Round Goby (Ohio Sea Grant)

 The EPA’s proposed permit comes on the heels of a long legal battle by NWF and others to force the agency to effectively regulate ballast water under the Clean Water Act.  The new proposal is a marginal improvement over previous regulations, but still allows the discharge of invasive species into the Great Lakes at significant levels.

 EPA will entertain public comments on its proposal from now until February 21, 2012.  NWF will submit written comments to EPA and the states urging them to strengthen the permit.  Watch this space for a summary of NWF’s comments that you can use as a basis for submitting your own.

Watch Asian carp spread across the country.  Then, see how invasive mussels traveled to California.

In less than 30 seconds, one map traces the spread of Asian carp from a pond in Arkansas in 1975 to 23 states and counting today. In less than 20 seconds a second map shows how Zebra and quagga mussels spread from ballast water dumped in Lake Erie in 1986 to all the Great Lakes, two Canadian provinces and33 states in the U.S.   

Asian carp, zebra and quagga mussels are all filter feeders. They strip the ecosystem of food that many fish depend on to survive. Zebra and quagga mussels are causing the population of many fish in the Great Lakes to plummet. Add the voracious Asian carp to the mix, and most native fish in the Great Lakes could starve. 

Take action to advance the Stop Asian Carp Act!

These maps enable us to visualize just how quicky invasive species can move once they get loose.  A flimsy elecric barrier is all that stands between jumping, jumbo-sized Asian carp and the Great Lakes.  But it’s not just the Great Lakes that are in jeapardy.  Zebra and quagga mussels spread from the Great Lakes to infest most of the U.S.

It is imperative that we reestablish the separation between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins so that destructive invasive species like Asian carp, zebra and quagga mussels do not spread between them, engangering wildlife and degrading habitat forever.

Lake Superior (Maury Landsman/Flickr)

Today, NWF and other conservation groups placed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a path that should finally protect native aquatic life from new invasive species.  Species like the zebra mussel which have already invaded are wreaking havoc on native wildlife and ecosystems across the country, from the Great Lakes to all points of the compass.

But now, EPA has agreed to propose strict limits on ships to settle a federal lawsuit filed by NWF and others.  EPA’s proposal should lead to regulations that will protect the waters of the United States in the future.

This day has been a long time coming.  For more than thirty years after passage of the Clean Water Act, EPA allowed ships from around the world to freely dump their ballast water.  As a result, non-native species in ballast water were introduced to the waters of the United States.  Many of these species established reproducing populations in the Great Lakes basin and beyond.

The legacy of EPA’s past hands-off policy has been irreparable harm to the waters of the United States and the expenditure of billions of dollars to control invasive species.  Native aquatic species have suffered and, in some cases, been driven to extinction by invasive species, sending ripples of destruction through the food web.  Fishing, swimming, and boating have been impacted.  Municipalities and industry have been saddled with a perpetual burden of keeping the water systems they need to operate clear of obstructions caused by invasive species.

Finally, in 2008, the courts compelled EPA to regulate ballast water discharges.  Unfortunately, the permit EPA issued relied on measures required by the U.S. Coast Guard that had already failed to stop invasive species.  That prompted NWF and many of its partners to sue EPA.

The settlement filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals reinforces EPA’s mandate to maintain and enhance the biological integrity of the nation’s waters.  NWF will stay actively involved to make sure EPA fulfills its obligations to protect native aquatic life in the Great Lakes and other American waters.

Sunset on Green Bay (Brian Mensching/Flickr)

Everyone’s familiar with the old “I have good news, and I have bad news” gag.  Wisconsin’s approach to aquatic invasive species could provide fodder for that joke.  Unfortunately, it’s no laughing matter.

The good news is that Wisconsin issued a permit that attempts to address aquatic invasive species contained in the ballast water discharged by ships.  The bad news is that the permit will not stop introductions of new invasive species.

To Wisconsin’s credit, it recognized that ballast water discharges of invasive species “pose serious threats to the health, economic welfare, and ecological integrity of Wisconsin waters and interfere with the uses of the waters of Wisconsin.”  The state also acknowledged that “the best strategy is to prevent them from entering the system in the first place.”

But instead of preventing their introduction, Wisconsin issued a permit that only reduces the introduction of invasive species.  The problem with that approach is that the introduction of even a single aquatic invasive species can wreak havoc on water quality and the state’s economy.  The well-known devastating impacts of the zebra mussel are ample proof of that. 

Yesterday, Wisconsin attorney Christa Westerberg and I, representing NWF and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, filed our first brief in a lawsuit challenging the permit.  For updates as the case develops, watch this space!

P.S. Wisconsin recently proposed a minor modification of its permit.  Even if modified as proposed, however, the permit only requires treatment that Wisconsin itself has described as too weak to protect the state’s waters.