Rubio, Murkowski Introduce Legislation To Protect Small Commercial Vessels From Onerous EPA Regulations: 1.usa.gov/1p1xsps Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), the Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and the Coast Guard, and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) today introduced a bill to temporarily exempt small commercial vessels from unnecessary regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for one year. Given that the current small commercial vessels exemption from proposed EPA regulations expires on December 18, 2014, this bill aims to protect small vessels from these regulations until broader legislation, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, can be passed in the new Congress. “We need to provide all shippers and other vessel owners engaged in interstate commerce with greater certainty that an overreaching and increasingly unaccountable EPA won’t crush their businesses with burdensome regulations,” said Rubio. “While I remain committed to passing broader legislation that addresses more of the problems the EPA is unnecessarily causing commercial vessel owners, this Congress should at least pass this temporary relief measure until we can pass a permanent solution next year. Once the new Congress convenes, one of the first pieces of legislation I will file will be these critical protections for our fishing and shipping fleet.”
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 18:51:58 +0000