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Clean Boating Act important to recreational boaters PDF Print E-mail
Written by Brandon D. Shuler   
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Permit required? A 35-year-old exemption has been overturned that excluded recreational boats from the same permit requirement as commercial freighters. Legislation is pending to reinstate the exemption.
Permit required? A 35-year-old exemption has been overturned that excluded recreational boats from the same permit requirement as commercial freighters. Legislation is pending to reinstate the exemption.
Legislation seeks to continue exemption from ballast regs

Coastal boaters may have to go on a virtual scavenger hunt to track down necessary permits to operate their boats beginning in September, unless the 2008 Clean Boating Act continues a 35-year-old exemption for recreational boats.

A September 2006 District Court ruling in the case of Northwest Environmental Advocates v. the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency dealt with the protection of harbors from exotic invasive species carried in the ballast tanks of transoceanic freighters. But the side effect of the decision overturned an exemption in the 1973 Clean Water Act that excluded recreational boaters from the same permit requirements as commercial vessels.

The court case arose from the practice of ballast purging. To regulate the pitch and roll of their vessels during rough seas with various load weights, freighters frequently fill their holds in foreign ports and once their port of destination is reached they empty their ballast tanks and any invasive stowaways that may have hitched a free ride into American waters. According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association, more than ten thousand exotic species are transported around the world daily, the most notable being the invasion of zebra mussels into the Great Lakes that began in 1986. “While minimizing the exchange of ballast water from one international port to another is very important in reducing the spread of aquatic invasive species, said NMMA president Thom Dammrich. “It is equally important not to sweep small recreational boats into the same regulatory scheme.”

The NMMA noted that 99 percent of recreational boats do not have ballast tanks. But, with the EPA exemption overturned, “the court’s decision means that, if left unfixed by Congress, the EPA and the 50 states have to figure out how to issue a special National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems permit for each and every recreational boat in the country that discharges everything from engine cooling water to deck run-off,” NMMA’s vice president and senior counsel said.

Coastal guides are concerned. “The average boater in Texas gets his boat out on the water what, three, four times a year,” said long-time Lower Laguna Madre guide Mitch Richmond. “With the cost of fuel, insurance, and a boat slip, what reason should he own a boat for — for that matter, what would the permit cost me? I am on the water a hundred plus days a year — that’s just another business expense I don’t need.”

The court decision has raised the ire of a few Congressional leaders as well. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca) and Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fl) introduced the Clean Boating Act of 2008 to reinstate the 35-year-old EPA exemption. The legislation will reinstate the exemption and pursue the need to recognize best practices for some recreational boat discharges.

If the legislation fails or stalls, beginning in September, boaters will have to sport a NPDES permit alongside their boater registration number.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 27 April 2008 )
 
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