March 2004 - NC Marine TradeWinds Newsletter
SBTDC NC Marine Trades Services
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Warning for All Resin Boat Builders and Manufacturers! Marina Fuel Storage Regulations Made Easy At New EPA Web Site New Environmental Permitting Process Means Faster Turnaround Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Dredging Update Marina Spill – Products for Quick Clean Up Post Office Box 406 @ 28516 Always Open for that $25 Check
Warning
for All Resin Boat Builders and Manufacturers! The
answer was “If you have a spray gun, you have the potential
to emit more than 10 tons (20,000 lbs.) of a hazardous air pollutant
(HAP) per year and you need a state permit”. My
question was “the small volume builders don’t have to worry about a
Title V permit, right”? Wrong. Even the smaller fiberglass boatbuilders
will need a Title V permit – modified to reflect your facility’s
operation conditions that will keep it under the 10 tons.
(Thanks to Richard Higgins, HK Research and American Composites
Manufacturers Association board member, for the information and
clarification). On August 21, 2004
the National Emission
Standard for Hazardous
Air Pollutants (NESHAP) takes effect. If your company does not have a valid Title V permit, you may
be forced to quit manufacturing until you get one. Your company would then be compelled to comply with the
complicated “New Source Rules” and you don’t want that. EPA
considers a facility’s Potential To Emit
(PTE) to be based on continuous operation for 365 days per year (8760
hours per year).
Marina
Fuel Storage Regulations Made Easy At New EPA Web Site The BoatU.S. Foundation has partnered with
the EPA to help marina owners demystify the environmental regulation
compliance by creating a web resource on marina fuel spill prevention and
control. Applicable to any marina in the U.S., a simple worksheet allows a
marina owner or operator to easily review the requirements and determine
whether or not their facility needs a SPCC plan. Go to www.EPA.Gov/region5oil/marinas to access the information. There is a
sample SPILL PREVENTION, CONTROL AND COUNTERMEASURES (SPCC) PLAN on the
site. The value is that a marina owner can use the information to
anonymously ascertain whether this regulation applies to your business. It
is focused on EPA region 5 (our region is 4), but the issues and
requirements are the same. You can find more specifics for North Carolina
on our Business Assistance Tab on NCwaterways.com.
New
Environmental Permitting Process Means Faster Turnaround Southeastern NC business owners may be able to save
time/money through the recently established “one-stop express permit
review”. This is a coordination pilot program for Brunswick,
Carteret, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, and Pender counties. The
permits and certifications currently part of the one-stop
express program are: coastal stormwater permits;
water quality wetland certifications;
stream origin determinations; erosion and sedimentation control
plans; and permits required by the Coastal Area Management Act. Through the new express program, customers can get
quicker permit decisions and certifications, pre-application consultation
to identify necessary environmental requirements, a more predictable
project timeline, and coordination throughout the permitting process. If
multiple permits are required for a project, a permit team would
concurrently review applications. Program participation is voluntary, and
interested customers will pay
higher fees for the services. Permit fees range from $200
to $4000, with a cap of $5,500 for multiple permits. The higher
fees will be used to support extra staff dedicated
to the express review. To learn more about express permitting visit www.envhelp.org/1stopexpress.pdf.
To participate in the one-stop express permitting program, e-mail denr.permits@ncmail.net
or contact Cameron Weaver at 910-395-3900.
Atlantic
Intracoastal Waterway Dredging Update No
magic solution has yet presented itself. The importance of this problem
must be conveyed to members of Congress by every business and individual
adversely affected by the ongoing loss of waterways access. The only
solution is to have funding reinstated to the Corps of Engineers for the
expressed purpose of dredging the AIWW for commercial and recreational
boating. See last month’s NC Marine TradeWinds newsletter for
contact information on our website. Find updated information and national
lobby activity contacts on our www.ncwaterways.com/BusinessAssistance
site. Individual business owner involvement is critical.
Just like spring cleaning, it is time to have marinas
ready for customers. Jim Shepard of Powerboating, prepared a
logical list for boaters to evaluate marinas and it works well as a
checklist to ready your marina for the season ahead. The full list runs at
http://powerboat.about.com/cs/portsmarinas/a/checklist.htm. The high points
are: 1) Is grass trimmed, are the docks clear of obstructions and the
bathrooms spotless? 2) Is there a first class pump-out facility that
really works and is easily accessible? 2) Are the docks, piers and pilings
in good repair? 3) Are the cleats large enough, and are they securely
attached to the dock? 4) Is the electrical system neat, up to date and up
to code? 5) Are there life rings, with lines attached, at no more than
200-foot intervals? 7) Are there emergency phone numbers clearly posted in
order to reach authorities, emergency services and personnel in charge? 8)
Are there fire extinguishers provided and placed where needed? 9) Are
there NO SMOKING signs posted on the fuel dock? Are the DOs and DON’Ts
of fueling clearly posted on the fuel dock? The Shepard list can be found
at the web address above – and don’t forget the NC Clean Marina
BMP’s at Clean
Marina Best Management Practices
on our
website.
Marina
Spill – Products for Quick Clean Up Last summer’s MOAA Messages had an article on cleaning
oil, fuel, sewage, and other problem spills with the product MicroSorb (www.microsorb.com.) These
are hydrocarbon-digesting microbes that, according to the article by the
professional marine consultant Gene Spinazola (207-336-9147), “convert a
wide assortment of unwanted fuel, oil, and grease into carbon dioxide,
water, and beneficial fatty acids that are food sources for fish, and
marine plant life.” These appear to have advantage for at-dock control
and breakup of minor oil and fuel spills. Other products include:
SpillAway products,
(www.spillaway.com), MYCELX www.mycelx.com and OBT® Oil
Degradation Treatment (www.united-tech.com/m-obt-toc.html).
Numerous
NC marine businesses are in ownership transition now and a buy/sell
agreement should be an important component of these (and existing)
businesses involving more than one owner, almost regardless of business
type. These agreements
provide “an orderly continuation of the ownership and control of the
business” under circumstances such as death, exit plans of one partner,
divorce, bankruptcy of an owner, etc. The agreement can “prevent
unwanted outsiders from becoming owners … and eliminate the need for
negotiations with surviving spouses and / or children.” This agreement
is often used in conjunction with life and disability insurance policies
… for the purpose of outstanding ownership interests. The
quotes above are from a summary article in the August 2003 Marine
Business Journal. It is by David Mandell and Christopher Jarvis who
co-authored the book, “Wealth Protection …” (www.mywealthprotection.com).
The article points out the importance of involving a lawyer
experienced in creating this type of agreement and the use of an
appropriate business appraisal firm that can provide and upgrade the
valuation of the business.
Post
Office Box 406 @ 28516 Always Open
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The Marine Trades Services is a program of the Small Business Technology Development Center (SBTDC). The SBTDC is a business development service of The University of North Carolina operated in partnership with the US Small Business Administration.