Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 1994)

Studds Acts On Maritime Reform

Legislation Issues

Massachusetts Congressman

Gerry E. Studds, chairman of the House Merchant Marine and

Fisheries Committee, has been actively pursuing resolutions on several maritime issues, including towing safety, clean water and fish conservation.

Towing Safety

New legislation introduced by

Sen. Studds — HR 4058, the Tow- ing Safety Act — would abolish the operator's license and require towboats to be operated by licensed masters and, depending on size, carry up to three licensed mates.

The bill would also require inspec- tions of towing vessels that move oil and hazardous cargoes, and impose new licensing and staffing requirements on all towing ves- sels.

Earlier this year, Sen. Studds,

Rep. Billy Tauzin (D-La.), Rep.

Jack Fields (R-Texas) and Rep.

Howard Coble (R-N.C.) introduced legislation to greatly increase require- ments for navigational equipment these vessels must carry, and to re- quire for the first time that operators demonstrate proficiency in the use of that equipment.

Sen. Studds stressed the neces- sity to require operators to demon- strate proficiency. "These vessels should be inspected and those entrusted with operating them should be required to demon- strate that they can do so safely," he said.

The issue of towing safety has been brought very much into the public attention since the accident last year near Mobile, Ala. in which a barge hit a railroad bridge, knocking it out of alignment and allegedly caus- ing Amtrak's Sunset Limited train to plunge into the bayou — a trag- edy that resulted in 47 fatalities. "Polluter Pays" Clean Water

Funding Act

In line with his emphasis on the safe operation of tows pulling barges laden with oil or other hazardous cargo, Sen.Studds spoke with more than 150 Clean Water Action com- munity organizers from around the country, among hundreds drum- ming up support for his bill to pro- vide $4 billion in revenues to fund clean water projects. "This nation's commitment to clean water is very much in jeop- ardy over our inability to pay for it," said Sen. Studds. "To me it is only logical that we turn to those that are the source of the problem: the polluters." Sen. Studds' HR 2199, the "Polluter Pays" Clean Water

Funding Act, would impose a tax on toxic discharges into water and in-

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Circle 339 on Reader Service Card 14 dustrial water use. To help control polluted run-off, the bill would tax fertilizers, pesticides and animal feed.

Marine Mammal Protection

Act Re-Authorized

The House passed Sen. Studds'

Marine Mammal Protection Act

Amendments of 1994 (HR 2760) on

March 21 to re-authorize the Ma- rine Mammal Protection Act for six years.

The Senate passed their own re- authorization, and differences be- tween the two bills were being worked out at press time. The origi- nal bill was enacted in 1972 to pre- vent the taking of marine mammals in fishing operations.

The House bill would establish a program to manage interactions be- tween the commercial fisheries and marine mammals.

For fisheries where incidental takes are possible, the bill provides authorization if vessels comply with monitoring and reporting require- ments in the Act, and with plans to reduce takes.

The level of takes is dependent upon the numbers of a species neces- sary for a stable population. "Inci- dental take reduction teams" com- posed of fishermen, biologists, gov- ernment, environmentalists, and others to work with the National

Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) would be established to develop take reduction plans.

SUNY Maritime College

Honors Adm. Miller;

Appoints Piccirillo

Hailed as a Rickover nuclear navy pioneer who now "has earned the role of national legislative spokes- man for the nation's six state mari- time colleges," the president of SUNY

Maritime College, Rear Admiral

Floyd H. Miller, USN (Ret ), was honored by the Maritime College

Alumni Association.

Adm. Miller, a 1953 alumnus of the SUNY Maritime College, re- ceived the college alumni association's highest honor, its an- nual distinguished alumnus award, at a luncheon at the Whitehall Club at Battery Park in Manhattan March 10. SUNY Maritime College has also appointed a new development officer. Nanette Piccirillo, a former aide to Sen. Earnest F.

Hollings of South Carolina, has been appointed development officer at the SUNY Maritime College at

Fort Schuyler in Throgs Neck, N.Y.

Rear Adm. Miller said Ms.

Piccirillo's appointment will aid final fundraising for completion of the College's Center for Simulated

Marine Operations.

The simulator center already has nine different simulator units. The center and a pierside training tanker complete with a half dozen tank level indication systems make the

Maritime College one of the most advanced simulator training centers, one used widely by the maritime industry.

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News IGBE Special Supplement page 11