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National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) |  |
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Vessel DischargesBackgroundOn March 30, 2005, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (in Northwest Environmental Advocates et al. v. EPA) ruled that the EPA regulation excluding discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel from NPDES permitting exceeded the Agency’s authority under the CWA. On September 18, 2006, the Court issued an order revoking this regulation (40 C.F.R. 122.3(a)) as of September 30, 2008. EPA appealed the District Court's decision, and on July 23, 2008, the Ninth Circuit upheld the decision, leaving the September 30, 2008 vacatur date in effect. In response to this Court order, EPA developed two proposed permits to regulate discharges from vessels. The district court has subsequently extended the date of vacatur to December 19, 2008. On July 29, 2008, Senate bill S. 2766 (“the Clean Boating Act of 2008”) was signed into law (P.L. No. 110-288). This law provides that recreational vessels shall not be subject to the requirement to obtain an NPDES permit to authorize discharges incidental to their normal operation. It instead directs EPA to evaluate recreational vessel discharges, develop management practices for appropriate discharges, and promulgate performance standards for those management practices. It then directs the Coast Guard to promulgate regulations for the use of the management practices developed by EPA and requires recreational boater compliance with such practices. Click here for a copy of S. 2766 (4 pp, 56K). On July 31, 2008, Senate bill S. 3298 was signed into law (P.L. No. 110-299). This law generally imposes a two-year moratorium during which time neither EPA nor states can require NPDES permits for discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels of less than 79 feet and commercial fishing vessels of any length. It also directs EPA to conduct a study of vessel discharges and issue a report to Congress within 15 months. Among other things, the moratorium does not apply to ballast water. Click here for a copy of S. 3298 (3 pp, 63K). EPA proposed two draft NPDES vessel permits and accompanying fact sheets which provide detailed explanation of the permits’ contents. As proposed, the Vessel General Permit (VGP) would have covered all commercial and non-recreational vessels and those recreational vessels longer or equal to 79 feet, and the proposed Recreational General Permit (RGP) covered recreational vessels less than 79 feet in length. However, due to the enactment of the Clean Boating Act of 2008, which now excludes recreational vessels from NPDES permitting, the RGP will not be finalized. In addition, due to P.L. 110-299, which places a two year moratorium on NPDES permitting of commercial fishing vessels and all other commercial vessels that are 79 feet or less in length, the VGP will be revised prior to finalization to reflect that new law. After excluding the vessels addressed by the two news laws discussed above, EPA estimates that approximately 42,000 domestically flagged commercial vessels and approximately 8,000 foreign flagged vessels may be affected by this permit. Proposed Vessel General Permit (VGP) for All Commercial Vessels and Large Recreational Vessels (79 feet or longer)This proposed permit incorporates the Coast Guard’s mandatory ballast water management and exchange standards and supplemental ballast water requirements for vessels that carry ballast water. Furthermore, for all covered vessels, this permit also would establish requirements for twenty-seven other discharge types including deck runoff, bilgewater discharge, and graywater discharge In addition to these standard or common requirements, the permit outlines further requirements for eight specific classes of vessels, such as cruise ships, research vessels, and large ferries. The proposed VGP also includes requirements for corrective actions, inspections, monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements. The proposed VGP would require submission of a Notice of Intent (NOI) form to be covered under a general permit for a subset of covered vessels.
Economic Analysis
Proposed Recreational General Permit (RGP) (recreational and uninspected passenger vessels less than 79 feet in length)EPA will not be finalizing the proposed RGP. However, information gathered for the RGP will be utilized in meeting EPA's responsibilities under Senate bill S. 2766 ("the Clean Boating Act of 2008") (P.L. No. 110-288). The proposed permit, fact sheet and supporting economic analysis are available below:
Economic Analysis Public Meetings, Webcast, and HearingEPA and the U.S. Coast Guard held three public meetings, a webcast, and a public hearing to discuss the proposed permits and solicit public input. Click here to view the webcast archive. Recordings of the public meetings and transcripts from statements during the public hearing are available at www.regulations.gov under docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0055 (VGP). Links to the presentations given on June 19, 24, 26, and July 21, 2008 are provided below:
Other Public PresentationsOn October 7, 2008, EPA provided an informal lunch-time presentation (PDF) (18 pp, 363K) at the 58th meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee regarding Clean Water Act permitting and discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels. Supporting DocumentationAdditional supporting materials can be found at www.regulations.gov under docket numbers Lists of Nutrient and Copper Impaired WatersThe list of state waters that are impaired for copper and nutrients is based on current information that EPA has about each state's 303(d) list; however, this list may not necessarily reflect more recent state and/or EPA activity on those 303(d) lists. EPA plans to update this list annually for use with the VGP and RGP.
Additional Resources
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