Court Ruling Poses Serious Threat to Boating Support S. 2766, the Clean Boating Act of 2008 Did you know that a recent court ruling about pollution being dumped from commercial ship ballast water will also require all recreational boats to get permits by September, 2008despite the fact that 99% of recreational boats do not have ballast tanks? Boats and ships are different, and shouldnt be treated the same. These costly permitsintended for commercial ships and supertankers that have brought harmful invasive water species into U.S. watersare being developed right now to tax your boats engine cooling water, bilge water, and even deck runoff. This will seriously impact boating participation unless Congress acts quickly. It's not an exaggeration to say that it will take an act of Congress to fix this problem before boaters across the country will be required to wait in DMV-style lines for multiple, complex, costly permits. Click here to watch Thom Dammrich, President of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, explain this issue in an interview with BoatTest.com's Jeff Hammond.
