GREAT LAKES BASIN NEWS©
For Immediate
Release
April 15, 2000
Contact:
Great Lakes Sport
Fishing Council
hdqtrs@great-lakes.org
dan@great-lakes.org
630-941-1351
Ph.
630-941-1196 Fax
Ballast Bill Needed in Every
State
Your help is urgently
needed.
Senate Bill SB955 is pending before the Michigan
State Legislature that would regulate ballast water exchange in its state
waters. But we need you and your state's help too.
Our Great
Lakes are within the sovereign jurisdiction
of the eight Great Lakes States and those great resources , our
tributaries and inland waters are at risk to the introduction of more
exotics through transoceanic vessels bringing in noxious and harmful
critters. The Feds won't help us protect those resources so we have to do it ourselves.
We need
you to contact your local state legislator(s) and urge them to sponsor a sister
bill similar to Michigan's SB955 that would regulate ballast exchange in your
sovereign state's waters. We can no longer depend on the Feds or EPA
to regulate ballast exchange or mandate it through the 1976 Clean Water
Act.
We've waited too long.
Our resources are at risk every
day that something isn't being done. California recently enacted a law-
the first of its kind -that make ships responsible for their ballast. So
did the state of Washington. Michigan is the 1st state in the Great
Lakes Region. Let's get eight laws enacted - one from each Great Lake
State - telling the Feds enough is enough. No more exotics in our
waters.
The National Invasive Species Act of 1996 (NISA) specifically authorizes state action in this area of regulation. 16 USCS 4725 states in part: "Nothing in this title shall affect the authority of any State or political subdivision thereof to adopt or enforce control measures for aquatic nuisance species, or diminish or affect the jurisdiction of any State over species of fish or wildlife…." (Boldface added.)
In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Maine v Taylor, (1986) held that a state’s interest in protecting its natural resources and environment is a legitimate local interest, falling well within the traditional police power of the states.
The Michigan legislation will provide state regulators with a strong new tool in its battle to control the introduction of new species and, can be used by other basin states as model legislation so that the entire basin can have a coordinated non-native species prevention plan.