
	National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)

Who Are You?
-	Agriculture
-	Industrial and Commercial Facilities
-	Interested Citizens
-	Municipalities and Wastewater Treatment Plants
-	States and Tribes

NPDES Information
-	NPDES Permit Program Basics
-	Where You Live

Program Areas
-	Animal Feeding Operations
-	Combined Sewer Overflows
-	Pretreatment
-	Sanitary Sewer Overflows
-	Stormwater

NPDES Topics

Alphabetical Index

Glossary

About NPDES

Vessel Discharges

Final Vessel General Permit

The 2008 Vessel General Permit (VGP) regulates discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels operating in a capacity as a means of transportation. The VGP includes general effluent limits applicable to all discharges; general effluent limits applicable to 26 specific discharge streams; narrative water-quality based effluent limits; inspection, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements; and additional requirements applicable to certain vessel types.

Recreational vessels as defined in section 502(25) of the Clean Water Act are not subject to this permit. In addition, with the exception of ballast water discharges, non-recreational vessels less than 79 feet (24.08 meters) in length, and all commercial fishing vessels, regardless of length, are not subject to this permit. Click here to find out how to obtain authorization to discharge under the VGP.

EPA issued the VGP on December 18, 2008. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently signed an order providing that "the exemption for discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel, contained in 40 C.F.R. § 122.3(a), is vacated as of February 6, 2009." Therefore, the regulated community need not comply with the terms of today’s permit until February 6, 2009. For information on how the court order affects the "effective date" and other dates in today’s permit, see the "DATES" section of the Federal Register Notice announcing the availability of this VGP.

Federal Register Notice (PDF) (9 pp, 86K)
Final Permit (PDF) (162 pp, 2MB)
Final Factsheet (PDF) (125 pp, 793K)
Final Economic Analysis (PDF) (179 pp, 2,15MB)
State and Tribal 401 Certification Letters with Conditions
Press Release
Court Order: Extension of Time to Comply with the VGP (PDF) (7 pp, 274K)

Background

On 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 subsequently extended the date of vacatur to December 19, 2008.

On July 29, 2008, Senate bill S. 2766 ("the Clean Boating Act of 2008") (PDF) (4 pp, 55K) 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. As a result of this law, EPA will not finalize the previously proposed Recreational Vessel General Permit.

On July 31, 2008, Senate bill S. 3298 (PDF) (3 pp, 63K) 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. Among other things, the moratorium does not apply to ballast water. P.L. 110-299 also directs EPA to conduct a study of vessel discharges and issue a report to Congress. EPA is currently conducting that study.

The VGP has been revised to reflect the new law and does not cover vessels less than 79 feet or commercial vessels, unless they have ballast water discharges.

After excluding the vessels addressed by the two new laws discussed above, EPA estimates that approximately 61,000 domestically flagged commercial vessels and approximately 8,000 foreign flagged vessels may be affected by this permit.

How to Become Authorized Under the VGP

Note: The Vessels Electronic Notice of Intent (eNOI) system will be available in late Spring 2009. No vessel owner/operator is required to submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) until June 19, 2009. Additional information regarding submittal of NOIs will be available on this website prior to June 19, 2009. The requirements for which vessels are required to submit an NOI are explained below. Click here for the requirements for when a vessel needs to submit an NOI.

Vessels Not Required to Submit an NOI

Vessels that are less than 300 gross tons, and do not have the capacity to hold or discharge more than 8 cubic meters (2113 gallons) of ballast water are not required to submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) to receive permit coverage.

Vessels Required to Submit an NOI

Vessels of 300 gross tons or more or have the ability to hold or discharge more than 8 cubic meters of ballast must submit an NOI in order to receive permit coverage. Deadlines for submission of an NOI are stated in the table on the Vessels eNOI page.

You will be able to search, sort, and view all Vessel NOIs that are received by EPA.

Terminating Authorization Under the VGP

Information regarding how to terminate coverage under the VGP will be available on this website in late Spring 2009 as well as on the Vessels eNOI page.

Monitoring and Reporting

NPDES Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) Form (PDF) (2 pp, 191K) - Use this form to submit analytical monitoring results to EPA if you are required to conduct analytical monitoring (e.g. certain cruise ships).

Reporting Noncompliance

You must report all instances of noncompliance with the permit requirements at least once per year to the appropriate EPA Regional Office. Vessel operators must report the noncompliance to the regional office responsible for the waters in which the noncompliance occurred. If vessels have multiple occurrences of noncompliance, they must report all noncompliance to the regional office where either: 1) the greatest number of noncompliance events occurred, or 2) if the same number of noncompliance events occurred, to the regional office responsible for waters where the vessel spent the most time.

You must report any noncompliance which may endanger health or the environment to the appropriate EPA Regional Office within 24 hours of becoming aware of the circumstances.

One-Time Permit Report

For each vessel, owner/operators are required to submit a one-time report between 30 months and 36 months after obtaining permit coverage. This website will be updated with additional information pertaining to the One-Time Report.

Supporting Documentation

Additional supporting materials can be found at www.regulations.gov under docket number
EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0055.

Lists of Nutrient and Copper Impaired Waters

The 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 may update this list annually for use with the VGP.

Nutrient Cause of Impairments Listed by Waterbody Name (data pull as of 5/28/2008) (PDF) (113 pp, 3.65MB)
Copper Cause of Impairments Listed by Waterbody Name (data pull as of 5/28/2008) (PDF) (12 pp, 903K)

Additional Resources

Public Presentations on the Proposed VGP

On 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. This information is based on the proposal not the final permit and should be used for informational purposes only.

Public Meetings, Webcast, and Hearing on the Proposed VGP

EPA 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. This information is based on the proposal not the final permit and should be used for informational purposes only. 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: