Congress has passed legislation to provide a two-year moratorium for smaller commercial fishing boats from getting pollution permits for discharges under the Clean Water Act. It is said that the legislation now goes to the president for his approval. In the legislation it is mentioned that the moratorium applies to other commercial vessels less than 79 feet in length and to all commercial fishing boats.
It is said that the recreational boats will be exempt from obtaining permits at all for incidental discharges of water. If any boats failed to obtain the permits it could have cost boaters up to $32,500 a day. Hazardous pollutants and discharges from boats are already regulated. It is told that the approved legislation mandates a three-year study of whether any new management practices by the Environmental Protection Agency and Coast Guard should be required.
According to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a sponsor of the legislation, the study will provide the information needed to justify a permanent exemption for commercial boats. She informed that the court required the EPA to develop a permit system was focused on invasive species and ballast water. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, a co-sponsor, said they are pushed for a compromise that treated smaller fishing boats differently from such large commercial vessels as a cruise ship. He added that this compromise will allow for a two-year exemption while the impacts of incidental discharge are studied.
