Marine Emergency Protocol and Hull Requirement Act of 2008

Current understanding

A 2008 Senate bill that would have authorized Coast Guard sector commanders to assume direct control of all vessels in their area during terrorist attacks, major oil spills, or comparable emergencies, and would have barred cargo ships carrying significant quantities of fuel oil from U.S. waters unless their fuel tanks were protected by double hulls. The bill was referred to committee and did not become law; the double-hull fuel-tank concept later echoed in broader oil-pollution and tank-vessel rulemaking.

Evidence log

• 2008-04-10 — Marine Emergency Protocol and Hull Requirement Act of 2008: cross-connection with oil-pollution-prevention-response-act-2009: Both proposals pair Coast Guard emergency/operational authority with fuel-oil containment rules on cargo vessels, with the 2008 bill’s double-hull fuel-tank requirement foreshadowing the 2009 act’s broader oil-pollution response framework. (novelty: 2)

Open questions

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