Minnesota Targets Ballast Water
Minnesota is moving ahead with a plan to regulate ballast
water discharges from Great Lakes vessels that enter the state’s waters.
All commercial vessels - “lakers” as well as oceangoing ships
- would be required to have a permit starting in the fall. The
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency would phase in new requirements for
treating ballast water to remove invasive species.
State officials have said that a federal law regulating
ballast water discharges would be preferable, but maintain that the
state is following a 2006 federal court order requiring governments to
enforce Clean Water Act rules for ships by Oct. 1, 2008. Michigan
requires permits, but only for oceangoing vessels.
Maritime industry officials have blasted the plan. Required
testing of all ships’ ballast water may be impossible to enforce,
according to Duluth Seaway Port Authority Facilities Manager Jim
Sharrow, and “will be a quagmire that will turn ships away from our
port.”
Lake Notes
 The
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is looking at placing coaster brook
trout on the federal endangered species list. The agency will be
closely tracking the fish that are found only in the Great Lakes and
their tributaries. The Sierra Club’s Michigan Chapter and the Huron
Mountain Club sued the government to force the issue. A decision is due
by December 15.
The
Port of Duluth-Superior’s 2008 St. Lawrence Seaway navigation season
opened April 10, 2008, with arrival of the first oceangoing vessel, the
Hong Kong-flagged Gadwall.
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