33 CFR 155.1025: Operating restrictions and interim operating authorization

(a) Vessels subject to this subpart may not perform the following functions, unless operating in compliance with a plan approved under § 155.1065:

(1) Handling, storing, or transporting oil on the navigable waters of the United States; or

(2) Transferring oil in any other port or place subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

(b) Vessels subject to this subpart may not transfer oil in a port or place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, where the oil to be transferred was received from another vessel subject to this subpart during a lightering operation referred to in § 155.1015(b), unless both vessels engaged in the lightering operation were operating at the time in compliance with a plan approved under § 155.1065.

(c)(1) Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, a vessel may continue to handle, store, transport, transfer, or lighter oil for 2 years after the date of submission of a response plan pending approval of that plan, if the vessel owner or operator has received written authorization for continued operations from the Coast Guard.

(2) To receive this authorization, the vessel owner or operator must certify in writing to the Coast Guard that the owner or operator has identified and ensured the availability of, through contract or other approved means, the necessary private response resources to respond, to the maximum extent practicable, to a worst case discharge or substantial threat of such a discharge from their vessel as described in § 155.1050, § 155.1052, § 155.1230, or § 155.2230, as appropriate.

(d) With respect to paragraph (b) of this section, a vessel may not continue to handle, store, transport, transfer, or lighter oil if—

(1) The Coast Guard determines that the response resources identified in the vessel's certification statement do not meet the requirements of this subpart;

(2) The contracts or agreements cited in the vessel's certification statement are no longer valid;

(3) The vessel is not operating in compliance with the submitted plan; or

(4) The period of this authorization expires.

(e) An owner or operator of a vessel may be authorized by the applicable COTP to have that vessel make one voyage to transport or handle oil in a geographic specific area not covered by the vessel's response plan. All requirements of this subpart must be met for any subsequent voyages to that geographic specific area. To be authorized, the vessel owner or operator shall certify to the COTP in writing, prior to the vessel's entry into the COTP zone, that—

(1) A response plan meeting the requirements of this subpart (except for the applicable geographic specific appendix) or a shipboard oil pollution emergency plan approved by the flag state that meets the requirements of Regulation 37 of Annex I to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto, as amended (MARPOL 73/78);

(2) The approved response plan or the required plan section(s) is aboard the vessel;

(3) The vessel owner or operator has identified and informed the vessel master and the COTP of the designated qualified individual prior to the vessel's entry into the COTP zone; and

(4) The vessel owner or operator has identified and ensured the availability of, through contract or other approved means, the private response resources necessary to respond, to the maximum extent practicable under the criteria in § 155.1050, § 155.1052, § 155.1230, or § 155.2230, as appropriate, to a worst case discharge or substantial threat of discharge from the vessel in the applicable COTP zone.