T&T: Bill introduced re application of FWPCA to recreational vessels

[Keith]

There's one in the House of Representatives as well.
This is a copy of an e-mail I received from Boat/US recently. This is the 
only lobbying organization we have as boaters, and I highly urge every 
boater to become a member.

________________________

For 34 years the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has exempted 
discharges from recreational boats from the Clean Water Act permit system. 
Regretfully, a recent court ruling cancelled this permit exemption. EPA is 
required by the court decision to develop and implement by September 30, 
2008 a national permit system for ALL vessels in the United States for a 
variety of normal operational discharges.

We have been working behind the scenes with other boating organizations to 
get the exemption reinstated for recreational boats. Fortunately, the 
Recreational Boating Act of 2007 (H.R. 2550) has been introduced by 
Representatives Gene Taylor (D-Miss) and Candice Miller (R-Mich) which would 
protect recreational boats from being swept into this unnecessary and 
expensive permitting system.

It is critically important that H.R. 2550 be passed and your support is 
essential. Please contact your Congressman and Senators TODAY and ask that 
they co-sponsor or support H.R. 2550.

If the permit system becomes a reality, you will be required to pay for a 
state permit for each of your boats. EPA will be monitoring your deck 
runoff, grey water, bilge water, engine cooling water, and the use of copper 
bottom paints.

The original lawsuit that led to this court decision sought to address 
ballast water discharges from large ocean-going ships, which can introduce 
damaging aquatic invasive species into U.S. waters. Keeping our waterways 
clean and preventing the spread of invasive species is of utmost importance 
to the future of boating. But taking a complex permitting system designed 
for industrial dischargers and applying it to recreational boats will not 
yield significant environmental benefits and it will come at a very high 
cost. Requiring recreational boaters to purchase a permit would not prevent 
the spread of invasive species.

Please ask your elected federal representatives to support H.R. 2550. It is 
common-sense legislation. As you send your emails to your Members of 
Congress, please copy Boat/US at GovtAffairs at BoatUS.com . We'd also like to 
ask you to send a copy of your correspondence to the EPA, so they can see 
how this will affect citizens. However, please know that if you choose to 
send it to EPA, it will become a part of the public record. EPA's email is 
ow-docket at epa.gov , and your email needs to have a subject line with Docket 
ID No. OW-2007-0483.



FAQs: http://tinyurl.com/33rlnp

A sample e-mail letter: http://tinyurl.com/2wdpak

This link will allow you to easily send a letter to your members of 
Congress: http://www.boatus.com/gov/contact.asp



Keith
_____
Those who would surrender their freedom in exchange for safety, will end up 
with neither freedom nor safety.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "LA Licata" <lalicata at alum.rpi.edu>



> Senator Martinez (R-FL) introduced a bill (S. 2067) to amend the
> Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to recreational
> vessels.  As the Senator explained in a press release, the bill is
> intended to exempt recreational vessels from the permit requirements
> of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).
> (9/18/07).
>
>
>
> http://tinyurl.com/28jcsp