Today Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced legislation to extend a permanent exemption for incidental runoff from small commercial fishing boats.

The EPA regulation is written in such a way that fishing boats could be penalized for deck runoff on rainy days. The severity of the effect the rule would have on coastal communities has led to two three-year exemptions.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) would eliminate the need to revisit the moratorium every three years.