SB 121: "An Act relating to discharge from commercial passenger vessels; providing for an effective date by repealing the delayed effective date found in sec. 16, ch. 153, SLA 2004; and providing for an effective date."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 121 01 "An Act relating to discharge from commercial passenger vessels; providing for an 02 effective date by repealing the delayed effective date found in sec. 16, ch. 153, SLA 2004; 03 and providing for an effective date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 46.03.462(a) is amended to read: 06 (a) An owner or operator may not discharge any treated sewage, graywater, or 07 other wastewater from a [LARGE] commercial passenger vessel into the marine 08 waters of the state unless the owner or operator obtains a permit under AS 46.03.100, 09 which shall comply with either the terms and conditions of vessel discharge 10 requirements specified in (b) of this section or the alternative terms and conditions 11 included in the plan approved by the department under (c) of this section. 12 * Sec. 2. AS 46.03.462(a) is amended to read: 13 (a) An owner or operator may not discharge any treated sewage, graywater, or 14 other wastewater from a commercial passenger vessel into the marine waters of the
01 state unless the owner or operator obtains a permit under AS 46.03.100, which shall 02 comply with [EITHER] the terms and conditions of vessel discharge requirements 03 specified in (b) of this section [OR THE ALTERNATIVE TERMS AND 04 CONDITIONS INCLUDED IN THE PLAN APPROVED BY THE DEPARTMENT 05 UNDER (c) OF THIS SECTION]. 06 * Sec. 3. AS 46.03.462 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 07 (c) The owner or operator of a small commercial passenger vessel may submit 08 a plan for alternative terms and conditions of vessel discharges if the keel of the vessel 09 was laid before January 1, 2004. Except as provided in (d) of this section, the 10 department shall approve the plan for a three-year period if the department finds that 11 the alternative terms and conditions in the plan incorporate the best management 12 practices for protecting the environment to the maximum extent feasible. The 13 department shall adopt regulations to implement this subsection but may not require 14 an owner or operator to retrofit a vessel solely for the purpose of waste treatment if the 15 retrofitting requires additional stability testing or relicensing by the United States 16 Coast Guard. In this subsection, "best management practices" means schedules of 17 activities, prohibitions of practices, maintained procedures, and other management 18 practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of the marine waters of the state. 19 (d) A plan submitted under (c) of this section after December 31, 2012, may 20 not be approved by the department for a period extending beyond December 31, 2015. 21 * Sec. 4. AS 46.03.463(b) is amended to read: 22 (b) Except as provided in (h) of this section or under AS 46.03.462(c) 23 [AS 46.03.462(c) - (e)], a person may not discharge sewage from a commercial 24 passenger vessel into the marine waters of the state that has suspended solids greater 25 than 150 milligrams per liter or a fecal coliform count greater than 200 colonies per 26 100 milliliters except that the department may by regulation adopt a protocol for 27 retesting for fecal coliform, if this discharge limit for fecal coliform is exceeded, under 28 which a discharger will be considered to be in compliance with the fecal coliform limit 29 if the geometric mean of fecal coliform count in the samples considered under the 30 protocol does not exceed 200 colonies per 100 milliliters. [UPON SUBMISSION BY 31 THE OWNER OR OPERATOR OF A SMALL COMMERCIAL PASSENGER
01 VESSEL OF A PLAN FOR INTERIM PROTECTIVE MEASURES UNDER 02 AS 46.03.462(c)(2) AND (d), THE DEPARTMENT SHALL EXTEND THE TIME 03 FOR COMPLIANCE OF THAT VESSEL WITH THIS SUBSECTION.] 04 * Sec. 5. AS 46.03.463(b) is amended to read: 05 (b) Except as provided in (h) of this section [OR UNDER AS 46.03.462(c)], a 06 person may not discharge sewage from a commercial passenger vessel into the marine 07 waters of the state that has suspended solids greater than 150 milligrams per liter or a 08 fecal coliform count greater than 200 colonies per 100 milliliters except that the 09 department may by regulation adopt a protocol for retesting for fecal coliform, if this 10 discharge limit for fecal coliform is exceeded, under which a discharger will be 11 considered to be in compliance with the fecal coliform limit if the geometric mean of 12 fecal coliform count in the samples considered under the protocol does not exceed 200 13 colonies per 100 milliliters. 14 * Sec. 6. AS 46.03.463(c) is amended to read: 15 (c) Except as provided in (h) of this section or under AS 46.03.462(c) 16 [AS 46.03.462(c) - (e)], a person may not discharge graywater or other wastewater 17 from a commercial passenger vessel into the marine waters of the state that has 18 suspended solids greater than 150 milligrams per liter or a fecal coliform count greater 19 than 200 colonies per 100 milliliters except that the department may by regulation 20 adopt a protocol for retesting for fecal coliform, if this discharge limit for fecal 21 coliform is exceeded, under which a discharger will be considered to be in compliance 22 with the fecal coliform limit if the geometric mean of fecal coliform count in the 23 samples considered under the protocol does not exceed 200 colonies per 100 24 milliliters. [UPON SUBMISSION BY THE OWNER OR OPERATOR OF A LARGE 25 COMMERCIAL PASSENGER VESSEL OF A PLAN FOR INTERIM 26 PROTECTIVE MEASURES, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL EXTEND THE TIME 27 FOR COMPLIANCE OF THAT VESSEL WITH THIS SUBSECTION FOR A 28 PERIOD OF TIME THAT ENDS NOT LATER THAN JANUARY 1, 2003. UPON 29 SUBMISSION BY THE OWNER OR OPERATOR OF A SMALL COMMERCIAL 30 PASSENGER VESSEL OF A PLAN FOR INTERIM PROTECTIVE MEASURES 31 UNDER AS 46.03.462(c)(2) AND (d), THE DEPARTMENT SHALL EXTEND THE
01 TIME FOR COMPLIANCE OF THAT VESSEL WITH THIS SUBSECTION.] 02 * Sec. 7. AS 46.03.463(c) is amended to read: 03 (c) Except as provided in (h) of this section [OR UNDER AS 46.03.462(c)], a 04 person may not discharge graywater or other wastewater from a commercial passenger 05 vessel into the marine waters of the state that has suspended solids greater than 150 06 milligrams per liter or a fecal coliform count greater than 200 colonies per 100 07 milliliters except that the department may by regulation adopt a protocol for retesting 08 for fecal coliform, if this discharge limit for fecal coliform is exceeded, under which a 09 discharger will be considered to be in compliance with the fecal coliform limit if the 10 geometric mean of fecal coliform count in the samples considered under the protocol 11 does not exceed 200 colonies per 100 milliliters. 12 * Sec. 8. AS 46.03.465(a) is amended to read: 13 (a) The owner or operator of a commercial passenger vessel shall maintain 14 daily records related to the period of operation while in the state, detailing the dates, 15 times, and locations, and the volumes and flow rates of any discharges of sewage, 16 graywater, or other wastewater [WASTER] into the marine waters of the state, 17 provide electronic copies of such records on a monthly basis to the department no later 18 than five days after each calendar month of operation in state waters. 19 * Sec. 9. AS 46.03.465(f) is amended to read: 20 (f) If the owner or operator of a commercial passenger vessel has, when 21 complying with another state or [OF] federal law that requires substantially equivalent 22 information gathering, gathered the type of information required under (a), (b), or 23 (d) of this section, the owner or operator shall be considered to be in compliance with 24 that subsection so long as the information is also provided to the department. 25 * Sec. 10. AS 46.03.462(c) and 46.03.462(d) are repealed January 1, 2016. 26 * Sec. 11. Sections 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, and 14, ch. 153, SLA 2004, are repealed. 27 * Sec. 12. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 28 read: 29 RETROACTIVITY. Sections 1, 3, 4, and 6 of this Act are retroactive to December 17, 30 2006. 31 * Sec. 13. Section 16, ch. 153, SLA 2004, is repealed.
01 * Sec. 14. Sections 2, 5, and 7 of this Act take effect January 1, 2016. 02 * Sec. 15. Except as provided in sec. 14 of this Act, this Act takes effect immediately under 03 AS 01.10.070(c).