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BY PETER SCHRAPPEN
The Heart of the Issues
Columnist PETER SCHRAPPEN outlines the many federal, state, and local boating issues that have crossed his desk this summer.
A day doesn’t go by when someone doesn’t ask me, “Hey Pete, what are you working on?” It’s a great question, and the answer is that it’s ever evolving. In case you find yourself wondering how I advocate for boaters and boating businesses, this is the column for you. Here’s a rundown on federal, state, and local issues that have come across my government affairs transom in recent weeks this summer.
FEDERAL
CBP dispute about cruising licenses that have expired while in
Southeast Alaska: The Customs & Border Protection (CBP) office in Southeast Alaska was requiring vessels that had expiring cruising permits to venture to the next nearest foreign port to clear customs before they could enter back into Alaska. Given that Canada is closed to recreational vessels, the next nearest foreign port was Mexico. After contacting the legislative director for U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (Alaska-Republican) and the CBP office at SeaTac Airport, CBP changed their policy and will now allow vessels to use a form 1300 to renew their licenses. We’ll count that as a win.
National Marine Fisheries Service issue impacting existing marine
facilities: Northwest Marine Trade Association and Recreational Boating Association of Washington (RBAW) continue to slog away at this issue, which impacts any marina in Puget Sound. The NMFS is calculating high mitigation costs for marina upgrades and replacements. If you are wondering why I get grumpy, then look no further than this issue. Any time a marina needs a permit from the Army Corps and NMFS, expect that project to get bottlenecked. Yes, this is the same issue that’s been going since March 2018.
STATE Release of the Boatyard Permit: Department of Ecology made news by delaying the release of this five-year permit. They are looking at a three-month delay because “We (Ecology) received substantial comments during the public comment period. We anticipate we will need additional time to consider and respond to these comments and make appropriate revisions to the final permit. As a result, when the current permit expires July 31, 2021, there will be at least three months before the new general permit is issued and becomes effective.” In the meantime, the previous permit is in effect. COUNTY Wakesurfing: Both Clallam and Snohomish Counties are looking at the future of wakesurfing on their county-administered lakes. Boaters and anti-boaters in Clallam County are using an arbitrator to determine what the future of wakesurfing looks like for Lake Sutherland. As for Snohomish County, they have hosted five community meetings to discuss the future of boating on Flowing Lake, Lake Roesiger, Lake Shoecraft, and Lake Goodwin. Stay tuned on this one as it’s a work in progress.
CITY Montlake Bridge: In March of this year, NMTA and RBAW uncovered a proposed plan to limit Montlake Bridge openings to only twice daily during August as opposed to the regular on-call process. We felt this limitation could have significant safety and operational impacts to recreational boating and jumped into action with WSDOT to negotiate an alternate plan to better accommodate boaters while ensuring bridge construction could continue. As for what will change: From August 9 through September 2, there will now be single span openings of the Montlake Bridge.
Andrews Bay: This one is a biggie for boaters. Again, the RBAW and NMTA have partnered (are you catching the theme here?) to educate boaters about how precious this boating and anchorage spot is within Lake Washington. Unfortunately, a handful of misbehaving boaters are creating undue noise and rowdy behavior. Before the city of Seattle bans boating in this cove, boating ambassadors are asking all boaters in this area to fill out a pledge card to act responsibly. Expect to see boaters patrolling the waters and serving in an ambassador capacity as we approach this issue in a peer (boater) to peer (boater) manner. (For more information on taking the pledge yourself, please visit tinyurl.com/ PledgeForAndrewsBay.)
As the great baseball announcer Mel Allen would say, “How about that?” (Seriously, how about that? Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think: peter@nmta.net.)
