Posted:
September 8, 2011
The Great Lakes Maritime Task Force (GLMTF) recently thanked Congressman Chip Cravaack (R-MN) for his Aug. 30 letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calling for a remedy to proposed ballast water standards that threaten to cripple Great Lakes shipping.
"We deeply appreciate that you wrote the EPA expressing your concern that New York's ballast regulations will cripple shipping on the Lakes and Seaway," wrote the task force. "We share your concern."
Rep. Cravaack, who represents Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, called on the EPA to review its own Science Advisory Board's conclusion that there is no technology available to meet ballast water regulations set to take effect Aug. 1, 2013.
"The maritime industry has indicated that no technology exists to meet" the requirements set by the New York EPA - "100 times stronger than the standards established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2004," wrote Rep. Cravaack.
Not only will these regulations affect vessels operating in New York, but also vessels transiting through the state's waters, including the St. Lawrence Seaway, impacting Rep. Cravaack's district more than 1,000 miles to the west.
The task force recognized the need for regulation to prevent the introduction and spread of non-indigenous species, adding the "Great Lakes shipping industry has been extremely proactive in battling ballast-borne exotics." However, setting a "standard that cannot be achieved in the foreseeable future will only result in job losses at a time our country needs every paycheck it can generate."
The Great Lakes Maritime Task Force is the largest coalition ever to promote shipping on America's Fourth Sea Coast. Task force members include representatives of labor, maritime and shoreside industry, and port authorities, among others. AMO Great Lakes Special Assistant to the National President Don Cree serves (without pay) as 2nd vice president of the task force.
Lakes task force praises Rep. Cravaack's challenge to impossible EPA ballast water standards
The Great Lakes Maritime Task Force (GLMTF) recently thanked Congressman Chip Cravaack (R-MN) for his Aug. 30 letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calling for a remedy to proposed ballast water standards that threaten to cripple Great Lakes shipping.
"We deeply appreciate that you wrote the EPA expressing your concern that New York's ballast regulations will cripple shipping on the Lakes and Seaway," wrote the task force. "We share your concern."
Rep. Cravaack, who represents Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, called on the EPA to review its own Science Advisory Board's conclusion that there is no technology available to meet ballast water regulations set to take effect Aug. 1, 2013.
"The maritime industry has indicated that no technology exists to meet" the requirements set by the New York EPA - "100 times stronger than the standards established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2004," wrote Rep. Cravaack.
Not only will these regulations affect vessels operating in New York, but also vessels transiting through the state's waters, including the St. Lawrence Seaway, impacting Rep. Cravaack's district more than 1,000 miles to the west.
The task force recognized the need for regulation to prevent the introduction and spread of non-indigenous species, adding the "Great Lakes shipping industry has been extremely proactive in battling ballast-borne exotics." However, setting a "standard that cannot be achieved in the foreseeable future will only result in job losses at a time our country needs every paycheck it can generate."
The Great Lakes Maritime Task Force is the largest coalition ever to promote shipping on America's Fourth Sea Coast. Task force members include representatives of labor, maritime and shoreside industry, and port authorities, among others. AMO Great Lakes Special Assistant to the National President Don Cree serves (without pay) as 2nd vice president of the task force.