consent to the Convention just a few days later, in September of 2008.

H.R. 3618 would finally implement in the United States the laws that will bring our Nation into full compliance with the Convention, thus completing our ratification of the Convention. By enacting H.R. 3618, the United States can prohibit ships with TBT coatings from entering U.S. waters unless the ships have overcoatings that prevent TBT from leaching from one underlying anti-fouling system.

I also note that in order to prevent a compound like TBT from ever again entering the environment through an anti-fouling coating, the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships also established a system under which new anti-fouling coatings can be tested to assess the effects on the marine environment. Coatings can be added to the list of prohibited anti-fouling systems under the Convention if they are found to be harmful. H.R. 3618 authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to participate in international technical bodies convened to assess the safety of new anti-fouling systems.

I strongly believe that it is time for us to fully implement the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships, and I urge the adoption of H.R. 3618 by the House today.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Homeland Security,

Washington, DC, November 12, 2009.

Hon. James L. Oberstar,

Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Oberstar: I write to you regarding H.R. 3618,

the ``Clean Hull Act of 2009.''

H.R. 3618 contains provisions that fall within the

jurisdiction of the Committee on Homeland Security. I

recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this

legislation before the House in an expeditious manner and,

accordingly, I will not seek a sequential referral of the

bill. However, agreeing to waive consideration of this bill

should not be construed as the Committee on Homeland Security

waiving, altering, or otherwise affecting its jurisdiction

over subject matters contained in the bill which fall within

its Rule X jurisdiction.

Further, I request your support for the appointment of an

appropriate number of Members of the Committee on Homeland

Security to be named as conferees during any House-Senate

conference convened on H.R. 3618 or similar legislation. I

also ask that a copy of this letter and your response be

included in the legislative report on H.R. 3618 and in the

Congressional Record during floor consideration of this bill.

I look forward to working with you as we prepare to pass

this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Bennie G. Thompson,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield 5 minutes to the distinguished chairman of the Transportation Committee, Congressman Oberstar of Minnesota.

I grant the gentleman an additional 3 minutes.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to just comment and associate myself with the words of Chairman Oberstar and add to them that this is our watch, this is a time that we have responsibility for this environment and it is our duty to make it even better than what we found it. I want to thank the chairman for his words. They were very inspiring.

With that, I urge the Members to vote for H.R. 3618.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, Mr. Cummings, for the prodigious work done, the hearing preparation, not just the hearing, but preparation for the hearing, gathering the information and steeping himself in the subject of the hearing and gathering all the data, and then working to shape the ultimate legislation. He has done a superb job, as has Mr. LoBiondo, our ranking member, and former chairman of the subcommittee.

I especially want to thank Ms. Matsui for her work at the behest of her constituent, having heard this terrible experience her constituent went through on that cruise experience. She then had the courage to testify at our committee hearing. That's really extraordinary. So determined was she to see justice done, to change the culture aboard cruise ships, the indifference we saw in this particular case, the indifference spread throughout this industry, to the plight of the rare but nonetheless experiences that cruise passengers go through. Some 10.5 million took a cruise vacation in 2007. That's a very sizable number of our constituency nationwide.

There is only one U.S.-flagged cruise line, cruise vessel, I should say. There are over 200 cruise vessels that are registered under foreign flags. When crime occurs aboard those vessels, as was said earlier by both Mr. Cummings and Mr. LoBiondo, it's on the high seas, beyond the jurisdiction of the United States. But when that vessel comes into port, it is under our law.

This is a law enforcement bill. And the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Shadegg) very well and thoughtfully and with great feeling described the experience of his constituent, the family of constituents of a woman who was actually lost. This legislation, as he pointed out, and as Mr. Cummings pointed out, provides a pathway to correcting those problems out into the future. But we have to get a bill passed. That is why we separated this bill from other legislation.

There is already a hold on this bill in the other body. A Member of the other body is holding this bill up and insisting that a fee be imposed on cruise line passengers to pay for any Federal Government involvement. This is law enforcement. We don't ask our fellow citizens to pay a fee for their homes to be protected against burglary. We don't ask victims of rape to pay a fee to be protected against future rape. That is just--well, it's beyond description. I shouldn't say anything further.

But we have to get a bill passed. And the Member of the other body who is insisting on those conditions needs to have a visit with reality. And the reality are those victims of violence aboard cruise ships. And this legislation will bridge the gaps between the rights of victims and the actual experiences they encounter, provide protection, provide access to assistance to victims of crime and give them the protection of U.S. law, extend that to those 10.5 million of our fellow citizens who take a cruise vacation so it will be a pleasant experience and not a nightmare.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I just want to observe and thank the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. LoBiondo, that this particular bill, is the 200th bill of our committee in the 110th and now the 111th Congress, the 200th bill that we have moved through committee, and I expect soon through the House and one veto override, in the 2\1/2\ years under my chairmanship.

I want to thank my colleagues on the Democratic side and particularly my colleagues on the Republican side for the splendid participation we have had and the partnership we have enjoyed in moving together a legislative agenda for America, for the good of this country, a partnership that we extended during the years of the Republican majority from 1995 onward. It is a record of accomplishment that I think sets the standard for this body. And I appreciate the partnership that we have had, in particular Mr. Mica, who is the leader on the Republican side, and all of our colleagues on

the committee, the 200th bill or resolution. It is a good day, a good day for America, a good day for our committee.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of this critically needed legislation, the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act; and I want to compliment the author of the legislation, Ms. Matsui, for her efforts. Like her, I have a tragic story that has been brought to my attention which will be addressed by this legislation, and I want to make it clear how important I believe this legislation is to millions of potential victims who go unknowingly onto cruise ships.

Merrian Carver, the daughter of one my constituents, Ken Carver, was a vibrant young woman who had her entire life ahead of her. Tragically, at the age of 40, she disappeared from a cruise ship in August of 2004 and was never found. That would be bad enough in itself, but it is the outrageous conduct afterward which this legislation addresses. There have already been comments about the lack of supervision or safety or the lack of protection of the law, but in this instance there was callous disregard.

The steward of the ship knew she was onboard and that she had used her room the first night, and he conscientiously reported that she did not use her room again any of the subsequent nights. She had gone missing on the second day of the cruise, and nothing was done. No law enforcement officials were contacted. No family members were contacted. Nothing was done. In essence, the steward was told, Be quiet and mind your own business.

At the end of the trip, Merrian's personal effects were simply boxed up. The FBI was not notified. The family was not notified.

Ultimately, Merrian's family, in a desperate effort, was forced to hire a law firm and a private investigator. Again, however, they met with resistance and unnecessary delays in response by the cruise ship. It took days to confirm that Merrian had, in fact, boarded the ship, and video confirmed that she had boarded the ship. And it took even more time to get permission to interview the steward.

She had not been in her room for 5 days, and her absence had simply gone unreported and unacted upon. Her family hired a private investigator, and he was resisted in his efforts to talk to people on the ship. Ultimately, the law firm that they retained obtained a court order to interview the steward and other personnel responsible.

This simply should not happen on ships that call on American ports. It should never happen, and Americans need to be aware. Again, I compliment Ms. Matsui.

This legislation takes important and reasonable steps to protect Americans and all citizens when they board these ships. Cruise ships have a duty of responsibility to the people who board them. This will make those cruise ships more accountable and safer. It will, as has been mentioned, require some video surveillance to monitor crime onboard. It will require crime scene investigation training and certification for some cruise vessel crew members. It will require other provisions to ensure that if one of our loved ones goes missing on a cruise ship, they are notified.

Importantly, it will require the preservation of evidence. Like Ms. Matsui's constituent who was the victim of a rape, this legislation will require that rape kits be kept onboard in case such a tragic event happens again.

This is critically needed legislation. It has followed somewhat of a tortured path. It came across this floor once before, and its ultimate enactment into law was jeopardized by being coupled with other legislation.

I compliment the chairman of the subcommittee and the chairman of the full committee and the ranking member. I think it is essential that this legislation be enacted, and I compliment you for separating it for a stand-alone vote.