Wednesday, 04 February 2009 09:23

Issue: Ballast water and other vessel discharges, such as wastewater discharges known as grey water, have been exempted from NPDES permit requirements under the Clean Water Act in the past.

Status: As the result of a Federal Court ruling, the EPA issued regulations in December 2008, controlling all vessel water discharges under the Clean Water Act by February 2009. This rulemaking affects all vessels that are 79 feet and larger. All vessels 300 GRT or greater or that have the capacity to discharge 8 cubic meters (2113 gallons) of ballast water are required to obtain NPDES permits. For vessels that are larger than 79 feet but do not meet the 300 GRT tonnage limit, those vessels do not have to apply for the permit, but must comply with the Best Management Practices for discharges, to include log keeping, daily checks, etc that are mentioned in the EPA’s Permit Guidance.

The court ordered to the EPA to begin compliance on February 6th, 2009. This is the date that all applicable vessels will need to comply with the best management practices for discharges mentioned in the rulemaking. vessel owners do not need to actually apply for the permit until the summer, when the electronic application process will be up and running. Owners must actually have received the permit by September 2009.

OMSA has elicited the help of an environmental consulting company, URS, to develop an industry-wide guidance on the NPDES permits for OMSA members. URS has delivered a detailed plan on developing the guidance to include log keeping measures and training for OMSA members. Once the plan is complete, it is anticipated that an OMSA staff member will provide Train-the-Trainer training to OMSA members on the guidance, therefore allowing members to train their mariners.

Additionally, Congress may consider legislation that would give the Coast Guard responsibility for developing and enforcing regulations on vessel discharges under the Clean Water Act. Currently, there is no MOU in place between the EPA and the Coast Guard for enforcement of these new regulations and there does not seem to be plans in the near future for the Coast Guard to conduct enforcement.

The final permit and fact sheet issued by the EPA can be located at http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=350.