Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2001

Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2001 - Authorizes appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition and construction; (3) research and development; (4) retired pay; (5) environmental compliance; and (6) bridge alteration or removal. Authorizes: (1) the Coast Guard end-of-year strength for active duty personnel and its average military training student loads; (2) appropriations for Coast Guard operation of the LORAN-C system; (3) the Secretary of Transportation to accept for Coast Guard drug interdiction activities up to seven PC-170 patrol craft from the Department of Defense; (4) suspension of retired pay of a service member or former member who willfully remains outside the United States to avoid criminal prosecution or civil liability; (5) compensatory absence from duty for military Coast Guard personnel serving at isolated duty stations in certain circumstances; (6) the Coast Guard to provide fishing vessel safety training; (7) conveyance and 30-year lease-back of the Naval Reserve Pier property in Portland, Maine, to the Gulf of Maine Aquarium Development Corporation; and (8) a student pre-commissioning assistance program. Adds the Secretary of Transportation (when the Coast Guard is not operating under the Department of the Navy) to the required members of the Board of Governors of the United Service Organizations, Inc. (USO). Extends specified Coast Guard housing authorities. Allows a promotion selection board to recommend officers of particular merit for placement at the top of the list of selectees. Amends the Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone Act to revise requirements regarding the waters on which vessels, dredges, and floating plants must carry a radiotelephone. Prohibits the Coast Guard from planning or implementing decommissioning of icebreaking vessels until replacements have been procured. Exempts certain passenger vessel service personnel from a requirement that a vessel employee have a merchant mariner's document. Extends time for recreational vessel and associated equipment recalls. Renames and extends the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Advisory Committee. Extends: (1) the Houston-Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee; (2) the Lower Mississippi River Waterway Advisory Committee; (3) the Navigation Safety Advisory Council; (4) the Towing Safety Advisory Committee; and (5) the National Boating Safety Advisory Council. Requires the Coast Guard to: (1) study existing local harbor safety coordinating committees regarding cooperation with interested groups, organizational models, technological assistance, and recurring resources; and (2) test the feasibility of expanding the harbor safety committee concept to ceratin small and medium-sized ports. States that Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service pilots shall not be liable for damages related to their official assistance unless such assistance constitutes gross negligence or willful misconduct. Amends the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998 to repeal certain endorsement revocation authority.