Ruling: Ship Ballast discharges fall under Clean Water Act; EPA Compelled to Act
July 24, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Source: Duluth News Tribune
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled in favor of environmental groups pushing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate ship ballast discharges under the Clean Water Act.
The decision upholds 2005 and 2006 lower court rulings that the EPA must begin enforcing the Clean Water Act for all ship discharges starting Sept. 30 this year. The EPA and shipping interests had challenged the lower court rulings.
… The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is moving forward based on the court rulings to regulate ships’ ballast discharges in Minnesota waters of Lake Superior, requiring permits of all ballasted ships on Sept. 30 and gradually requiring ships to treat ballast water over the next eight years.
