Boat U.S. - May 2008 - (Page 6) BoatU.S.reports Discharge Bill Makes Headway, Support Sought Making good on last year’s promise to the boating community, two key senators have introduced legislation to ensure that recreational boaters will not need a federal pollution permit to operate their boats. Senate Environment and Public Works Chair, Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced the Clean Boating Act of 2008 on Boaters across the U.S. need to help push the new Clean Boating Act, March 13. The bill would permanently restore a long- introduced by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bill Nelson (D-FL). standing exclusion for recreational boats from permitting requirements tem for operational discharges from all vesunder the Clean Water Act. sels, including recreational boats of any size. “While the boating community has The proposed Clean Boating Act of promoted the H.R. 2550 and S. 2067 2008 permanently excludes recreational (the Recreational Boating Act of 2007) for boats and charter boats from the need for nearly a year, at this point the new bill, S. an operational discharge permit. This bill 2766, now offers our best hope for quick does not weaken any existing environmental passage,” said BoatU.S. Vice President for laws restricting the overboard discharge of Government Affairs Margaret Podlich. oil, fuel, garbage or sewage. “We’re going Recreational boats fell under Clean to pull out all the stops to have it signed Water Act requirements as a result of a into law this year,” she said. September 2006 U.S. District Court ruling. Ocean-going vessels use ballast water In a case initially involving ballast water dis- for stability and routinely discharge that charges from ocean-going ships, the court water in U.S. ports and in the process, can ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection introduce pollutants and invasive species, Agency (EPA) to create a new permit systhe real target of the lawsuit. The legislation does recognize that discharges from recreational boats are completely distinct from commercial ship discharges. S. 2766 also creates a three-year, three-step process for the EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard to look at discharges from boats and determine whether any management practices should be required. Language in the bill requires public comment periods during each of the three steps, and performance standards will take into account different sizes, types and ages of boats. But meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Podlich also noted that the court decision put the EPA under the gun to come up with a federal discharge permit system for boats by Sept. 30 of this year. The agency is in the process of doing just that. “If this bill does not pass soon, boaters may be forced to apply for a permit to discharge any water overboard, including engine-cooling water and even deck runoff, as early as this summer,” she said. BoatU.S. has worked for over a year with a broad coalition of stakeholders, including the National Marine Manufacturers Association, to resolve the problem before the permitting deadline. BoatU.S. urges boaters to write their senators and ask them to cosponsor the Clean Boating Act of 2008, S. 2766. For more information and suggestions on how to contact your senators, go to BoatUS.com/gov. Loran Lives On: Will Evolve into eLoran One of the longest running battles between the mariner’s “David” vs. the federal government’s “Goliath” has finally come to a welcome resolution. In February, the Dept. of Homeland Security gave its blessing not only to the continuation of the Loran radionavigation system, but to an influx of new money to upgrade its technology into “eLoran.” “The enhanced Loran, or eLoran, system will be a land-based, independent system and will mitigate any safety, security or economic effects of a GPS outage or disruption,” said DHS spokeswoman Laura Keehner on Feb. 7. Boaters will recall that both DHS and the Dept. of Transportation, which shared costs for Loran because of its wide use in aviation, requested public comments last 6 BoatU.S. Magazine May 2008 year on whether to shut Loran down once and for all. BoatU.S. filed comments on behalf of mariners who still rely on Loran and its usefulness as a U.S.-based, reliable backup to the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS). Apparently, the public comments were persuasive. The research arm of DOT concluded in an earlier report that GPS could be knocked out by jamming its high-frequency, low-power signals, a concern that has steadily grown with the reliance on GPS for everything from driving cars, planes and ships to tracking packages and timing worldwide bank transfers. Last year, GPS was, in fact, knocked out of service by a burst of solar waves as our sun heads into a period of higher solar flare activity that will peak in 2011. The U.S. Coast Guard operates and maintains 24 Loran stations and 19 have been upgraded to eLoran. The International Loran Association says the modernization boosts position accuracy to between eight feet and 65 feet, with availability measured at 99.9% and integrity at 99.99%. To mitigate its impact on the Coast Guard’s overstressed budget, the $34.5million eLoran project will be transferred out of the Coast Guard and into the National Protection and Programs Directorate, a separate division within DHS. Already a market has sprung up for receivers which marry GPS and eLoran together into an extremely reliable and precise timing and positioning instrument. Receivers are in the $700-to-$1,500 range but should drop as more products come out now that Loran’s future appears stable. http://www.BoatUS.com/gov http://www.loran.org/ http://www.loran.org/
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