38 DECEMBER 2018 • FOGHORN NEWSWIRE PVA MEMBERS: Advertise in FOGHORN! Contact Bill Forslund at bill@philipspublishing.com or call 206-284-8285 www.incatcrowther.com 17 x 26m Catamaran Passenger Ferries | NYC Ferry 4 x 40m Catamaran Passenger Ferries | San Francisco Bay Ferry OPERATIONAL STUDIES FUNCTIONAL DESIGN PRODUCTION DESIGN PROCUREMENT CONSTRUCTION SUPPORT THROUGH-LIFE SUPPORT CONSULTING DESIGNER OF ROBUST, EFFICIENT PASSENGER VESSELS Incat Crowther E V E R E V O L V I N G E V E R I M P R O V I N G Maritime Legislation Signed into Law The Passenger Vessel Association achieved a major legislative goal on December 4 when President Trump signed into law a provision reinstating immediately and making permanent the statutory exemption that spares smaller commercial passenger vessels (those of less than 79 feet in length, assuming they have no ballast water discharges) from having to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Vessel General Permit for in- cidental wastewater discharges. The newly enacted Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) will also make major changes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Vessel General Permit (VGP) for larger vessels. These provisions will be explained in an article in the January/February 2019 issue of FOGHORN. Until the EPA and Coast Guard complete the regulatory process mandated by VIDA, the existing VGP provisions for larger vessels (including its cumbersome mandate for electronic annual reports in February) will remain in force. The legislation also contains Coast Guard provisions that may impact PVA members. They include: • Direction to the Commandant to improve consistency in interpreta- tion of regulations and standards by Coast Guard marine inspectors; • Statutory authorization for various advisory committees, including the Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC) and National Navigation Safety Advisory Committee (NAVSAC); • An easing of the 2010 law requiring “official” logbooks; • Direction to the Coast Guard to promptly prescribe a final rule elimi- nating the requirement for formal radar refresher training for certain mariners; and • Language to enable the historic riverboat Delta Queen to resume op- erations. n