The flex at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) these days is flexibility, and the agency wants fishermen to know that they have options when it comes to meeting Tier IV requirements. When fishermen decide to build a new boat and need more power than the 803 horsepower limit on EPA Tier III engines, they can apply for a waiver that will allow them to install a higher horsepower Tier III engine.
“It’s on a case-by-case basis,” says EPA Region 1 administrator Mark Sanborn. “We work with the boat builder to see if the engine meets the waiver requirements.”
According to Sanborn, the rule change allowing Tier IV requirement waiver went into effect in 2020. “In June, the folks at Wesmac [Wesmac Custom Boats in Surry, Maine] contacted us about installing an exempt 1000-hp engine in a boat that they were building for a fisherman in Chatham, Massachusetts,” Sanborn explains that the EPA Implementation, Analysis and Compliance Division of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality looked at things like the vessel’s operating profile, the depth of its home harbor, the size of its holding tanks and the areas where the owner would be fishing, and made the determination that he was eligible for a waiver.
With Wesmac cleared to build a Wesmac Super 46—a 46.75-foot by 17.16-foot boat—and install an exempt engine, the EPA is eager to get the word out. “Since EPA’s marine Tier 4 regulations were adopted in 2008, the lobster industry’s needs have changed, including boats requiring more engine power to reach lobster populations. Following concerns from the lobster industry, EPA adopted an exemption for certain boats needing relief from Tier 4 requirements beginning in 2024,” says a July 22nd press release issued by the agency’s Region 1 office.
“Our mission is to protect the environment,” says Sanborn. “But we also want to be sensitive to the needs of the community.” Sanborn points out that the EPA has heard from the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and other organizations seeking relief from regulations that would require new lobsterboats to have Tier IV engines with bulky aftertreatment systems that can increase the engine footprint by as much as 50 percent, not including DEF storage tanks. “We hear them, and now I think we have a path forward,” he says. “We understand that Tier IV doesn’t work for many fishing boats, not just New England lobsterboats. This is nationwide.”
The purpose of the press release and media outreach, Sanborn notes, is to let fishermen and boatbuilders know that the EPA is flexible on Tier IV, and ready to work with them to make sure they can build the boats they need without having to jump through impossible hoops. He expresses the agency’s belief that it can meet its core mission while also accommodating the fishing industry’s needs. “It’s not just about protecting business,” says Sanborn. “It’s about protecting a culture.”
