Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1991

Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1991 - Authorizes appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, and aircraft; (3) research, development, test, and evaluation; (4) retired pay and benefits; (5) alteration or removal of bridges; and (6) environmental compliance and restoration. Requires certain expenditures under these authorizations for oil recovery systems to be: (1) for systems manufactured in the United States; and (2) pursuant to competitive bidding based on performance specification and cost.

Authorizes: (1) a request for reprogramming of funds to purchase, lease, or lease with option to purchase a replacement command and control aircraft for the Coast Guard; and (2) a multiyear lease for the aircraft.

Authorizes for the Coast Guard: (1) end strength for active-duty personnel; and (2) average military training student load.

Amends Federal law to: (1) delay the retirement date of Coast Guard rear admirals and rear admirals (lower half) who are considered but not continued on active duty; and (2) allow the Coast Guard Commandant, with the approval of the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, to annually retain on active duty a rear admiral or rear admiral (lower half) who would otherwise be retired.

Establishes below-standard performance or moral or professional dereliction as criteria for involuntary retirement of enlisted personnel with at least 20 years of service. (Current law allows involuntary retirement at the discretion of an Enlisted Personnel Board, with approval by the Commandant.)

Authorizes the Commandant to use services of individuals performing court-ordered community service.

Authorizes the Coast Guard, to the extent provided for in appropriations Acts, to enter into: (1) a lease for a site at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod for construction and/or renovation of housing units; and (2) a lease to acquire a site at Charleston, South Carolina, for construction of a permanent air facility. Authorizes the Coast Guard to spend appropriated amounts for such housing and such air facility.

Mandates a report to specified congressional committees on Coast Guard housing.

Extends to September 30, 1994, the termination date of the Coast Guard Academy Advisory Committee.

Deems the John F. Limehouse Memorial Bridge across the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in Charleston County, South Carolina, an unreasonable obstruction to navigation.

Extends to September 30, 1996, the termination date of the National Boating Safety Advisory Council.

Allows, in emergencies, Coast Guard Ready Reserve forces to be called to active duty: (1) with no stated requirement for Presidential approval (current law requires Presidential approval); and (2) for up to 30 days in a four-month period and up to 60 days in a two-year period (currently, for up to 14 days in a four-month period and up to 30 days in a one-year period).

Increases the limitation on the percentage of retired officers who may be on active duty.

Amends the Inland Navigational Rules Act of 1980 to require a vessel or class of vessels of special construction or purpose to comply with alternative rules when the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating determines that the vessel or class cannot comply fully. (Current law requires such alternative compliance when the vessel or class cannot comply without interfering with the special function.)

Modifies collision avoidance rules regarding vessels whose passage or safe passage is not to be impeded.

Amends provisions of Federal law relating to the use of fire-retardant materials in certain passenger vessels to change from 1993 to 1998 the date on which certain requirements apply to vessels in operation before 1968. Requires the owner or operator of a vessel exempted from such provisions to notify the Coast Guard of structural alterations to the vessel and to comply with any noncombustible material requirements the Coast Guard prescribes for non-public spaces. Requires Coast Guard requirements for public spaces to be consistent with preservation of the historic integrity of the vessel.

Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating and the Secretary of Commerce to submit a joint report to specified congressional committees regarding methods by which Coast Guard enforcement efforts under the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 may be enhanced and coordinated with those of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Authorizes the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to convey to the State of New Jersey of all right, title, and interest of the United States in the Cape May Point Lighthouse to be used as a nonprofit center for the interpretation and preservation of the material culture of the Coast Guard and the maritime history of Cape May.

Directs the Secretary to convey to the Town of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, all right, title and interest of the United States in the Portland Head Lighthouse to be used as a nonprofit center for the public benefit. Allows the Secretary to determine that a use is incompatible with the historic nature of the property or other provisions of this Act.

Directs the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees regarding the adequacy of pre-positioned oil spill response equipment to respond to potential damage caused by spills upriver on the Columbia River where commercial and government marine vessel activity takes place.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation to use funds as necessary, to a specified maximum, to begin and actively pursue the renovation project to extend the useful life of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw.

Extends to September 30, 1994, the termination date of the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Advisory Committee.

Declares that a specified portion of the Appomattox River in the State of Virginia is not navigable water within the meaning of U.S. Constitution and laws and not a water affecting navigable U.S. waters or interstate or foreign commerce, except for purposes of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

Declares that a specified railroad bridge across Wappinger Creek at New Hamburg, New York, is determined to provide for the reasonable needs of navigation for purposes of the General Bridge Act of 1946 and other specified laws at the closed position and need not be maintained as a movable structure.

Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, through the Secretary of State, to enter into discussions with their appropriate Canadian counterparts regarding improving commercial vessel traffic safety off the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Provides for the transfer to the County of Charleston of Coast Guard property at Folly Island, South Carolina.

Amends the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships to modify requirements regarding reporting of pollution incidents.

Amends Federal law to add a requirement that those who prevent or minimize damage to the environment pay compensation to salvors of life. (Current law requires salvors of a vessel or other property to pay remuneration to salvors of life.)

Provides for the transfer of: (1) both the Heceta Head Lighthouse and the Cape Blanco Lighthouse to the State of Oregon; (2) the White Island Lighthouse to the State of New Hampshire; and (3) Coast Guard property outside Juneau, Alaska, to the Secretary of Commerce.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that the requirement that the Coast Guard collect fees from recreational boaters should be repealed on enactment of offsetting receipts.

Authorizes issuance of certificates of documentation for three specified vessels.

Declares described portions of Pelican Island, Texas, which are not submerged to be nonnavigable waters of the United States.

Amends Federal law to increase the limit on the aggregate Federal share of awards under provisions relating to National Maritime Enhancement Institutes.