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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Environmental coalition threatens ballast-water lawsuit

A coalition of environmental groups have reportedly raised the possibility a lawsuit against a proposed ballast-water regulation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding the Great Lakes and what the environmentalists claim are continued threats of invasive species finding their way into the waters there.

Ocean-going ships are required to exchange the ballast water they use for stability at sea, and the latest EPA proposal calls for the installation of new technologies that the federal agency claims would provide better treatment of ballast tanks, scrubbing them of harmful species like zebra mussels.

The Environmental Advocates coalition, composed of the National Resources Defense Council, Great Lakes United, National Wildlife Federation, Northwest Environmental Advocates the Alliance for the Great Lakes, issues a 34-page critique of the EPA’s proposed vessel general permit ruling doesn’t go far enough to ensure all organisms are killed.

"The EPA's new proposed permit isn't tough enough to prevent the next harmful invader from slipping into our waters," Thom Cmar, an attorney for the NRDC.

"Half-measures will not cut it," said Marc Smith of the National Wildlife Federation. "We have solutions. It is time to use them."

The American Great Lakes Ports Association contends shipping companies need more time to install new technologies beyond the current proposed timeline of between 2014 and 2016.

"You can only ask the shipping companies to do what is possible. The longer we keep debating what these rules are going to be, the longer no one does anything. We've gotten to the point where we're making the perfect the enemy of the good," said Steve Fisher, executive director of the ports group to the Wall Street Journal.

The following media sources were used for this story:

online.wsj.com

www.usatoday.com