Legislative Action United States Ratification of Annex V of the MARPOL Convention: A Significant Yet Unsung Achievement

By Barbara Walbridge Fleck

Fleck is addressing the problem of marine pollution caused by plastics. After a brief overview of the costs of marine plastics pollution, the author goes into the history of legislative efforts in this area. Noting that before the MARPOL Convention the dumping of plastics was regulated only by the Refuse Act of 1899, the author then launches into the legislative history of the ratification of Annex V of the MARPOL convention as well as what it regulates: dumping of all plastics as well as garbage and food wastes within twelve miles of a shore. The article then addresses the politics and costs of the ratification and tries to explain the fourteen years that passed between the negotiation of the Convention and the ratification by the Senate. One of the key points here is that the U.S. held off on ratification in order to make the international climate more hospitable to amendments to the Annex. Fleck also talks about the implementing legislation of the Annex: the Marine Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987. The main point about this act is that it does more than is required by Annex V, including calling for several research studies. The author concludes on an optimistic note regarding the open-ended approach that Congress took and the possibility of future action.