LORAIN - Boaters in Ohio and around the country are bracing for a new layer of regulation meant to stop the spread of invasive species stowed away in freighters' ballast water. But the new rules are so broad they will apply to almost everything that floats. Starting Sept. 30, all watercraft will be required to have a discharge permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to operate legally in the United States. The change is due to a federal court ruling in a lawsuit dealing with the federal Clean Water Act. That means any boat that discharges any water into any river, lake or pond will need the same EPA permit issued to the freighters large enough to carry goods across oceans. "The effects would be enormous because there would be some type of permit process for every recreational boat, regardless of size, whether canoe or yacht," said Ken Alvey, president of the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association. "The cost, the inconvenience, certainly the hassle of going through the regulatory enforcement of it would lead to a bad taste in the boater's mouth and certainly would take away from the enjoyment of the recreational boating experience."

Supporters of the recreational boaters acknowledge the U.S. EPA must follow the court ruling, the Clean Water Act and its own rules. The examples are startling. According to the recreational boating advocates, a boat will make an illegal discharge anytime rainwater runs off its deck and into the lake or river. Water-cooled marine engines will make illegal discharges when the water streams back out of the engine, even though the water does not touch the gas or oil flowing inside. Bilge pumps expelling water would produce an illegal discharge, as would dumping overboard water or ice from a cooler. It also means potentially millions of new discharge permits - various counts peg the number of affected boats at 13 million to 18 million. "It doesn't matter if you have power or even a ballast," said Margaret Podlich vice president of government affairs for Boat Owners Association of the U.S., which is fighting the regulations on recreational boats. "They've encompassed the entire spectrum because the court told them they had to." Congress has legislation, the Clean Boating Act of 2008, that would stop the new permitting system and boating industry groups hope the bill will be approved before the end of September. BoatU.S., the National Marine Manufacturers Association and other groups have been lobbying hard for the House and Senate to approve the bills, but face several months of distractions for the legislators. "Congress has to fix this problem and we have to fix it soon," said Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Painesville, a co-sponsor of the House version of the Clean Boating Act of 2008. "Nobody in their right mind thinks Congress intended for recreational boaters to have pollution permits, and we must put a stop to this baffling, renegade court ruling." History After the Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, the U.S. EPA took aim at "direct pollutant discharges into waterways," according to the CWA introduction at www.epa.gov. The agency also began monitoring the discharge of water carried by the freighters to maintain trim while underway. Since 1973, the U.S. EPA granted recreational boaters an exemption to the rules for discharging water. Weekend boaters did not need to get the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit in force for the ships that could bring large amounts of water from one body of water to another, such as the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes...

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