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Big government - Big mess

Posted 10 months, 23 days ago

Big government - Big mess
It is a wonder how stuff like this gets started, and how much time and money is spent to fix it. We asked Ashley Reed, who is the BoatU.S. Program Coordinator for Government Affairs, to provide the following update on this situation: Your Help is Needed!For 34 years the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has exempted discharges from recreational boats from the Clean Water Act permit system. 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 like grey water, engine cooling water and deck runoff. BoatU.S. along with other industry groups has been working behind the scenes to come up with a legislative fix for this huge problem. If nothing is done to solve this issue, you will have to pay for a permit for each boat that you operate including your dinghy, Laser, or motorboat in each state! It is important to note that there are already federal laws restricting the overboard discharge of oil, fuel, garbage and sewage. The proposed legislation will not alter any of these existing environmental restrictions. In the U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) and Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-MI) have introduced H.R. 2550, which would exclude recreational boats from this permitting process. In the U.S. Senate Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) has introduced companion legislation S. 2067. They are currently 55 House co-sponsors and 11 Senate co-sponsors. Currently each of the bills are stuck in committee, and we need the bills to come forward for a vote! Please contact both your 3 members of Congress (1 House & 2 Senators) and ask them to consider co-sponsoring H.R. 2550/S. 2067, or voting for the legislation when it comes before the full body. If you would like more information on this legislation including: a copy of the bill language, sample letters to send to your members of Congress and background information please visit www.boatus.com/gov/fed_alert.asp or www.boatblue.org for a direct link to your members of Congress. Full Story »

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