Meeting on Ballast Water

Bulk carrier off Coos Bay's North Spit.\Photo by Mike Graybill.

Once upon a time, Oregon didn’t regulate the discharge of ballast water by vessels visiting our ports, and this resulted in countless invasive species being introduced in our estuaries. Oregon Shores worked in the ‘90s to get the first legislation passed that began to control this practice.

The good news is that federal legislation creates new rules that apply coastwide. The bad news is that Oregon’s current regulations could expire before the federal rules take hold. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is holding an advisory committee online on Aug. 24, 2 p.m. to address this problem.

DEQ is proposing to remove the expiration of Oregon's “exchange plus treatment" rule (OAR 340-143-0050(2)) for proper management of freshwater ballast discharge from commercial vessels while in Oregon waters. The current rule has been adopted at the federal level for application to the entire Pacific coast, but not yet put into effect. Oregon's rule expires on Dec. 19, 2023. DEQ will appoint an advisory committee to review issues related to the proposed rules.

In 2018, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act was signed into law. VIDA incorporates Oregon's exchange-plus-treatment requirement and applies it to the entire Pacific Coast. While VIDA contained a specific timeline for its rules to take effect in December, 2022, delays at the federal level have created a scenario in which the federal exchange and treatment requirement will not be in place by the time Oregon's rule expires. Oregon's rule was implemented specifically to protect the freshwater Columbia and Willamette Rivers and Coos Bay from high-risk ballast discharges in the absence of a similar federal rule.

Join by MS Teams

Or join by phone: 503 446 4951
Phone Conference ID: 510 326 768

This meeting will be open to the public. Community members may attend committee meetings, but only to observe and not to actively participate. The committee may designate time on the agenda to hear community comments as time allows. Later in this rulemaking proceeding DEQ will invite public comments on and will hold a public hearing about the proposed rules. At that time any member of the public may submit comments and participate in the public hearing.

To learn more about this rulemaking and the advisory committee, view the rulemaking web page at Ballast Water 2023.

If you want to receive future email notices about this rulemaking, sign up at GovDelivery.

You can also obtain more information about this rulemaking by contacting Joshua Emerson, (503) 502-1405, Joshua.EMERSON@deq.oregon.gov.