The Washington Liveaboard Association invites you to learn more about us: liveaboard boaters, our community, and the liveaboard lifestyle.

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The WLA welcomes four new members to its

Board of Directors:

Don Aupperle

Sarah Elmore

Gary Siegel

Jim Greiner

We also welcome back Dave Krause

for an additional three year term,

and Al Hughes, appointed to fill a vacant one-year term.

Congratulations, also, to the newly-elected officers:

John Spicher, President

Ken Sargent, Vice President

Gail Luhn, Secretary-Treasurer

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Legislative Alert

The Clean Boating Act of 2008 is pending in the U.S. Senate. If enacted into law before a court-imposed September 2008 deadline, the bill, S. 2766, would fully and permanently restore a longstanding regulation that excludes recreational boaters and anglers from federal and state permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act designed for land-based industrial facilities and ocean-going commercial ships.

The permitting issue stems from a September 2006 U.S. District Court ruling that ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate ballast water discharges by September 2008. Although the litigation was aimed at ocean-going vessels, the court’s ruling struck down an exemption instituted in 1973 that also applied to the incidental discharges of recreational boats.

The WLA encourages all boaters – especially liveaboards – to learn more about the Act and to make your voice heard by our senators and representatives in Washington, D.C. Learn more here.

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Welcome aboard!