Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
An environmental group has sued the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for allegedly not taking action to protect Lake Superior and other waters from a deadly fish virus.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy wants the state to prohibit Great Lakes freighters from dumping untreated ballast water into Duluth Harbor and other ports. The suit claims that ballast water contains fish wastes, fish reproductive materials and infected fish that can spread viral hemorrhagic septicemia or VHS.
The virus has been found in all of the Great Lakes except Lake Superior and has killed large numbers of more than a dozen species, including walleye, muskie, bass, northern pike, yellow perch and black crappies. The suit claims that in addition to the Great Lakes, many of Minnesota's interior lakes and waters are at risk if the virus spreads.
Minnesota is one of several states to have filed a friend of the court brief in a federal lawsuit requiring the EPA to regulate ballast water discharges through a permit program. Michigan is the only state to have passed a law regulating ship owners who dump ballast water in Michigan ports. That law requires all ships doing business in Michigan waters to have a state permit that either prohibits ballast water discharge, or allows it only if the water is treated or filtered to remove potential problems.
August 28, 2007 7:49 AM | Category: Politics