Development of US EPA’DevelopmentofUSEPA sDevelopmentVessel General PermitRyan AlbertUnited States EnvironmentalUnitedStatesEnvironmentalEnvironmentalProtection Agency7/7/20111OutlineUS Ballast Water Regulatory OverviewUSBallastWaterRegulatoryOverviewBallastRegulatoryOverview–Vessel NPDES permitting ProgramVessel NPDES permitting ProgramClean Water Act BackgroundEPA’s Vessel General Permit (VGP)–Brief overviewBrief overview -United States Coast GuardUnited States Coast GuardrulemakingDeveloping the next VGP–US government led/sponsored studies and researchUS government led/sponsored studies and research–Partnering with StatesPartneringwithStatesQuestions2US RegulatoryApplicabilityUSRegulatoryApplicabilityIn the United States ballast waterIntheUnitedStates,ballastwaterballastdischarges from vessels are primarilyregulated by two federal regimes:regulatedbytwofederalregimes:regulatedfederalregimes:–Under the Clean Water Act, implementedUnder the Clean Water Act, implementedunder the Vessel General Permit (VGP) byundertheVesselGeneralPermit(VGP)byGeneralthe EPA–Under the National Invasive Species Act,UndertheNationalInvasiveSpeciesAct,NationalInvasiveSpeciesimplemented under regulations promulgatedby the Coast Guard3CLEAN WATER ACT (CWA)PERMIT BASICSPERMITBASICSFor more info visithttp://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/“Discharge of a pollutant” generally prohibitedwithout a permit [CWAwithout a permit [CWA 301(a)]301(a)]National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System(NPDES) Permits [CWA402](NPDES)Permits[CWA(NPDES)Permits–Individual permitsIndividual permits–Generalpermits–Permit term not to exceed 5 yearsPermit term not to exceed 5 years–For EPAFor EPA-issued permits, State 401 certification andissued permits, State 401 certification andCZMA i d4CZMAconcurrences requiredCLEAN WATER ACT (CWA)PERMIT BASICS ( t )BASICS(cont.)PERMITEffluent limits [CWAEffluent limits [CWA 301(b)]301(b)]–Technology-based [CWA304(b)]Technologybased[CWA304(b)]BAT/BPT (can be Best Management PracticesBAT/BPT (can be Best Management Practices –BMP)BPJ–Water qualityWater quality-based [CWAbased [CWA 303]52003 LawsuitNorthwest Environmental AdvocatesFor 35 years, regulations excluded fromNPDES permitting “discharges incidentalto the normal operation of a vessel” whileoperating as a means of transportation(40 CFR 122.3(a))2006 Court decision vacated thisregulationAs a result, EPA issued the Vessel6Asaresult,EPAissuedtheVesselresult,General Permit (VGP) in December 2008The 2008 Vessel General Permit2008VesselGeneralPermitTheGeneralThe current VGP expires on December 19,ThecurrentVGPexpiresonDecember19,currentexpiresDecember2013–The current VGP coversThe current VGP coversAll discharges incidental to normal operationof non-recreational vessels 79 feet or longer,recreational vessels 79 feet or longer,except commercial fishing vesselsexceptcommercialfishingvesselscommercialfishingvesselsFor ballast water discharges,permit covers allnon-recreational vesselsrecreational vessels(including commercialfishingvessels and7vessels less than 79 feet)Vessel UniverseFrom a Clean Water Actregulatory perspective, thereare four distinct classes ofvesselsEstimatedClass CoverageUniverseVGP Vessels -includes vessels >79 feetand all ballast water dischargesVGP 70,000andallballastwaterdischargesMoratorium Vessels -Non military, nonrecreational vessels less than 79 feet andcommercial fishing vessels regardless ofCurrently exempt exceptfor ballast water120,000-140 000commercialfishingvesselsregardlessofsizedischarges140,000Recreational VesselsClean Boating Act (CWA312)18 million8Vessels of the Armed ForcesUniform NationalDischarge Standards(CWA 312)~7,000US Coast Guard rulemakingUSCG regulates ballast water under theUSCGregulatesballastwaterundertheregulatesballastNational Invasive Species Act (1996)USCG Proposed ballast water rule withUSCGProposedballastwaterrulewithProposedballastnumeric concentration based standards inAugust 2009August2009For additional information on USCGrulemaking please see:rulemaking,pleasesee:rulemakinghttp://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg522/cg5224/bwm aspbwm.aspComparison Between Phase Oneand Phase Two DischargeStandardsBacteriaTechnicaldescriptionLargeOrganisms(> 50μm)SmallOrganisms(>10μand≤50μm)Very SmallOrganisms(≤10μm)ToxigenicVibriocholerae(O1& O139)EschericiacoliIntestinalenterococciPhase One < 10 per m3< 10 per ml N/A <1 cfu per100 ml<250 cfu per100 ml<100 cfu per100 mlPh T< 1 100< 1 100< 1000<1 f<126 f<33faseTwo<1per100m3<1per100ml<1000bacterialcells AND <10,000viruses per<1cfu per100 ml<126cfu per100 ml<33cfu per100 ml100 mlSlide courtesy of US Coast GuardRegulatory Overlap of Ballast WaterDischarges for NPDES program and NISAEPAVGPUSCGNISA s with s t Wise

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B amilitaryvessels Oil Tanke rNote: Dischargesfrom RecreationalVessels are regulated11DOD and CoastGuard Vesselsby Section 312 ofthe CWADeveloping the Next VGPDevelopingtheNextVGPDeveloping12Three Primary Goals of VGPreissuanceImprove environmentalprotection in keyareasClarifying edits for lowerpriority discharge typesprioritydischargetypesprioritydischargeand requirementsImprove efficiencyImproveefficiency13N e w v e s s e l in fo r m a tio n s in c e 2 0 0 8New vessel information since 2008Newvesselinformationsince2008informationEPA Vessels Report to Congress (2010)S i Ad i B d Shi b d T h lScienceAdvisoryBoardShipboardTechnologyBallast Water Study (2011)National Academy of Science RiskAssessment (2011)Assessment(2011)VGP NOI Analysis (In Progress)EPA OneEPA One-time report informationtime report information(available 2012)(available2012)Other technical research on certaindischarges, e.g., graywater, bilgewaterInformation received from ListeningSessionand 60+ day public comment period–Listening session held December 15, 2010Listening session held December 15, 2010–Written comments received from over 4,500 commenters, withWritten comments received from over 4,500 commenters, with250 i t~250unique commentsque commen14Developing VGP Ballast Water Limits:EPA’ S i Ad i B dEPA’sScienceAdvisoryBoardEPA’Science Advisory Panel (SAB) on BallastsScienceAdvisoryPanel(SAB)onBallastScienceAdvisoryBallastWater Treatment System TechnologicalAvailability–SAB’s charge was to evaluate the status of existingSAB’s charge was to evaluate the status of existingand potential shipboard ballast water treatmentt h l i d th i bilit t t diff ttechnologies andtheir abilityto meetdifferentdischarge standards–SAB draft report stated existingsystems are availableSAB draft reort stated existinstems are availablegyto meet IMO discharge standard, but unlikely to meet100 or 1000 times IMOR t t d t b fi li d l J l15–ReportexpectedtobefinalizedearlyJulyDeveloping VGP Ballast Water Limits:N ti l A d f S iNationalAcademy ofSciencesN i lA d fS i N i lR hNationalAcademy ofScienceNationalResearchCouncil (NAS) Study on Methods for EvaluatingRisk–The NAS study assessed methods to evaluate theThe NAS study assessed methods to evaluate therisk of invasive species introductions associated withballast water discharges–Released June 2, 2011Released June 2, 2011–Found that our ability to adequately quantify riskFound that our ability to adequately quantify risksuffers from aprofound lack of data–Available via EPA’s website at:Available via EPA’s website at:http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/vessels/programdevelopment.cfm16EPA Ballast Water ObligationsBallastWaterObligationsEPABallastObligationsPropose numeric concentration basedProposenumericconcentrationbasedProposenumericconcentrationTBELs and/or WQBELsIf nonumericsfor WQBELS or TBELs must–numericsforWQBELSorTBELs,mustinclude detailed analysis in the administrativerecordTake comment on “California Standards”“Commence consultation”on ESACommenceconsultationCommenceconsultationInclude self monitoring of discharges17Potential Data Concerns:PotentialDataConcerns:Some vendors/laboratory facilities notreleasing data publicallyNon-standardstandard methods amongtestmethods amonfacilitiesLack of available facility validationLackofavailablefacilityvalidationavailablefacilityvalidationdocumentationLackof available QA/QC documentationofavailableQA/QCdocumentationavailabledocumentationfor testsI d d ft t d d18Independence oftesters andvendorsPartnering with the StatesPartneringwiththeStatesPartneringSeveral States have added conditions toSeveralStateshaveaddedconditionstoSeveralconditionsthe VGPFor example ballast water limits rangeForexample,ballastwaterlimitsrangeexampleballastfrom IMO (Minnesota) to 1000 times IMO(New York) to prescribing certain(NewYork)toprescribingcertainprescribingcertaintreatment approaches (Michigan)R i li i t h dRegionalinconsistencyhas causedas causeconfusion in the industry19State Level CommunicationStateLevelCommunicationIn order to assist in regional/nationalInordertoassistinregional/nationalregional/nationalconsistency of standards, EPA plans to:build tools to facilitate communication–buildtoolstofacilitatecommunicationfacilitatecommunicationbetween states–sponsor regional calls and/or a national co-sponsorregionalcallsand/oranationalcosponsorregionalnationalregulator meeting to allow communicationbetween states–provide information about the current state ofprovide information about the current state ofballast water science20VGP ScheduleVGPScheduleNovember 2011:November2011:Propose VGPNovember 2012:November2012:Finalize VGPDecember 2013: VGPDecember2013:VGPDecembercomes into effect–Extra year planned toExtra year planned togive industry anopportunity to adapt tothe new permitthenewpermit.21Thank youRyan AlbertRyanAlbert/d/ lwww.epa.govnpes/vesselswww.epa.gov(202) 564(202) 564-0763commercialvesselpermit@epa.govorvgp@epa.gov22