42 U.S.C. § 9112 : US Code - Section 9112: Procedure

Search 42 U.S.C. § 9112 : US Code - Section 9112: Procedure

(a) Rules and regulations
The Administrator shall, after consultation with the Secretary of
Energy and the heads of other Federal agencies, issue regulations
to carry out the purposes and provisions of this chapter, in
accordance with the provisions of section 553 of title 5, without
regard to subsection (a) thereof. Such regulations shall pertain
to, but need not be limited to, application for issuance, transfer,
renewal, suspension, and termination of licenses. Such regulations
shall provide for full consultation and cooperation with all other
interested Federal agencies and departments and with any
potentially affected coastal State, and for consideration of the
views of any interested members of the general public. The
Administrator is further authorized, consistent with the purposes
and provisions of this chapter, to amend or rescind any such
regulation. The Administrator shall complete issuance of final
regulations to implement this chapter within 1 year of August 3,
1980.
(b) Site evaluation and preconstruction testing
The Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of the
Interior and the Secretary of the department in which the Coast
Guard is operating may, if he determines it to be necessary,
prescribe regulations consistent with the purposes of this chapter,
relating to those activities in site evaluation and preconstruction
testing at potential ocean thermal energy conversion facility or
plantship locations that may (1) adversely affect the environment;
(2) interfere with other reasonable uses of the high seas or with
authorized uses of the Outer Continental Shelf; or (3) pose a
threat to human health and safety. If the Administrator prescribes
regulations relating to such activities, such activities may not be
undertaken after the effective date of such regulations except in
accordance therewith.
(c) Expertise or statutory responsibility descriptions
Not later than 60 days after August 3, 1980, the Secretary of
Energy, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,
the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is
operating, the Secretary of the Interior, the Chief of Engineers of
the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the heads of any
other Federal departments or agencies having expertise concerning,
or jurisdiction over, any aspect of the construction or operation
of ocean thermal energy conversion facilities or plantships, shall
transmit to the Administrator written description of their
expertise or statutory responsibilities pursuant to this chapter or
any other Federal law.
(d) Application
(1) Within 21 days after the receipt of an application, the
Administrator shall determine whether the application appears to
contain all of the information required by paragraph (2) of this
subsection. If the Administrator determines that such information
appears to be contained in the application, the Administrator
shall, no later than 5 days after making such a determination,
publish notice of the application and a summary of the plans in the
Federal Register. If the Administrator determines that all of the
required information does not appear to be contained in the
application, the Administrator shall notify the applicant and take
no further action with respect to the application until such
deficiencies have been remedied.
(2) Each application shall include such financial, technical, and
other information as the Administrator determines by regulation to
be necessary or appropriate to process the license pursuant to
section 9111 of this title.
(e) Area description; additional license applications
(1) At the time notice of an application for an ocean thermal
energy conversion facility is published pursuant to subsection (d)
of this section, the Administrator shall publish a description in
the Federal Register of an application area encompassing the site
proposed in the application for such facility and within which the
thermal plume of one ocean thermal energy conversion facility might
be expected to impinge on so as to degrade the thermal gradient
used by another ocean thermal energy conversion facility, unless
the application is for a license for an ocean thermal energy
conversion facility to be located within an application area which
has already been designated.
(2) The Administrator shall accompany such publication with a
call for submission of any other applications for licenses for the
ownership, construction, and operation of an ocean thermal energy
conversion facility within the designated application area. Any
person intending to file such an application shall submit a notice
of intent to file an application to the Administrator not later
than 60 days after the publication of notice pursuant to subsection
(d) of this section, and shall submit the completed application no
later than 90 days after publication of such notice. The
Administrator shall publish notice of any such application received
in accordance with subsection (d) of this section. No application
for a license for the ownership, construction, and operation of an
ocean thermal energy conversion facility within the designated
application area for which a notice of intent to file was received
after such 60-day period, or which is received after such 90-day
period has elapsed, shall be considered until action has been
completed on all timely filed applications pending with respect to
such application area.
(f) Copies of application to other agencies
An application filed with the Administrator shall constitute an
application for all Federal authorizations required for ownership,
construction, and operation of an ocean thermal energy conversion
facility or plantship, except for authorizations required by
documentation, inspection, certification, construction, and manning
laws and regulations administered by the Secretary of the
department in which the Coast Guard is operating. At the time
notice of any application is published pursuant to subsection (d)
of this section, the Administrator shall forward a copy of such
application to those Federal agencies and departments with
jurisdiction over any aspect of such ownership, construction, or
operation for comment, review, or recommendation as to conditions
and for such other action as may be required by law. Each agency or
department involved shall review the application and, based upon
legal considerations within its area of responsibility, recommend
to the Administrator the approval or disapproval of the application
not later than 45 days after public hearings are concluded pursuant
to subsection (g) of this section. In any case in which an agency
or department recommends disapproval, it shall set forth in detail
the manner in which the application does not comply with any law or
regulation within its area of responsibility and shall notify the
Administrator of the manner in which the application may be amended
or the license conditioned so as to bring it into compliance with
the law or regulation involved.
(g) Notice, comments, and hearing
A license may be issued, transferred, or renewed only after
public notice, opportunity for comment, and public hearings in
accordance with this subsection. At least one such public hearing
shall be held in the District of Columbia and in any adjacent
coastal State to which a facility is proposed to be directly
connected by pipeline or electric transmission cable. Any
interested person may present relevant material at any such
hearing. After the hearings required by this subsection are
concluded, if the Administrator determines that there exist one or
more specific and material factual issues which may be resolved by
a formal evidentiary hearing, at least one adjudicatory hearing
shall be held in the District of Columbia in accordance with the
provisions of section 554 of title 5. The record developed in any
such adjudicatory hearing shall be part of the basis for the
Administrator's decision to approve or deny a license. Hearings
held pursuant to this subsection shall be consolidated insofar as
practicable with hearings held by other agencies. All public
hearings on all applications with respect to facilities for any
designated application area shall be consolidated and shall be
concluded not later than 240 days after notice of the initial
application has been published pursuant to subsection (d) of this
section. All public hearings on applications with respect to ocean
thermal energy conversion plantships shall be concluded not later
than 240 days after notice of the application has been published
pursuant to subsection (d) of this section.
(h) Administrative fee
The Administrator shall not take final action on any application
unless the applicant has paid to the Administrator a reasonable
administrative fee, which shall be deposited into miscellaneous
receipts of the Treasury. The amount of the fee imposed by the
Administrator on any applicant shall reflect the reasonable
administrative costs incurred by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration in reviewing and processing the
application.
(i) Approval or denial of application; applications for same area;
factors determinative of facility selection
(1) The Administrator shall approve or deny any timely filed
application with respect to a facility for a designated application
area submitted in accordance with the provision of this chapter not
later than 90 days after public hearings on proposed licenses for
that area are concluded pursuant to subsection (g) of this section.
The Administrator shall approve or deny an application for a
license for ownership, construction, and operation of an ocean
thermal energy conversion plantship submitted pursuant to this
chapter no later than 90 days after the public hearings on that
application are concluded pursuant to subsection (g) of this
section.
(2) In the event more than one application for a license for
ownership, construction, and operation of an ocean thermal energy
conversion facility is submitted pursuant to this chapter for the
same designated application area, the Administrator, unless one or
a specific combination of the proposed facilities clearly best
serves the national interest, shall make decisions on license
applications in the order in which they were submitted to him.
(3) In determining whether any one or a specific combination of
the proposed ocean thermal energy conversion facilities clearly
best serves the national interest, the Administrator, in
consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall consider the
following factors:
(A) the goal of making the greatest possible use of ocean
thermal energy conversion by installing the largest capacity
practicable in each application area;
(B) the amount of net energy impact of each of the proposed
ocean thermal energy conversion facilities;
(C) the degree to which the proposed ocean thermal energy
conversion facilities will affect the environment;
(D) any significant differences between anticipated dates and
commencement of operation of the proposed ocean thermal energy
conversion facilities; and
(E) any differences in costs of construction and operation of
the proposed ocean thermal energy conversion facilities, to the
extent that such differentials may significantly affect the
ultimate cost of energy or products to the consumer.