Company: DSX-PB
Filing Date: 2025-03-21
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001562762-25-000050
Chunk: 119

Company: DIANA SHIPPING INC.
Filing Date: 2025-03-21
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 119
---
cedures at potentially substantial costs,

and/or otherwise restrict our

vessels from entering U. S.

Waters.

The EPA will regulate these ballast water

discharges and other discharges incidental to the normal operation

of certain vessels within United States

waters pursuant to the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (“ VIDA”), which was signed into law on December

4,

2018

and

replaces

the

2013

Vessel

General

Permit

(“ VGP”)

program

(which

authorizes

discharges

incidental to operations

of commercial

vessels and

contains numeric

ballast water

discharge limits

for most

vessels

to

reduce

the

risk

of

invasive

species

in

U. S.

waters,

stringent

requirements

for

exhaust

gas

scrubbers, and

requirements for

the use

of environmentally

acceptable lubricants)

and current

Coast Guard

ballast

water

management

regulations

adopted

under

the

U. S.

National

Invasive

Species

Act

(“ NISA”),

such

as

mid-ocean

ballast

exchange

programs

and

installation

of

approved

USCG

technology

for

all

vessels equipped with ballast water tanks bound for U. S. ports or entering U. S. waters.

VIDA establishes

a new framework

for the regulation

of vessel incidental

discharges under Clean

Water Act (CWA), requires

the

EPA

to

develop

performance

standards

for

those

discharges

within

two

years

of

enactment,

and

requires the U. S.

Coast Guard

to develop implementation,

compliance, and

enforcement regulations

within

two years

of EPA’s promulgation of standards.

On September

24, 2024,

the EPA finalized

its rule

on Vessel

Incidental

Discharge

Standards

of

Performance,

which

means

that

the

USCG

must

now

develop

corresponding regulations regarding ballast water within two years of

that date.

Under

VIDA,

all

provisions

of

the

2013

VGP

and

USCG

regulations

regarding

ballast

water

treatment

remain in force and

effect until the