16 U.S.C. § 3145 — Wildlife resources portion of study and impact of potential oil spills in Arctic Ocean

(a) Wildlife. The Secretary must work closely with Alaska and Native Village and Regional Corporations to evaluate effects of oil and gas exploration, development, production, transportation, and other human activity on wildlife, including Arctic and Porcupine caribou, polar bears, muskox, grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, seabirds, shore birds, and migratory waterfowl. The Secretary must also consult Canadian agencies, especially about the Porcupine herd. (b)(1) Congress finds that Canada found commercial oil and gas in the Amalagak region; is studying transport to Asian and Far Eastern markets; is considering shipping it across the Beaufort Sea to overseas tankers; those tankers would cross the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone through the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and Bering Strait; those seas provide Alaska Native subsistence walrus, seals, fish, and whales; Interior has held lease sales there and exploration continues; an inadequately contained or cleaned oil spill could significantly affect North Slope Indigenous people and the Arctic environment; and the two governments have no international Arctic oil-spill containment and cleanup plan. (2)(A) Interior’s Secretary, consulting Alaska’s Governor, must study damage recovery, contingency plans, and coordinated action for an Arctic Ocean spill. (B) By January 31, 1991, the Secretary must send Congress the study’s findings and conclusions. (c) Congress calls on the Secretary of State, consulting Interior, Transportation, and Alaska’s Governor, to begin negotiations with Canada’s Foreign Minister on a treaty about those damage, plan, and coordinated-action issues. (d) By June 1, 1991, the Secretary of State must report to Congress on efforts under this section.