Draft Ch. 532, Large Commercial Passenger Vessels -- History / Timeline

Two bills were proposed in the First Regular Session of the 121st Maine Legislature that addressed vessel discharges (LDs 1158 and 1271).

Resolve (ch. 79) required the DEP to report back concerning a plan to prohibit or regulate the discharge of blackwater and graywater from vessels into coastal waters, and include any recommended legislation.

Short stakeholder process was held in the summer of 2003 with members of the regulated community, environmental community, shellfish harvesters, Coast Guard, legislators, EPA, scientists, port representatives, tourist industry, etc. Vessel Discharge Page.

Report: "Discharges from Vessels" (November 1, 2003).

Chapter 650, An Act to Protect Maine's Coastal Waters (effective July 30, 2004) -- consistency with certain federal standards being implemented in Alaska.

Webpage "Ships & Boats" with information concerning Ch. 650 and associated materials.

Draft rule (7/21/04). Comment deadline (informal) 9/9/04. Errata sheet. Side-by-side.

Public information meeting (9/9/04)

Spill Fact sheet

Receive permission to post the rule to formal comment (11/4/04) from the Board of Environmental Protection. No hearing planned.

Notice publication (newspapers) date of November 17, 2004.

End of comment period: January 5, 2005 at 5:00 p.m..

Request that Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) adopt Chapter 532 (scheduled for April 21, 2005).

Note: rules do not become effective immediately upon adoption by the BEP. There is subsequent paperwork that needs to be done. Rules normally become effective 5 days after they are filed with the Secretary of State's Office.