| House passes ballast water provisions to halt species invasions On April 24, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2830, the Coast Guard Authorization Act, containing a provision to improve ballast water management for vessels entering U.S. waters. The bill, which passed 395-7, amends the 1990 Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act to require ships entering U.S. waters to conduct ballast water exchange at least 200 miles from the coast. Under the legislation, ships entering the Great Lakes must install ballast water treatment equipment between 2009 and 2013, and all vessels entering U.S. water will be required to have an approved ballast water management plan. Ships that conduct all their business within the Great Lakes, and never leave the waters, are largely exempt from the rules. However, they must use ballast technology to detect diseases and pathogens that could impact the fish population in the Great Lakes. The provision was originally introduced as a separate piece of legislation by Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH). LaTourette said the bill will create a national standard on ballast water to avoid a patchwork of state laws. “This has been a contentious but important process, and at the end of the day we came up with a bipartisan bill that will greatly help the Great Lakes and make shippers good stewards of the lakes and the environment,” LaTourette said. Several members of Congress, including Reps. John Dingell (R-MI), Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI) and Steve Kagen (D-WI), spoke in support of the ballast water provisions on the House floor. The Act is now under consideration by the U.S. Senate. President Bush has previously threatened to veto the bill due to concerns regarding how the provisions will impact recreational boaters, but observers say that opposition is weakening. For further
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Source: ASLO Aquatic Science Policy Report: March and April 2008 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography - www.aslo.org
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