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Clean Marinas Program May Replace Proposed Coastal Marinas Permit
 Ambrosia Sarabia - The Log
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June 12, 2010
Newport Beach — Despite news that a new permit plan that would require marinas and yacht clubs to implement and comply with costly requirements to maintain water quality is on hold, the status of the proposed permit requirement remains a concern for local marina managers.
Tim Leathers, general chairman of the California Clean Marinas Program and regional vice president of Almar Marinas, helped relieve some of those worries when he updated marina operators, boaters and others in the marine industry on the permit at a Newport Beach Networking Meeting, June 1.
The controversial Coastal Marinas General Permit has been “put on a shelf” by the State Water Resources Control Board, but Leathers warned it is in no way “dead.”
“As an industry we pulled together to make this happen,” he said. “We know how vital that water is to us. It is where we recreate and where we do our business.”
In March, a spokesperson for the board confirmed that it was working with marina operators to determine if the statewide program would be strengthened to cover more of the board’s concerns surrounding marina water quality. There are no updates to report on the permit, said David Clergern for the Office of Public Affairs for the State Water Resources Control Board.
If the permit plan is adopted, it would require marinas along the coast with 10 or more slips and/or moorings to obtain a permit and enforce a variety of best management practices to control pollution. The required water monitoring and water contaminant testing could hit facilities with $100,000 to $300,000 per year in new costs, depending on the size of the marina, according to industry estimates.
Each operator of waterfront facilities would need to have a Marina Pollution Prevention Plan and put into place site-specific management practices to reduce or prevent pollutants from being discharged into surface waters.
The added fees could be passed on to boaters in the form of increased slip fees at marinas.
The boater advocacy group Recreational Boaters of California (RBOC) issued a call to arms last year when the board was considering implementation of the permit. Since then, the State Water Resources Control Board has indicated its reconsideration of the permit, allowing marinas and yacht clubs with slips to breathe easier — for now.
In place of the permit, State Water Resources Control Board officials are currently reviewing the existing California Clean Marinas Program to distinguish if and how the program can be used to implement pollutant controls at marinas statewide.
The program may be altered to comply with the board’s conditions as long as it does not change what the program does, Leathers explained. “This is not a regulatory program,” he emphasized.
Leathers and his team have met with the water quality board several times to discuss suggestions and changes to the program. Later this month, 154 changes will be made to the program, he said.
The nonprofit volunteer-based Clean Marinas program is a partnership among private marina owners, government marina operators and yacht clubs, with a focus on protecting waterways from pollution. Education is key to the program’s success, as is self-regulation.
Leathers was one of the program’s founding members in 2003, after several marina operators in San Diego pitched an idea of implementing a program that would educate boaters on safe boating practices to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board Region 9. The idea sprang from an order from the board that would require marinas to institute an environmental permitting program.
Marinas are rated in several categories and must pass all man-datory sections with 100-percent scores. Facilities are required to earn 70 percent in additional points, in order to earn the certification. Once certified as a Clean Marina, marinas are responsible for ensuring best management practices are being performed.
Since its inception, the program has certified 95 California marinas and one marina in Puerto Vallarta. Five additional Mexican marinas are in the process of certification. Marinas pay $300 for an extensive review of the facility, which is administered by volunteers with the program.
“We need to keep our feet to the fire and get as many certifications as we can,” Leathers said. “The standards have to keep getting stronger and better.”
For more information on the Clean Marinas Program, visit cleanmarinascalifornia.org. |
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