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PUBLIC LAW 8 7 - 1 6 7 - A U G. 30, 1961
[75
ST A T.
Public Law 87-167 August 30, 1961 [S. 2 187]
Oil P o l l u t i o n Act, 1961.
Definitions.
Prohibition.
Exceptions.
AN ACT To implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act, to implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954, may be cited as the "Oil Pollution Act, 1961". SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— (a) The term "convention" means the International Convention for the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954; (b) The term "discharge" in relation to oil or to an oily mixture means any discharge or escape howsoever caused; (c) The term "heavy diesel oil" means marine diesel oil, other than those distillates of which more than 50 per centum, by volume distills at a temperature not exceeding three hundred and forty degrees centigrade when tested by American Society for the Testing of Materials standard method D. 158/53; (d) The term "mile" means a nautical mile of six thousand and eighty feet or one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two meters; (e) The term "oil" means persistent oils, such as crude oil, fuel oil, heavy diesel oil, and lubricating oil. For the purposes of this legislation, the oil in an oily mixture of less than one hundred parts of oil in one million parts of the mixture, shall not be deemed to foul the surface of the sea; (f) The term "person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, or association; and any owner, operator, agent, master, officer, or employee of a ship; (g) The term "prohibited zones" means the zones described in section 12 of this Act as modified by notices, if any, of extension or reduction issued by the Secretary; (h) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Army; (i) The term "ship" means a seagoing ship of American registry except— (1) ships for the time being used as naval auxiliaries; (2) ships of under five hundred tons ^ross tonnage; (3) ships for the time being engaged m the whaling industry; (4) ships for the time being navigating the Great Lakes of North America and their connecting and tributary waters as far east as the lower exit of the Lachine Canal at Montreal in the Province of Quebec, Canada. SEC, 3. (a) Subject to the provisions of sections 4 and 5, the discharge by any person froln any ship, which is a tanker, within any of the prohibited zones of oil or any oily mixture the oil in which fouls the surface of the sea, shall be unlawful. (b) Subject to the provisions of sections 4 and 5, any discharge by any person into the sea from a ship, other than a tanker, of oily ballast water or tank washinjjs shall be made as far as practicable from land. As from July 26, 1961, paragraph (a) of this section shall apply to ships other than tankers as it applies to tankers, except that the prohibited zones in relation to ships other than tankers shall be those referred to in the schedule. SEC. 4. Section 3 shall not apply to— (a) the discharge of oil or of an oily mixture from a ship for the purpose of securing the safety of the ship, preventing damage to the ship or cargo, or saving life at sea; or
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