California adopts federal ballast water discharge standards

The Commission has adopted regulatory amendments that will implement the federal ballast water discharge standards for vessels arriving at California ports, among other provisions. These changes will become effective on January 1, 2022. The adopted regulations amend sections 2291, 2292, 2293, 2294, 2295, 2296, and 2297 of Article 4.7 of Title 2, Division 3, Chapter 1 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR).

These amended regulations:

• Incorporate the federal ballast water discharge standards and implementation schedule into California law (2 CCR Section 2293 (a)).
• Delay the compliance dates for the existing interim and final California ballast water discharge performance standards to 2030 and 2040, respectively (2 CCR Sections 2293 (b) and (c)).
• Establish operational monitoring and recordkeeping requirements for vessels that use a ballast water treatment system to meet ballast water discharge performance standards (2 CCR Sections 2295 and 2297).
• Authorize Commission staff to collect ballast water and sediment samples for research purposes and compliance assessment (2 CCR Section 2294).

Please visit our Article 4.7 information sheet for more details on these regulatory changes.

Our team will deliver two webinars to increase understanding of the new requirements and to answer questions from interested parties. Both webinars will be recorded and posted on the Commission’s website.