Friday’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject three maritime industry associations’ challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Vessel General Permit (VGP) highlights the urgent need for Congressional action to establish a uniform and practical regulatory regime for vessel discharges, The American Waterways Operators (AWO) announced today. The VGP was developed by EPA in 2008 under the Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program, designed to regulate discharges from land-based stationary sources. The permit contains baseline requirements established by EPA as well as more than 100 state- and waterbody-specific conditions required by individual states.
