[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17241-17242]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      COAST GUARD AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010--Resumed

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise to talk about the Coast Guard 
Authorization Act of 2010, which we have passed back to the House, with 
amendments. Hopefully, they will pass it later this evening, and it 
will be the first time we have gotten this authorization passed and the 
work that we have been doing for the last 4 years on reforming the 
Coast Guard's Deepwater Acquisition Program from the mistakes made in 
the past and setting on a new course will actually become law.
  As the Presiding Officer knows, the Coast Guard is a vital agency for 
us in the Pacific Northwest, everything from maritime safety to 
protecting our environment to our fisheries and the important missions 
they carry out. Obviously, making sure the Coast Guard has the tools it 
needs to get the job done is very important.
  I thank Senators Snowe, Rockefeller, and Hutchison for their hard 
work and for Members on both sides of the aisle for working on this 
legislation.
  I said it has important acquisition reforms, and I wish to mention a 
few of those because the Deepwater program, with its acquisitions, ran 
into many problems.
  First and foremost, the Coast Guard will return to its appropriate 
competitive procurement practices. This legislation ends what was an 
industry self-certification process, and it codifies the very rigorous 
process that the Coast Guard should have with the Major System 
Acquisition Manual. It establishes the right leadership and oversight 
for that and, an important aspect, I think, of all procurements related 
to acquisitions of this size, analyses of alternatives conducted by an 
independent third party.
  This legislation also has other important safeguards for oilspill 
prevention and for fishing vessel safety, as the Presiding Officer 
knows, because one of the provisions in this legislation is to require 
a tug escort of double-hulled tanks in Prince William Sound, something 
the Presiding Officer, the Senators from Alaska, Mr. Begich and Ms.

[[Page 17242]]

Murkowski, asked be included in the bill.
  This is important legislation, as we can see from the gulf incident 
and from incidents before. We obviously have to have large vessels 
escorted in and out of sensitive areas. I appreciate the leadership of 
the Senators from Alaska on this legislation.
  It also adds new protections to the Olympic Coast National Marine 
Sanctuary off the State of Washington, making sure it is protected from 
vessels that pose an oilspill threat.
  It also extends the important oilspill response assets through 
Washington's very vulnerable Strait of Juan de Fuca making sure that 
it, too, is more protected and has more resources to deal with 
incidents in the case of oilspills.
  Finally, there is a new requirement for fishing vessel safety 
designed to protect the life and welfare of those fishermen who risk 
their lives to bring seafood to our tables. It requires that large 
fishing vessels get a safety certification from independent third 
parties, and it mandates that smaller fishing vessels meet the same 
Coast Guard safety standards as recreation vessels.
  This is important because we know our fishing vessels take great risk 
in providing catch to us in the product they bring to market. But it is 
important we do so in a safe and responsible fashion. Having this type 
of independent safety requirements will be much needed.
  It allows the Alaska-Washington pollock fleet to replace their boats 
to help meet the new safety standards. As the President knows, the 
fishing fleets for Washington and Alaska are large operations. The 
pollock fishery alone is over a billion-dollar industry. Making sure 
these vessels operate in a safe manner is critical for our industries 
to continue to succeed.
  I thank the Presiding Officer for his input and for my colleagues on 
the Coast Guard Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee and the 
committee at large for their help in getting this legislation passed.
  As I said, it has been nearly 4 years in the making to get this 
important legislation through Congress. It comes at a time when we 
continue to want the Coast Guard to have the best resources to meet the 
missions and requirements of their job but to do their acquisition in a 
responsible way, to right the wrongs that has been in the Coast Guard 
acquisition process at the beginning of the Deepwater program, to make 
sure there is oversight and third-party evaluation of that, and to make 
sure, as I said, that this bill establishes new laws on oilspill 
prevention and on fishing vessel safety so we can continue to operate 
in these pristine waters in a safe and effective manner.
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. In my capacity as a Senator from the State of 
Alaska, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be 
rescinded.
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

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