Marine invasive species: ballast water and biofouling management requirements.

(1) Existing law, the Marine Invasive Species Act, requires the State Lands Commission (hereafter the commission) to implement and administer laws regulating the uptake or discharge of ballast water from vessels that impact marine species in the state's waterways. The act, among other things, 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 various actions to minimize the uptake and release of nonindigenous species, including, among other things, to clean the ballast tanks regularly in mid-ocean waters, or under controlled arrangements in port or in drydock, to remove sediments and biofouling organisms, as specified, and to make available to the commission additional information, including a separate ballast water log to outline ballast water management activities for each ballast water tank on board the vessel. Existing law exempts the master, operator, or person in charge of a vessel from conducting a ballast water management practice upon a specified determination relating to safety. This bill would, for purposes of the act, define the term "land" and would revise the coastal boundaries used to define the "Pacific Coast Region," as specified. The bill would require the master, operator, or person in charge of a vessel to include in the ballast water log book for the vessel a description of the safety reasons for a determination to not conduct a ballast water management practice, to notify the commission of this determination, and to provide the commission a copy of the related entry in the ballast water log for the vessel. (2) The act required the commission, on or before January 1, 2012, in consultation with the State Water Resources Control Board (hereafter the board) , the United States Coast Guard, and a technical advisory group consisting of specified representatives, to develop and adopt regulations governing the management of biofouling on vessels arriving at a California port or place, as provided. The act required the commission, in consultation with the United States Coast Guard, on or before July 1, 2005, to adopt regulations governing the evaluation and approval of shipboard experimental ballast water treatment systems. The act also required the commission, in consultation with the board and in consideration of specified advisory panel recommendations, on or before January 31, 2006, to submit to the Legislature and make available to the public a specified report that recommends standards for the discharge of ballast waters into the waters of the state. This bill would repeal those provisions relating to shipboard experimental ballast water treatment systems and to ballast water standards. This bill would require those adopted regulations relating to the management of biofouling on vessels arriving at a California port or place to be regularly reviewed and revised as appropriate. (3) The act requires the commission to adopt regulations that impose specified requirements on an owner or operator of a vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water that operates in the waters of the state to implement certain interim performance standards for the discharge of ballast water recommended in accordance with a specified report approved by the commission, as described, in consultation with the board, the United States Coast Guard, and an advisory panel, and to meet the final performance standard for the discharge of ballast water of zero detectable living organisms for all organism size classes by January 1, 2030. This bill would, instead, require the commission to adopt regulations that would require an owner or operator of a vessel, as defined, carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water that operates in the waters of the state to implement specified federal standards regulating ballast water discharges and to comply with certain federal performance standards for implementing approved ballast water management methods. The bill would also require that those regulations set a date no later than January 1, 2040, by which the final performance standard for the discharge of ballast water of zero detectable living organisms for all size classes would be required to be met, and would revise certain requirements for the submission of that report regarding ballast water discharges, as prescribed. This bill would also require the advisory panel to make recommendations regarding the content and issuance of the report and implementation of the performance standards to the commission. The bill would require that the advisory panel's meetings be open to the public. The bill would require the commission to provide notice of the advisory panel's meetings to any person who requests that notice in writing, as well as on the commission's internet website and to provide that notice at least 10 days before an advisory panel meeting and to include the meeting's agenda and the name, address, and telephone number of a person who can provide additional information before the meeting. (4) The act requires the commission, in consultation with the board, the United States Coast Guard, and a technical advisory group made up of specified representatives who are interested persons, to sponsor pilot programs for the purpose of evaluating alternatives for treating and otherwise managing ballast water and biofouling, with the goal of this effort to reduce or eliminate the discharge of nonindigenous species into the coastal waters of the state. This bill would additionally require the commission to consult with the United States Environmental Protection Agency regarding the sponsorship of those pilot programs and would also require that the meaningful participation of the State of California in federal rulemaking actions be included as one of the goals of those efforts. (5) The act requires the commission, the board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife, in consultation with interested stakeholders, to identify and conduct any other research determined necessary to carry out the requirements of the act. This bill would authorize the commission to also take samples of ballast water, sediment, and biofouling from arriving vessels subject to the act for research purposes.