; and (ii) the owner or operator did not willfully or recklessly cause such damage; or (C) the ballast water is discharged solely for the purpose of avoiding or minimizing a discharge from the commercial vessel of a pollutant that would violate an applicable Federal or State law. (4) Limitation on requirements In establishing requirements under this subsection, the Secretary may not require the installation of a ballast water management system on a commercial vessel that— (A) carries all of its ballast water in sealed tanks that are not subject to discharge; or (B) discharges ballast water solely into a reception facility described in section 7. (b) Applicability (1) Covered vessels Except as provided in paragraph (2), subsection (a) shall apply to any commercial vessel that is designed, constructed, or adapted to carry ballast water while such commercial vessel is operating in navigable waters of the United States. (2) Exempted vessels Subsection (a) shall not apply to a commercial vessel— (A) that continuously takes on and discharges ballast water in a flow-through system, if such system does not introduce aquatic nuisance species into navigable waters of the United States, as determined by the Secretary; (B) that operates exclusively within a geographically limited area; (C) that operates pursuant to a geographic restriction issued as a condition under section 3309 of title 46, United States Code, or an equivalent restriction issued by the country of registration of the commercial vessel; (D) in the National Defense Reserve Fleet that is scheduled to be disposed of through scrapping or sinking; (E) that discharges ballast water consisting solely of water taken aboard from a public or commercial source that, at the time the water is taken aboard, meets the applicable regulations or permit requirements for such source under the Safe Drinking Water Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.)