Countywide : Boaters Briefed on Anti-Pollution Laws

Pollution from boats, especially by hull paint emissions, was discussed at a meeting this week with an official of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

According to AQMD Planning Manager Mike Nazemi, regulations require that boats be covered with paint containing few volatile organic compounds--toxic compounds that contribute to pollution by dissolving from vessel surfaces into the water.

Other regulations include restrictions on the dumping of solvent materials by commercial and industrial operations, and a proposal that would put protective shields on all gasoline pumping hoses where boats fill their fuel tanks.

Nazemi responded to boat owners who complained that the less toxic paints are not as attractive.

“Probably, you need to make a compromise,” he said. “It may not last 10 years, it may not look as nice as you like it, but it will meet our standards. Every time you paint a boat, you contribute to smog problems.”

Boat restorer Marshall Steele of Blue Moon Marine said that the federal regulations, approved in November, 1988, have created a number of difficulties at his marina.

“Right now it eliminates a lot of the products we can use,” Steele said. “For example, the paint as it is supplied to us is in compliance, but once we get it, it has to be thinned” with paint thinners that contain the volatile chemicals.