GLIN==> Invasive Species Settlement: New Ballast Water Permit Should Help Protect American Coasts, Lakes and Rivers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Press contacts:     Josh Mogerman, Natural Resources Defense Council,
312-651-7909 

                                Jordan Lubetkin, National Wildlife
Federation, 734-887-7109  

                                Nina Bell, Northwest Environmental
Advocates, 503-295-0490

                                Joel Brammeier, Alliance for the Great
Lakes, 773-590-6494

                                Glynnis Collins, Prairie Rivers Network,
217-344-2371

 

Invasive Species Settlement: New Ballast Water Permit Should Help
Protect American Coasts, Lakes and Rivers

Tighter restrictions on ships will limit introduction of aquatic
invasive species currently degrading Great Lakes, coastal ecosystems and
inland waters.

 

WASHINGTON, DC (March 8, 2011) - A settlement announced today between
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and conservation
organizations will curtail Invasive species that have been wreaking
havoc on American waters for decades.  The agreement requires EPA to
issue a new permit regulating ballast water discharges from commercial
vessels in settlement of lawsuits brought by a dozen conservation groups
challenging the legality of EPA's existing permit.   

 

Ballast water is the number one source for a rogue's gallery of aquatic
nuisances such as the so-called "fish Ebola," the spiny water flea, and
zebra and quagga mussels.  These and other invasive species now sap the
American economy of billions of dollars annually.  After a long battle
over how living pollution should be dealt with under the Clean Water
Act, the settlement requires EPA to complete scientific reviews of the
steps that ships should take to protect human health and the economy of
communities on American coasts and in the Great Lakes.

 

"Until this point, EPA's permit has left an open door to new invasions
from ballast water dumping," said Thom Cmar, attorney for the Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC). "This settlement should prompt EPA to
treat 'living pollution' as aggressively as it would an oil spill or
toxic release.  With aquatic invasions occurring all over the country,
from the Chesapeake Bay to the Great Lakes to San Francisco Bay, this
action is long overdue."

 

Today's settlement resolves court challenges brought in 2009 by the
conservation groups, who contended that EPA's current Vessel General
Permit does not adequately protect U.S. waters from invasive species.
Before the Vessel General Permit was issued in 2008, EPA had allowed
ships to dump ballast water and other pollution without Clean Water Act
permits.  Conservation groups first petitioned EPA in 1999 to begin
regulating ship discharges under the Clean Water Act, eventually
prevailing in federal court in California in 2005, a legal victory that
helped set the stage for today's settlement.

 

"This settlement represents the first time in 35 years that EPA has
agreed to control discharges of ballast water from ships in the same way
that other industries are controlled when they discharge pollution to
the nation's waters," said Nina Bell, Executive Director of Northwest
Environmental Advocates.  "The EPA permit we challenged in this lawsuit
did nothing more than allow shippers to continue business as usual -
passing on the economic and environmental costs of invasive species to
taxpayers."

 

By requiring numeric limits on discharges of living pollution, the new
permit should help to stem the rapid and broad movement of invasive
species throughout American waters by forcing ships to adopt
technologies to treat their ballast water.  EPA has also agreed to
require additional monitoring and reporting of vessels' ballast water
discharges in the new permit.

 

"The EPA needs to get it right this time," said Marc Smith, senior
policy manager at the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes
Regional Center. "The millions of people, communities and businesses who
have borne the brunt of the invasive species onslaught are now counting
on the EPA to take strong action to protect our wildlife, environment
and economy. The status quo will only allow the problem to get worse and
more costly."

Under the settlement, EPA has agreed to publish a draft of a new Vessel
General Permit by November 2011 and to issue a new permit by November
2012 that would not go into effect until the current permit expires in
December 2013.  By allowing over two years from the time the permit is
proposed to the time the new standards would go into effect, ship owners
will have more  time to comply with treatment requirements than they
would otherwise receive. The settlement also requires EPA to encourage
states to develop regionally consistent approaches to setting ballast
water standards.

 

The following groups were party to the settlement:  National Wildlife
Federation, Indiana Wildlife Federation, League of Ohio Sportsmen,
Minnesota Conservation Federation, Prairie Rivers Network, Wisconsin
Wildlife Federation, Alliance for the Great Lakes, Ohio Environmental
Council, Northwest Environmental Advocates, Center for Biological
Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and People for Puget Sound.
The Environmental Law Clinic at Stanford Law School and Pacific
Environmental Advocacy Center (PEAC) at Lewis and Clark Law School in
Portland, OR, represented three of the organizations. 

 

Following are quotes from other litigants in the case:

 

Larry Mitchell, president of the League of Ohio Sportsmen:

"This settlement puts EPA on track to do the right thing for the Great
Lakes.  EPA should place limits on ballast water discharges that are
strict enough to prevent invasive species from entering our Great
Lakes."

 

Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes: 

"The Great Lakes have been global ground zero for freshwater invasions
for decades. U.S. EPA's first cut at a permit didn't even come close to
stemming the onslaught. We're heartened the agency appears to be getting
serious about preventing new invasions before they happen."

 

Glynnis Collins, Executive Director of Prairie Rivers Network:

"Limiting ballast water dumping is an important step in what must be a
larger effort to curb the spread of aquatic invasive species. The Great
Lakes, the Mississippi River Basin -- all of our nation's great waters
are worth protecting."

###

 

______________________________________

Thomas Cmar

Natural Resources Defense Council

2 N. Riverside Plaza, Ste. 2250

Chicago, IL 60606

(312) 651-7906

tcmar at nrdc.org

 

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