Court decision prevents Lake Superior ships from spreading invasive species

Attorney General Lori Swanson announced that Minnesota and other Great Lakes border states yesterday won a case against the Environmental Protection Agency over ballast water discharge regulations. This decision will protect the Great Lakes from invasive fish and aquatic species that have devastating affects on the economy, human health, and our natural resources.

The court decision furthers the Attorney General's efforts to protect Lake Superior from damage caused by the dumping of contaminated ballast water by large commercial ships. The Attorney General also led other Great Lakes Attorneys General in submitting a “friend of the court” brief in a case involving the State of Michigan's authority to issue state permits that are more restrictive than federal permits in protecting the Great Lakes from ballast water discharges.

"This decision is a win in protecting Lake Superior from invasive species that harm both the economy and the environment," said Swanson. "The court recognized the harmful affects of ballast water, which the EPA has too long ignored."

In the decision issued yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that ships must comply with the Clean Water Act. Beginning September 30, 2008, ships will no longer be able to discharge pollutant‑containing ballast water without a permit from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA had previously exempted these destructive discharges of “biological pollution” from Clean Water Act controls, despite clear evidence that ballast water discharges from oceangoing ships were bringing many aquatic invasive species, such as the Zebra Mussel, into U.S. waters.