DULUTH – Minnesota is giving Great Lakes freighters known as "lakers" that enter state waters of Lake Superior an extra two years to install ballast water treatment technology. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued draft regulations Monday.
"We don't think the technology yet exists for [lakers] to meet the ballast treatment guidelines, but that we think it will" by 2018, Jeff Udd, the MPCA's director of industrial water quality permits, told the Duluth News Tribune.
The rules essentially allow the federal government to regulate oceangoing ships that enter Minnesota waters, deferring to new Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, Udd said.
The rules are part of a broader effort to reduce invasive species that hitchhike in ballast water. Minnesota is the only Great Lakes state with ballast rules that target boats that stick to fresh water.
The Great Lakes shipping industry opposes Minnesota's regulations, saying freshwater freighters are not responsible for bringing new species into U.S. waters. It also contends no technology may be possible that would kill nearly all the aquatic organisms in their tanks. The industry is expected to contest the new rules at a hearing this autumn.
But environmental groups have called for even stricter guidelines and quicker deadlines, saying invasive species are wreaking havoc with native ecosystems.
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