The maritime sector is intimately familiar with the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Maritime Administration and the Federal Maritime Commission. Only recently, though, has the industry had to seriously consider the role played by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA has had a minor involvement with commercial vessels since its founding in 1970, but usually in a support role to the U.S. Coast Guard. Over the years, though, it has carved out a more independent aspect.
Initially, the agency started enforcing laws related to ocean dumping and to discharges of hazardous substances. It also dealt with marine sanitation devices and the related issue of “no discharge” zones. Now, it routinely gets involved in reports of oily water separator and oil record book violations.
For many years, the EPA deferred to the Coast Guard on ballast water management issues. That’s no longer the case. The EPA recently established a program to regulate, under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel, otherwise known as “incidental discharges.”
This innocent-sounding term actually encompasses a wide-ranging program under which the EPA regulates ballast water management, deck runoff, gray water discharges, underwater hull husbandry, and 16 other potential discharges.
The program involves potentially extensive management, recordkeeping, and reporting. Most recently, the EPA commenced regulation of air emissions from commercial vessels. Marine engines and other sources will be subject to heightened standards over the coming years.
The bottom line is there is a new government player with which the maritime industry must contend.