20 



Mr. Tauzin. Thank you, Admiral Henn. I will only point out that 

 your oral testimony did not include a discussion of what happened 

 and the delays in the case Al discussed, but we want to get into 

 that at some point. We will now hear the testimony of Mr. Robert 

 Wayland, III, Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds 

 for the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Wayland. 



STATEMENT OF ROBERT WAYLAND, III, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF 

 WETLANDS, OCEANS, AND WATERSHEDS, ENVIRONMENTAL 

 PROTECTION AGENCY 



Mr. Wayland. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the 

 Committee. I am pleased to be here with you this morning to talk 

 about pollution from cruise ships. 



Marine debris, whether from vessels or other sources, can have 

 serious adverse effects on marine life and our beaches and shore- 

 lines. EPA is concerned about the impacts which marine debris can 

 have, especially plastic debris, and has a number of actions under- 

 way to address and control sources of marine debris. 



The Admiral's testimony and my prepared statement describes 

 at some length the legal requirements of MARPOL and the Act to 

 Prevent the Pollution of a Sea (APPS) so I will skip that and note 

 that in addition to APPS, the Clean Water Act, which is adminis- 

 tered and enforced by EPA and the states, can be applicable to 

 vessel discharges of garbage and is applicable to the discharge of 

 sewage from vessels within the waters of the United States. 



The Clean Water Act generally prohibits the discharge of pollut- 

 ants without a permit, and the agency's implementing regulations 

 specifically recognize the applicability of this prohibition to gar- 

 bage disposal from vessels. Under the Clean Water Act, that prohi- 

 bition applies to vessels being used as a means of transportation 

 within U.S. internal waters and U.S. territorial sea. The Act also 

 provides for civil and criminal penalties for violators. 



Because most cases of improper garbage disposal by vessels typi- 

 cally would take place more than three miles offshore, APPS is 

 most likely to be the relevant statute for enforcement purposes, 

 and enforcement of that statute has been assigned to the Coast 

 Guard. In addition, it must be recognized that successful enforce- 

 ment of statutes aimed at disposal of garbage generated on board 

 vessels depends heavily on^ cruise ship inspections and a visible 

 presence of enfbxce^nent^personnel in marine waters, activities for 

 which the Coast GuaroT^equipped and trained. 



But EPA has been working closely with the Coast Guard to ad- 

 dress illegal vessel generated marine waste. In March of this year, 

 EPA held an enforcement training course for its regional personnel 

 focused specifically on coastal protection laws. Among other things, 

 this course included instructions from the Coast Guard to better fa- 

 miliarize EPA field personnel with the requirements of APPS and 

 how to effectively coordinate with the Coast Guard when a viola- 

 tion is suspected. Attendance at this course includes EPA person- 

 nel responsible for EPA's survey vessels, the Anderson and Lake 

 Guardian, and we intend to develop further materials and proce- 

 dures for use by personnel on those vessels on the specific steps 



