PHASEOUT OF VESSELS SUPPORTING OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT.

SEC. 705. PHASEOUT OF VESSELS SUPPORTING OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT.(a) In General.—Notwithstanding section 12105(c) of title 46, United States Code, a foreign-flag vessel may be chartered by, or on behalf of, a lessee to be employed for the setting, relocation, or recovery of anchors or other mooring equipment of a mobile offshore drilling unit that is located over the Outer Continental Shelf (as defined in section 2(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331(a)) for operations in support of exploration, or flow-testing and stimulation of wells, for offshore mineral or energy resources in the Beaufort Sea or the Chukchi Sea adjacent to Alaska—(1) until December 31, 2009, if the Secretary of Transportation determines after publishing notice in the Federal Register, that insufficient vessels documented under section 12105(c) of title 46, United States Code, are reasonably available and suitable for these support operations and all such reasonably available and suitable vessels are employed in support of such operations; and(2) for an additional 2-year period beginning January 1, 2010, if the Secretary of Transportation determines —(A) as of December 31, 2009, the lessee has entered into a binding agreement to employ an eligible vessel or vessels to be documented under section 12105(c) of title 46, United States Code, in sufficient numbers and with sufficient suitability to replace any vessel or vessels operating under this section; and(B) after publishing notice in the Federal Register, that insufficient vessels documented under section 12105(c) of title 46, United States Code, are reasonably available and suitable for these support operations and all such reasonably available and suitable vessels are employed in support of such operations.(b) Lessee Defined.—In this section, the term “lessee” means the holder of a lease (as defined in section 1331(c) of title 43, United States Code).(c) Savings Provision.—Nothing in subsection (a) may be construed to authorize the employment in the coastwise trade of a vessel that does not meet the requirements of section 12106 of title 46, United States Code.