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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Editorial: Michigan lawmakers must fight for invasive species bill tied up in the Senate
by The Grand Rapids Press Editorial Board
Thursday August 14, 2008, 11:41 AM
WHY IT MATTERS
Aquatic invasive species are causing environmental and economic harm to Michigan.
Zebra mussels and other invasive species are wreaking havoc on Great Lakes waterways and the economy. Michigan's senators should be pressuring Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who is blocking legislation that will help stop the influx of the nasty invaders. A vote is needed before Congress finishes the year. Time is of the essence. This region can't afford to let this assault on our water resources get any worse.
There are currently 185 invasive species in the Great Lakes. More seem to show up every year. These water-borne illicit travelers cost the United States $13 billion a year. A bill passed the House in April (395 to 7) to control them. A parallel Senate bill takes measurable steps to address ballast water in ocean-going vessels critical to Great Lakes states. Ballast water, used to stabilize freighters, often contains organisms taken on in other ports that are not native to, but survive and thrive in, the fresh water of the Great Lakes.
Michigan has enacted its own state regulations as a stop-gap measure. These rules are being challenged by shippers and port owners in federal court, illuminating the fact that this growing problems needs a federal solution. Invasive species don't recognize state boundaries.
The proposed federal legislation would provide uniform, national standards to combat the saltwater critters. Vessels operating in U.S. waters would be prohibited from discharging water that was not treated with a system designed to kill or remove invaders hitchhiking into our lakes in ballast holds. All vessels will be required to phase in mandatory treatment technology between 2009 and 2013.
The goal, an achievable one, is to have zero species in discharged water by 2015. That is if the Senate impasse can be broken.
Sen. Boxer has stalled the measure because she says it would preempt tougher ballast water treatment requirements in California and a few other states. The bill's main sponsor, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, won't budge on a national standard.
There is also a dispute over which federal agency should have lead authority to regulate ballast water discharges from ships. The Coast Guard maintains control under the proposed bill, but Ms. Boxer says this prevents the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating ballast water discharges under the Clean Water Act -- which gives environmental groups the right to sue shipping companies over ballast water pollution.
These are not insurmountable issues. Sens. Carl Levin, D-Detroit and Debbie Stabenow, D- Lansing, should be aggressively encouraging their colleagues to come to a quick resolution on these details so these too-long-in-coming protections can be implemented. They need to focus on the big picture.
The legislation provides for necessary steps to inspect, treat and exchange ballast water to stop the tide of exotic species coming into the waterways, damaging ecosystems and disrupting economies.
Michigan and other Great Lakes states can't afford for lawmakers to lose sight of that important protection.
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