it comes in pints?

Stupid environmentalists

But I repeat myself.

I'm not a boater. I would kind of like to be one but I have neither the time nor the spare cash to do it properly. And, unlike real boaters, to me a boat is just a way to get to the fish.

Still, I greatly dislike overbearing regulations. More, I hate stupidly-crafted regulations, especially those handed down by unelected judges. Like this one.

Rougher waters for boaters?
U.S. may impose a $1,500 yearly environmental fee.
By M.S. Enkoji - Bee Staff Writer

Sonny Cline pays to license his 22-foot Regal cuddy cabin boat, pays to rent a slip on the Sacramento River and pays taxes on extras like the water space he uses.

How would he feel about forking over more money for a federal environmental permit, maybe $1,500 a year by one estimate?

"Oh, you're kidding? That is insane," Cline said.

Owners of the country's 18 million recreation boats might agree.

So would many of the rest of us. At least, those of us not blinded by stupidity and ideology.

A ruling in a federal lawsuit being heard in California could require new permits on all vessels -- possibly everything from canoes and kayaks to oceangoing cargo ships -- according to recreation boating advocates.

Canoes and kayaks? Fucking canoes and kayaks? Given the reason this idiotic judgment was made, that is fucking ludicrous.

Several environmental groups in Oregon and California have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, charging that, by not enforcing the 1972 Clean Water Act properly, it failed to stop the invasion of destructive, foreign marine life, such as zebra mussels in the Great Lakes region and Chinese mitten crabs in the Delta and the Bay Area.

The invasive species hitchhike in the 21 billion gallons of ship ballast taken in at distant ports and dumped annually around U.S. shores, according to environmental groups.

A very reliable source as always, I'm sure. But I won't quibble over their number, only their brain power.

A judge in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in September ordered the EPA to create a permit process by September 2008 for vessels that dispense effluent.

The federal agency and the shipping industry tried to confine the permit process to ocean vessels that take on ballast.

The court instead issued a sweeping order that extended to any vessel that discharges any fluid, including the typical 15-foot boat purchased for nothing more than puttering down the Delta on weekends, said Duncan Neasham, a spokesman for the National Marine Manufacturers Association in Washington, D.C.

"Effluent is anything that comes off a boat," he said. "If you spill a Coke or wash your boat down, or carry a bottle of water on your kayak, you might be included."

In the words of a great American, "the law is a ass".

Okay, so he wasn't American, it still holds.

The industry is hoping that Congress will pass a law before the deadline that would largely exempt recreational boaters, Neasham said.

Gawd, I would hope so.

Environmental groups, including the San Francisco-based Baykeeper, argue in court documents that 10,000 marine species trek the globe via ballast, causing annual economic losses as high as $137 billion, double the yearly damage by natural disasters in the United States.

I'm having difficulty remembering the last canoe, or even bass boat, that "trekked the globe".

Congress has never been moved to create a law that specifically targets domestic-traveling recreational vessels, meaning it should support one that excludes them, Podlich said.

Okay, in fairness to the environazis, that is a complete non sequitur.

But speaking of non sequiturs... well, no, speaking of lies and stupidities:

Fears of burdensome fees and cumbersome government permits imposed on recreational vehicles are unfounded, said Deb Self, executive director of Baykeeper, a citizens advocacy group that protects waterways in the Delta and Bay Area.

"We have no way of knowing what the permit process will be," she said.

Wow, that makes me feel better. "Your fears are unfounded because we don't know what some idiot judge will do."

Actually, I'm afraid I do know what some judge will do. And given what I've seen of environazis, I am not assured in the least that they do not mean ill toward all boaters and do not welcome a ruling that penalizes recreational boaters. Even kayakers.

Posted by Ken S at March 30, 2007 07:05 PM | TrackBack (0) |