28 February 2013

Coasties publish an Interim rule to enforce MARPOL. but they still want comments

So a revision of the international agreement on marine pollution -- a/k/a/ MARPOL -- went into effect on 1 January 2013.  The Coasties either knew this was coming but couldn't get their act together to allow comments  before this shtuff became international law* or they figured that the industry would make their lives complicated if they knew what was coming (because the light-blue-suiters can be relied upon to make the standards tougher for the US industry than is required for the international industry.

Nonetheless, comments are invited. 

* Of  note, international law is legal in the US because we decide it is.  Vide: STCW.  The original convention was ratified by the Senate.  Since then (STCW 95 and STCW 2010) they've been an adjustment in code which is a subterfuge that allows USCG to enforce what are essentially new conventions without paying attention to that Pesky ConstitutionAnd, for good or for ill, the Senate hasn't the intestinal fortitude to tell them that decision isn't theirs. 

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