EPA Vessel General Permit
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Armstrong Marine Consulting
Vessel surveys and inspections
US Coast Guard regulations
Sub M, ISM & ISPS Audits
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2013 Vessel General Permit (VGP) will remain in effect until the EPA and US
Coast Guard jointly implement the new Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA).
VIDA phases out provisions of the Vessel General Permit and existing US Coast Guard regulations over a 4-year period
(anticipated in 2022) by:
- Establishing uniform standards for the management of discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel.
- Charging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with responsibility to establish standards relating to the
discharge of pollutants from vessels. (What's to be enforced.)
- Charging the USCG with responsibility for prescribing, administering and enforcing regulations consistent with the new
EPA regulatory standards. (Enforcement.)
Owners/Operators must be compliant with the existing VGP until the new regulations are published. Expect the new
regulations are to be at least as strict as the existent VGP.
Vessels of 300 gross tons or more or have the ability to hold or discharge more than 8 cubic meters (2113 gallons) of ballast
must submit an Notice of Intent (NOI) in order to receive permit coverage. If your vessel is less than 300 gross tons and your
vessel does not have the capacity to hold or discharge more than 8 cubic meters (2113 gallons) of ballast water, you do not
need to submit an NOI. However, you must complete the PARI form found in Appendix K of the VGP, and keep a copy of that
form on board your vessel at all times. In either case, you must perform the required routine, dry dock and annual
inspections.
Contact us if you need assistance setting up your inspection, training and record-keeping program.
VGP covers the following discharges:
1. Deck Runoff and Above Water Line Hull Cleaning
2. Bilgewater/Oily Water Separator Effluent
3. Discharges of Ballast Water
4. Anti-fouling Hull Coatings/Hull Coating Leachate
5. Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF)
6. Boiler/Economizer Blowdown
7. Cathodic Protection
8. Chain Locker Effluent
9. Controllable Pitch Propeller and Thruster Hydraulic Fluid and other Oil to Sea Interfaces including Lubrication
discharges from Paddle Wheel Propulsion, Stern Tubes, Thruster Bearings, Stabilizers, Rudder Bearings, Azimuth
Thrusters, Propulsion Pod Lubrication, and Wire Rope and Mechanical Equipment Subject to Immersion
10. Distillation and Reverse Osmosis Brine
11. Elevator Pit Effluent
12. Firemain Systems
13. Freshwater Layup
14. Gas Turbine Wash Water
15. Graywater
16. Motor Gasoline and Compensating Discharge
17. Non-Oily Machinery Wastewater
18. Refrigeration and Air Condensate Discharge
19. Seawater Cooling Overboard Discharge (including non-contact engine cooling water; hydraulic system cooling water,
refrigeration cooling water)
20. Seawater Piping Biofouling Prevention
21. Boat Engine Wet Exhaust
22. Sonar Dome Discharge
23. Underwater Ship Husbandry Discharges
24. Welldeck Discharges
25. Graywater Mixed with Sewage from Vessels
26. Exhaust Gas Scrubber Washwater Discharge
27. Fish Hold Effluent
- Oil transfer procedures
- SOPEPs
- Vessel Response Plans
- Consulting
- Analysis
- Surveys
- Advice