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Proposed EPA Boat Permits, Discharge Rules Threaten Recreational Boaters

Campaign Urges Marine Enthusiasts to Contact Congress, Oppose Bill

March 28, 2008       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Your enjoyable boat ride on the Saginaw River or bay, or an inland lake, could become a nightmare of red tape and legal snags.
 

Boaters are joining together to fight proposed EPA rules that would make it harder to have a boat than to carry a gun.

Unless Congress acts to rein in the EPA, every recreational boater in the country will have to obtain a federal or state permit in order to operate a boat.

Your enjoyable boat ride on the Saginaw River or bay, or an inland lake, could become a nightmare of red tape and legal snags.

A court decision in September 2006 required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a discharge permit system for all vessels in the United States. Heretofore, it has been only for commercial shipping.

Permits would apply to deck run-off, bilge water, engine cooling water and any other water-based, operational discharge from a recreational boat.

The EPA system would touch every boater. The EPA is reportedly considering all discharges that are normal: deck runoff, engine cooling water, grey water from sinks and showers as well as all the discharges now controlled, such as garbage, sewage, oil and fuel.


Critics say this means yearly fees, bureaucratic involvement, confusing and different state regulations, citizen suits and up to $32,000 per day penalties for non-compliance. The EPA, due to the sweeping court order, is already writing this new regulation.

The court decision requires the EPA to have a system in place by September 30, 2008. Unless Congressional action is taken to stop it, after that date anyone operating a boat without a valid permit would be in violation of the law and subject to a citizen lawsuit.

The EPA has appealed the court decision and the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) has filed a legal intervention. The appeal will be heard in August by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit but there is no deadline for rendering a decision.

Boating organizations are hoping for passage of Senate Bill 2766, the Clean Boating Act of 2008, introduced by Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA). This legislation would restore the 35-year permit exemption for recreational boat incidental discharges and protect the nation's waterways by pursuing best management practices needed for some incidental discharges.

"This important bill preserves recreational boating and the boating industry, taking a balanced approach that recognizes that pleasure boat discharges are completely different from land-based industrial facilities and commercial ships," said Sen. Nelson. "With Senator Barbara Boxer being the chair of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, it appears that S. 2766 has the best chance of passage." A House bill, H.R. 2550, introduced last May by Reps. Gene Taylor (D-MS) and Candice Miller (R-MI), with 16 others representatives, was referred to the House Committee on Water Resources and the Environment. The legislation would give recreational boaters permanent exemption from the permit requirement. The Senate has not taken action and the bill is stalled in committee.

The House bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (The Clean Water Act) to redefine the term "pollutant" to exclude any deck runoff from a recreational vessel, any engine cooling water, gray water, bilge water effluent from properly functioning recreational marine engine, laundry, shower, and galley sink wastes from a recreational vessel, or any other discharge incidental to the normal operation of a recreational vessel. This bill has 52 Republicans and 19 Democrats as sponsors.

Boating industry officials are urging Michigan boat owners to contact Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow to ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor of S. 2766. You can contact them by going to www.boatblue.org.

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 1999 against the EPA, seeking to control the spread of aquatic species. The intent was to mandate treatment of ballast water in large commercial ships.

Numerous organizations and groups participated in that suit and in 2005 the states of New York, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Minnesota joined in because of their concern for the Great Lakes. This original lawsuit was aimed at large commercial ships that must take of ballast water for stability but then discharge it before taking on cargo. But more than 99 percent of all pleasure boaters don't need ballast water.

EPA is currently developing the system so not much is definite at this time but there are indications that vessel owners would have to get a permit from the state for each vessel. This would be necessary for each state in which the boat operates. As an example, a boat being operated on a river that divides two states might be required to have a permit for each state at which it operates.

Fees have not been established. The EPA has said permits could cost as much as a few hundred dollars and be valid for from one to five years. Possibly, written reports quantifying a boat's discharge would be required to be submitted on a regular basis.###

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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