To extend the period during which the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and States are prohibited from requiring a permit under section 402 of the Federal Water Control Act for certain discharges that are incidental to normal operation of vessels, to reauthorize the National Estuary Program, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5301) to extend the period during which the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and States are prohibited from requiring a permit under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act for certain discharges that are incidental to normal operation of vessels, as amended.

Madam Speaker, both of these bills have passed the House, have been duly fully considered by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, reported to the House and passed substantially. We combined them in this measure to send them to the other body, where we expect prompt action to be taken to send the bills on to the President.

I rise in support of H.R. 5301. This bill extends a provision prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and States from requiring permits under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act for certain discharges that are incidental to the normal operation of vessels less than 79 feet in length. H.R. 5301 also reauthorizes EPA's National Estuary Program.

I'd like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Bishop) for their work on this legislation.

Title I of H.R. 5301 extends a narrowly-tailored provision enacted by Congress in 2008 to establish a moratorium permit requirements under the Clean Water Act for certain discharges from commercial fishing vessels and other commercial vessels. This title ensures that EPA has sufficient time to consider the implications of discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel, while preserving the goals of the Clean Water Act to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation's waters.

When Congress established the moratorium two years ago, EPA was directed to conduct a study on discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel. This study was intended to provide EPA and Congress with additional information on the nature, types, volumes, and composition of vessel discharges, and the potential impact of these discharges on human health, welfare, and the environment.

EPA completed this study earlier this year and determined that discharges from these smaller vessels are not benign. Appropriately, EPA plans on bringing these vessels within the scope of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, NPDES, program. Currently, however, EPA does not have the framework in place or the resources to expand NPDES coverage to these smaller vessels.

Without an extension, the permit prohibition expires on July 31, 2010. H.R. 5301 extends the current moratorium to December 18, 2013. This will allow EPA time to implement the appropriate Clean Water Act mechanisms for controlling, minimizing, and properly addressing these types of vessel discharges. It will also allow the agency to plan for the inclusion of these smaller vessels when the agency renews its Vessel General Permits program.

Title I of H.R. 5301 was previously included in H.R. 3619, the ``Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010'', which passed the House on November 2, 2009.

Title II of H.R. 5301 reauthorizes the National Estuary Program. Title II consists of the text of H.R. 4715, the ``Clean Estuaries Act of 2010'', as passed by the House on April 15, 2010. Estuaries and associated coastal areas are major economic forces for the nation. Commercial and recreational fishing annually accounts for $185 billion in revenues, and more than two million direct jobs. Estuaries are habitat for approximately 75 percent of the U.S. commercial fish catch and 80 to 90 percent of the recreational fish catch. Beyond fishing, estuaries produce significant economic value through tourism, energy production, and navigation. Estuaries also provide recreational opportunities such as boating, fishing, swimming, surfing, and bird watching. The University of California and the Ocean Foundation have determined that, on an annual basis, ``beach-going'' generates up to $30 billion of economic value, and that ``coastal wildlife viewing'' generates up to $49 billion.

Title II includes four important modifications to the existing National Estuary Program.

First, Title II calls for increased transparency and accountability through regular evaluation and management plan updates with a public disclosure requirement.

Second, the title requires Federal agencies to be active partners in the restoration and protection of the estuaries where they are situated. This includes taking part in the development of the management plans, cooperating

and coordinating their activities to implement the plans, and considering their financial responsibilities under any estuary management plan when submitting their annual budget requests.

Third, Title II requires programmatic changes to the National Estuary Program such as identifying vulnerabilities to climate change and developing responsive adaptation actions; engaging in educational activities to better inform the public about their local estuaries; requiring that estuary programs consider sustainable commercial activities in the watershed; and ensuring that commercial entities along estuary waterfronts will be active participants in estuary programs.

Fourth, this title increases the authorization for the program from $35 million to $50 million per year and establishes a minimum funding level for each of the 28 approved estuaries in the program of $1.25 million per year. If the program were fully funded at $50 million, 12 new estuaries could enter the National Estuary Program and each be funded at a level of $1.25 million. EPA reports that entities representing 38 additional estuaries have expressed interest in joining the National Estuary Program.

H.R. 4715, the ``Clean Estuaries Act of 2010,'' was considered by the House earlier this year and passed by a roll call vote of 278-128. I am pleased to say that we received solid support on both sides of the aisle.

I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 5301.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Yes, indeed I will say, first of all to compliment the gentleman from New Jersey on his leadership on the issue of vessel discharge. He has been a champion on this subject. We have heard his strong appeal, his reasoned approach to the issue. That's why we moved the bill earlier. We now joined it with this estuaries bill.

We expect always with hope that the other body acts promptly, but if not, there are backup plans to deal with the vessel discharge issue in advance of the deadline that the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey cited. We are together on this. We are going to assure that the issue is resolved. And hopefully, both of these bills, combined in this fashion, will bring enough interest in the other body to have a concentration of effort to pass both measures together.

I yield back the balance of my time.

General Leave

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous matter on the subject of these two bills.

I want to compliment the gentlewoman on her splendid work on this legislation and her leadership of the subcommittee, the gentleman from New Jersey for his consistent and persistent advocacy. And if we pass this bill tonight, it will go directly to the President.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 3372, a bill that extends a provision prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and States from requiring permits under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act for certain discharges that are incidental to the normal operation of commercial vessels less than 79 feet in length and all fishing vessels. This Chamber has now twice passed the language contained in S. 3372.

I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) for his continued work on this issue. As I have said many times to my colleague, we will get this legislation signed into law.

This legislation extends a narrowly tailored provision enacted by Congress in 2008 to establish a moratorium on permit requirements under the Clean Water Act for certain discharges from fishing vessels and those commercial vessels less than 79 feet in length. This legislation ensures that EPA has sufficient time to consider the implications of discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel, while preserving the goals of the Clean Water Act to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters.

When the moratorium was established two years ago, EPA was directed to conduct a study on discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel. The purpose of this study was to provide the Agency and Congress with additional information on the nature, types, volumes, and composition of vessel discharges, and the potential impact of these discharges on human health, welfare, and the environment.

EPA completed this study earlier this year and determined that discharges from these smaller vessels are not benign. Appropriately, EPA plans on bringing these vessels within the scope of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. Currently, however, EPA does not have the framework in place or the resources to expand NPDES coverage to these smaller vessels.

S. 3372 extends the current moratorium to December 18, 2013. This extension will allow EPA time to implement the appropriate Clean Water Act mechanisms for controlling, minimizing, and properly addressing these types of vessel discharges. It will also allow the Agency to plan for the inclusion of these smaller vessels when the Agency renews its Vessel General Permits program.

The language contained in S. 3372 was included in H.R. 3619, the ``Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010'', which passed the House on November 2, 2009. In addition, last week, the House passed H.R. 5301, introduced by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo), which included this provision.

I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in support of S. 3372.

Madam Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 5301. H.R. 5301, proposed by my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. LoBiondo, consists of two titles.

Title I of H.R. 5301 is an extension of an already existing moratorium. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure recently passed this bill out of Committee with no amendments and no objections. This extension is necessary because the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, recently completed a study that indicates that discharges from vessels under 79 feet in length are not benign. However, the EPA needs additional time to set appropriate Clean Water Act requirements to protect the nation's waters from these types of discharges.

This legislation would extend the current moratorium until December 18, 2013, giving EPA the opportunity to include these vessels in the next round of permitting under the EPA Vessel General Permit.

I would like to point out to my colleagues that this Chamber has already passed this same language earlier this Congress, in H.R. 3619, the ``Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010.''

The second title of this legislation is the ``Clean Estuaries Act of 2010,'' which reauthorizes the National Estuary Program. This Chamber successfully passed this legislation 278-128 in April of this year, with support from both sides of the aisle.

Estuaries are unique environments that are extremely productive in terms of their ecosystem values. The ecological productivity of estuaries translates directly into important economic output in terms of commercial fishing and recreational fishing.

The Clean Estuaries Act of 2010 will give these regions the resources and means to effectively manage watersheds and protect estuaries. At the same time, the legislation does an excellent job of including all levels of government and all types of stakeholders.

This legislation increases the authorization for appropriations; allows for increased and improved federal coordination; increases accountability; and, includes some necessary programmatic changes.

The National Estuary Program needs an increase in authorized appropriation levels in order to provide more resources to on-the- ground stakeholders and to enable more communities and estuaries to join the Program.

I ask all members of this Chamber to once again join me in supporting communities and estuaries through the passage of this bill.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I urge all Members to support this very important measure. I want to particularly thank Mr. Oberstar, Mr. Mica, and Gene Taylor for their work on this measure. Again, I urge everyone to support the legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 3372. Effective 2 days from now, commercial fishermen, charter boat operators and owners of other commercial vessels less than 79 feet will have to apply for and receive individual permits from the EPA to discharge from their vessels such things as deck wash, bilge water, and the condensation from air conditioning units. Vessels that operate without these permits could be subject to citizen lawsuits and daily fines that exceed $32,000 per violation. To make matters worse, the EPA has informed Congress that they do not have the resources to process the hundreds of thousands of permits that would be required.

This bill simply extends the current moratorium a few more years to ensure the EPA has time to analyze the results of the study they conducted on incidental discharges, review public comments, and develop proper permitting regulations.

Although I am very pleased the House will be sending this bill to the President today, I still look forward to working with Chairman Oberstar on a broader bill to establish a fair and effective regime to regulate incidental discharges, as well as ballast water. As the Chairman knows, the current situation where we have 2 Federal agencies plus 28 different states enforcing 30 different standards on ballast water is crippling our maritime industry. I know the Chairman is committed to working through those issues and I hope we will have a bill on the floor soon.

Finally, I want to thank Chairman Oberstar for his leadership in moving this bill forward today, as well as Ranking Member Mica for his strong support and assistance. I also want to thank Senators Murkowski and Boxer for their tremendous efforts. Finally, I want to thank the staff on both sides for their outstanding work.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support H.R. 5301, legislation to extend the period during which the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and States are prohibited from requiring a permit under section 402 of the federal water pollution control act for certain discharges that are incidental to normal operations of vessels, to reauthorize the national estuary program and for other purposes. I commend my colleague, Representative LoBiondo for his word on this bill and urge the House to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, in light of the disaster caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it is important that this Congress pay particularly close attention to the well being of our Nation's aquatic ecosystems.

H.R. 5301 accomplishes two things. First, this bill extends an existing moratorium for vessels less than 79 feet in length to obtain a permit under the Clean Water Act for discharges incidental to their normal operation. The Environmental Protection Agency has been studying the impacts of incidental discharges from these vessels and made the determination that these discharges are not universally benign. The agency has acknowledged however, that it will be unable to develop and issue appropriate permits for these vessels before the current moratorium expires on July 31, 2010. Extending the moratorium will allow for the additional time necessary to develop and issue appropriate guidelines to address such discharges consistent with the goals of the Clean Water Act.

Second, H.R. 5301 includes H.R. 4715, the ``Clean Estuaries Act of 2010'', as passed by the House of Representatives on April 15, 2010, which reauthorizes the National Estuary Program. Established in 1987, the National Estuary Program is charged with attaining or maintaining water quality in an estuary, places where rivers meet the sea. Reauthorizing this program is essential to protection of public water supplies and the protection or indigenous population of shellfish, fish, and wildlife.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.