Ballast Water Discharge Requires Permit - Even for Fishing Vessels
On December 18, 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed the final version of the Vessel General Permit (VGP). The VGP was set for an effective date of December 19, 2008, but the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California signed an order that pushed the effective date to February 6, 2009.
The VGP regulates discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels operating in a capacity as a means of transportation. The discharge types that are eligible for coverage under the VGP include: Ballast water; Bilge water; Deck washdown and runoff and above water line hull cleaning; anti-fouling leachate from antifouling hull coatings; aqueous film forming foam (AFFF); boiler/economizer blowdown; cathodic protection; chain locker effluent; firemain systems; freshwater layup; gas turbine wash water; greywater; and many others (the complete list is available under Section 1.2.2 at http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/vessel_vgp_permit.pdf).
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