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Boaters may face strict regulations unless Congress
acts
By Pamela A. Keene
Boaters across the nation are being asked to write
their congressmen to support passage of H.R. 5949/S, 2766, the Clean
Boating Act of 2008. West Marine and other organizations in the
boating industry are reaching out to their membership to initiate a
strong and prompt letter campaign.
“Unless Congress passes the Clean Boating Act before
September 30, 2008, every recreational boater in the country will
have to obtain a federal or state permit just to operate their
boat,” according to correspondence from the National Marine
Manufacturers Association, the industry’s government affairs arm.
“Without passage of the Clean Boating Act (before Sept. 2008,
boaters will face yearly fees, bureaucratic red tape, confusing and
potential state-by-state regulations, citizen lawsuits and $32,000
per day penalties for non-compliance.”
These permits would apply to deck run-off, bilge
water, engine cooling water and any other water-based, operational
discharge from a recreational boat, which have never been considered
pollutants in 35 years of the Clean Water Act. The Environmental
Protection Agency, due to a sweeping court order, is already writing
this unprecedented new regulation for these everyday overboard water
discharges.”
The Clean Boating Act permanently restores the
regulation that has existed for 35 years distinguishing between
recreational boats and land-based industrial facilities and
ocean-going commercial ships, cruise ships and supertankers. It
excludes recreational boaters and anglers from the federal and state
permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act designed for
land-based industrial facilities and ocean-going commercial ships.
This exemption was overturned by a federal court in 2006 in a case
focused exclusively on ballast water from commercial vessels.
Senators Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Bill Nelson
(D-Florida) and Representatives Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) and
Candice Miller (R-Michigan) introduced the “Clean Boating Act of
2008” and have garnered bi-partisan support for the bill.
The Clean Boating Act has the support of the $37
billion recreational marine industry, the nation’s 59 million adult
recreational boaters and more than 50 organizations involved in
outdoor recreation, sport fishing, hunting and conservation.
To take action and help protect the rights of
recreational boaters and the recreational marine manufacturing
industry that provides hundreds of thousands of American jobs,
please visit
www.BoatBlue.org. The site includes details about the bill and
forms for contacting government officials.
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