Submit Your Comments: Vessel Incidental Discharge National Standards of Performance

The information below was pulled from The Federal Register: Vessel Incidental Discharge National Standards of Performance.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comment on a proposed rule under the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) that would establish national standards of performance for marine pollution control devices for discharges incidental to the normal operation of primarily non-military and non-recreational vessels 79 feet in length and above into the waters of the United States or the waters of the contiguous zone. The VIDA specifically includes aquatic nuisance species (ANS) in the category of nonconventional pollutants to be regulated through the application of best available technology and best practicable technology. ANS may be incidentally discharged or released from a vessel's operations through a variety of vessel systems and equipment, including but not limited to ballast water, sediment from ballast tanks, vessel hulls and appendages, seawater piping, chain lockers, and anchor chains. ANS pose severe threats to aquatic ecosystems, including outcompeting native species, damaging habitat, changing food webs, and altering the chemical and physical aquatic environment. Furthermore, ANS can have profound and wide-ranging socioeconomic impacts, such as damage to recreational and commercial fisheries, infrastructure, and water-based recreation and tourism. Once established, it is extremely challenging and costly to remove ANS and remediate the impacts. It has become even more critical to control discharges of ANS from vessel systems and equipment with the increase in ship traffic due to globalization and increased trade.

Comments on the proposed rule must be received on or before November 25, 2020. Submit your comments to the public docket for this proposed rule, identified by Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0482, at https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. All submissions received must include the Docket ID No. for this rulemaking. Comments received may be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. 

For more information on how to submit a comment, please visit: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/10/26/2020-22385/vessel-incidental-discharge-national-standards-of-performance.