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United States · Bill · HR

H.R. 1154 (115th)

Commercial Vessel Incidental Discharge Act

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

16 February 2017

Last action

17 February 2017 · Referred

Status

Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

Sponsors

Duncan Hunter, ELIJAH CUMMINGS, Bob Gibbs, PETER KING, Bradley Byrne, Blake Farenthold, FRANK LOBIONDO, Cedric Richmond, Mike Bost, Gregg Harper, Evan Jenkins, Brian Babin, Garret Graves, Jason Lewis, Steve Russell, GENE GREEN, Eric Crawford, Lee Zeldin, Jeff Denham, Sam Graves, DON YOUNG, Todd Rokita, Rep. Wittman, Robert J. [R-VA-1], David McKinley, Rodney Davis, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Ralph Abraham, Rep. Thompson, Bennie G. [D-MS-2], Bill Johnson, ROBERT BRADY, Rep. Kelly, Mike [R-PA-16], Rep. Weber, Randy K. Sr. [R-TX-14], James Renacci, JOHN CULBERSON, Francis Rooney, Carlos Curbelo, Alexander Mooney

Subjects

Environment

Source updated

21 January 2026

Environment

Official sourceDownload fileView documentsShare

Summary

Commercial Vessel Incidental Discharge Act This bill requires the U.S. Coast Guard to: (1) address the regulation of discharges incidental to the normal operation of a commercial vessel into navigable waters, including ballast water discharges; and (2) preempt applicable state laws and federal regulations issued under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act). Ballast water is water and suspended matter taken on board a commercial vessel to control or maintain trim, draught, stability, or stresses of the commercial vessel. This bill requires commercial vessels to meet ballast water discharge standards established by the Coast Guard. By 2022, the Coast Guard must complete an effectiveness review to determine whether revising ballast water discharge standards will result in reducing the risk of introducing or establishing aquatic nuisance species. Further revisions to the standards must be considered every 10 years. If the standard would result in reducing the risk of introducing or establishing aquatic nuisance species, then the Coast Guard must conduct a practicability review to determine whether: (1) a ballast water management system that is capable of achieving the proposed standard is economically achievable and operationally practicable, and (2) testing protocols can accurately measure compliance. The Coast Guard must revise the standard if it meets practicability criteria. The Coast Guard must also issue rules establishing: (1) reasonable and practicable standards for reception facilities to mitigate adverse effects of aquatic nuisance species on navigable waters, and (2) best management practices for certain discharges for commercial vessels that are at least 79 feet in length and are not fishing vessels.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 16 February 2017

    Introduced

    Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 16 February 2017

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

  3. 16 February 2017

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

  4. 17 February 2017

    Referred

    Referred to the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

    Source: Committee

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in House (text)

View fileDownload file

Sponsors

Related records

Sources

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