[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1027 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1027

  To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to marine 
                          sanitation devices.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 27, 2003

  Mr. Saxton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to marine 
                          sanitation devices.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Recreational Waters Protection 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Performance standards for marine sanitation devices 
        were first authorized by the Federal Water Pollution Control 
        Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.).
            (2) Marine sanitation device performance standards have not 
        been updated since regulations were first implemented pursuant 
        to that Act.
            (3) Advances in marine sanitation device technology have 
        now made it practical for wastes to be treated on board a 
        vessel to the extent that pollutants can be reduced 
        significantly below the current marine sanitation device 
        standards.
            (4) Setting new marine sanitation device performance 
        standards will recognize existing technological advances and 
        spur further innovation to a level of on-board waste treatment 
        far superior to that envisioned by the original marine 
        sanitation device standards of the Federal Water Pollution 
        Control Act.
    (b) Purpose.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to promote the use of the best available technology in 
        Type I marine sanitation devices;
            (2) to establish a new minimum standard for a Type IA 
        marine sanitation device so that such standard meets the best 
        available technology; and
            (3) to ensure that recreational boats have more than 1 
        option for legally handling their sewage in coastal and tidal 
        waters and that all inland waters as well as no-discharge zones 
        already established by the States and approved by the 
        Environmental Protection Agency are exempt from section 312(f) 
        of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1322(f)).

SEC. 3. REVISED STANDARD FOR MARINE SANITATION DEVICES.

    Not more than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall publish a 
revised standard for new Type I marine sanitation devices (in this 
section referred to as ``Type IA marine sanitation devices''). The 
effluent from a Type IA marine sanitation device shall contain not more 
than 10 fecal coliform per 100 milliliters or its equivalent and 
achieve a 35 percent reduction in biological oxygen demand.

SEC. 4. STATE PROHIBITION.

    Section 312(f) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
U.S.C. 1322(f)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) by inserting ``(A)'' before ``After''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(B) A prohibition under subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a 
vessel that operates in the coastal tidal waters of the United States 
and operates a Type IA marine sanitation device that meets the 
standards for marine sanitation devices revised pursuant to section 3 
of the Recreational Waters Protection Act.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end of paragraph (4)(A) the following: 
        ``A prohibition under this paragraph shall not apply to a 
        vessel that operates in the coastal tidal waters of the United 
        States and operates a Type IA marine sanitation device that 
        meets the standards for marine sanitation devices revised 
        pursuant to section 3 of the Recreational Waters Protection 
        Act.''.

SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act (including any amendment made by this Act) 
shall be construed as affecting any prohibition of the discharge of 
sewage from vessels under section 312(f)(4)(B) of the Federal Water 
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1322(f)(4)(B)).
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