BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1312
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 1312
(O'Donnell) - As Amended April 15, 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)Deletes provisions requiring the person in charge of a vessel
to employ at least one of the specified ballast water
management practices.
2)Requires the State Lands Commission (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, and requires compliance
with these regulations.
3)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.
4)Changes the timing 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.
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5)Requires the person in charge of any vessel that has a ballast
water treatment system to submit a ballast water treatment
technology reporting form.
6)Deletes current law that requires only vessels that discharge
treated ballast in California to submit the ballast water
reporting forms.
7)Delays implementation of interim performance standards for the
discharge of ballast water from a scheduled phase-in that
starts in 2016, to 2020 for all vessels.
8)Delays the implementation of the final performance standard
for the discharge of ballast water of zero detectable for all
organism size classes from January 1, 2020 to January 1, 2030.
9)Requires the SLC in consultation with State Water Resources
Control Board, the United States Coast Guard, and others, to
prepare (or update) and submit to the Legislature, a review of
the results of ballast water treatment systems no less than 18
months before January 1, 2020 and January 1, 2030.
10)Extends the authority of the SLC to collect specified samples
to ensure compliance with ballast water requirements to
include biofouling.
11)Expands the records that the person in charge of a vessel
subject to ballast water requirements must make available to
the SLC.
12)Adds the management of biofouling on vessels to the
enforcement authority conferred upon the SLC.
13)Defines a variety of terms.
14)Revises and recasts existing provisions and makes other
technical and conforming changes.
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EXISTING LAW:
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 non-indigenous species.
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 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.
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.
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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: 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
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California's standards. This delay also provides the SLC with
time to adopt compliance assessment regulations that will give
the shipping industry guidance on how conform to these
regulations.
Non-indigenous 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
non-indigenous species, contributing to 79.5% of established
aquatic non-indigenous species to North America and 74.1% across
the globe. Once they are established, non-indigenous 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,
and are then 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 7,000
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.
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 non-indigenous species
introduction.
To prevent the introduction of aquatic species through ballast
water discharges, the Legislature enacted SB 497, (Simitian),
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Chapter 292, Statutes of 2006, the Coastal Ecosystems
Protection Act (Act), which, among other things, required 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, 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. The SLC adopted the interim
performance standards in 2007 and the Act set a final
performance standard for the discharge of ballast water of zero
detectable living organisms for all organism size classes by
2020.
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 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.
Because of the SLC's previous findings on the availability of
treatment technologies, the Legislature 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
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further delayed implementation for all vessels by an additional
two to six years 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.
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.
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.
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For shore-based ballast water reception and treatment
facilities, none specifically designed to receive and remove or
kill non-indigenous 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.
Double referral: This bill passed out of the Assembly
Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee on April 14,
2015, with a 7-0 vote.
Previous legislation: 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 six years, depending on when the ship
was constructed and the vessel's ballast water capacity.
SB 935 (Committee on Environmental Quality), Chapter 550,
Statutes of 2012, delayed the date for which the SLC must
approve a vessel operator's application to install an
experimental ballast water treatment from January 2008 to
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January 2016.
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.
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, and required the
final standards, a "zero detectable living organisms" standard
for all organism size classes, to take effect January 1, 2020.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
State Lands Commission (Sponsor)
California Association of Port Authorities
Cruise Lines International Association, Inc.
Maersk, Inc.
Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093