"MILWAUKEE — Just a month before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to release new rules to protect the Great Lakes from overseas ships carrying in invasive species, legislation is moving through Congress that conservation groups say might roll back those protections."
"The Commercial Vessel Discharge Reform Act of 2011 'would eliminate the federal obligation to prevent the introduction of invasive species into the Great Lakes through vessels' ballast water discharges,' states a release from a coalition of conservation groups.
The groups contend that the bill rolls back protections because it exempts ballast discharges from provisions of the Clean Water Act and prohibits states from enacting their own rules that are more stringent than what the federal government requires."
Dan Egan reports for the McClatchy-Tribune News Service October 18, 2011.
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