# Understanding the MOTOR Act

The MOTOR Act is about giving emergency and public safety agencies an easier way to use certain boat engines without having to jump through environmental approval hoops. Right now, if a fire department, coast guard, police department, or other emergency agency wants to use a small boat engine for rescue operations or homeland security work, they have to request a special exemption from the Environmental Protection Agency's pollution rules. This bill would automatically exempt these agencies from those environmental regulations for small marine engines—specifically engines with 60 horsepower or less used on boats—without requiring them to ask for permission first.

The practical effect is that emergency responders can get their boats operational faster when they need them. Instead of waiting for EPA approval, a local fire department's rescue boat or a state emergency management agency's patrol vessel could use these smaller engines right away. The bill gives this automatic exemption to federal, state, and local agencies that handle emergency response or homeland security activities, recognizing that when there's a crisis—like a flood, hurricane, or other disaster—these agencies need to act quickly without bureaucratic delays.

The environmental impact is likely minimal since the bill only applies to small engines (60 horsepower or less) used by government emergency agencies, not commercial operations or private citizens. The EPA would have 90 days to update its regulations to make this change official. Essentially, this is a narrow carve-out designed to prioritize emergency response capabilities over pollution control requirements for a specific, limited category of government equipment.

MOTOR Act

Edwards, Chuck

Maintaining Our Tactical and Operational Response Act or the MOTOR Act This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to revise regulations to exempt from emission standards engines and equipment of certain marine vessels that are owned by emergency response or public safety agencies with responsibility for domestic response or homeland security activities.