Rumours and hear-say have wandered through the maritime world over the last year regarding new environmental regulations for ships calling on the United States. Clean Water Act, NPDES, EPA, VGP has been some of the keywords. Many have wondered about which kind of requirements will be set, what impact they will have on their fleet and when these regulations will come into force.
By now the regulatory framework has been prepared and been in force for a couple of months. Parties trading on the United States have prepared or are in the process of preparing systems for complying with the new requirements. Below is a description and guidance for those who are still in the process.
Background
The so-called National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) is a system under the US Clean Water Act to minimize pollution into US territorial waters (3nm). The Clean Water Act (CWA) was introduced in the US in the early seventies, but within the first year of enactment, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulated that discharges arising from normal operation of a ship should be excluded from the CWA and the NPDES system.
In 2003 this exclusion became subject to a lawsuit from environmental groups, with the result that EPA was instructed to lift this exclusion and apply CWA and NPDES also to ships.
The EPA has for this purpose prepared a generic document called the Vessel General Permit (VGP) where all requirements are laid out, and which must be understood to be additional requirements to international environmental regulations such as MARPOL. EPA has also introduced a system for registration, where all vessels that need to be comply must file a Notice of Intent (NOI) with the EPA.
With a size limit of 79 feet, 300 gross tons and 8m3 of ballast capacity, it is for all practical purposes applicable to all commercial oceangoing vessels calling on US territorial waters.
What is it
The generic Vessel General Permit (VGP) sets requirements to 26 different effluent streams following from normal operation of a vessel. The VGP also sets requirements to logging, recordkeeping, inspections and training. It should be noted that many of the requirements are so-called Best Management Practices, and do not give any fixed requirements for processing or discharge.
It should also be noted that the requirement to for instance deck runoff is such a Best Management Practice, where debris and deck spills should be minimized. But there is no requirement that this water from deck be contained and processed, unless there is visible contamination of the water.
In addition to the generic requirements, there are additional local requirements from individual States. Based on input from the maritime industry, some of these local requirements that were initially issued have been deleted. The VGP also contains additional vessel type-specific requirements, but no such requirements are given for bulk carriers.
A significant part of the VGP requirements relate to inspections and sampling, most of which can be performed by the crew. Weekly and annual inspections, drydocking inspections and quarterly sampling is specified in the VGP.
DNV may perform the drydocking inspection and issue corresponding report, although this report may also be made by the owners. Non-scheduled drydockings will not be required.
The inspections and sampling must be logged together with any findings and corrective actions and the records to be kept onboard. Any non-compliance must be reported to the EPA.
The EPA has advised that vessels are not required to conduct such inspections when they are not within the 3nm territorial sea of the US, but vessels must be in compliance when entering these waters. This means that a vessel must have conducted a routine inspection within the last week or voyage, whichever is more frequent, and have had a comprehensive annual inspection within the last year, prior to entering US waters.
Once a vessel has implemented procedures for compliance with EPA requirements, it may be recommended to continue to follow those policies and practices necessary to comply with all aspects of the VGP even if the vessel is not navigating US waters. This to avoid confusion by the ship’s crew as to when the inspections should be conducted, and is particularly relevant if the company choose to integrate the VGP inspection requirements with the company’s current management and operational procedures.
Implementation of the VGP further requires the establishment of a training plan to ensure that the crew is familiar with, and fully understand, the VGP requirements and their integration into the onboard procedures. Records should be maintained to demonstrate that the crew has attended appropriate training, which could be in the form of an electronic course.
Guidance for operators Many of the VGP requirements will already be implemented in the company’s management system and operating procedures, since they are already required by current international or federal rules/regulations or are part of normal safety, quality and environmental management systems and procedures.
However an operator should carefully consider the current extent of implementation of the VGP requirements, and complete a review of all 26 discharge requirements, in order to determine those that are applicable, and which of them are not covered within the onboard procedures. Systems and procedures need then to be updated to include new requirements.
The required inspection and training scheme, as well as recordkeeping should also be implemented in the system.
As this is a new regulatory system, it remains to be seen how the system will be implemented and how it will be enforced in practice. We can only advise to follow the development closely. EPA has stated that the Agency will be focusing on compliance assistance (as opposed to enforcement) during the first six months the Permit is effective.
It should be noted that any noncompliance with the requirements of the VGP constitutes a violation of the Clean Water Act and may lead to prosecution.
Questions regarding the NPDES system should be directed directly to EPA.