A strong editorial encouraging Michigan to defend its state law regulating ballast discharges from ocean ships. Please note one clarification if you use information from this article for communications: There have been over 180 invasive species established in the Great Lakes since the 1800’s (not since the Seaway opened). Since the Seaway opened, ocean vessels have been the source of about 65% of
new invasions.
Oakland Free Press:
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/041107/opi_2007041161.shtml
State shouldn't compromise in fight against lake invaders
EDITORIAL
The state of Michigan, Attorney General Mike Cox and the Department of Environmental Quality must fight a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of a law meant to stop the spread of invasive species in the Great Lakes.
Four shipping companies, four shipping associations and a dock company have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking to have a judge declare the state's Ballast Water Act, which took effect Jan. 1, unconstitutional. The lawsuit names Cox and DEQ Director Steven Chester.
The companies claim the law, which requires oceangoing ships docking at Michigan ports to obtain permits and promise not to discharge untreated ballast water in the lakes, is unconstitutional because it interferes with interstate commerce.
However, state officials and the courts cannot protect free trade at the cost of the destruction of the Great Lakes and the eco-economy they form for Michigan. The lakes, through tourism and sport fishing, generate tens of millions of dollars for the state and thousands of small businesses. When those businesses suffer, all of Michigan suffers.
The interstate commerce excuse has been also used to allow the dumping of Canadian trash in Michigan. While we don't want to ÒinterfereÓ with national commerce, we have to question the real intent of federal regulations concerning interstate commerce.
No state should be forced to commit environmental and business suicide to satisfy interstate commerce regulations. It just doesn't make sense.
Consequently, the shipping companies should not be able to claim that the law, which seeks to have ballast water treated to kill invasive species before it is discharged, interferes with free trade when the species that are introduced damage existing trade.
The state must fight this challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. If the courts side with the shipping companies, then Michigan must begin filing lawsuits against the companies for the environmental damage they have wrought.
Since the Great Lakes were opened to oceangoing ships through the St. Lawrence Seaway 50 years ago, 180 foreign species have made the lakes their new home. Zebra mussels alone have cost the people of Michigan tens of millions of dollars in efforts to eradicate them and, when that failed, to clean up the water intake systems they clog. The mussels have since spread to inland lakes, where they cause further damage to native fish species.
On average, researchers discover a new invasive species in the Great Lakes every eight months.
The latest invasive species discovered in the lakes is the red mysid, a European shrimp that researchers believe could compete with native fish for zooplankton as a food source. Zooplankton, a microscopic life form, is the basis of the food chain within the lakes. The shrimp are native to the same Caspian region as other invasive species, including the zebra mussel, the quagga mussel and the goby, and were likely introduced to Michigan waters through discharges of ballast water.
There can be no settlement on this challenge. Michigan must fight to protect the Great Lakes from further foreign invaders.
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Distributed without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving aquatic invasive species information for research and educational purposes.
