Conservation groups warn of gaping hole in ballast water bill
July 28, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
by Dan Egan | Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A coalition of conservation groups has found what it considers a yawning hole in a bill that would require overseas freighters to install ballast treatment systems to protect the Great Lakes and other waterways from invasive species.
The 14 conservation organizations, including the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council, sent a letter Friday to Wisconsin Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl urging the Democrats to oppose the measure that has so far enjoyed widespread support.
Their worry is the legislation may supersede provisions of the Clean Water Act and insulate the shipping industry from future suits under that law.
It might also pre-empt states such as Wisconsin from taking their own actions to protect state waters from biological pollution that is costing billions of dollars in beach-trashing algae outbreaks, fish and wildlife declines and troubles for water-dependent industries in the Great Lakes region.
“A lot of us have been puzzling for some time as to why Great Lakes groups have embraced what started as an industry bill, and still has serious defects,” said Nina Bell, executive director of the Portland, Ore.-based Northwest Environmental Advocates, one of the groups that sued the EPA over the ballast issue.
Bell argues that the shipping industry supports the ballast bill because it fears having to comply with the Clean Water Act, and the language in the new bill can be interpreted to exempt ballast water from that law. That could prevent citizens and states from taking future legal action against the industry.
She noted the bill also designates the Coast Guard, not the EPA, as the lead agency for enforcing ballast regulations, and the Coast Guard has a history of ignoring congressional directives when it comes to regulating ballast discharges. Further, the bill prohibits states from passing future tougher ballast laws if they determine the federal law isn’t getting the job done. Wisconsin and Minnesota are at the moment considering such measures.
Bell also has a problem with what she said is an overly generous grace period for the shipping industry to install adequate ballast treatment technology. Under the House bill, ships that install treatment systems that accomplish what she sees as unacceptably loose protections would be exempt from having to install better systems in the following decade. In some cases, she said, that means ships could be exempt from paying for more meaningful treatment systems until 2021.
Much more to this story at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel >>
