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Just was contacted by Boat US asking me to contact my Representative and Senator to pass this act ASAP. Seems that without this Federal legislation you will need to apply and pay for a discharge permit to legally operate each of your boats STARTING SEPTEMBER 30, 2008! It is House Bill #2250 and Senate Bill #2067. BOAT US has been working to pass this legislation which will eliminate (for recreational boats only) the new court imposed EPA permit. Walter

H.R. 2550
In its original form, it was to prevent commercial vessels from introducing non native species from ballast tank discharges.

There are many uninformed boaters, some just plain tree huggers that support this. The bass Federation members seem to be in support for this as I think they think it won't apply to them.

Subject:
HR2550

To:
Your reps name here.

Your reps name here again,
As one of thousands of recreational boat owners in your district , I wish for you to review HR2550 and support the current standing that recreational vessels is exempt from the Clean Water Act. This current legislation is fair and constitutional.

The idea of having a permit or paying taxes to bail water out of my dingy to prevent it from sinking, is preposterous. The same applies to pumping a bilge empty to prevent damage and possible sinking - especially when not on board.

As for offshore, the amount of discharge I can possibly accumulate in a life time as a single boater is minute compared to but one discharge a day by a cruise ship of any size! To compare a recreational boater with any commercial operation is like comparing apples with oranges.

The following report was announced on the Reuters wires whereby the EPA admits to the true culprit for pollution on inland and offshore waters. I rest my case and plead for sound judgement:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. beaches declared unsafe for swimming reached a record last year, with more than 25,000 cases where shorelines were closed or prompted health advisories, an environmental group reported on Tuesday.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, which compiled the report from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, said the likely culprit was sewage and contaminated runoff from water treatment systems.
"Aging and poorly designed sewage and storm water systems hold much of the blame for beach water pollution," the group said in a statement. "The problem was compounded by record rainfall, which added to the strain on already overloaded infrastructure."
Other factors include urban sprawl in coastal areas, which destroys wetlands and other natural buffers like dunes and beach grass that could otherwise filter out pollution, the group said.
In its 17th annual report on beach water quality, the group found the number of no-swim days at 3,500 U.S. beaches doubled from 2005 to 2006 along the oceans, bays and Great Lakes.
The beaches at highest risk are those that are most popular, close to pollution sources or both. Of those high-risk beaches, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Rhode Island and Minnesota ranked lowest for failing to meet national health standards.
The report is available online at (www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/ttw/titinx.asp).

*************************************

Send this along to your critters name filled in.

Thank you Bruce- I am surprised and concerned at how few (if any) know about this and it's potential impact on us. No one seems concerned. The Town of East Hampton's Tree Huggers almost slipped through a legislated "grey water" tank so no bilge water could be ejected from boats. We would have had to go to paid pump-out stations to empty them. The "hearing" shocked the hell out of them when boat owners as well as the commercial fishing fleet, who were not informed of this pending legislation appeared and let loose. Thank God it slipped out and their voices were heard. As you said, on the surface it sounds good. In application...take a tree hugger 50-100 miles offsore and ask them if you can discharge your bilge. Walter

Already sent mine to my congressman and senators.

This is a BS.

Ill tell every boat person I know. Thanks Walterk

H.R. 2250 is introduced To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to recreational vessels. The text of the amendment can be found at: H.R. 2550: Recreational Boating Act of 2007

These are links I came up with.
The first shows a video containing information about the original bill
and the legislation that they are looking to change.
The second has a form letter that just needs a persons personal information
filled in the blanks and then it is sent off to your area senator and representative.
Filled mine and sent in through.

http://www.boattest.com/nmma.aspx

http://www.boatblue.org/takeaction.aspx

Got this e-mailed response from my senator today... I guess some of them pay attention.

Thank you for contacting me with your support for the Recreational Boating Act. I appreciate hearing from you and would like to take this opportunity to inform you of my sponsorship of this important legislation in the United States Senate.

On September 18, 2007, I introduced the Recreational Boating Act of 2007 (S. 2067) to exempt recreational boat owners from having to go through the onerous Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permitting process to secure a Clean Water Act permit for the normal operation of their boats. On May 24, 2007, Representative Gene Taylor (D-MS-4) introduced the Recreational Boating Act of 2007 (H.R. 2550) in the United State House of Representatives.

This legislation would exempt any deck runoff, engine cooling water, gray water, bilge water or any other incidental discharge from existing dumping regulations so long as it was effluent from properly functioning recreational marine engines. Requiring family boaters to secure a Clean Water Act permit so that they can wash their boat, fish or go waterskiing is unnecessary. Furthermore, it will be exceedingly costly and essentially unenforceable given the huge manpower needed at the EPA to manage the permitting workload of over 1 million recreational boats in the state of Florida alone.

As an avid outdoorsman and fisherman, I appreciate the value of our state’s biodiversity and natural heritage, and consider it important that we fight to protect it. When making decisions affecting our waterways and oceans, we must strive to strike a balance and make policy that is grounded in sound science. S. 2067 was referred to the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works where it awaits further consideration.

Again, thank you for contacting me. If you have any additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. In addition, for more information about issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter at http://martinez.senate.gov.

Sincerely,

Mel Martinez
United States Senator

Hey Walter,

What do you think the chances are of getting a letter like Sean got from his senator from Hillary? Or Schumer? Or Tim Bishop?

David

Sean,

I got the same letter from Martinez. He doesn't do too bad in some cases, but definately not immigration.

Dick

I got form "Thank You's" from Schumer and Hillary and nothing from Tim Bishop. Their responses were excuses for the volume of correspondences they claim to get. Bishop, I am surprised at given that his consituency is loaded with boaters (most of whom know nothing of this pending legislation). Walter

NACO, the National Association of Charterboat Operators, has been working on this one for some time.

Thanks for the links, I just sent mine and informed a few friends about it!

davidms wrote:Hey Walter,

What do you think the chances are of getting a letter like Sean got from his senator from Hillary? Or Schumer? Or Tim Bishop?

David

walterk wrote: got form "Thank You's" from Schumer and Hillary and nothing from Tim Bishop. Their responses were excuses for the volume of correspondences they claim to get. Bishop, I am surprised at given that his consituency is loaded with boaters (most of whom know nothing of this pending legislation).

Same form" thank you" letters for me as well.

If you want Hillary's attention, all you need is some road flares and duct tape...

Oops, got the NSA reading Pat's site now.

I was a bit confused at first about the language of HR 2550. At a glance it looks like voting for 2550 would wind up qualifying deck runoff, bilge water etc. as a pollutant, and that is what the summary said as well. Here is a link to the summary:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xp ... ab=summary

BUT WAIT. HR 2550 adds things like deck runoff and bilge water to the list of exceptions in section 6 of the original bill. (The Clean Water Act)

So voting FOR HR 2550 is what we want our representatives to do.

here is the text of HR2550

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtex ... =h110-2550

Here is the text of the legislation that will get modifiied by HR 2550. Look under paragraph 6...that is where the new section "(C)" is going to get added if 2550 passes


http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/ ... -000-.html


I hope this helps dispell any confusion. If in doubt just write to your representative and ask him to please vote to include the exceptions in The Clean Water Act for discharge from recreational vessles.

Peter

I just got this letter from our other Florida Senator, Bill Nelson. I don't get to say it too often about government officials, but I'm somewhat impressed. I know these are form letters they are sending, but at least they undertook an effort to create an issue-specific form letter.

Senator Nelson says he's working to create separate legislation that specifically omits recreational boaters from any of the new EPA permitting regs. Check it out:

Dear Mr. Burlingham:

Thank you for contacting me regarding exemptions from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for recreational boaters. I have long supported preservation of Florida’s waterways, but I also understand that pleasure boating is important to our tourism and boating industries.

I have reached an agreement with Senator Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, to craft legislation to save recreational boaters from burdensome new permitting requirements. Currently, recreational boaters do not need to obtain operating permits from the EPA. A recent court decision threatens to eliminate this exemption in September 2008. Senator Boxer and I have agreed to create a stand-alone bill that would ensure recreational boaters can operate as they always have--without EPA permits--before the court decision goes into effect next September.

I appreciate your interest in this issue, and I hope you will not hesitate to contact me in the future.



P.S. From time to time, I compile electronic news briefs highlighting key issues and hot topics of particular importance to Floridians. If you'd like to receive these e-briefs, visit my Web site and sign up for them at http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/ebriefs.cfm

Harv - you gotta be kidding...my little grandkids could write a better form letter than that...she sucks, just plain ole sucks....saw on TV today that in view of her falling poll numbers, now Bill will participate in her Cabnet meetings "if asked". Our country will go the way of Hugo and Fidel if she gets elected....remember, I'm retired so let the truth ring...I used to not be able to say this. I'm leaning to the guy that spent 5 years in the Hanoi Hilton while Jane Fonda was singing to his captors....What happended to Hugo Sunday says when the folks have had enough of the BS, the ballot box rules...See ya later, Hillary, we done had enough of you and Bill...we need a real American kick ass to lead us.

UV

Form letter. I just got one from her too. Never get her opinion...ever...until the vote. Vic, McCain should have been the Republican candidate 8 years ago. To me, he is a proven true American, but I don't know if he'll make the candidacy this time. If he does, he has my vote. Walter

UV,

Totally agree. Like Randall, I am an old time Liberal, not a party liner.
Never voted for Hillary, Never will. But politics is still a game of both sides playing against the middle. Sometimes at the ballots, my choice becomes the least of all the evils.

Be very wary of that woman, she's 100 times worse than her husband! I heard about all their "escapades" in Arkansas while I lived in Kansas and then served under "Slick Willy" in the USAF, worst 8 years of my career, what a waste of human flesh!

Anyway, I also received my letters from Martinez and others so at least the Florida reps seem to be supporting our sport!

Nestor,

It's not just our sport. Any one with any kind of vessel will be affected.
Jet skiers, go fast guys, charter guys, blow boaters, and bubble boaters alike. This will also put a big hurt on the entire marine industry.

Can you imagine a windsurfer will have to buy an $800 permit because his board will have runoff?

Harv wrote:Can you imagine a windsurfer will have to buy an $800 permit because his board will have runoff?

I always figured those guys were peeing in their wetsuits