The new boatyard permit will impact about 80 yards around western Washington.

The state of Washington has issued a new permit that will impose stricter water quality standards on boatyards, but not everyone is happy with the regulations.

The new Boatyard General Permit issued by the Department of Ecology, which takes effect June 1, sets stricter benchmarks for the amount of copper boatyards located on saltwater can flush into stormwater drains but more lenient copper benchmarks for freshwater boatyards.

It also introduces a new benchmark for zinc and increases the limit for lead (benchmarks are considered target levels and are not legally enforceable, while limits are legally enforceable levels).

The limitations, which are virtually unchanged from those in a draft permit issued last April, are intended to help reduce the levels of substances harmful to aquatic life in stormwater and wastewater runoff flowing from boatyards into local waterways and Puget Sound.

George Harris, president of the Northwest Marine Trade Association, which represents boatyards, said the permit is tough but fair.

“This is an incredibly aggressive permit for boatyards in Washington to meet,” Harris said in a statement.

“Despite how difficult, and in some cases expensive, it will be to meet the new benchmarks, we believe it is a fair permit. We are pleased that the Department of Ecology recognized what boatyards may be able to achieve using the latest technology and our industry is eager to get to work to support our boatyards to meet their environmental responsibility.”

But Chris Wilke, executive director of environmental watchdog group Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, was dismayed by the permit, saying the benchmarks are not stringent enough to protect marine life.

“I think it would be safe to say that we are disappointed with this, even extremely disappointed with this,” he said. ”It’s really not very different from the draft permit.”

The permit sets a benchmark for copper output at 147 parts per billion (ppb) daily for all boatyards, versus the old benchmark of 38 ppb for boatyards on freshwater and 229 for those on saltwater. An Ecology water study during the winter of 2008 and 2009 showed that the levels of copper, lead and zinc were below problem levels in Lake Union and the Seattle ship canal, leading to the more lenient benchmark.

So while the new permit is considerably more lenient for freshwater boatyards, it will force boatyards on saltwater to step up efforts to curb pollutants or risk possible fines or legal action.

The permit also introduces a new benchmark for zinc of 90 ppb daily, while the limit for lead increases from 55.6 ppb to 185 ppb daily.

Gone is a proposal contained in the draft version that would have allowed struggling boatyards to request a “hardship certification” that would give them five years — the length of the permit — to install costly water treatment systems to bring pollutants down to acceptable levels. After the five-year period, those boatyards would have been subject to even more stringent pollution limits. But following objections from stakeholders who felt it was unfair to subject boatyards to different standards, the provision was scrapped.

Instead, boatyards that are unable to meet benchmarks can submit a self-declared hardship certification to Ecology and must specify how much time they need to purchase water treatment systems. Ecology would then establish a compliance schedule with reporting and monitoring requirements.

Ecology notes that boatyard data showed an average of 400 ppb of copper in water discharges in 2005, dropping to 100 ppb in 2009.

“Permitted boatyards are already decreasing the amount of copper coming off their sites, so we think the new permit requirements are doable. Reducing toxic chemicals is important to the health of Puget Sound,” said Kelly Susewind, manager of Ecology’s Water Quality Program.

Appeal not ruled out

Wilke said PSA  is still reviewing the permit and has not yet decided what action to take, if any. He said PSA had hoped the new permit would include stricter benchmarks proposed in 2008 as part of an agreement struck between PSA and NMTA after both sides appealed the last Boatyard General Permit, issued in 2005.

The appeal went before the state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board, which issued a judgment that called for stricter benchmarks and required that they be “water-quality” based — dictated by the impact of pollutants on marine life — rather than “technology-based,” determined by what can be achieved through water treatment methods currently available.

Under their agreement PSA and NMTA agreed on a copper benchmark of 29 ppb daily. That was included in a draft modification to the 2005 permit, but Ecology decided not to modify the permit after an economic impact study found that more than 20 percent of boatyards could not afford to install water treatment systems, which can cost upward of $100,000.

Instead, the department issued the new draft permit in May with less stringent, technology-based benchmarks.

“Ecology has never implemented (the Pollution and Control Hearings Board) order, and that’s disturbing to us,” Wilke said.

In written comments about the draft permit, the National Marine Fisheries Office said the proposed benchmarks for copper and zinc do not go far enough to protect salmon and other marine life. “We do not believe these proposed benchmark levels avoid more than minor detrimental effects to salmon and steelhead,” wrote Steven Landino, the Fisheries state director for habitat conservation.

The Environmental Protection Agency, while recognizing the efforts boatyards have made to reduce pollution levels, also said in its written comments that the proposed copper benchmark “are insufficient to ensure that stormwater discharges from boatyards meet copper water quality standards and avoid or minimize adverse affects to salmon.”

Wilke also questioned why the boatyard permit has more lenient benchmarks than the state’s Industrial Stormwater General Permit, which covers a wide range of industries ranging from construction to manufacturing.

“Why would copper be less toxic in a boatyard situation versus an industrial situation?” Wilke said. “There really is no strong argument for that.”

Harris has said that an appeal of the boatyard permit would put boatyards in limbo, making it difficult for them to get financing to install water treatment systems. Wilke said PSA is not ready to comment on whether it might appeal the permit.

“We understand that an appeal is disruptive and it doesn’t give much certainty to the industry,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we were hoping Ecology would better respond to our concerns and the concerns of others.”

About Deborah Bach

Deborah Bach is the editor and co-founder of Three Sheets Northwest. She is an avid sailor and long-time professional journalist. You can find Deborah aboard Three Sheets, an Island Packet 38, with her husband Marty and their cat Lily.

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