The Zelada Desgarnes, a cargo ship flying under the flag of Barbados, enters the Soo Locks headed to Lake Superior on its way to Thunder Bay, Ontario to pick up a load of grain on June 2, 2017. (Photo: Kathleen Gray, Detroit Free Press) WASHINGTON — A Coast Guard reauthorization bill that would have set a single national standard for ballast-water discharges from maritime vessels — and which environmentalists say could have opened the Great Lakes to a greater threat from invasive species — failed a key procedural vote in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. Both of Michigan’s U.S. senators voted against the bill in a request to limit debate on it. While attracting significant opposition, the measure — which has been proposed in successive Congresses without success — had been praised by Lakes shippers and other maritime groups as providing them more certainty, instead of being forced to meet multiple standards for ballast water discharges set up by the various states. But environmental groups argued that the legislation as written eliminated Clean Water Act protections over ship discharges and could result in weaker standards set mainly by the Coast Guard instead of by the Environmental Protection Agency and preempted states from taking greater actions to protect their waters. “Today’s vote by the Senate brought a sigh of relief for the Great Lakes region," the Alliance for the Great Lakes, an environmental group based in Chicago, said. "This means Clean Water Act protections will continue to apply to ballast water discharges, which are the main pathway for aquatic invasive species introductions into the Great Lakes." While the measure received the support of several Democrats, including Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and others, it didn't get enough to cross a 60-vote threshold needed to advance the bill, failing on a 56-42 vote. Now it may have to be resubmitted without the ballast-water measure in order to reauthorize Coast Guard operations for the year, though it wasn't immediately clear what would happen next. “There is a myth that this somehow harms the Great Lakes,” said U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who supported the legislation and spoke on its behalf before the vote. He and others, including Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., noted that the measure included provisions intended to protect the Great Lakes, including requiring vessels entering the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes to discharge ballast water at least 200 miles away to afford additional protection. More on freep.com: Schuette: Tugboat damaged Great Lakes pipelines If it had been passed by the Senate and then by the U.S. House, it would also have required federal officials to look at whether an additional regulation dictating ballast water discharges is necessary specific to protecting the Great Lakes within two years. Until a uniform standard for the nation was set, state requirements would have remained in place as well. But U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that sent the legislation to the floor vote, said while he otherwise supported reauthorizing Coast Guard operations, he planned to vote against limiting debate on the bill. “The spread of invasive species presents an existential threat to the health of the Great Lakes," Peters said following the vote that derailed the bill. "Setting weak environmental standards for ballast water in the Great Lakes, and preempting the state of Michigan and the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority, would only put the Great Lakes at greater risk for devastation." U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., voted against the bill as well. Many Michigan officials and environmentalists have been against the provision known as the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, or VIDA. In past statements, Gov. Rick Snyder, for one, has said overall damage from invasive species in the Great Lakes, including from zebra and quagga mussels that clog water intakes at power plants and other utilities and attach themselves to boats, is as much as $200 million a year. But shippers as well as some senators from other states – including those in Florida and other coastal states looking to potentially ease requirements on "incidental" discharges such as rainwater and gasoline and exclude some smaller fishing boats and vessels – say the measure is necessary to settle a patchwork of confusing rules that are overly burdensome. The legislation also would have authorized the Coast Guard to make funds available, for two years, for construction of a new Great Lakes icebreaker, also long a desire of shippers on the Lakes, and also would have helped create a center of “expertise” in responding to potential Great Lakes oil spills. “This bill is a real win-win for the Lakes,” James H.I. Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers’ Association, the trade association representing U.S.-flag vessel operators on the Great Lakes, said earlier this week. “It is equally concerned with safeguarding our environment and fostering waterborne commerce.” Weakley said the measure would ultimately result in even stricter standards for ballast water discharges. Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler. Read or Share this story: https://on.freep.com/2qJzwWP
A bill that would have set a national standard for ballast water discharge in the US has been blocked in the senate due to a lack of votes . The measure would have eliminated the Clean Water Act requirements in regards to discharge and would have made the water discharge standard weaker by handing the issue from Environmental Protection Agency to the US Coast Guard . legislators opposed the bill on concern it would have allowed the introduction of invasive foreign species into the Gulf Lakes .