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The Marine Retailers Association of America is sending an alert to all its members asking them to contact their U.S. senators about supporting the Clean Boating Act of 2008 (S.2766).
The bill has 30 co-sponsors, but the MRAA says more are needed for the bill to be considered in the Senate.
In 1973, the EPA recognized it would be unnecessary for recreational boaters to be subject to complex federal and state permitting requirements designed for large point source polluters such as waste water treatment plants, cruise ships, cargo ships, and supertankers. Recreational boats received a common sense exemption.
However, in September 2006, a U.S. District Court ruling nullified the EPA regulation and said the EPA did not have statutory authority to issue the exemption.
The MRAA says it’s a major blow to recreational boating because incidental discharges, such as engine cooling water, gray water, uncontaminated bilge water, and weather related deck runoff would be prohibited without a new costly permit and non-compliance would be subject to a fine of up to $32,000.00 a day.
The MRAA is urging its members to send their senators an e-mail by going to www.boatblue.org.
Other industry organizations, including the NMMA, also have been lobbying their members to take similar action.
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