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Committee debates wake-boat limits, home‑lake registration and decontamination rules
Summary
DEC and committee members debated a draft that restricts wake-boat 'wake sports mode' to designated zones, requires agency‑approved decontamination services (hot‑water, runoff controls), and adds a DMV 'wake boat/home lake' registration checkbox to support enforcement. Stakeholders asked for clear definitions and standards for decontamination sites.
The committee turned to water‑use and aquatic invasive species issues. Kevin Burke (Department of Environmental Conservation, Watershed Management Division) joined remotely to describe how DEC’s draft rules and the bill interact. Burke said municipal delegation of water‑use authority is better handled in DEC rulemaking and that the bill should avoid giving municipalities new authority to regulate fishing.
On wake boats, DEC staff clarified the bill’s focus: rather than banning wake boats, the draft restricts wake‑sports mode—the operational setting where ballast tanks are used to create large wakes—in designated zones. “There’s really the bill is in conflict with sort of…
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