Washington Bans Copper Bottom Paint

On May 4, Washington governor Chris Gregoire sounded the death knell for copper-based bottom paint in her state by signing into law a ban on the use of the product on recreational boats under 65 feet — the first state to do so. The law prohibits the sale of new boats with copper paint after January 1, 2018, and no paint with more than a half a percent of copper can be used starting in 2020.

California is close on our northern neighbor’s heels with Senate Bill 623, which would put into place a similar ban. On May 2, the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality approved the ban and sent it to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration. If made into law, the legislation would ban the sale of new boats with copper paint as of January 1, 2015, and ban the paint outright starting in 2019.

For what it’s worth, paint companies have made huge strides in developing alternatives to copper — we’ve been very satisfied with the Econea-based test paints that have been on our boat’s bottom for the last few years — but Boat U.S. has expressed concern that, since the ban applies only to rec boats and not commercial or military vessels, it "may not provide a large enough market to stimulate research and development on alternative coatings."