6538 AMH NR AMH-4484.1

6538 AMH NR AMH-4484.1

SB 6538 - H COMM AMD

By Committee on Natural Resources

ADOPTED AS AMENDED 03/05/02

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The director of the department of fish and wildlife must establish the ballast water work group.

(2) The ballast water work group consists of the following individuals:

(a) One staff person from the governor's executive policy office. This person must act as chair of the ballast water work group;

(b) Two representatives from the Puget Sound steamship operators;

(d) Three representatives from the Washington public ports, one of whom must be a marine engineer;

(e) Two representatives from the petroleum transportation industry;

(f) One representative from the Puget Sound water quality action team; and

(g) Two representatives from the environmental community.

(3) The ballast water work group must study, and provide a report to the legislature by December 15, 2003, the following issues:

(a) All issues relating to ballast water technology, including exchange and treatment methods and the associated costs;

(b) The services needed by the industry and the state to protect the marine environment; and

(4) The ballast water work group must begin operation immediately upon the effective date of this section. The department of fish and wildlife must provide staff for the ballast water work group. The staff must come from existing personnel within the department of fish and wildlife.

(5) The director must also monitor the activities of the task force created by the state of Oregon in 2001 Or. Laws 722, concerning ballast water management. The director shall provide the ballast water work group with periodic updates of the Oregon task force's efforts at developing a ballast water management system.

(6)(a) The ballast water work group expires June 30, 2004.

(b) This section expires June 30, 2004.

Sec. 2. RCW 77.120.030 and 2000 c 108 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

The owner or operator in charge of any vessel covered by this chapter is required to ensure that the vessel under their ownership or control does not discharge ballast water into the waters of the state except as authorized by this section.

(1) Discharge into waters of the state is authorized if the vessel has conducted an open sea exchange of ballast water. A vessel is exempt from this requirement if the vessel's master reasonably determines that such a ballast water exchange operation will threaten the safety of the vessel or the vessel's crew, or is not feasible due to vessel design limitations or equipment failure. If a vessel relies on this exemption, then it may discharge ballast water into waters of the state, subject to any requirements of treatment under subsection (2) of this section and subject to RCW 77.120.040.

(2) After July 1, ((~~2002~~)) 2004, discharge of ballast water into waters of the state is authorized only if there has been an open sea exchange or if the vessel has treated its ballast water to meet standards set by the department. When weather or extraordinary circumstances make access to treatment unsafe to the vessel or crew, the master of a vessel may delay compliance with any treatment required under this subsection until it is safe to complete the treatment.

(3) The requirements of this section do not apply to a vessel discharging ballast water or sediments that originated solely within the waters of Washington state, the Columbia river system, or the internal waters of British Columbia south of latitude fifty degrees north, including the waters of the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca.

(4) Open sea exchange is an exchange that occurs fifty or more nautical miles offshore. If the United States coast guard requires a vessel to conduct an exchange further offshore, then that distance is the required distance for purposes of compliance with this chapter.

Sec. 3. RCW 77.120.040 and 2000 c 108 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

The owner or operator in charge of any vessel covered by this chapter is required to ensure that the vessel under their ownership or control complies with the reporting and sampling requirements of this section.

(1) Vessels covered by this chapter must report ballast water management information to the department using ballast water management forms that are acceptable to the United States coast guard. The frequency, manner, and form of such reporting shall be established by the department by rule. Any vessel may rely on a recognized marine trade association to collect and forward this information to the department.

(2) In order to monitor the effectiveness of national and international efforts to prevent the introduction of nonindigenous species, all vessels covered by this chapter must submit nonindigenous species ballast water monitoring data. The monitoring, sampling, testing protocols, and methods of identifying nonindigenous species in ballast water shall be determined by the department by rule. A vessel covered by this chapter may contract with a recognized marine trade association to randomly sample vessels within that association's membership, and provide data to the department.

(3) Vessels that do not belong to a recognized marine trade association must submit individual ballast tank sample data to the department for each voyage.

(4) All data submitted to the department under subsection (2) of this section shall be consistent with sampling and testing protocols as adopted by the department by rule.

(5) The department shall adopt rules to implement this section. The rules and recommendations shall be developed in consultation with advisors from regulated industries and the potentially affected parties, including but not limited to shipping interests, ports, shellfish growers, fisheries, environmental interests, interested citizens who have knowledge of the issues, and appropriate governmental representatives including the United States coast guard. In recognition of the need to have a coordinated response to ballast water management for the Columbia river system, the department must consider rules adopted by the state of Oregon when adopting rules under this section for ballast water management in the navigable waters of the Columbia river system.

(a) The department shall set standards for the discharge of treated ballast water into the waters of the state. The rules are intended to ensure that the discharge of treated ballast water poses minimal risk of introducing nonindigenous species. In developing this standard, the department shall consider the extent to which the requirement is technologically and practically feasible. Where practical and appropriate, the standards shall be compatible with standards set by the United States coast guard and shall be developed in consultation with federal and state agencies to ensure consistency with the federal clean water act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251-1387.

(b) The department shall adopt ballast water sampling and testing protocols for monitoring the biological components of ballast water that may be discharged into the waters of the state under this chapter. Monitoring data is intended to assist the department in evaluating the risk of new, nonindigenous species introductions from the discharge of ballast water, and to evaluate the accuracy of ballast water exchange practices. The sampling and testing protocols must consist of cost-effective, scientifically verifiable methods that, to the extent practical and without compromising the purposes of this chapter, utilize easily measured indices, such as salinity, or check for species that indicate the potential presence of nonindigenous species or pathogenic species. The department shall specify appropriate quality assurance and quality control for the sampling and testing protocols.

Sec. 4. RCW 77.120.060 and 2000 c 108 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:

The legislature recognizes that international and national laws relating to this chapter are changing and that state law must adapt accordingly. The department shall submit to the legislature, and make available to the public, a report that summarizes the results of this chapter and makes recommendations for improvement to this chapter on or before December 1, 2001, and a second report on or before December 1, 2004. The ((~~2001~~)) 2004 report shall describe how the costs of treatment required as of July 1, ((~~2002~~)) 2004, will be substantially equivalent among ports where treatment is required. The 2004 report must describe how the states of Washington and Oregon are coordinating their efforts for ballast water management in the Columbia river system. The department shall strive to fund the provisions of this chapter through existing resources, cooperative agreements with the maritime industry, and federal funding sources.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 77.120 RCW to read as follows:

The department, working with the United States coast guard and the marine exchanges, will work cooperatively to improve the ballast water information system and make improvements no later than October 1, 2002. The cooperative effort will strive to obtain ballast water reports for the United States coast guard under contract. The reports may be used for ballast water management information under this chapter and be forwarded to the United States coast guard for its management purposes. Prior to July 1, 2002, the department must take steps to reduce or eliminate the costs of reporting.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately."

Correct the title.