Ballast Water Control:
A Federal or State Responsibility?

Clouding the water politically is the fact that different Great Lakes states have varying requirements for controlling invasive species, and no federal policies exist. The Environmental Protection Agency has denied the responsibility at the federal level of requiring ballast water permits for ocean-going ships. Great Lakes states, through their attorneys general, are appealing that issue, said Jim Bredin, the assistant to the Director of the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes.

In Michigan, a plan is being readied for next year to require ocean-going ships to treat their ballast water with chemicals, deoxygenation, or ultraviolet light before entering ports, while for years they have been required only to report their management practices of ballast water to state officials, Roger Eberhardt told The St. Ignace News. Mr. Eberhardt is an environmental quality specialist working for Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes.

"The initiative has been to get control of ballast water," he said. "Last year, legislation at the state level required treatment of the water for all ships in Michigan ports. They would get a DEQ permit to enter port, then do treatments of the water with a chlorine-based biocide additive, ultraviolet light, or deoxygenation. It may prove that the industry would favor deoxygenation, as it would reduce corrosion in the tanks and has the potential to be cheaper."

Acknowledging that the saltwater shipping industry is a powerful lobbying force, Mr. Eberhardt said, "The costs of installing the treatments have been a stumbling block, at the national and international level, for the shipping industry."

No such permit legislation has yet been passed in other Great Lakes states, said Mr. Bredin, although some are drafting proposals. The new Michigan legislation includes a directive for state officials to work with other Great Lakes states and provinces to form a loose coalition to standardize requirements for shippers, which the states are now working on, Mr. Bredin said.

Ships Drop Off Steel at Detroit, Unload Ballast To Take on Grain at Duluth,

Milwaukee, Cleveland

Much of the international shipping involving ballast off-loading involves ports in other Great Lakes states, Mr. Eberhardt noted.

"In Michigan, it's mostly steel coming into the port of Detroit, then going west to take on grain, and going back to Europe," Mr. Eberhardt said. "Most international shipping involving ballast water exchange goes to Duluth, Milwaukee, and Cleveland, where cargo is taken on and water discharged into the lakes."

Michigan DEQ is drafting a shippers' permit that will be open for public comment in the next month or so, then be revised and become available for shippers to use in September, Mr. Eberhardt said.

"By January 2007, shippers will need DEQ permits for port access in Michigan," he said. To get the permit, ships will be required to treat their ballast water tanks.

Mr. Johnson of the Alpena Fishery Research Station is among those who see ballast water enforcement as a federal responsibility.

"We see a lot of hand-wringing about the cost to the industry to fix ballast systems," Mr. Johnson said. "One solution would be to require saltwater ships to offload onto Great Lakes carriers to help solve the problem. A lot of people think the Environmental Protection Agency could enforce ballast water as a pollutant, if they chose.

"Meanwhile, we've gone through hundreds of these invasive species, from sea lampreys to gobies to mussels. Until we require them to come in with clean ballast, we will always have these problems."