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(AP) - As foreign species such as quagga
mussels and a killer fish virus continue assaulting the Great
Lakes, federal policymakers are taking long-delayed steps to slam
the door on other invaders.

      But critics say the Environmental Protection Agency's plan does
too little to prevent exotics from slipping into the lakes and
other U.S. waters aboard ballast tanks of oceangoing cargo ships -
their most commonly used passageway.

      Environmentalists prefer a bill approved by the U.S. House that
would impose tougher requirements on shippers. But it's bottled up
in the Senate, with time running short as Congress prepares for its
August recess and the fall election campaign. If not enacted this
year, the measure dies.

      "It's incredibly urgent for the Senate to act on this, or the
Great Lakes will end up in a situation that's even more
desperate," said Jeff Skelding, national campaign director for the
Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, which represents more
than 100 groups across the region. "Invasives are problem No. 1
for the Great Lakes and they're a big problem in much of the
country."

      A federal court has ordered the EPA to develop ballast
regulations by Sept. 30. The agency, which has long exempted
ballast discharges from anti-pollution requirements, is appealing.
But it has proposed a general permit for shippers and is taking
public comments this month.

      Benjamin Grumbles, EPA's assistant administrator for water,
described the proposed permit as "a stopgap approach for
regulating ballast and other vessel discharges in the most
practical way possible" while Congress debates the matter.

      At least 185 invaders are devastating the Great Lakes ecosystem,
out-competing native species for food, spreading disease and
costing the regional economy billions a year. Scientists believe
most were brought to the region in ballast water from central
Europe and elsewhere.

      Ships fill their ballast tanks to improve stability in rough
seas when traveling with little or no cargo. They dump the water -
and whatever life forms it carries - after arriving in port to take
on freight.

      The quagga mussel and its cousin the zebra mussel, both ballast
travelers, are gobbling up algae at the base of the aquatic food
chain, endangering the region's $4 billion fishery.

      Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, which has caused huge fish kills
in all the Great Lakes except Lake Superior, likely arrived in
ballast water or imported bait.

      The EPA permit would require oceangoing freighters to dump
ballast water at least 200 miles from shore, then refill the tanks
with seawater to kill remaining freshwater creatures.

      That isn't a new idea; Congress ordered the same thing in 1990
for saltwater ships en route to the lakes.

      But the Coast Guard, which oversees compliance, opened a gaping
loophole by exempting ships with full cargo loads - about 90
percent of the "salties" calling at Great Lakes ports. Their
ballast tanks are presumably empty, although they often hold
residual pools of water and mud teeming with aquatic life.

      Under the EPA permit, ships with no ballast on board would have
to rinse their tanks with saltwater before entering U.S.
territorial waters. Canada imposed the same requirement two years
ago.

      The St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., a U.S. agency, did
likewise last February, which administrator Collister Johnson Jr.
described as a major step.

      But environmentalists say exchanging ballast water at sea or
swishing out tanks, while helpful, isn't enough.

      "It doesn't kill them all, it doesn't remove them all and the
risk still remains," said Jennifer Nalbone, invasive species
director for Great Lakes United.

      Her group supports a provision in the House bill ordering ships
by 2012 to install treatment systems to sterilize ballast water
before it's released.

      The effectiveness of saltwater flushing depends on what
organisms are in the ballast tank, said David Reid, a scientist
with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great
Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.

      Creatures from environments similar to the Great Lakes, which
have extremely low salinity, die "pretty quickly" when the tanks
are flushed, Reid said. But the mortality rate drops for those
native to estuaries, where salt levels are higher.

      Another variable is a particular organism's age. In the larval
stage, a freshwater mussel would have no chance in saltwater. But
an adult could retract into its shell and possibly survive until
dumped into a Great Lakes harbor. In one experiment, mussels lasted
48 hours in salt water, Reid said.

      Researchers are experimenting with a variety of treatment
methods, from chemicals to ultraviolet irradiation to removing
oxygen by pumping in nitrogen, but the industry says more time is
needed.

      "We all want to see treatment of ballast water to the extent
it's technologically feasible, but it's not there yet," said
Stuart Theis, executive director of the U.S. Great Lakes Shipping
Association.

      EPA staffers said the agency supports onboard treatment but
could not legally demand it under the permit because no
economically feasible technology is currently in use.

      But the agency could amend its permit to include a treatment
standard, giving the industry incentive to act faster, said Corry
Westbrook, legislative director for the National Wildlife
Federation.

      "They're dragging their feet and they've proposed a weak
permit," Westbrook said.

Gallery

Ballast water discharge permits open for public comment

U.S. House passes bill requiring ballast water treatment

Ramsey County judge rules MPCA must regulate ballast water

Fighting the VHS fish virus

Wisconsin drawing up ballast water rules

Environmental groups say the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to prevent exotic species from from slipping into the Great Lakes in the ballast tanks of oceangoing cargo ships doesn't go far enough.

EPA plans for stopping Great Lakes invaders debated

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