§ 2309. — Great Lakes Commodities Marketing Board.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 33USC2309]
TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
CHAPTER 36--WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
SUBCHAPTER V--GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 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.
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\1\ See References in Text note below.
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(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.
(Pub. L. 99-662, title XI, Sec. 1132, Nov. 17, 1986, 100 Stat. 4246.)
References in Text
Section 5311(b) of title 5, referred to in subsec. (b)(5)(A), (B),
was repealed by Pub. L. 101-509, title V, Sec. 529 [title I,
Sec. 104(c)(1)], Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1427, 1447.
Termination of Reporting Requirements
For termination, effective May 15, 2000, of provisions in subsec.
(c)(3) of this section relating to the requirement that the
international advisory group report biennially to Congress, see section
3003 of Pub. L. 104-66, as amended, set out as a note under section 1113
of Title 31, Money and Finance, and page 193 of House Document No. 103-
7.
