Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 3224 NOVEMBER 2016 • FOGHORN LEGISLATIVEREPORT Let MCM manage your insurance so you can focus on your voyage MCM is a leading independent insurance brokerage based in the Pacific Northwest. Our marine practice group has more than 100 years of combined experience placing insurance and managing the marine industry’s unique risks. Whether we’re working with vessel operators, builders, repair facilities or suppliers, we create specialized solutions that meet each client’s needs. EMpLoyEE BEnEfits | ExECutivE BEnEfits | REtiREMEnt pLans insuRanCE advisoRy | pRopERty & CasuaLty Contact Damon L. Nasman at (206) 262-6375 or email damon.nasman@mcmnw.com www.mcmnw.com lar body of water or perhaps even all of the water’s within that state’s juris- diction. A NDZ can be established to achieve one of three different objec- tives: (1) to protect aquatic habitats where adequate pump-out facilities are available; (2) to protect and enhance the quality of “specified waters” of a state, regardless of the availability of pump-out facilities; or (3) to safeguard human health by protecting drinking water intake zones. When EPAreceives a petition from a state, it publishes notice in the Federal Register and solicits comments from the public as to the pros and cons of a designation. In the case of Washington State, the NDZ will apply to all vessels, com- mercial and recreational, but with a five-year delayed effective date for tugboats, commercial fishing vessels, and small commercial passenger vessels to allow them to retrofit with holding tanks. The state says that a NDZ is necessary to protect the water quality of Puget Sound and adjacent waters. It maintains that a sufficient number of pump-out facilities and alternate methods to prevent vessel sewage dis- charges are available to recreational boaters and commercial vessels. Most PVA vessel that operate in Puget Sound do not discharge treated sewage and have access to shoreside pump-out facilities. However, some “small ship” overnight cruise vessels that sail in the sound do discharge, and a NDZ zone designation (even with the five-year implementa- tion delay) will impose on them an extremely costly retrofit mandate. It’s not even clear whether these vessels have the space in which to install holding tanks in a way that does not imperil the vessels’ stability. Thus, PVA takes issue with Washington State’s assertion that “adequate facili- ties for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage from all vessels are reasonably available.” Of course, federal law forbids the discharge of untreated sewage into any waters of the United States (that is, in internal waters and in ocean waters within three miles from shore). Most vessels are free to discharge untreated sewage in the ocean more than three miles from shore. In Alaska and some other places, more restrictive rules apply to large oceangoing cruises ships. One who knowingly and illegally discharges untreated sewage into If your vessel operates in a No Discharge Zone (NDZ), it is illegal to release into the waters any sewage effluent, even if it has been treated by a Coast Guard-approved Marine Sanitation Device (MSD).