Judge’s ruling could require boat pollution permits

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A ruling by a judge in California could impact all boat owners in Alaska, except the military.

The ruling could mean that thousands of recreational and commercial boat owners will have to get water-pollution permits to discharge deck runoff, bilge water and many other kinds of liquids off their boats.

For more than 30 years, small boats have been exempt from such permits, which the federal Environmental Protection Agency routinely approves for large-scale polluters such as seafood processors and wastewater treatment plants.

The small boat owners, however, become entangled in a court case that environmental groups, six states and others filed against the EPA over ballast-water discharges from large ships.

The litigants were trying to force the EPA to issue permits for ships’ ballast-water discharges, which have introduced many invasive aquatic species to the U.S. coastline and the Great Lakes, according to federal scientists.

The Northern California district judge in the case declined to limit her ruling to ballast water. She threw out the Clean Water Act’s exemption for water-discharge permits for many routine emissions from boats.

Some of the more harmful pollutants introduced by boats into oceans and rivers, such as trash and human waste, are regulated under other rules.

So far, the EPA has identified 143,000 commercial vessels and up to 18 million recreational boats that could now require pollution permits under the court ruling.

State records show about 69,000 boats registered with the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles.

The EPA is appealing the district court ruling and oral arguments are scheduled before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 14. The EPA has until September 2008 to impose the new permits under the lower court ruling.

One of the Pacific Coast commercial fishing groups that petitioned the EPA to beef up its ballast-water regulations said Thursday he is concerned that the decision is now being applied to small-boat owners.

“This could be extremely onerous when the discharges are essentially benign,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations.

Requiring a permit for deck runoff and bilge water sounds nuts, said Tom Garrett, an Anchorage small recreational boat owner.

“You can’t regulate everything in this country,” he said.

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Information from: Anchorage Daily News,

http://www.adn.com

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Beneath a British Columbian Waterfall…

June 12, 2007 

Greetings from aboard the Greenpeace ship, M/V “Esperanza”!

We’re anchored beneath a beautiful waterfall in one of British Columbia’s magnificent “fjords” to prepare for this summer’s intensive expedition to the Bering Sea.

Greenpeace Vessel M/V Esperanza

Greenpeace’s largest ship, the Esperanza, will be visiting the Bering Sea in Alaska for most of the summer.The expedition will be using manned submersibles and an ROV to survey Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons, specifically to map and document deepwater corals living at depths of more than 1,000 feet. These corals, some hundreds of years old, are vital components of a healthy marine ecosystem. Unfortunately, these corals are at great risk, ending up in trawling nets as “bycatch.” Many tons of corals have been destroyed by this indiscriminant fishing gear. It is our hope that the data collected on this expedition will help advance our scientific understanding of these deepwater coral communities and be helpful to policy makers as well, leading to more effective conservation measures. A Scientific Advisory Panel is advising the project, including representatives from Scripps, the Smithsonian, the St. George Island Ecosystem Office, MCBI, Oceana, Texas A&M, and Nova  Southeastern. I’ve been asked to serve as a submersible pilot and scientific advisor.

Sub Pilots for Bering Sea Expedition

We’re using two DeepWorker submarines, 1-person mini-subs, untethered, that are capable of a depth of up to 2,000 feet. The sub is equipped with high-definition video, a manipulator arm for collecting samples, sonar for navigation and is always in contact with the surface using through water (acoustic) communications. DeepWorker uses CO2 scrubbers, similar to what’s used in spacecraft, providing up to 80 hours of life support. A typical dive lasts 4-6 hours.

The expedition is scheduled to begin in Dutch Harbor, Alaska (in the Aleutian Island chain) in mid-July. We are spending this week aboard ship near Vancouver training additional pilots, planning the expedition, and preparing the ship and crew for work in the Bering Sea.

Thanks to a satellite uplink, I am able to access the Internet when there are no mountains blocking the ship’s view of the satellite. The ship is very comfortable, excellent food, and my personal favorite amenity, an espresso machine.

Yesterday we practiced launch and recovery operations. Today we’re working through emergency drills at shallow depth. Our ship is being guarded by a fleet of four Canada geese who dutifully orbit the vessel every 5 minutes. Lots of harbor seals are also checking us out. Spotted a double rainbow on Saturday — this is considered very good luck, especially aboard a rainbow-adorned Greenpeace ship.

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