NATIONAL REPORT
Michigan City, IN - October 14-15, 2005
NOAA Weather - We have all been advised of the legislation entered by Senator Rick Santorum, S.786 that would have ended NOAA weather forecasts on our VHF FM radios as we currently know it. Along with this was the possibility of a commercial service providing the forecasts for a fee. This of course would require the boating public to pay twice, once by our taxes for the National Weather Service and second to the commercial provider. A large hue and cry was heard by the Congress, mainly from the members of NBF, and the bill is dead. I have heard however that a coalition of weather providers is making efforts to resurrect this. They engaged some individuals on the Hill who will attempt to include the bill as part of other legislation. Stay tuned.
GMDSS - The GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System) Task Force met in Washington DC on 11 August. GMDSS is a major effort to modernize the USCG stations, provide added capabilities and better communications for enhanced Coast Guard efforts under the Rescue 21 Program. CG Groups Eastern Shore and Atlantic City (now called Sectors) are expected to be operational by the end of calendar year 2005. By the middle of CY 06, Groups St Petersburg, Mobile, Seattle and Port Angeles will be on-line. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that, for the 2006 boating season, VHF-FM radios should be equipped with the new emergency DSC (Digital Selective Calling) feature. With this feature, when the DSC button is pressed, an emergency broadcast is automatically sent over channel 70. Even better, if your VHF is interfaced to your GPS, your boat's Lat/Lon location will be sent as well.
UN Resolution 40 - International Certificate for operators of pleasures craft - The members of the European Union (EU) have adopted new standards for all pleasure craft operators called the International Certificate of Competency (ICC) under UN Resolution 40. Unfortunately the US did not approve Resolution 40 and thus there is no reciprocity between the US and Europe. Therefore, a US citizen wishing to charter a boat in Europe must hire a local captain or cannot charter at all. At the request of some NBF member organizations, we have written Admiral Collins, USCG, and others requesting their support in having the State Department adopt UN Resolution 40. We will work with the Coast Guard, the State Dept. and the NTSB to achieve resolution. We have heard from the NTSB on this and they asked if NBF accepted Mandatory Boating Education. I indicated we did and the requested that we formally advise them of such. I wrote the chairman in this regard. They have further suggested we have a meeting of all parties to see if we can achieve resolution. While not many of us charter overseas, to those that do, this is a real problem.
Federal Legislation - HR3, the "Highway Bill," was signed by the President on 10 August. The bill has been two years in the process and required House/Senate conference to resolve the many differences in the bill and its total funding ($286B). Included in the bill is the reauthorization of the Wallop/Breaux program which returns our tax dollars on gasoline and fishing equipment to boating programs. Included are State Boating Safety Grants, Clean Vessel Act (pump outs), Boating Infrastructure (Transient slips), Wetlands restoration and Sport Fish Restoration. The reauthorization will recover $110M of boater tax dollars which was being diverted to the general treasury. With the capture of the fuel tax, total funding for boating programs will rise to approximately $570M per year. As reported earlier, NASBLA has requested a more equitable funds distribution to Boating Safety. Sports fish restoration receives 42% of the funds and Boating Safety only 18.5%. NBF supports NASBLA in this effort.
The Energy Bill - Congress passed and the President has signed the Energy bill. This does not portend more fuel or lower gas prices, at least in the near term. It does provide huge tax breaks and subsidies for the energy providers to encourage more production. For those navigating the Delaware, a proposed Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) site, and other high traffic ports there may be some concern as the bill does ease the way for more imports of LNG by giving federal regulators final say over import terminal locations. Specifically, the legislation provides the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with exclusive authority to authorize the citing, construction, expansion, or operation of LNG facilities located ashore or in state waters.
H.R. 3824 - Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act. This bill implements major revisions to the 1973 Act. In essence it will be more difficult to reject sites for public access to waterways due to the presence of "an endangered species". Prior to this bill, applicants required approval by both the Dept. of Commerce and the Dept. of the Interior (DOI) for construction on a waterway. The new bill would now require only DOI approval. Also included are considerations of personal property rights, more public input and compensation to property owners if measures to protect species thwart development plans. The bill has passed the House and is now in the Senate.
Coast Guard Authorization Act passes House (includes Delaware River Oil Spill Committee) - By a unanimous vote, the House of Representatives approved the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005 (H.R. 889). A variety of amendments were added, including an authorization for an additional $60 million for Hurricane Katrina relief operations; a requirement to notify the Coast Guard if an object that creates an unauthorized obstruction to navigation is released into the water; a phased increase in limits of liability from tank vessels for oil spills, a program to detect, monitor, and evaluate the effects of submerged oil; and establishment of a Delaware River and Bay Oil Spill Advisory Committee. Passage of the legislation was accompanied by numerous speeches by members lauding the work of the Coast Guard in the Hurricane Katrina response effort. The measure now goes to the Senate for consideration. (From Holland and Knight LLP)
US Army Corps of Engineers USCOE, Maintenance Funding - Citing inadequate funds the USACOE may close the Dismal Swamp Canal, a portion of the East Coast Inter Coastal Waterway connecting Hampton Roads VA to Albemarle Sound NC. This 22 mile waterway has been in operation for 200 years. As we have learned previously from the Corps, funds for the Municipal Works Program have been in jeopardy for years with funds being cut for much of the ICW last year. Again the formula for funds allocation is based on commercial tonnage which does not take place on the Dismal Swamp Canal. Clearly the formula needs to include tourist boating which contributes to the local economies and National economy as well.
There are a number of additional bills which we are monitoring for their implication or any real impact they may have on recreational boating. Among these are bills resulting from the Presidents Commission on Ocean Policy and the two new commissions that have been established and are active. It is difficult to sift through the many bills in Congress for those that may effect boating. Any information members may wish to share would be helpful.
Respectfully submitted,
Earl Waesche
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