Tom Neale's Alerts on LI, NY and NC NDZ Laws

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From Tom Neale's East Coast Alerts:

BoatUS.com - Tom Neale's Cruising For You

Long Island's South Shore Estuary Now a No-Discharge Zone:
The EPA has approved the application for the South Shore (Long Island, NY) Estuary waters to become a No-Discharge Zone (NDZ). While it is already a violation of the Federal Clean Water Act for boaters to discharge untreated sewage, now treated sewage from federally approved MSDs may also not be discharged. Check BoatUS.com - Tom Neale's Cruising For You for information on what a NDZ is really about (even though this article concerned the State of Maryland, the information is relevant to other NDZ applications. After many intelligent arguments were presented at public hearings, the Maryland State Legislature did not pass the NDZ law.)
The following article sums up the attitude of the general public and the misinformation often presented by the press:
South Shore No Discharge Zone Seeks Cleaner Bays | Long Island Press The new NDZ area will be policed by various officials, and there will be fines.

North Carolina's New NDZ Law:
The North Carolina legislature recently passed a vague and poorly worded enactment which prohibits any discharge of effluent from onboard treatment devices, not only in areas designated as NDZs with adequate pumpout stations, but also in areas which have merely made application for such designation. In these areas there may be very few, if any, accessible pumpout stations. The law also requires marinas with "large" boats (with no definition of the word "large") to maintain pumpout records and boats with "marine sanitation devices" (with no reference as to which type) to have pumpout records. There are, in fact, large areas in the state where there are no pumpout facilities. The enactment authorizes a plethora of law enforcement officials, including local sheriff deputies, to police the law. The new law takes effect July 1, 2010.