42 U.S.C. § 9163 : US Code - Section 9163: Relationship to other laws

Search 42 U.S.C. § 9163 : US Code - Section 9163: Relationship to other laws

(a) Facilities and plantships as comparable to areas of exclusive
Federal jurisdiction located within a State
(1) The Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States
shall apply to an ocean thermal energy conversion facility or
plantship licensed under this chapter and all of which is located
seaward of the highwater mark, and to activities connected,
associated, or potentially interfering with the use or operation of
any such facility or plantship, in the same manner as if such
facility or plantship were an area of exclusive Federal
jurisdiction located within a State. Nothing in this chapter shall
be construed to relieve, exempt, or immunize any person from any
other requirement imposed by Federal law, regulation, or treaty.
(2) Ocean thermal energy conversion facilities and plantships
licensed under this chapter do not possess the status of islands
and have no territorial seas of their own.
(b) Responsibilities and authorities of States or United States
within territorial seas; applicability of State law to facilities
located beyond territorial seas
(1) Except as may otherwise be provided by this chapter, nothing
in this chapter shall in any way alter the responsibilities and
authorities of a State or the United States within the territorial
seas of the United States.
(2) The law of the nearest adjacent coastal State to which an
ocean thermal energy conversion facility located beyond the
territorial sea and licensed under this chapter is connected by
electric transmission cable or pipeline, now in effect or hereafter
adopted, amended, or repealed, is declared to be the law of the
United States, and shall apply to such facility, to the extent
applicable and not inconsistent with any provision or regulation
under this chapter or other Federal laws and regulations now in
effect or hereafter adopted, amended, or repealed: Provided,
however, That the application of State taxation laws is not
extended hereby outside the seaward boundary of any State. All such
applicable laws shall be administered and enforced by the
appropriate officers and courts of the United States outside the
seaward boundary of any State.
(c) Customs laws
(1) For the purposes of the customs laws administered by the
Secretary of the Treasury, ocean thermal energy conversion
facilities and plantships documented under the laws of the United
States and licensed under this chapter shall be deemed to be
vessels.
(2) Except insofar as they apply to vessels documented under the
laws of the United States, the customs laws administered by the
Secretary of the Treasury, including the provisions of the Tariff
Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1202), and other laws codified
in title 19, shall not apply to any ocean thermal energy conversion
facility or plantship documented under the laws of the United
States and licensed under the provisions of this chapter, but all
foreign articles to be used in the construction of any such
facility or plantship, including any component thereof, shall first
be made subject to all applicable duties and taxes which would be
imposed upon or by reason of their importation if they were
imported for consumption in the United States. Duties and taxes
shall be paid thereon in accordance with laws applicable to
merchandise imported into the customs territory of the United
States.