Ship pumping ballast water.Photograph Attribution: US Coast Guard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Comments received from New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES)
from: Williams, Chris <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
to: Nelly Montanez <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
date: Jan 6, 2021, 7:29 AM
Re: New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for Federal Consistency Public Notice: National Performance Standards for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of Commercial Vessels, Comments Due 12-25-20
Hello Ms. Montanez,
The New Hampshire Coastal Program (NHCP) has received your comments regarding EPA’s proposed rule to establish National Performance Standards for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of Commercial Vessels and the NHCP’s public notice of EPA’s proposed rule. Although your comments were received after NHCP’s public notice comment period deadline and after issuance of NHCP’s federal consistency decision, the NHCP offers the following response:
The EPA’s national consistency determination for the proposed National Performance Standards for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of Commercial Vessels was submitted electronically to the New Hampshire Coastal Program (NHCP) on November 4, 2020. The NHCP posted a public notice in the Portsmouth Herald and on its website on December 11, 2020. The NOAA-approved 14-day public notice comment period ended on December 25, 2020. The NHCP did not receive any comments during the 14-day comment period. Although links to EPA’s proposed rule and the New Hampshire Coastal Program and Final Environmental Impact Statement, July 1988 were not provided in either public notice, contact information for the lead NHCP staff member was provided in both notices. The NHCP determined that EPA’s proposal was consistent with the its enforceable policies and issued its federal consistency decision on December 28, 2020.
Regards,
Christian Williams | Program Coordinator
Coastal Program
Watershed Management Bureau
Water Division, NH Department of Environmental Services
222 International Drive, Suite 175
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Phone: 603-559-0025
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
______________________________________________________________
New Hampshire Coastal Program
NHDES Watershed Management Bureau
222 International Drive, Suite 175
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Attention: Christian Williams, Program Coordinator
Via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Re: New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for Federal Consistency Public Notice: National Performance Standards for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of Commercial Vessels, Comments Due 12-25-20
Dear Mr. Williams,
We hope you can accept our comments even though they are sent on December 30, 2020, a few days past the comments due date. Covid-19 has placed burdens on our operations that make it difficult to provide well considered comments on a prompt schedule. Environmental Review, Inc. has reviewed the proposed rule and has the following comments:
1) Please make sure the relevant documents for review are uploaded to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) website to foster community involvement. In this case, the links to the proposed rule and to the New Hampshire Coastal Program and Final Environmental Impact Statement, July 1988 were not provided. We recommend that the pertinent information should be readily available with the comment period public notice.
2) EPA’s proposed rule, supporting documentation, and the New Hampshire Coastal Program (NHCP) documents are both several hundred pages long and create a challenge to review and submit public comments for in such a limited time period. In order to foster community involvement, please extend the Public Comment period for an additional 30 or more days to allow me and the general public more time to conduct a thorough review and provide feedback of the documents.
3) Page 5 - According to the Guide to Federal Consistency Coastal Zone Management Act §307, for any federal agency activity that may significantly impact the coast, the federal agency must determine consistency with the coastal management program. Does the NHDES have cause to believe that the proposed rule will significantly impact New Hampshire’s coast? Additionally, did the EPA submit its consistency determination to the NHCP?
4) Commercial fishing vessels and other non-recreational vessels less than 79 feet in length are currently covered under the 2013 Vessel General Permit (VGP) or EPA’s small VGP (sVGP). Per the proposed Vessel Incidental Discharge National Standards of Performance, vessels less than 79 feet in length are exempt. However, the rule applies to any discharge of ballast water. The document failed to present statistics on the effective impact of the proposed rule. We suggest that the State of New Hampshire provide information on these impacts (e.g., add a table showing how many vessels are currently regulated and provide information as to the number of vessels that will be both impacted and left unregulated by the proposed rule).
5) The federal rule proposes to not require vessel operators to minimize/avoid uptake of ballast water in certain areas and situations (e.g., toxic algal blooms).1 The proposed rule would appear to result in a failure to follow BMPs; therefore, the proposed rule should not be adopted. Not requiring this BMP makes the proposed standards less stringent than the existing 2013 VGP (i.e., operators would be able to uptake ballast water in areas known to have infestations or populations of harmful organisms and pathogens).
6) Page 67874 - Per Section X, 7th full paragraph, of the Vessel Incidental Discharge National Standards of Performance, “the proposed rule does not include implementation, compliance, or enforcement provisions”. The USCG is set to promulgate the monitoring and enforcement requirements of the proposed standards, conceivably indicating the new role for each state. The final rule should specify what measures the State of New Hampshire will take to prepare for a smooth transition. Additionally, the final rule should specify what the State of New Hampshire will be required to do to ensure that coastal waters are protected during any transitional period.
When responses to these comments are available, please email them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thank you,
Nelly Montanez (Associate in Illinois)
Environmental Reviewer
Environmental Review, Inc. (501 (c)(3) Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation)
1792 Rogers Avenue
San Jose, CA 95112
Footnotes
1 Vessel Incidental Discharge National Standards of Performance section VIII. Development of National Discharge Standards of Performance, B. Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of a Vessel - Specific Standards, 2. Ballast Tanks, IV. Ballast Water Best Management Practices (BMPS), H. Best Management Practices Not Continued From Existing Requirements