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Cindy[_2_] Cindy[_2_] is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Feb 2008
Posts: 4
Default Clean Boating Act of 2008

Thank you Roger,
It is all I asked of claus or the group and seemed to set Wilbur in a woman
hating tizzy.
"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
Here is the executive version:

Another of the stupid laws congress passed without reading the bill
themselves or considering the consequences (being too busy raising money
for the next election) currently mandates and requires that the EPA bring
all recreational vessels into the same discharge permit system as
commercial vessels and ships. This is discharge of ANYTHING, i.e., your
dish water, shower drain, even the run off from your decks which carries
the dirt and pollutants congress and the nation allow with other bills to
be poured into the air. When this stuff lands on your deck, it suddenly
becomes a pollutant when rain and spray carry it into the water.

This will have nothing to do with cleaning up the water or keeping it
clean. EPA will simply be required to have every vessel carry a piece of
paper stating that they it is a permit for the incidental discharges. The
feds will probably delegate this job to the states who will knee jerk,
budget crunch - rich people on boats - income stream - big fee. Since the
feds are not going to have to administer the system, they will probably
load up the permit requirements with required submission of estimates of
discharge, discharge plan, another decal to paste somewhere on the vessel,
expensive data collection and reporting requirements for the states that
will further drive up fees and state costs.

Meanwhile, it will be illegal to operate your boat without a permit that
doesn't exist yet. Homeland Security will love having all those
troublesome boats tied up. DHS will suddenly realize that this permit can
be a way to get the national boater ID that they so badly want in the back
door the same way they are trying to turn drivers licenses into a national
ID card that wouldn't be tolerated if presented that way.

The bill Boat US is backing contains language that could eventually bring
along something even stupider but it does buy time for the boat lobby to
get the attention of the cone heads on the hill. If the bill does not
pass, the above nightmare, which is ALREADY LAW, will go into force soon.

--
Roger Long