Washington, DC – H.R. 2838, The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2011, is expected to be considered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives tomorrow. The bill is a fiscally responsible reauthorization of the U.S. Coast Guard, which includes programmatic reforms to help ensure the service can better utilize resources and more efficiently replace its aging assets. The legislation also includes important provisions that require vessel owners to install treatment technology certified to meet new ballast water treatment standards, setting a single nationwide performance standard that is technologically achievable and verifiable. Additionally, the manager’s amendment expected to be offered on the Floor tomorrow will bolster the United States ability to counter piracy by strengthening existing authorities and providing the federal government with additional options.

The Transportation Committee passed H.R. 2838 on Thursday, September 8th, 2011. The legislation was introduced on Friday, September 2nd by Coast Guard Subcommittee Chairman Frank A. LoBiondo (R-NJ) and co-sponsored by Transportation Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL). It authorizes the service for fiscal years 2012 through 2014, and authorizes a service strength of 47,000 active duty personnel. The bill authorizes $8.49 billion for the Coast Guard for fiscal year 2012, $8.6 billion for fiscal year 2013, and $8.7 billion for fiscal year 2014.

This bill includes provisions that will give the Coast Guard and its personnel greater parity with the Department of Defense (DoD). Parity among the uniformed services has been a top priority of the Committee for some time and this bill makes significant progress towards aligning the Coast Guard’s authorities with those granted to DoD.

The bill contains a title intended to reform and improve Coast Guard administration. It also includes several provisions to improve the safety and efficiency of the maritime transportation system, as well as to protect and grow maritime related jobs.

Also included in the legislation are provisions that set a nationwide standard for the treatment of ballast water that remedies the current patchwork of varying and inconsistent ballast water regulations across states. Currently, the Coast Guard and the EPA operate under two separate federal laws that govern the treatment of ballast water which are especially burdensome, as they allow each state to impose additional requirements. The result is 29 differing and often contradicting standards, which unreasonably require vessel owners to comply with two federal standards and as many as 29 different state and tribal standards.

H.R. 2838 is a common sense solution to the problem, immediately putting in place a standard for ballast water treatment that is both achievable and effective. This approach is endorsed by the EPA, the Coast Guard, the National Academy of Sciences, the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, the U.S. flagged industry, maritime labor, manufacturers, farmers, energy producers and the nation’s largest and most strategic international trading partners.

The provisions in the manager’s amendment will strengthen existing authorities against piracy, as well as improves an existing training program to instruct mariners on acceptable use of force against pirates; authorizes armed security on vessels carrying government impelled cargo through high risk waters; and includes a report on ways to improve U.S. efforts to track ransom payments and the movement of money through Somali piracy networks.

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