New York environmental officials have backpedaled away from stringent ballast water regulations the maritime industry said would stop Great Lakes international shipping in its tracks.
The proposed standards limited the number of live organisms in certain volumes of water. They would have made cargo ships cleanse ballast water at a level 100 times stronger than current international standards before releasing it. The industry said that the technology does not exist to comply with this requirement, which would have been effective August 2013.
Shipping companies were concerned the new policy would disrupt operations at the NY/NJ port and totally shut down commercial traffic between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic, since the new policy would prohibit vessels without the mandated technology from traversing through New York and on to the St.
Lawrence River, gateway to the Great Lakes.
Environmental groups assert the international standards are too weak, and that clean-water requirements must be 100 to 1,000 times stronger to kill all organisms in ballast water.
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