When it comes to federal overreach, no one does quite like the Democratic Party…and Joe Biden is no exception.
The latest stunning decision by the elite in Washington has Atlantic boaters up in arms, and with good reason.
“This would be the greatest regulatory overreach in American maritime law” — that’s how Frank Hugelmeyer describes a proposal by the Biden administration to limit the speed of all motorboats over 35 feet from Florida to Massachusetts. “Not only are they creating a serious safety issue, they are creating a massive negative economic impact.”
Hugelmeyer is president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), and he is just one of a growing number of voices expressing outrage over the proposal put forward by the U.S. Commerce Department under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
“It’s stupid,” said Jeff Angers, the president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy. “It’s not what government is supposed to do.”
The far-reaching regulation would restrict speed to 10 knots or 11.5 miles per hour for all boats over 35 feet — for up to seven months out of the year and up to 100 miles out at sea for most of the East Coast.
The rule is meant to protect the endangered right whale, although there are no record of any such interactions between these creatures and boaters in federal waters.
Furthermore, the regulations would create a safety hazard for humans.
It’s also dangerous, according to Chris Edmonston, the president of the Boat Owners Association of the United States, or Boat U.S.
Edmonston said most boats can’t get on a “plane” if they are going under 10 knots. A plane is the speed at which the bow of the boat lowers in order to cut through oncoming waves.
“The boats are designed to ride on top of the waves,” he said. “This is going to make them wallow in the waves — up and down, side to side, pitching,” he explained. “It’s going to be hard to maintain control. You can take waves over the side.”
He said larger boats are especially at risk going through channels near shore.
“They can’t maintain steerage [at 10 knots,]” he added. “If you’re going that speed you’re going to [run] aground.”
The Biden administration was also recently criticized for their inaction after a local environmental coalition suggested that Maine’s lobster industry was no longer ecologically viable due to the potential, (and as-yet-unproven), danger to right whales.
