Chicago, IL (September 24, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule regulating ballast water was signed on September 20th. The EPA’s final rule does not protect the Great Lakes from the threat of invasive species spreading.
The EPA’s rule is problematic because it exempts existing “Lakers” (vessels that do not leave the Great Lakes) from regulation, and the ballast water discharged from these ships accounts for over 95 percent of ballast water volumes transferred in the Great Lakes. Studies show that Lakers are a contributor to the spread of destructive invasive species in the lakes. EPA intends to regulate any new Lakers constructed after 2026. These regulations are much less protective than those adopted by Canada which require all ships to have ballast water treatment systems installed and operating by 2030, including Lakers.
Invasive species are significant and immediate threats to the ecosystems and economies of the Great Lakes Basin. In 2018, Congress directed the Environmental Protection Agency through the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) to establish national standards for vessel discharges to protect the natural environment and the surrounding communities from the introduction and transfer of harmful aquatic invasive species or pathogens through the discharge of ballast water.
The following environmental groups find that EPA’s final VIDA rule does not protect the Great Lakes from aquatic invasive species:
“Exempting any Lakers from regulations is the wrong approach to combat invasive species. The shipping industry has asked repeatedly for many years for uniform regulations for ballast water across the United States and that they be harmonized with Canada. This rule is the opposite of that,” said Molly M. Flanagan, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President for Programs at the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “Exempting existing Lakers carves out this class of ship from regulation and puts the Great Lakes at risk. Most important, it fails to live up to our obligation to prevent new damage from the invasive species that have already cost the Great Lakes, and the people that rely on them,” Flanagan added.
“Invasive species introduced through ballast water are a clear and present danger to our Great Lakes. Unfortunately, the EPA standard will not adequately protect the Great Lakes and other U.S. waters from ballast water invaders,” said Marc Smith, Great Lakes Policy Director for National Wildlife Federation. “By exempting Lakers, the EPA fails to protect water quality and leaves the door open for future harm to our fisheries, economy and way of life.”
“Protecting the Great Lakes from invasive species and plants requires effective EPA standards for ballast water discharges from all Lakers. That includes existing Lakers, not just those built in the future,” said Wendy Bloom, Senior Attorney at the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “Unfortunately, the rule’s exemption for existing Lakers risks creating a permanent class of polluting vessels that will cause damage to our Great Lakes from invasive species for many years to come. Indeed, the EPA’s rule repeats the historic failure to apply fair regulatory standards to old highly-polluting coal plants, which have kept running for years harming our environment and public health. The public and the Great Lakes deserve better.”
“Minnesotans are deeply concerned about the Laker exemption. Duluth-Superior is North America’s largest inland port and receives about 85 percent of the ballast water discharges in the Great Lakes system,” said Steve Morse, Executive Director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership. “Over the last forty years, many harmful aquatic invasive species have come to the Duluth Harbor in ballast water. This exemption will allow existing Lakers to continue to dump untreated ballast water from other Great Lakes ports into the Duluth-Superior harbor for decades to come. The impact of this is significant. People in Duluth hope to feed their families with a walleye and instead catch the undesirable invasive ruffe. A new invader, the bloody red shrimp, arrived in Duluth in 2018 from another Great Lakes port. Every Laker that comes into port could be carrying the next invader. This is a form of Russian Roulette that none of us want to play.”
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Contact:
Don Carr, Media Director, Alliance for the Great Lakes dcarr@greatlakes.org
Anna Marie Zorn, Great Lakes Communications Manager, National Wildlife Federation, ZornA@nwf.org
Judith Nemes, Environmental Law & Policy Center Senior Media Relations Specialist, jnemes@elpc.org