BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1312
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 1312
(O'Donnell) - As Amended April 6, 2015
SUBJECT: Ballast water management
SUMMARY: Delays the implementation of interim and final
performance standards for eliminating living organisms in ships'
discharged ballast water. Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines "port" as any port or place in which a vessel was, is,
or will be anchored or moored, or where a vessel will transfer
cargo.
2)Deletes provisions which, until the State Lands Commission
(SLC) adopted regulations governing ballast water management
practices for vessels arriving to California from within the
Pacific Coast Region, required the person in charge of a
vessel to employ at least one of the specified ballast water
management practices.
3)Requires the SLC to adopt regulations governing ballast water
management practices for vessels arriving at a California port
from a port outside of the Pacific Coast Region, as specified.
4)Requires the person in charge of a vessel arriving at a
California port from a port outside of the Pacific Coast
Region to comply with these regulations.
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5)Changes the date, from 2016 to 2020, by which the SLC is
required to deem an approved experimental ballast water
treatment device to be in compliance with any future treatment
standard adopted, for a period of 5 years.
6)Changes the timing, from upon the vessel's departure for
California to at least 24 hours before the vessel arrives in
California, by which the person in charge of a vessel capable
of carrying ballast water, that visits a California port, must
submit ballast water reporting forms.
7)Requires the person in charge of any vessel that has a ballast
water treatment system to submit a ballast water treatment
technology reporting form. Deletes current law which requires
only vessels that discharge treated ballast in California to
submit the form.
8)Delays, from a scheduled phase-in that starts in 2016, to 2020
for all vessels, the implementation of interim performance
standards for the discharge of ballast water.
9)Delays, from 2020 to 2026, the implementation of the final
performance standard for the discharge of ballast water of
zero detectable for all organism size classes.
10)Deletes ballast water and sediment from the specified samples
that the SLC, to ensure compliance with ballast water
requirements, is required to make on 25 percent of arriving
vessels.
11)Requires the SLC, in coordination with the United States
Coast Guard and to ensure compliance with ballast water
requirements, to inspect at least 25 percent of arriving
vessels.
12)Expands the records that the person in charge of a vessel
subject to ballast water requirements must make available to
the SLC.
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13)Adds the management of biofouling on vessels to the
enforcement authority conferred upon the SLC.
14)Makes other technical and conforming changes
EXISTING LAW: Under the Marine Invasive Species Act,
1)Requires the master, owner, operator, or person in charge of a
vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water, that
operates in the waters of the state to take specified actions
to minimize the uptake and release of nonindigenous species.
(Public Resources Code (PRC) § 71203, et seq.)
2)Requires the SLC, if an owner or operator of a vessel applies
to install an experimental ballast water treatment system, and
the SLC approves that application on or before January 1,
2016, to deem the system to be in compliance with any future
treatment standard adopted, for a period not to exceed 5 years
from the date that the specified interim performance standards
would apply to that vessel. (PRC § 71204.7)
3)Requires the SLC to adopt regulations, on or before January 1,
2008, that require an owner or operator of a vessel with
ballast water capacity that operates in the waters of the
state to implement an interim performance standard, beginning
in 2016, for the maximum allowable thresholds for living
organisms discharged in ballast water based on the size of the
organism, capacity of the ship's ballast water retention, and
the date of the ship's construction. (PRC § 71205.3(a)(2))
4)Requires the SLC to adopt regulations that require an owner or
operator of a vessel with ballast water capacity that operates
in the waters of the state to meet the final performance
standard for the discharge of ballast water of zero detectable
for all organism size classes by 2020. (PRC § 71205.3(a)(3))
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
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COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author's office, "The
state's interim performance standards must be changed to reflect
the lack of available treatment technologies. AB 1312 delays
implementation of California's ballast water performance
standards until 2020 to enable further research and development
of treatment technologies that can meet California's standards.
This delay also provides the California State Lands Commission
with time to adopt compliance assessment regulations that will
give the shipping industry guidance on how conform to these
regulations."
Nonindigenous species: Nonindigenous aquatic plant and animal
species can be transported to new ecosystems and regions through
human activities. According to the SLC, shipping is the most
significant vector for the transport and introduction of aquatic
nonindigenous species, contributing to 79.5% of established
aquatic nonindigenous species to North America and 74.1% across
the globe. Once they are established, nonindigenous species can
cause ecological, economic and human health problems in the
receiving environment.
Commercial ships transport organisms through two primary
vectors: vessel biofouling and ballast water. Vessel biofouling
occurs when organisms attach to the hard surfaces of the vessel,
then are transported to new environments that the vessel enters.
Ballast water is sea water taken on, redistributed on, and
discharged from large seagoing vessels for functions related to
stability, maneuverability, and propulsion. More than 7000
species are estimated to be moved around the world on a daily
basis in ships' ballast water and each ballast water discharge
has the potential to release over 21.2 million individual
free-floating organisms.
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The prevention of species introductions through the management
of human activities, such as requirements related to biofouling
and ballast water management, is considered the most protective
and cost-effective way to address the nonindigenous species
issue.
California's ballast water program: To prevent the introduction
of aquatic species through ballast water discharges, the
legislature enacted the Coastal Ecosystems Protection Act (Act)
(Simitian, Chapter 292, Statutes of 2006). Among its
provisions, the Act requires the SLC, on or before January 1,
2008, to adopt regulations that require an owner or operator of
a vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water that
operates in the waters of the state to implement interim and
final performance standards for eradicating organisms in ballast
water before it is discharged. The interim performance
standards, which originally applied starting in 2009, but
through subsequent statutory changes now apply in either 2016 or
2018, depending on the size of the organism; the capacity of the
ship's ballast water retention; and, the date of the ship's
construction, phase in the maximum allowable thresholds for
living organisms in discharged ballast water. The SLC adopted
the interim performance standards in 2007. The Act sets a final
performance standard for the discharge of ballast water of zero
detectable living organisms for all organism size classes by
2020.
Compliance with California's standards: According to the SLC,
vessels can comply with the California performance standards
through methods including retention of all ballast water onboard
the vessel (the most protective management strategy available);
discharge of ballast water to an approved reception facility;
or, use of a shipboard ballast water treatment system. While
retention is the most protective ballast water management
strategy, not all vessels can retain ballast water due to
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operational needs or safety concerns. The SLC reports that it
conducted assessments of both shipboard and shore-based ballast
water treatment technologies in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2013 (per a
requirement of the Act), and found that no ballast water
treatment technologies were available at the time to meet the
California performance standards.
Previous delays of the interim performance standards: Because
of the SLC's previous findings on the availability of treatment
technologies, the legislature has already twice delayed the
implementation dates for ballast water interim performance
standards. In 2008, the legislature delayed implementation for
new vessels with ballast water capacity of less than 5000 metric
tons from January 1, 2009, to January 1, 2010. In 2013 it
further delayed implementation for all vessels by an additional
two to six years (phasing in in 2016 and 2018), depending on
when the vessel was constructed and the vessel's ballast water
capacity. This bill proposes to delay the implementation of the
interim performance standard to 2020, an eleven year delay from
the earliest original implementation date, and to delay the
final performance standard to 2026, a six year delay from the
original implementation date.
Current status of ballast water treatment systems: Again in
2014, the SLC assessed and reported on the availability of
ballast water treatment technologies that can meet the
California ballast water discharge performance standards. The
report reviewed both shore-based and shipboard methods of
treatment and found that shore-based treatment facilities able
to kill or remove organisms in ballast water currently still do
not exist in the United States. The report also stated that
shipboard ballast water treatment systems have not demonstrated
the ability to meet the California performance standards. The
SLC argues that the lack of options available to the shipping
industry with which to comply with California's performance
standards at this time is an obstacle to implementation of the
standards.
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Why are treatment technologies unavailable? The SLC found that
shipboard ballast water treatment systems are available for
purchase from vendors. However, they report that no systems are
available that have demonstrated the ability to meet the
California performance because no system has demonstrated
efficacy for all of the standards; there are no suitable methods
to analyze ballast water samples; and, there is a lack of
sampling and compliance protocols for determining which systems
can meet the standards. The SLC states that they are
promulgating compliance assessment protocols, slated to be
adopted by January 1, 2017, which are intended to resolve the
questions about accurate testing procedures. By promulgating
compliance assessment protocols in advance of the implementation
dates of the performance standards, industry will have years to
ensure systems under consideration will meet the standards.
For shore-based ballast water reception and treatment
facilities, none specifically designed to receive and remove or
kill nonindigenous species in ballast water are currently
available in California or the U.S. This is largely because
collaborative efforts among international, federal, and state
(including California) regulators and the shipping industry have
focused on the use of shipboard ballast water treatment systems
as the preferred method to enable compliance with state, federal
and international discharge standards.
While the SLC and the author introduced this bill in order to
enable further development of treatment technologies, previous
delays of the standards have not resulted in the development of
these technologies. Does continuing to delay performance
standards remove the incentive for treatment technology
development?
Related legislation:
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1)AB 433 (Nation), Chapter 491, Statutes of 2003. Consolidated
law related to the management of ballast water into the Marine
Invasive Species Act, and revised various requirements for
ballast water management practices to minimize the release of
nonindigenous species.
2)SB 497 (Simitian), Chapter 292, Statutes of 2006. Enacted the
Coastal Ecosystems Protection Act, which established interim
and final performance standards for the discharge of ballast
water from large commercial ships. Required interim
standards, which identified a range of thresholds for living
organisms by class size, to begin to take effect January 1,
2009. Required the final standards, a "zero detectable living
organisms" standard for all organism size classes, to take
effect January 1, 2020.
3)SB 1781(Committee on Environmental Quality), Chapter 696,
Statutes of 2008. Delayed implementation of ballast water
performance standards for new vessels with ballast water
capacity less than 5000 metric tons from January 1, 2009, to
January 1, 2010.
4)AB 248 (Lowenthal), Chapter 248, Statutes of 2009. Required
the person in charge of a vessel to maintain and submit to the
California State Lands Commission specified information
relating to the vessel's ballast water treatment system.
5)SB 935 (Committee on Environmental Quality), Chapter 550,
Statutes of 2012. Delayed the date for which the State Lands
Commission must approve a vessel operator's application to
install an experimental ballast water treatment from January
2008 to January 2016.
6)SB 814 (Committee on Natural Resources and Water), Chapter
472, Statutes of 2013. Delayed implementation of ballast
water performance standards for vessels that carry, or are
capable of carrying, ballast water into the state by two to
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six years, depending on when the ship was constructed and the
vessel's ballast water capacity.
Double referral: This bill was double referred to the Assembly
Committee on Transportation.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
State Lands Commission (sponsor)
California Association of Port Authorities
Maersk, Inc.
Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
Opposition
None received.
Analysis Prepared by:Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
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