BILL REQ. #:  H-0347.1 

Read first time 01/16/2007.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources.

     AN ACT Relating to ballast water management; and amending RCW 77.120.030.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 77.120.030 and 2004 c 227 s 3 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, 2007, 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 consistent with applicable state and federal laws. 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. Nothing in this subsection (2) may be interpreted to require a master of a vessel to take any action that would jeopardize the safety of the vessel, its passengers, or crew as long as the master has made every reasonable effort to first comply with the requirements of this section.
     (3) Masters, owners, operators, or persons-in-charge shall submit to the department an interim ballast water management report by July 1, 2006, in the form and manner prescribed by the department. The report shall describe actions needed to implement the ballast water requirements in subsection (2) of this section, including treatment methods applicable to the class of the vessel. Reports may include a statement that there are no treatment methods applicable to the vessel for which the report is being submitted.
     (4) The ballast water work group created in section 1, chapter 282, Laws of 2002 shall develop recommendations for the interim ballast water management report. The recommendations must include, but are not limited to:
     (a) Actions that the vessel owner or operator will take to implement the ballast water requirements in subsection (2) of this section, including treatment methods applicable to the class of the vessel;
     (b) Necessary plan elements when there are not treatment methods applicable to the vessel for which the report is being submitted, or which would meet the requirements of this chapter; and
     (c) The method, form, and content of reporting to be used for such reports.
     (5) For treatment technologies requiring shipyard modification that cannot reasonably be performed prior to July 1, 2007, the department shall provide the vessel owner or operator with an extension to the first scheduled drydock or shipyard period following July 1, 2007.
     (6) The department shall make every effort to align ballast water standards with adopted international and federal standards while ensuring that the goals of this chapter are met.
     (7) 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, or the waters of Alaska north of latitude fifty-four degrees thirty minutes north. The department may further limit the waters of British Columbia or the waters of Alaska from which the ballast water or sediments may originate under this subsection (7) if the department determines that ballast water or sediments from areas designated in this subsection (7) pose a danger to the waters of Washington state.
     (8) 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.