33 U.S.C. § 2309 : US Code - Section 2309: Great Lakes Commodities Marketing Board

Search 33 U.S.C. § 2309 : US Code - Section 2309: Great Lakes Commodities Marketing Board

(a) Congressional declaration of purpose
To ensure the coordinated economic revitalization and
environmental enhancement of the Great Lakes and their connecting
channels and the Saint Lawrence Seaway (hereinafter in this section
referred to as the "Great Lakes"), known as the "Fourth Seacoast"
of the United States, it is hereby declared to be the intent of
Congress to recognize the importance of the economic vitality of
the Great Lakes region, the importance of exports from the region
in the United States balance of trade, and the need to assure an
environmentally and socially responsible navigation system for the
Great Lakes. Congress finds that the Great Lakes provide a
diversity of agricultural, commercial, environmental, recreational,
and related opportunities based on their extensive water resources
and water transportation systems.
(b) Establishment; strategy development; composition of Board;
Director; report; termination
(1) There is hereby established a Board to be known as the Great
Lakes Commodities Marketing Board (hereinafter in this subsection
referred to as the "Board").
(2)(A) The Board shall develop a strategy to improve the capacity
of the Great Lakes region to produce, market, and transport
commodities in a timely manner and to maximize the efficiency and
benefits of marketing products produced in the Great Lakes region
and products shipped through the Great Lakes.
(B) The strategy shall address, among other things, environmental
issues relating to transportation on the Great Lakes and marketing
difficulties experienced due to late harvest seasons in the Great
Lakes region. The strategy shall include, as appropriate
alternative storage, sales, marketing, multimodal transportation
systems, and other systems, to assure optimal economic benefits to
the region from agricultural and other commercial activities. The
strategy shall develop -
(i) methods to improve and promote both bulk and general cargo
trade through Great Lakes ports;
(ii) methods to accelerate the movement of grains and other
agricultural commodities through the Great Lakes;
(iii) methods to provide needed flexibility to farmers in the
Great Lakes region to market grains and other agricultural
commodities; and
(iv) methods and materials to promote trade from the Great
Lakes region and through Great Lakes ports, particularly with
European, Mediterranean, African, Caribbean, Central American,
and South American nations.
(C) In developing the strategy, the Board shall conduct and
consider the results of -
(i) an analysis of the feasibility and costs of using iron ore
vessels, which are not being utilized, to move grain and other
agricultural commodities on the Great Lakes;
(ii) an economic analysis of transshipping such commodities
through Montreal, Canada, and other ports;
(iii) an analysis of the economic feasibility of storing such
commodities during the non-navigation season of the Great Lakes
and the feasibility of and need for construction of new storage
facilities for such commodities;
(iv) an analysis of the constraints on the flexibility of
farmers in the Great Lakes region to market grains and other
agricultural commodities, including harvest dates for such
commodities and the availability of transport and storage
facilities for such commodities; and
(v) an analysis of the amount of grain and other agricultural
commodities produced in the United States which are being
diverted to Canada by rail but which could be shipped on the
Great Lakes if vessels were available for shipping such products
during the navigation season.
(D) In developing the strategy, the Board shall consider weather
problems and related costs and marketing problems resulting from
the late harvest of agricultural commodities (including wheat and
sunflower seeds) in the Great Lakes region.
(E) In developing the strategy, the Board shall consult United
States ports on the Great Lakes and their users, including farm
organizations (such as wheat growers and soybean growers), port
authorities, water carrier organizations, and other interested
persons.
(3) The Board shall be composed of seven members as follows:
(A) the chairman of the Great Lakes Commission or his or her
delegate,
(B) the Secretary or his or her delegate,
(C) the Secretary of Transportation or his or her delegate,
(D) the Secretary of Commerce or his or her delegate,
(E) the Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development
Corporation or his or her delegate,
(F) the Secretary of Agriculture or his or her delegate, and
(G) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or
his or her delegate.
(4)(A) Members of the Board shall serve for the life of the
Board.
(B) Members of the Board shall serve without pay and those
members who are full time officers or employees of the United
States shall receive no additional pay by reason of their service
on the Board, except that members of the Board shall be allowed
travel or transportation expenses under subchapter I of chapter 57
of title 5 while away from their homes or regular places of
business and engaged in the actual performance of duties vested in
the Board.
(C) Four members of the Board shall constitute a quorum but a
lesser number may hold hearings.
(D) The co-chairmen of the Board shall be the Secretary or his or
her delegate and the Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway
Development Corporation or his or her delegate.
(E) The Board shall meet at the call of the co-chairmen or a
majority of its members.
(5)(A) The Board shall, without regard to section 5311(b) (!1) of
title 5, have a Director, who shall be appointed by the Board and
shall be paid at a rate which the Board considers appropriate.
(B) Subject to such rules as may be prescribed by the Board,
without regard to 5311(b) (!1) of title 5, the Board may appoint
and fix the pay of such additional personnel as the Board considers
appropriate.
(C) Upon request of the Board, the head of any Federal agency is
authorized to detail, on a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel
of such agency to the Board to assist the Board in carrying out its
duties under this subsection.
(6)(A) The Board may, for purposes of carrying out this
subsection, hold such hearings, sit and act at such times and
places, take such testimony, and receive such evidence, as the
Board considers appropriate.
(B) Any member or agent of the Board may, if so authorized by the
Board, take any action which the Board is authorized to take by
this paragraph.
(C) The Board may secure directly from any department or agency
of the United States any information necessary to enable it to
carry out this subsection. Upon request of the co-chairmen of the
Board, the head of such department or agency shall furnish such
information to the Board.
(D) The Board may use the United States mail in the same manner
and under the same conditions as other departments and agencies of
the United States.
(E) The Administrator of General Services shall provide to the
Board on a reimbursable basis such administrative support services
as the Board may request.
(7) Not later than September 30, 1989, the Board shall transmit
to the President and to each House of the Congress a report stating
the strategy developed under this subsection and the results of
each analysis conducted under this subsection. Such report shall
contain a detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the
Board together with its recommendations for such legislative and
administrative actions as it considers appropriate to carry out
such strategy and to assure maximum economic benefits to the users
of the Great Lakes and to the Great Lakes region.
(8) The Board shall cease to exist 180 days after submitting its
report pursuant to this subsection.
(9) The non-Federal share of the cost of carrying out this
subsection shall be 25 percent. There is authorized to be
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the Federal
share of this subsection for fiscal years beginning after September
30, 1986, and ending before October 1, 1990.
(c) International advisory group
(1) The President shall invite the Government of Canada to join
in the formation of an international advisory group whose duty it
shall be (A) to develop a bilateral program for improving
navigation, through a coordinated strategy, on the Great Lakes, and
(B) to conduct investigations on a continuing basis and make
recommendations for a system-wide navigation improvement program to
facilitate optimum use of the Great Lakes. The advisory group shall
be composed of five members representing the United States, five
members representing Canada, and two members from the International
Joint Commission established by the treaty between the United
States and Great Britain relating to boundary waters between the
United States and Canada, signed at Washington, January 11, 1909
(36 Stat. 2448). The five members representing the United States
shall include the Secretary of State, one member of the Great Lakes
Commodities Marketing Board (as designated by the Board), and three
individuals appointed by the President representing commercial,
shipping, and environmental interests, respectively.
(2) The United States representatives to the international
advisory group shall serve without pay and the United States
representatives to the advisory group who are full time officers or
employees of the United States shall receive no additional pay by
reason of their service on the advisory group, except that the
United States representatives shall be allowed travel or
transportation expenses under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5
while away from their homes or regular place of business and
engaged in the actual performance of duties vested in the advisory
group.
(3) The international advisory group established by this
subsection shall report to Congress and to the Canadian Parliament
on its progress in carrying out the duties set forth in this
subsection not later than one year after the formation of such
group and biennially thereafter.
(d) Review of environmental, economic, and social impacts of
navigation in United States portion of Great Lakes
The Secretary and the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency, in cooperation with the Secretary of the
Interior, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and other appropriate Federal and non-Federal
entities, shall carry out a review of the environmental, economic,
and social impacts of navigation in the United States portion of
the Great Lakes. In carrying out such review, the Secretary and the
Administrator shall use existing research, studies, and
investigations relating to such impacts to the maximum extent
possible. Special emphasis shall be made in such review of the
impacts of navigation on the shoreline and on fish and wildlife
habitat, including, but not limited to, impacts associated with
resuspension of bottom sediment. The Secretary and the
Administrator shall submit to Congress an interim report of such
review not later than September 30, 1988, and a final report of
such review along with recommendations not later than September 30,
1990.