Boat US just recently put out an article regarding additional implications for millions of boat owners. What had been exempted for nearly 30 years by the EPA has been deemed by the courts as an overstep of their boundries by the EPA. Therefore the possibility exists in the future for all boaters to purchase and maintain permits for normal dischrgesfrom their boats. These include exhaust water, bilge water, cleaning solutions, etc..... Originally the Clean water act was to control the dumping of ballast water from large commercial and ocean going vessels, but it looks like it will soon include every type of vessel on the water.
http://www.boatus.com/gov/ballast_0207.htm
Just what we need, Uncle Sam digging deeper into our pockets.
Court Case Clouds Rules on All Water Discharges
Moderators: CaptPatrick, mike ohlstein, Bruce
Just what we all need... another government hand in our pocket, and for what? What would we get for the fee? An inspection of our boat to ensure we are not discharging pollutants? Or that we are not discharging nuisance species of critters from a far off land that would ruin the local water environment? Do you think they will monitor our boat usage to see how many hydrocarbons (whoops, sorry Al, that word just slipped out again!) we are discharging? No.. just another government interference in our lives. Reminds me of the licenses and fees we used to pay for having radios on our boats. We paid a fee and got a piece of paper, but what did the government do for us or boating in general in return? Zip! Then they stopped charging the fee, now we don't need a license. Stupidity under the guise of big brother regulation. Hell.. Most of us go out on a boat to get away from that!
Aren't these the same fine journalists that brought us the story about how some court case set a precedent that it's going to be illegal to go fishing... only to find out with careful reading of the very end of the article, that it only applied to people fishing over other's flooded lands?
Like most "news" media these days, they are just writing crap for the shock value to get people to read it. Look at the text from the article:
"The court required the EPA to develop a compliance plan for all vessels, including millions of recreational boats by September 2008. This could mean that no matter whether you operate a tanker in the Great Lakes, a bass boat in Tennessee, or a sailboat in Oregon, you may be required to apply for and pay for a permit to operate your boat. "
So you may be required...yeah if the EPA lost it's mind. It'll never happen, the EPA's compliance plan for the permits will have a target audience, and small recreational boats won't be in it.
I like how they add at the end that Boat U.S. is working hard to protect our interests... and that the last thing they say is they want you to up update your e-mail address, so they "can communicate updates on this important issue." The whole thing smells like a lame effort to get updated and more boater contact info. I seriously wouldn't worry about it. And as Doug L once said about Boat US's purported efforts to help boaters with the ethanol issue: I feel safer already.
These phony boneheads posing as journalists piss me off. Same BS in the evening news, every night and on every channel...Your hot water heater may be giving you cancer! Tune in to hear the Zowie Wowie Action News Team's Hard-hitting report at 11. Your family's health may depend on it! Bullshit.
Like most "news" media these days, they are just writing crap for the shock value to get people to read it. Look at the text from the article:
"The court required the EPA to develop a compliance plan for all vessels, including millions of recreational boats by September 2008. This could mean that no matter whether you operate a tanker in the Great Lakes, a bass boat in Tennessee, or a sailboat in Oregon, you may be required to apply for and pay for a permit to operate your boat. "
So you may be required...yeah if the EPA lost it's mind. It'll never happen, the EPA's compliance plan for the permits will have a target audience, and small recreational boats won't be in it.
I like how they add at the end that Boat U.S. is working hard to protect our interests... and that the last thing they say is they want you to up update your e-mail address, so they "can communicate updates on this important issue." The whole thing smells like a lame effort to get updated and more boater contact info. I seriously wouldn't worry about it. And as Doug L once said about Boat US's purported efforts to help boaters with the ethanol issue: I feel safer already.
These phony boneheads posing as journalists piss me off. Same BS in the evening news, every night and on every channel...Your hot water heater may be giving you cancer! Tune in to hear the Zowie Wowie Action News Team's Hard-hitting report at 11. Your family's health may depend on it! Bullshit.
Government will always be looking for ways to remove money from your pockets. The larger the bee hive gets, the more money it takes to feed it.
We all cheer for a reduction in income tax but in reality they always find ways to get it from us elsewhere.
The only way it will stop is to reduce the size of government, the way the founding fathers had invisioned.
Remind your elected officials at every opportunity that we don't want a nanny state and that those who do are leeches on the rest of us and that if they don't start voting programs down, they will be voted out of office.
Also its up to us to manage the environment responsibly. No need to be a tree hugger but next time you got a pan of oil, disposing of it properly will keep the enviro-nazis off our asses.
We all cheer for a reduction in income tax but in reality they always find ways to get it from us elsewhere.
The only way it will stop is to reduce the size of government, the way the founding fathers had invisioned.
Remind your elected officials at every opportunity that we don't want a nanny state and that those who do are leeches on the rest of us and that if they don't start voting programs down, they will be voted out of office.
Also its up to us to manage the environment responsibly. No need to be a tree hugger but next time you got a pan of oil, disposing of it properly will keep the enviro-nazis off our asses.
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