OPINION

Ballast water facts, not hype

Steve Fisher, Tom Curelli, Jim Weakley

Recently, several articles, editorials and letters have perpetuated exaggerations and inaccuracies about the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA).  We believe the public deserves the rest of the story.

The 634-foot-long Sam Laud inches through the Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge on May 1, 2009, in Green Bay. The Great Lakes freighter was built in 1975 in Sturgeon Bay.

VIDA consolidates vessel ballast water regulatory authority under the U.S. Coast Guard, confirms the current USCG ballast water regulations, and provides for a periodic process to upgrade the ballast water discharge standard with input from states and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Some VIDA opponents claim it eliminates current requirements that vessels treat their ballast water, inferring that only judicial enforcement of the Clean Water Act drives this requirement. Others claim this consolidation would make the Great Lakes vulnerable to more aquatic non-native species (ANS).  Most cite the Great Lakes’ experience with zebra mussels as an example of what will happen. We agree that aquatic non-native species introduced into the lakes years ago caused harm, but the rest is hype.

What they do not say is that lakes aquatic non-native species were all introduced before 2006, when the Coast Guard, under a separate authority than the Clean Water Act, began requiring vessels entering the Great Lakes from outside U.S. waters to exchange their ballast water with ocean water. Since then, no new ballast water-borne ANS were introduced into the lakes, despite thousands of foreign vessels entering the lakes since then.

These articles, editorials and letters claim the Coast Guard's rules for treating vessel ballast water are too weak, but they are just beginning to be implemented so their effectiveness cannot yet be fairly assessed.  Also, ballast water treatment is in addition to the lakes’ already highly effective ballast water exchange requirement. Equally important, the Coast Guard and the EPA independently determined that the technology doesn’t yet exist to meet a more stringent ballast water discharge standard. Opponents also claim VIDA would freeze the current Coast Guard discharge standard.  This is a wild exaggeration of VIDA’s process for reviewing and improving the ballast water discharge standard. Also, contrary to some statements, the Coast Guard has far greater experience regulating vessel discharges and inspecting vessels than the EPA or the states.

Some VIDA opponents claim its exemption from ballast water treatment for vessels serving only Great Lakes ports (“lakers”) will spread aquatic non-native speciesamong these ports.  However, current EPA and USCG regulations already exempt lakers from ballast water treatment and instead require extensive best ballast water management practices.

Since the Coast Guard began requiring mid-ocean exchange for other vessels, lakers have discharged approximately 66 billion gallons of ballast water from the lower lakes into Lake Superior waters. According to the EPA, U.S. Geological Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, no aquatic non-native species have been moved anywhere in the Great Lakes by lakers.  Clearly, lakers are not the problem.

Why is there opposition to VIDA? Some groups focused on general environmental goals see lawsuits against federal, state, and private entities as their preferred mechanism of change and confuse competing and conflicting regulations with progress.

However, laker operators were one of the first groups to sound the alarm on aquatic non-native species. In 1993 we instituted our own best management practices to prevent their inter-lake movement. Laker operators work with government agencies, universities, research institutions, and environmental and engineering experts to move the state of science and technology forward. The federal government is establishing ballast water management technological standards, inspection and monitoring criteria, and enforcement capabilities. We see few signs that VIDA opponents are working equally as hard for solutions that really work.

The Clean Water Act was specifically designed for fixed industrial facilities handling substances such as industrial wastes, sewage, and garbage, not the lake water used as ballast by lakers. Commercial aircraft and trains do not have to meet varying equipment requirements for each state they serve or pass through; they meet nationwide federal standards.  Applying the same approach to vessels will not have a disastrous effect on the health of the Great Lakes; it will just reduce conflicting and redundant regulations that cost good-paying jobs and increase consumer prices.

VIDA is well-reasoned, common sense legislation, and it will result in significant new protection against aquatic non-native species threats. VIDA keeps the gate closed to aquatic non-native species and gives the Coast Guard, the agency who closed the gate, primary responsibility as our national invasive species gatekeeper.

Steve Fisher is executive director of the American Great Lakes Ports Association, Tom Curelli is president of the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force, and Jim Weakley is president of the Lake Carriers’ Association.