Support S. 2766, the Clean Boating Act of 2008

For more information, contact Gordon Robertson, vice president and Government Affairs lead, 703.519.9691, x237, or Patty Doerr, Ocean Resource Policy director, x244.

How You Can Help

Please send letter to your Members of Congress urging them to support and cosponsor the Act. You can also visit boatblue.org to learn more about the issue. This is the most significant threat facing the boating industry today, and we need your help to solve it. Please take five minutes to tell Congress to support S. 2766. For more detailed information; read the American Sportfishing Association's (ASA) position on the Clean Boating Act of 2008.

The Situation

Unless Congress acts soon, all 18 million recreational boat owners in the United States will be required to obtain a federal or state permit in order to operate their boat. This means yearly fees, bureaucratic red tape, confusing and potentially state-by-state regulations, citizen suits and $32,000 per day in penalties for non-compliance. These permits would apply to deck run-off, bilge water, engine cooling water and any other water-based, operational discharge from a recreational boat. The Environmental Protection Agency, due to a sweeping court order, is already writing this unprecedented new regulation on boaters.

Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) have introduced S. 2766, the Clean Boating Act of 2008. The Clean Boating Act would fully and permanently restore a 35-year permit exemption for recreational boat incidental discharges, such as weather deck run-off and engine coolant water, and works to protect the health of the nation's waterways by pursuing whether or not reasonable and practicable best management practices need to be put into place for some incidental discharges. This important bill preserves recreational boating and the boating industry, taking a balanced approached that recognizes that pleasure boat discharges are completely different from land-based industrial facilities and commercial ships.

There is an inherent connection between fishing and boating ??? over half of those who purchase boats do so for the purpose of fishing. Therefore, ASA is working very closely with its partners in the boating industry to expedite passage of the Clean Boating Act of 2008.