EPA VGP Annual Report

 Under the first Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Vessel General Permit (VGP), an annual report was only required to report non-compliance. Under the current 2013 VGP, an annual report is required to be submitted for all vessels covered by the permit, which includes all commercial vessels 79 feet and greater, operating in U.S. waters, including the three mile territorial sea. The first annual report, which will cover calendar year 2014, is due on February 28, 2015. The annual report is included as Appendix H to the 2013 VGP and is three pages long. You can read it over to get an idea of the type of information you will have to submit, but the actual completion and submission of the annual report must be done online.

If you go to the EPA VGP Monitoring and Reporting page, it will refer you to the "eNOI" System page to complete the annual report. The Vessel eNOI page will lead you into the eNOI System. However, you may want to scroll down that page first and see the links for the Annual Report Webinar to prepare yourself. When you click on the eNOI page it will tell you, you must first register with the Central Data Exchange (CDX), if you haven't done so already. If you are already overwhelmed, just wait until you start filling in the report. This is a complicated, time consuming process. Congratulations to those who have already completed it. To the rest of you, a friendly reminder, you only have three weeks left.