On September 30, 2024, the Department of Environmental Quality received Robert Hodson’s petition to initiate a new regulatory rulemaking on ocean-class passenger cruise ships. Specifically, this petition requests that the DEQ and the Commonwealth develop new regulations for cruise ships in Virginia waters as follows: (1) Mandate the use of low-sulphur fuel, (2) Ban the use of Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (open-loop scrubbers), (3) Require the use of shore power, (4) Restrict the dumping of graywater, blackwater, and other environmentally detrimental waste products, and (5) Require incident reporting and independent monitoring to ensure compliance.

A copy of the full petition is available from the point of contact for this petition.

A 21-day public comment period is being announced in the Virginia Register of Regulations. Upon completion of the public comment period, the State Water Control Board will consider the petition at a future meeting and decide whether or not to move forward with the rulemaking.

At the December 4, 2024, meeting of the State Water Control Board, staff presented the Board with information on the petition and a summary of the comments received on the petition during the public comment period.  The State Water Control Board voted to not initiate a rulemaking in response to the petition.  The rational for denying the petition is as follows:

Sewage discharges from cruise ships are currently regulated by federal and state regulation under the EPA’s VGP, 40 CFR 140, and Regulations Governing the Discharge of Sewage and Other Wastes from Boats (9VAC25-71).  These regulations include applicable monitoring and reporting requirements and entities are subject to federal enforcement actions for noncompliance. EPA has adopted additional requirements, effective October 2024, pursuant to VIDA, which when implemented by the USCG will limit the Board’s ability to adopt more stringent requirements.

State regulations prohibit the discharge of untreated sewage from vessels with installed toilets and marine sanitation devices and require that sewage and other wastes from self-contained portable toilets or other containment devices be removed at pump-out facilities or treated at Virginia Department of Health-approved facilities. In addition, state regulation prohibits the discharge of "other wastes” from any vessel into state water, as well as designates and sets requirements for NDZs, including five established in the regulation. The USCG, the Virginia Marine Police and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources are the state enforcing authorities for Virginia’s NDZs however, any law enforcement officer in Virginia has the authority to enforce an NDZ.

At the national level, EPA’s VGP, which regulates incidental discharges from cruise ships and other vessels, remains enacted while EPA’s superseding VIDA regulations are being developed and will be implemented in two years. For example, EPA sets effluent limits and analytical monitoring for discharge categories, including exhaust gas scrubber wastewater discharges, under the VGP for pollutants such as pH, PAHs, turbidity, oils, nitrates and nitrites, and metals.  Additionally, EPA and the USCG regulate the discharge of sewage from vessels.

Furthermore, cruise ships are subject to national and international law and treaty, and changes to pollution controls are continually being pursued through those venues. EPA participates on the United States delegation to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is part of the United Nations. The Marine Environment Protection Committee is a group of member states within IMO that works on the prevention of marine pollution.

The Board has limited ability to go beyond these promulgated national and international existing legal requirements apart from applying to EPA for additional NDZs for waters requiring greater environmental protection. MARPOL and EPA’s VGP, as well as the forthcoming VIDA regulations, preempt state laws and regulations but provide some provision for a state to apply for NDZs.

The federal Clean Water Act and the State Water Control Law both provide for a process to establish a NDZ if certain criteria are met. However, the State Water Control Law limits the Board's authority to adopt regulations to establish NDZs unless "premised on the improvement of impaired tidal creeks" (Section 62.1-44.33 B of the Code of Virginia).