U.S. Water News Online
LANSING, Mich. -- A federal judge has granted the state's motion to intervene in a lawsuit over whether ships without a permit can dump any ballast water containing nonnative species.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco granted motions by Michigan, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to intervene in a case against the Environmental Protection Agency. In March, Illston ordered the EPA to repeal regulations exempting ship operators from having to obtain such permits.
The states sought to intervene so they can become more involved in determining a proper remedy, which will impact how the federal government adopts ballast water discharge regulations.
"The judge clearly realized that a real-world remedy is needed urgently to protect our greatest natural resource," Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said in a statement.
In 1999, the Ocean Conservancy and four other environmental groups petitioned the EPA to repeal the ballast-water exemption. They claimed the Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants, including biological materials -- such as invasive species -- into U.S. waters without a permit.
The EPA denied the petition and the conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco in 2003.
Invasive species are known to cause significant economic and environmental damage. Marine species such as mollusks often are inadvertently transported in the ballast water of ships and discharged at ports far from their origins.
The zebra mussel was found in the Great Lakes in 1988 after apparently being carried in a trans-Atlantic ship's ballast water, which was emptied in the lakes. It caused millions of dollars in damage and since then has clogged water pipes, ships and docks.
A bill on Gov. Jennifer Granholm's desk would require that oceangoing ships get a permit to enter Michigan ports starting in 2007. Ships couldn't discharge aquatic nuisance species. They would have to treat any ballast water before releasing it.
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