Good news! A new round of funding to help our counties deal with the issue of derelict vessels.
The state Department of Natural Resources will receive additional funding to address derelict vessels under a measure signed by Gov. Jay Inslee this week. Senate Bill 6528, sponsored by Sen. Liz Lovelett (D-Anacortes), will strengthen the program addressing the problem of sunken or neglected boats in Washington’s waters. (San Juan Islander)
Inslee signs bill to strengthen derelict vessel prevention program
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: derelict vessel, DNR, environmental, Jay Inslee, law, Puget Sound |
This is great news – especially because it removes the cap on what DNR can spend on derelict vessels in a budget cycle allowing them to take care of more potenitally polluting vessels each year. Yes! The one downside, thanks to our current pandemic, is that funding was removed from the bill on signing for an innovative vessel recycling pilot program that our very own Northwest Maritime Center has been working on developing and would have been the lead on.
I have been working on this project for 18 months and have developed a program – modeled after one being used successfully by the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association – to collect, strip and shred derelict and abandoned fiberglass boat hulls and then to used the shredded recyclate as a fuel in concrete kilns. Trials on the east coast found that this fuel actually slightly recuded to the emissions coming out of the stacks of concrete plants in addition to getting rid of junk boats.
Overall, what was left in the bill are great steps forward for an important state program. Thanks for sharing, – Heidi Eisenhour