8 Environmental Groups Start Ballast Water Lawsuit
By Tina Lam, Detroit Free Press
Jun. 21–The legal battle over ballast water from oceangoing ships escalated Thursday as eight environmental groups started a lawsuit against shippers under the national Clean Water Act.
Oceangoing ships are blamed for bringing more than a dozen invasive species into the Great Lakes in recent years, including a new fish-killing virus and zebra mussels.
An attorney for the National Wildlife Federation said that under the Clean Water Act, the ships must get a federal permit that requires them to sanitize their ballast water before releasing it into the Great Lakes, because the water has been shown to contain biological pollution in the form of invasive species. Citizens are allowed to file lawsuits to enforce that provision of the act, said Neil Kagan, the attorney. Since 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency has exempted ocean ships from the requirement. A federal court in California ruled in 2005 that the law does not allow such an exemption.
“We need to do what we can to protect ourselves from invasive species,” since Congress has failed to act to stop the flood of invasive creatures, said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the wildlife federation’s Great Lakes office. Legislation to require shippers to treat their ballast water has been pending for the past four years in Congress, but it has never come to a vote on the floor of either the House or Senate, he said.
Invasive species cost the country about $5 billion each year to fight, according to the EPA. Some city water treatment plants are paying as much as $100,000 per year to fight foreign invaders, said Joel Brammeier of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Zebra mussels have been found in inland lakes as far away as Nevada, and the deadly fish virus viral hemorrhagic septicemia has also spread to inland lakes in several states.
Shippers argue that the technology to treat water is not readily available and such systems would be too expensive. Buchsbaum said research by Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality found there are four systems on the market, including one that is similar to what municipal water treatment plants use, and the cost would be $250,000 to $500,000 per ship. Ships wouldn’t even need to be put into dry dock to install three of the systems, he said.
The National Wildlife Federation and seven other groups took the first step required under the federal act Thursday, sending letters to nine shippers notifying them of their intent to file a lawsuit. After a 60-day waiting period, the environmental groups can file suit in federal court. Lawsuits would be filed against individual shippers, said Neil Kagan, attorney for the federation.
In January, Michigan became the first state to require shippers to install equipment to treat their ballast water and to get permits from the state. Shippers sued the state over the new rule. A hearing in U.S. District Court in Detroit is scheduled next month on that lawsuit.
Contact TINA LAM at 313-222-642 or tlam@freepress.com.
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