Attention all recreational boaters: Go immediately to your appointments calendar and draw a big circle around Sept. 30. That's the date when the federal government may extend its ballast-discharge permit requirements to recreational vessels, making it illegal for you to operate your boat unless you buy more anti-pollution equipment and possibly obtain a federal permit.
If that happens, and you don't have a permit, you could find yourself operating your boat illegally, subject to civil suits filed by environmental groups, a fine of up to $32,000 a day – possibly even jail time.
The situation stems from a 1999 court suit, originally intended to affect ocean-going cruise ships and cargo vessels, that has been expanded to include recreational boats and small fishing vessels – and it has boating organizations sounding the alarm.
Shells, mostly Zebra mussels, Pile up on a beach in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, in Michigan. The Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) is an invasive species in the Great Lakes. September 30 is the date that a U.S. District Court has set for the new system to take effect, unless Congress or an appeals court calls a halt.
BALLAST WATER
The suit, filed by a coalition of environmental groups, initially sought to crack down on the discharge of pollutant-laden ballast water by oceangoing passenger vessels and cargo ships.
These large ships take on ballast water to maintain stability underway, and then dump it as they near port. Scientists say this water typically contains a wide variety of bacteria, viruses and other biological materials that can do extensive damage to aquatic ecosystems. It's also believed to be a major source of invasive species in U.S. waters.
Environmental groups say more than 21 billion gallons of ballast water are released into U.S. waters each year. As a result, court documents say, more than 10,000 marine species are carried around the globe each day, among them the zebra mussel, a native of the Caspian Sea region of Asia, which was brought into the Great Lakes in the late 1980s by vessels traversing the St. Lawrence Seaway.
They've since spread to the Mississippi, Hudson, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas and Colorado rivers, disrupting ecosystems and damaging harbors, power plants and water plants, whose intake gates bring the microscopic organisms into the facility. The Coast Guard says the economic impact of this invasion costs the U.S. about $5 billion a year.
The Environmental Protection Agency has regulated ballast discharge for years, but has exempted recreational boats and small charter vessels. In late 2005, the U.S. District Court for Northern California ordered the agency to include smaller vessels, and expanded the coverage beyond ballast water to cover bilge water, deck runoff and "gray water" as well.
The District Court decision, which is now being reviewed by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, has all sides scurrying to prepare for the Sept. 30 deadline.
ON THE FRONT
Organizations such as the BoatUS (the Boat Owners Association of the United States) and the National Marine Manufacturers Association have begun rallying their members to lobby Congress for emergency legislation that would restore the EPA exemption for recreational boats and smaller charter vessels. Efforts to garner support for a new bill are just beginning, and whether a measure will pass still is unclear.
