Midwest governors are pushing back on New York's proposed tough rules on ballast water carried into the Great Lakes by freighters. In a letter sent to New York's Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week, Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker joined forces with the Republican governors John Kasick of Ohio and Mitch Daniels of Indiana to argue that the regulations could require the St. Lawrence Seaway to close down, resulting in thousands of maritime-related job losses in the Great Lakes states and in Canada.

A freighter heads past the Duluth lighthouse

Ballast water, brought from around the world, is one the main ways that invasive species wind up in the Great Lakes. That's how the spiny water flee, which eat zooplankton, got to Lake Superior. That angler's nemesis has now spread to about than 40 lakes in Minnesota. Ballast water also brought viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus, which kills numerous fish species.

Many states and the shipping industry have called on both the U.S. and Canadian governments to devise universal rules, but that hasn't occurred -- yet. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release a proposal this year. In the meantime, many states are coming up with the their regulations, with inevitable conflicts. New York's proposed rules, which would require a water quality standard 100 times stronger than the current standards used by the International Maritime Organization, are the toughest yet proposed. The shipping industry says the technology to achieve that standard doesn't exist.

"A strong and clear national standard would be preferable," said Emily DeSantis
Assistant Director of Public Information for New York's Department of Environmental Conservation. She said that New York is working with other states and also encouraging the federal government to adopt a national standard. New York will re-examine its regulations once the EPA releases its proposal in November, she said.

In 2008 Minnesota became one of the first states in the nation to put ship owners on notice that they will need to obtain a state permit to discharge into the Duluth- Superior harbor or other state waters. It will also require them to install equipment on new ships by 2012, and existing ships no later than 2016 that will remove or kill potential invasive
species. Shipping companies opposed the state permit system, saying that if states each establish their own regulations, shipping will become an operational nightmare and costs will rise. Rather than a patchwork of regulations, they said, a single federal ballast water standard is needed.