WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) announced his support for bipartisan legislation that would make it easier for Maine fishermen, recreational boaters, and on-water researchers to operate their vessels. The Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2013 would streamline existing federal and local regulations mandating how ballast discharge water is handled in U.S. ports and permanently exempt small vessel owners from needing to apply for permits for the incidental discharge of water off their boats.

“Our fishermen shouldn’t have to endure a lengthy and burdensome application process just to wash down their decks after a long day on the water,” Senator King said. “This bill will not only help untangle a messy web of overlapping local and federal regulations, but it will also permanently eliminate the needless requirement for small vessels, like Maine lobster boats, to obtain permits for the incidental discharge of water.”

The bill, introduced by Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), would a establish uniform national standard governing ballast water discharges and other discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels. The standards developed under the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act would encourage use of the best available technology that is economically achievable for states and would be continually evaluated every ten years.

In 1973, when the EPA first implemented the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) pursuant to section 402 of the Clean Water Act, the Agency categorically exempted vessels from the prohibitions and permitting requirements of NPDES. This exemption remained in place until 2005, when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court ruling that the EPA's 32-year-old regulatory exemption was beyond the Agency's scope of authority under the Clean Water Act. As a result, the Coast Guard, which also regulates ballast water under the National Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990, and the EPA are now both regulating water discharges under separate federal statutes. 

Additionally, the bill would permanently fix permitting issue which has concerned small vessel operators and the EPA since the 2005 circuit court ruling. The ruling took away the EPA’s ability to exempt small vessel owners from needing to acquire permits to dispense of water incidental to their normal operation back into the ocean, and required a biennial extension. This bill finally resolves this unnecessary and unproductive regulatory embroilment between the EPA and small vessel owners.

In addition to establishing uniform national standards governing ballast water discharges and other discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels, the bill would exempt from its requirements incidental discharges by vessels less than 79 feet in length engaged in commercial service, fishing vessels, and recreational vessels, as well as discharges that occur for research, safety, or similar purposes, as well as discharges by vessels that operate exclusively in a geographically limited area and instances. 

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