Senate Maintains Ship Ballast Water Quality Regulations

On April 18, the U.S. Senate voted against a measure that would have removed the U.S. EPA from managing contaminated ballast water discharges from freighters. The measure was fiercely opposed by Great Lakes conservation and environmental groups because ballast water is known pathway for biological pollution, such as the introduction of zebra and quagga mussels, spiny water fleas, round gobies and the VHS virus in the Great Lakes.

According to the Journal Sentinel, shipping industries have argued that the existing ballast water management program is too complicated, with both EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard implementing rules, and individual states having their own ballast regulations. The measure, called the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, was tacked onto the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2017 and nearly was passed. The vote needed 60 senators approval and narrowly missed with 56 yes.

“Today’s vote by the Senate brought a sigh of relief for the Great Lakes region,” Jennifer Caddick, a spokeswoman for the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said in a news release. “This means Clean Water Act protections will continue to apply to ballast water discharges, which are the main pathway for aquatic invasive species introductions into the Great Lakes.”