Authorization Act of 2018 to Direct the Commandant of the Coast Guard to Provide Certain Data Related to Water Quality, and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce legislation to direct the Commandant of the Coast Guard to make available to state regulators information pertaining to ballast water management systems with a ``Type Approval Certificate'' issued by the U.S. Coast Guard. I would like to thank the California State Lands Commission for their meaningful contributions and collaboration on this shared priority.

Routine access to this information is critical to California's Marine Invasive Species Program, administered by the California State Lands Commission. It would also enable California and other states to assess the performance of U.S. Coast Guard-approved ballast water management systems. The nonproprietary information yielded from this assessment will inform policy recommendations to reduce the risk of the introduction or proliferation of invasive or nuisance species in state waters.

Federal law requires vessels to use a U.S. Coast Guard-approved ballast water management system to meet ballast water discharge standards. The U.S. Coast Guard collects important data on the efficacy of ballast water management systems to meet federal discharge standards as part of their type approval process. These data represent the most current and thorough data on the performance of these ballast water management technologies.

In 2018, Congress passed the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA), requiring the U.S. EPA to create uniform national performance standards for discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel, including ballast water. Once implemented, VIDA regulations preempt States' authority to enact more stringent standards for ballast water and other vessel discharges. However, states are authorized under that same 2018 federal law to inspect vessels and enforce the federal ballast water management requirements. States were also given explicit authority to petition the U.S. EPA and U.S. Coast Guard to adopt stricter standards if available data supports doing so. VIDA also authorizes states to sample ballast water from arriving vessels to obtain information relevant to any future petition.

However, the California State Lands Commission and similar state regulators cannot perform this work--carrying out their legal responsibilities for state waterways--without ready access from the U.S. Coast Guard to information and datasets on the water quality characteristics and biological organism concentrations from post- treatment water discharged from ballasts water management systems. To date, the State of California has been denied access to this critical public information from the U.S. Coast Guard despite filing a formal request and subsequent appeal under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

This legislation would fix this problem and require the U.S. Coast Guard to provide ballast water management system data, including information about the biological efficacy of approved systems, to states upon request. Mr. Speaker, I urge all members of the House to join me in cosponsoring this legislation.

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