Did you know that a recent court ruling about pollution being dumped from commercial ship ballast water will also require all recreational boats to get permits by September, 2008—despite the fact that 99% of recreational boats do not have ballast tanks?

Boats and ships are different, and shouldn't be treated the same. These costly permits—intended for commercial ships and supertankers that have brought harmful invasive water species into U.S. waters—are being developed right now to tax your boat's engine cooling water, bilge water, and even deck runoff. This will seriously impact boating participation unless Congress acts quickly.

It's not an exaggeration to say that it will take an act of Congress to fix this problem before boaters across the country will be required to wait in DMV-style lines for multiple, complex, costly permits.
 
Legislative Relief: The Clean Boating Act of 2008
Fortunately, there is simple, commonsense legislation in Congress that would solve this problem for recreational boaters. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Bill Nelson (D-Florida) and Representatives Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Candice Miller (R-Michigan) have introduced the "Clean Boating Act of 2008."  The Clean Boating Act permanently and fully restores the regulation that has existed for 35 years distinguishing between recreational boats and land-based industrial facilities and ocean-going commercial ships, cruise ships and supertankers. 

In September 2007, Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, publically pledged to her colleague Senator Bill Nelson and her boating and fishing constituents in California that she would pass legislation to restore the previous regulation for recreational boats. They introduced the "Clean Boating Act of 2008" on March 13, 2008.

On May 15, 2008, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, charied by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minnesota), voted unanimously to approve H.R. 5959, the House version of the Clean Boating Act.  This means the bill is ready to be considered by the full House of Representatives whenever it is scheduled for a vote.

The "Clean Boating Act of 2008" recognizes that water-based, incidental discharges from recreational boats, which are operated on average 31 days a year, are totally distinct from commercial ship discharges. To help protect the health of the nation's waterways on which recreational boaters and anglers depend, the bill also pursues whether reasonable best management practices need to be put into place for some recreational boat discharges.

Click here to tell your Members of Congress to support S. 2766, the Clean Boating Act: http://www.boatblue.org/takeaction.aspx

Click here for more information, including full text of the bill: http://www.boatblue.org/