WASHINGTON — Recreational boaters in Northern New York will need Clean Water Act permits for their crafts in October unless Congress moves quickly on legislation to free them from the requirement.
A proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — which was forced by a federal court ruling — extends to pleasure boats the Clean Water Act's restriction on runoff and other wastes that can enter waterways.
Legislation to block that move has passed in House and Senate committees. But it stalled after Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, complained that small fishing boats in her state still could be forced to follow the EPA rules. She blocked the bill from consideration, and it is now caught up in negotiations.
The House is awaiting Senate action before acting on the bill, said Stephanie Nigro, a spokeswoman for Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, who co-sponsored the bill and has complained in writing to the EPA about the proposal.
"We had a piece of legislation, but the clock is ticking," said Margaret Podlich, vice president for government affairs at Boat USA, which represents the recreational boating industry.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., spoke out against the proposal during a swing upstate last week.
Under the rules proposed by the EPA, recreational boaters will not have to obtain individual Clean Water Act permits; boaters in a state would all be covered under a "national permit," as long as the state has told the EPA how it intends to implement the regulations, Ms. Podlich said.
States face a Sept. 30 deadline to give that information to the EPA; after then, boaters would be considered in violation. States also can adopt their own rules, which could include permits that require boaters to pay a fee, she said.
Aside from the bureaucratic tangle of meeting the requirement, Ms. Podlich said her association's major complaint is that the rules appear to apply to minor spills of wastewater or other liquids from boats. Hazardous chemicals such as fuel, as well as garbage and plastics, already are forbidden to be dumped overboard, she said. But the new regulation could be read to apply to runoff water from decks and even a spilled pot of coffee.
"Creepy. Very creepy," she said.
Ms. Podlich said her group is especially worried that boaters could be subject to lawsuits if someone with a gripe sees them spill such a liquid into the water by accident.
The proposed rules, which apply to millions of boats across the country, result from a lawsuit involving the dumping of ballast water, a major source of invasive species in the Great Lakes. Indeed, the proposal also prohibits the dumping overboard of any visible living organism.
But the court ruling went farther than any party to it requested, and the EPA complained even as it appealed and proposed the rule. The agency is taking public comment on the permit proposal until Aug. 1.
