Clean Hull Act Of 2009
Floor Speech
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Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentleman.
And the Maersk fleet of Denmark now carrying 13,000 containers on vessels a thousand feet in length, and other behemoths that ply the waters. And they are all accumulating these organisms and this tributyltin material being applied to the hulls. And it's all being sloughed off into the oceans
So while we are, as a flag-carrier nation, small in the picture, our leadership is still huge. We have to take this step, this important step to prevent the continued pollution of the oceans and of their marine life within it so that some day we can return to Coleridge and find the ocean deep, dark, heaving, endless, and mysterious; and clean, inhabitable, useful for itself and for humanity.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3618, the ``Clean Hull Act of 2009''. I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), the Ranking Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Cummings and Ranking Member LoBiondo for their bipartisan support of this much needed legislation.
Enacting H.R. 3618 will make the necessary changes in U.S. law to comply with the requirements of the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Antifouling Systems on Ships (Convention), which was adopted by the International Maritime Organization in October 2001 and entered into force on September 17, 2008.
Biological fouling is the unwanted accumulation of microorganisms, plants, and animals on structures that are exposed to the marine environment. Fouling can accelerate corrosion on a vessel's hull and on offshore and coastal marine structures. Antifouling is the process of removing or preventing the accumulation of biological fouling organisms.
In less than six months, a deep draft tank vessel's hull can accumulate up to 6,000 tons of fouling material if it is not treated with an antifouling application. Such fouling can cause significant economic and environmental impacts by increasing a vessel's fuel consumption by up to 40 percent. Biological fouling has also been a conduit for the transfer of invasive species into ecosystems.
Over the past 50 years, there have been a number of antifouling substances used to treat structures, but the most toxic to date has been tributyltin (TBT). Over time, TBT has been found in marine animals (including dolphins and whales) and in the waters of marinas, ports, harbors, open seas, and oceans. TBT has caused significant environmental and monetary impact by causing shell deformations in oysters, and neurotoxic and genetic effects in other marine species.
Since 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency has prohibited the sale or application of paints containing TBT in the United States by enforcing the Organotin Anti-Fouling Paint Control Act of 1988 (OAPCA). In OAPCA, organotin-based antifouling paints are prohibited on some vessels less than 25 meters and the leaching rate of antifouling paints on larger vessels is limited.
H.R. 3618 will ban all vessels using antifouling paint containing TBT from entering the United States, further protecting our marine environment from this dangerous chemical. It also prohibits a person from selling or distributing organotin or an antifouling system containing organotin and from applying an antifouling system containing organotin on any ship to which H.R. 3618 applies.
H.R. 3618 will give the Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency the authority to ban foreign-flag ships from entering the United States if they have their hulls covered with paint containing TBT. The Convention will ultimately replace the OAPCA.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3618, the ``Clean Hull Act of 2009''.
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