For 34 years the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has exempted discharges from recreational boats from the Clean Water Act permit system. Regretfully, a recent court ruling cancelled this permit exemption. EPA is required by the court decision to develop and implement by September 30, 2008 a national permit system for ALL vessels in the United States for a variety of normal operational discharges. It is critically important that H.R. 2550 be passed and your support is essential. Please contact your Congressman and Senators TODAY and ask that they co-sponsor or support H.R. 2550.
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Before supporting this proposal
it may well be worthwhile to understand the ramifications of its enactment.
it may well be worthwhile to understand the ramifications of its enactment.
Read the decision!
I'm not sure what specific ramifications Stu is alluding to, but as I see it, the ramifications of not getting this legislation passed are simply unacceptable for the majority of recreational boaters. The primary ramification is zero discharge of any kind without a permit. Here is a link to the court's opinion: http://www.lclark.edu/org/peac/objects/order_granting_permanent_injunction.pdf Quoting from the court decision: “Such vessel discharges include, among other things, ballast water, bilge water, cooling water, deck runoff, graywater, and oil or oily water.” "The Court therefore DENIES EPA’s request to limit its remedy to ballast water discharges." This means you will not be able to run your engine without a permit because that requires a cooling water discharge, same for your galley sink, same for your cockpit shower, same for air conditioning, same for wash-down pumps, baitwells, and even your dinghy engine. Permit no big deal? Tried getting a passport lately? Until homeland security passed its ill-considered passport requirement without making sure there was infrastructure to implement it, you could get a passport at a reasonable cost in a reasonable time. Now it costs almost $100 and takes an optimistic 10-12 WEEKS! (It is so bad, they adopted an accommodation letting you travel to the old non-passport countries with a government issued photo ID and a a copy of your passport application.) You will not be able to legally use your boat as a practical matter until you get your permit. EPA expects that it will cost "a few hundred dollars", it will require a separate permit for every boat and for every state each boat operates in. Boats transiting the Atlantic ICW may easily be required to have 28 permits (one for the boat and one for the dinghy for each of the fourteen Atlantic coast states...and maybe $10,000). You need to read the legislation and the court's decision and come to your own informed opinions...then contact your legislators. If you sit on the sidelines, don't complain about the outcome. The legislation is short, so I have included the entire text. Here is the link: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2550 A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to recreational vessels. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the `Recreational Boating Act of 2007'. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. (a) Pollutant- Section 502(6) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362(6)) is amended-- (1) by striking `or (B)' and inserting `(B)'; and (2) by inserting before the period at the end the following: `; or (C) any deck runoff from a recreational vessel, any engine cooling water, gray water, bilge water effluent from properly functioning recreational marine engines, laundry, shower, and galley sink wastes from a recreational vessel, or any other discharge incidental to the normal operation of a recreational vessel; except that this subparagraph does not apply to rubbish, trash, garbage, or other such materials discharged overboard by a recreational vessel'. (b) Recreational Vessel- Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following: `(25) `recreational vessel' means a vessel-- `(A) manufactured for operation, or operated, primarily for recreational purposes; or `(B) leased, rented, or chartered to an individual for recreational purposes.'.
I'm not sure what specific ramifications Stu is alluding to, but as I see it, the ramifications of not getting this legislation passed are simply unacceptable for the majority of recreational boaters. The primary ramification is zero discharge of any kind without a permit. Here is a link to the court's opinion: http://www.lclark.edu/org/peac/objects/order_granting_permanent_injunction.pdf Quoting from the court decision: “Such vessel discharges include, among other things, ballast water, bilge water, cooling water, deck runoff, graywater, and oil or oily water.” "The Court therefore DENIES EPA’s request to limit its remedy to ballast water discharges." This means you will not be able to run your engine without a permit because that requires a cooling water discharge, same for your galley sink, same for your cockpit shower, same for air conditioning, same for wash-down pumps, baitwells, and even your dinghy engine. Permit no big deal? Tried getting a passport lately? Until homeland security passed its ill-considered passport requirement without making sure there was infrastructure to implement it, you could get a passport at a reasonable cost in a reasonable time. Now it costs almost $100 and takes an optimistic 10-12 WEEKS! (It is so bad, they adopted an accommodation letting you travel to the old non-passport countries with a government issued photo ID and a a copy of your passport application.) You will not be able to legally use your boat as a practical matter until you get your permit. EPA expects that it will cost "a few hundred dollars", it will require a separate permit for every boat and for every state each boat operates in. Boats transiting the Atlantic ICW may easily be required to have 28 permits (one for the boat and one for the dinghy for each of the fourteen Atlantic coast states...and maybe $10,000). You need to read the legislation and the court's decision and come to your own informed opinions...then contact your legislators. If you sit on the sidelines, don't complain about the outcome. The legislation is short, so I have included the entire text. Here is the link: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2550 A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to recreational vessels. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the `Recreational Boating Act of 2007'. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. (a) Pollutant- Section 502(6) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362(6)) is amended-- (1) by striking `or (B)' and inserting `(B)'; and (2) by inserting before the period at the end the following: `; or (C) any deck runoff from a recreational vessel, any engine cooling water, gray water, bilge water effluent from properly functioning recreational marine engines, laundry, shower, and galley sink wastes from a recreational vessel, or any other discharge incidental to the normal operation of a recreational vessel; except that this subparagraph does not apply to rubbish, trash, garbage, or other such materials discharged overboard by a recreational vessel'. (b) Recreational Vessel- Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following: `(25) `recreational vessel' means a vessel-- `(A) manufactured for operation, or operated, primarily for recreational purposes; or `(B) leased, rented, or chartered to an individual for recreational purposes.'.
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