In the 110 th Congress, legislation concerning the applicability of certain environmental regulatory requirements to recreational and other types of boats was introduced. Two bills are titled the Clean Boating Act of 2008 ( S. 2766 and H.R. 5949 ). Legislation titled the Recreational Boating Act of 2007 also was introduced ( S. 2067 and H.R. 2550 ). Two other bills were the Vessel Discharge Evaluation and Review Act ( S. 2645 and H.R. 5594 ). Two measures concerned just with non-recreational boats were S. 3298 and H.R. 6556 . As discussed in this report, Congress passed two of these bills, S. 2766 and S. 3298 , on July 22, 2008, and President Bush subsequently signed them into law. These bills were intended to address an issue that has arisen in implementation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). In 2006, a federal court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise a CWA regulation that currently exempts discharges from the normal operation of all vessels from the act's permit requirements. The bills sought to exempt an estimated 13 million recreational and other vessels from new EPA rules promulgated in response to the court order. A federal appeals court upheld the district court's ruling the day after Congress acted on S. 2766 and S. 3298 . The federal court 2006 order reversed EPA policy in effect since 1973, in a rule that excluded discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels from CWA permitting requirements. The district court's order revoked the regulatory exemption as of September 30, 2008. The government appealed the court's order, but while waiting for a ruling, on June 17, 2008, EPA proposed two draft CWA permits to respond to the court's mandate. Although the focus of the legal challenge was principally to EPA's permitting exemption for ballast water discharges from vessels, the court's ruling—and its mandate to rescind the regulatory exemption—also applied fully to other types of vessel discharges that are covered by the exemption, such as graywater and bilge water. Barring judicial or legislative relief, EPA would have been required to promulgate a CWA permitting program to comply with the court's mandate by September 30. As discussed below, enactment of S. 2766 and S. 3298 relieved recreational boats and many but not all other vessels from these requirements. Further, on August 31, the federal district court approved EPA's request to delay the court's order until December 19, 2008, and EPA finalized a permit for vessels subject to a permit requirement on December 18. The Clean Water Act is the principal federal law concerned with pollutant discharges to the nation's surface waters, including rivers and streams, lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters. Section 301(a) of this act provides that "the discharge of any pollutant by any person shall be unlawful" unless the discharge is in compliance with certain other sections of the act. The CWA defines "discharge of a pollutant" as "(A) any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source, (B) any addition of any pollutant to the waters of the contiguous zone or the ocean from any point source other than a vessel or other floating craft" (33 U.S.C. § 1362(12)). Various courts have held that biological organisms, such as bacteria (e.g., fecal coliform), algae, dead fish, live fish, fish remains, and plant materials are considered pollutants under this definition. A point source is a "discernible, confined and discrete conveyance" and includes a "vessel or other floating craft" (33 U.S.C. § 1362(14)). However, discharges of sewage from vessels are expressly excluded from the definition of "pollutant" (33 U.S.C. § 1362(6)(A)), and sewage discharges from vessels are regulated under a separate provision of the act that concerns marine sanitation devices (33 U.S.C. § 1322). The term "discharge incidental to the normal operation of a vessel" is defined in this provision (33 U.S.C. § 1322(a)(12)). One way a pollutant may be lawfully discharged without violating the section 301 prohibition is to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit (33 U.S.C. § 1342). Under section 402(a), EPA or a qualified state may "issue a permit for the discharge of any pollutant, or combination of pollutants, notwithstanding section 301(a)" upon meeting certain conditions required by the act (33 U.S.C. § 1342(a)). Discharging pollutants into waters of the United States without a permit, or in violation of the terms of a permit, can subject a source to the act's enforcement provisions, which include fines and penalties (33 U.S.C. § 1319). In 1973, EPA promulgated a regulation that excluded discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels from NPDES permitting requirements. That rule, at 40 CFR §122.3(a), excludes from permitting "any discharge of sewage from vessels, effluent from properly functioning marine engines, laundry, shower, and galley sink wastes, or any other discharge incidental to the normal operation of a vessel." The exemption applies to vessels of all sizes, whether motorized or not. At the time, EPA stated its belief that "[T]his type of discharge generally causes little pollution and exclusion of vessel wastes from the permit requirements will reduce administrative costs drastically." This long-standing EPA regulation was subject to legal challenge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In 2005 the court found that Congress had directly expressed its intention that discharges from vessels be regulated under the CWA, and that the regulation at issue contradicted that intention. In September 2006 the court issued a final order that vacated (revoked) the regulatory exclusion in 40 CFR §122.3(a) as of September 30, 2008. The district court rejected EPA's contention that Congress had previously acquiesced in exempting the "normal operation" of vessels from CWA permitting and disagreed with EPA's argument that the court's two-year deadline creates practical difficulties for the agency and the affected industry. Under the district court's ruling, which was upheld on July 23, 2008, after September 30, discharges of pollutants incidental to the normal operation of a vessel that had formerly been exempted from NPDES permitting are subject to the prohibitions in CWA section 301 against the discharge of a pollutant without a permit. Although EPA appealed the court's decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, it also initiated steps seeking public comment on permitting of discharges that are incidental to the normal operation of ships. On June 17, EPA proposed two NPDES permits in response to the court's order (discussed below). EPA estimated that the universe of vessels potentially affected by the court's order and proposed permits could include over 13 million recreational boats and 98,000 commercial fishing, passenger, cargo and other vessels operating in U.S. waters. Several bills in the 110 th Congress sought to statutorily exempt vessels from any CWA permitting requirement that EPA might adopt in response to the federal district court's order. They reflected four approaches: (1) modifying a CWA definition to exempt discharges from recreational vessels; (2) modifying the CWA to exempt recreational vessel discharges from permitting and directing EPA to issue performance standards for discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels; (3) directing the Coast Guard to issue national performance standards for such discharges, but exempting recreational and certain commercial vessels; and (4) temporarily exempting fishing and some commercial vessels from CWA permitting and requiring a study of impacts of vessel discharges. The first approach was reflected in S. 2067 and H.R. 2550 . These bills proposed to amend the definitions provision of the CWA (Section 502, 33 U.S.C. § 1362) to define a "recreational vessel" and to detail the types of discharges from such vessels that would not be defined as pollutants under the act, and therefore would be exempt from permitting. Under these bills, the term "recreational vessel" is defined to mean a vessel that is "manufactured for operation, or operated, primarily for recreational purposes," or that is "leased, rented, or chartered to an individual for recreational purposes." S. 2766 and H.R. 5949 , reflecting the second approach, contained a generally similar provision defining discharges incidental to the normal operation of recreational vessels that would be statutorily exempt from permitting. In defining "recreational vessel," these bills included boats manufactured or used primarily for pleasure, or boats leased, rented, or chartered to a person for the pleasure of that person. These bills proposed to amend the permitting provision of the CWA (Section 402, 33 U.S.C. § 1342), not the definitions provision. Unlike S. 2067 and H.R. 2550 , these bills stated that the term "recreational vessel" does not include a vessel that is subject to Coast Guard inspection and that is "engaged in commercial use" or "carries paying passengers" (e.g., ferries or cruise ships). S. 2766 and H.R. 5949 (unlike S. 2067 and H.R. 2550 ) would have added provisions concerning management practices for discharges from recreational vessels. As a result of these provisions, while recreational vessels (as defined in the legislation) would be exempt from permitting requirements, they could become subject to regulations mandating management practices to control discharges. Section 4 of S. 2766 and H.R. 5949 directs EPA, in consultation with the Coast Guard, the Department of Commerce, and interested states to develop management practices for discharges other than sewage from such vessels.