New law

[SKYCHENEY]

Okay, I sent my email. Here is the latest from Boat/US on this:

March 19, 2008



Dear BoatUS Member,


We need your help now to pass NEW federal legislation in the Senate that would provide a permanent exemption for recreational boats from the upcoming EPA discharge permit requirement. Remember that if we don't get legislation passed, we all need to get EPA permits to operate our boats effective 9/30/08!



We appreciate the time that many of you have already taken to let your Senators or Representatives know your support of S. 2067 or HR 2550 "The Recreational Boating Act of 2007." Now there is a new Senate Bill #2766 "The Clean Boating Act of 2008", which is more politically viable, and our best chance to eliminate the permit requirement before it comes in effect on September 30, 2008.



Please pick up the phone or email today and ask your Senators to sponsor and vote YES for S 2766. Although Congress is on recess this week and next, we need their staff to hear from us so that this bill can move as soon as the Senators are back in Washington.



Remember to contact both of your Senators:

(Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin)





State
Phone
Email


Illinois




Senator Barak Obama (D)
(202) 224-2854
Visit BoatBlue.org


Senator Dick Durbin (D)
(202) 224-2152
Visit BoatBlue.org


Indiana




Senator Richard Lugar (R)
(202) 224-4814
Visit BoatBlue.org


Senator Evan Bayh (D)
(202) 224-5623
Visit BoatBlue.org


Iowa




Senator Charles Grassley (R)
(202) 224-3744
Visit BoatBlue.org


Senator Tom Harkin (D)
(202) 224-3254
Visit BoatBlue.org


Michigan




Senator Carl Levin (D)
(202) 224-6221
Visit BoatBlue.org


Senator Debbie Stabenow (D)
(202) 224-4822
Visit BoatBlue.org


Wisconsin




Senator Herb Kohl (D)
(202) 224-5653
Visit BoatBlue.org


Senator Russ Feingold (D)
(202) 224-5323
Visit BoatBlue.org

[spartonboat1]

Sky, my sincere thanks!

[DickB]

I asked my daughter for an update, here's what she had to say:

"ok, we're looking for movement on HR 2550 and S 2766. The House bill is unlikely to move because main sponsor, a guy out of Mississippi, isn't the committee chair. So it isn't his perogative. The Senate bill is held by Barbara Box, who is the Chair of the Environment and Public works committee, with jurisdiction. So if it moves, she moves it. And probably will -- on about Sept 10th. that's just my guess, based on no knowledge.

"there haven't been any hearings, and she hasn't really made a big issue out of it, on the other hand she only introduced it March 13th, and the Senate has been out of session since. so it's tough to say what's on her mind."

Here's what I think, also based on no knowledge! We are currently seeing government at its best right now: stalemate. Loggerheads. Notice how it isn't spending our money. The theory is that little will be accomplished this year. Perhaps they can agree on this one, however, even though it does produce revenue for them.

Dick

[Nonchalant1]

I wrote to my senator a week ago.... Barack Obama.... not too surprisingly, I have not heard back from him yet. I hope he doesn't wnat me to vote for him for our Illinois senator after he loses the presidential campaign.

Doug

[BUSTER]

[QUOTE=Nonchalant1;91763]I wrote to my senator a week ago.... Barack Obama.... not too surprisingly, I have not heard back from him yet. I hope he doesn't wnat me to vote for him for our Illinois senator after he loses the presidential campaign.

Doug[/QUOTE


He is probably busy at Church.

[Nick]

I wrote to mine and she is busy ducking gunfire AGAIN!

[Bob Bradley]

I wrote to mine and she is busy ducking gunfire AGAIN!

Probably won't be the last time, either.

[drburke]

She's safe now.

DAN

[DickB]

Here's the latest/Dick

No. 116
Tuesday June 17, 2008 Page A-27
ISSN 1523-567X
Regulation & Law

Environment
EPA Proposes Two NPDES Permits to Cover
Incidental Discharges From Ships, Boats
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing two separate National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permits to cover discharges incidental to the normal operation in U.S. waters of commercial and recreational vessels, such as deck runoff and engine cooling water.
An announcement slated for publication in the Federal Register June 17 said a proposed NPDES "vessel general permit" (VGP) will cover incidental discharges from all commercial vessels and recreational vessels of 79 feet or longer. A proposed NPDES "recreational general permit" (RGP) will cover incidental discharges from recreational vessels less than 79 feet long, including motorboats, sailboats, fishing boats, and non-motorized small craft such as canoes.

The agency said as many as 91,000 commercial vessels and about 13 million recreational vessels could be affected.

The vessel general permit sets best management practices for 28 different types of incidental discharges, EPA said, including deck runoff, bilge water, fire suppression systems, turbine wash, and engine cooling water. The permit also establishes numeric limits for certain types of incidental discharges such as graywater from cruise ships, and imposes self-inspection requirements.

For vessels that carry ballast water, the VGP would incorporate the Coast Guard's mandatory ballast water management and exchange standards, and would have supplemental ballast water requirements.

The recreational general permit addresses a smaller range of pollutants because it applies only to recreational vessels, the announcement said, including deck runoff, graywater, engine cooling water, and bilge water. According to EPA, the RGP is a much simpler permit than the VGP and primarily includes best management practices designed to minimize incidental discharges.

The permits would not cover any vessel not being used for transportation. They also would not cover military vessels, or those used for mining, storage, or seafood processing. Vessels secured to a buoy for mineral or oil exploration or development also are not covered.

The agency has determined that the paperwork and best management practices required by the VGP will cost ship owners between $7.1 million and $25 million annually. RGP permits will cost owners $8.79 to $25.99 per year for motorboats, $5.39 to $22.59 per year for sailboats, and $0.29 to $2.39 per year for non-motorized small craft.

EPA has said the new permits are required by a recent federal district court decision that vacated a long-standing rule excluding incidental discharges from the NPDES program (Northwest Environmental Advocates v. EPA, 63 ERC 1915 (N.D. Cal. 2006)). In that case, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered EPA to begin regulating ballast water and other discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels as pollutants under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act by Sept. 30, 2008 (114 DER A-19, 6/13/08 ).

Although EPA has appealed the ruling, it said it cannot await the outcome of the appeal before developing the required NPDES permits by the Sept. 30 deadline (Northwest Environmental Advocates v. EPA, 9th Cir., No. 06-17188, decision to appeal announced 1/26/07).


Comments Requested

EPA said it is requesting comments on the proposed NPDES permits. Regarding the VGP, the agency has expressed a particular interest in whether:

the permit should establish numeric limits for more types of incidental discharges, rather than just best management practices, and what those limits should be;
it is appropriate to require saltwater flushing for all vessels with unpumpable ballast water and residual sediment that sail more than 200 nautical miles from any shore;

proposed discharge limits for large cruise ships are appropriate;

a proposed prohibition on discharges of untreated graywater within one nautical mile of shore for large and medium cruise ships is appropriate; and

large ferries should be subject to additional graywater treatment standards similar to those proposed for large and medium cruise ships.


EPA said it also is especially interested in comments on the following topics pertaining to the RGP:

whether the permits should establish numeric limits for more types of incidental discharges, rather than just best management practices, and what those limits should be; and
whether any of the best management practices listed in the permit should be mandatory or completely removed.


Comments, identified by docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0055 for the VGP or EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0056 for the RGP, may be submitted to http://www.regulations.gov until Aug. 1, 2008.
EPA will hold public meetings on the general permits June 19 in Washington, D.C., June 24 in Portland, Ore., and June 26 in Chicago. The agency also has scheduled a public webcast meeting for July 2 and a hearing in Washington July 21.

For more information on the vessel general permit, contact Ryan Albert in EPA's Office of Wastewater Management at (202) 564-0763, or by e-mail at CommercialVesselPermit@epa.gov. For more information on the recreational general permit, contact Juhi Saxena in EPA's Office of Wastewater Management at (202) 564-0719 or RecreationalVesselPermit@epa.gov by e-mail.


By Jeff Kinney

[Boatsb]

How much will it cost me to stand on the gunwale and PI$$ on the tree hugger from the Northwest Environmental Advocates. I bet they have no actual interest in this issue ( ownership of land or a vessel in the area ) but are contributing to the undermining of the American economy.

So many do good-ers so few bullets.