MEDIA RELEASE
The U.S. Coast Guard is scheduled to hold its final two public meetings next week to hear comments on a proposed rulemaking for ballast water discharge standards.
Comments are being sought about a proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register Aug. 28 (74 FR 44632) that would add discharge standards to the Coast Guard’s ballast water management regulations in Title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 151, Subparts C and D. The proposed rule would also add approval procedures for ballast water management systems found in Title 46, Code of Federal Regulations, Subchapter Q.
Live Webcasts (audio and video) of the public meetings will be broadcast online at ballastwater.us
One meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday at the Hilton Oakland Airport, Calif.; the other is 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday at the Marriott New York Downtown, New York City.
The public is encouraged to participate by submitting written or verbal comments at the meetings, or online before the deadline.
All comments and related material submitted after the meetings must be submitted to the online docket at www.regulations.gov, docket number USCG-2001-10486, on or before Dec. 4, or reach the Docket Management Facility by that date.
Dear Sir, Having read dialog from discussion by the house of representatives the day before h.r.3619 passed, it is a bad day for our country when they describe how ballast water was omitted from this bill because they were cognizant, that in the previous Congress the Senate was not able to address ballast water. Unfortunately this is true because in the previous Senate they considered shipping, being allowed to dump untreated water in our country, with human pathogens,virus,invasive,and the possibility of terrorist use as a states rights issue. Scientist know that new microbes will be released from Arctic ice melting and from mining and exploration in the deep Sea Bed, along with the new technologies able to create designer algae s capable of acting as hosts to pathogens and virus. Still our politicians do not mention this as a human health problem. It has been reported that the Senate is going to address the Law of the Sea Treaty soon. To not address these issues before they consider ratification will be locking our country in an agreement that will not protect our health and environment from destruction, but will allow for economic globalization to continue.
FROM the web site of the house- ” Last year, I worked closely with Chairman Oberstar to include a title on Ballast Water Management in the Coast Guard bill, which would have created a uniform national standard for ballast water treatment. The goal was to have no living organisms in ballast water discharged by ships after 2013.
Although I would have liked this bill to once again include a provision on ballast water management, I am cognizant that this provision may be one of the reasons this bill has been held up in the Senate.”
Please let the Coast Guard know that although we are happy with their interest in ballast dumping, not to portray their forum as being representative of what the American people want. The will of the American people can only be expressed in our democracy through legislative efforts by our elected officials.
Sincerely,
Don Mitchel
Dear Sirs, Since Congress has again failed to address ballast water, we have no choice but to try and convince the Coast Guard that the future health and environmental concerns our country will experience in the future, will now lie in the time line for the rules and regulations that they decide will be adequate to govern private enterprise. With the Coast Guard being the only entity in the country with any infrastructure close to enforcement of any sort of regulations, their regulations will appease a lot of people who wish to see anything done after decades of useless patch work regulations. It is unfortunate that so many states have spent so much money on their own laws and regulations that the Coast Guard will be less than enthusiastic about enforcing when they have their own agenda. If their enacted regulations are not strong enough they will be next to impossible to change in the coming decades. Cognizant, that the Senate wishes this to be considered a states rights issue. President Obama, despite all of the campaign promises to go green, has yet to address this issue with Congress, despite the talk of the Senate examining the Law of the Sea Treaty. Yesterday, while searching the White House web site for “ballast Water” I was directed to the military’s venue to comment on purposed ballast water regulations. This seems to indicate that despite reportedly showing support for ballast water regulation during consideration of the Coast Guard Authorization Act while he was a Senator in the 110th Congress, he is now happy to allow the military to decide instead of our elected officials.
Sincerely,
Don Mitchel