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The U.S. Coast Guard is preparing regulations to implement and enforce vessel incidental discharge standards. The Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA), signed into law on December 4, 2018, as Title IX of the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, established a new regulatory framework for managing discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels. Under VIDA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for developing national performance standards for vessel discharges, while the U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with prescribing, administering, and enforcing regulations to ensure compliance with these standards. The proposed regulations would harmonize federal, state, and local regulations, and establish a unified compliance framework while eliminating the inefficiencies of the current compliance regime. These regulations are required to implement EPA’s national performance standards for incidental vessel discharges, which were published on October 9, 2024.

Overall Description of Deadline: 3 U.S.C. 1322(p)(5)(A)(i) requires the Secretary to promulgate the rule no later than 2 years after the EPA promulgated the discharge standards (on October 9, 2024; 89 FR 82074).