Farr and Durbin Introduce Clean Cruise Ship Act
Congressman Sam Farr (CA-17) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation in both houses of Congress to help protect the oceans from damage caused in the event of cruise ship pollution. "Every week a typical 3,000 passenger cruise ship generates over a million gallons of raw sewage, gray water and oily bilge water and at the moment it is legal for them to dump this waste almost anywhere in the ocean," said Farr during a press conference to announce the bill. The legislation, known in the House as H.R. 4101, the Clean Cruise Ship Act, closes existing loopholes in federal law by creating a 12 mile-wide coastal zone in which cruise ships are prohibited from dumping.
Hearing on Implementation of the SAFE Port Act
The Subcommittee on Border, Maritime & Global Counterterrorism of the House Committee on Homeland Security conducted an oversight hearing on Implementation of the SAFE Port Act. In his prepared statement, Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) noted that the transportation worker identification credential (TWIC) program and the container security device regulations are far behind schedule. Subcommittee Chair Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) expressed her interest in the C-TPAT third party validator pilot program, the empty container security pilot program, long range vessel tracking, and the TWIC program. Ms. Maurine Fanguy, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), discussed recent progress in implementation of the TWIC program.
TSA, USCG Issue Proposal for TWIC
On May 22, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the US Coast Guard issued their joint 68-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) in the maritime sector. 71 Fed. Reg. 29395 The comment period is now closed. There are 550 documents currently in the docket, expressing a wide variety of viewpoints. Possibly one of the more persuasive comments was submitted by four US Representatives serving on the House Committee on Homeland Security [Bernie Thompson (D-MS); Loretta Sanchez (D-CA); Jane Harman (D-CA); and Peter De Fazio (D-OR)]. They suggest…
