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Monday, November 27, 2006

Environment - Some stories today, on mercury, DNR and ballast water

"Federal mercury limits lax, some say" is a story by James Bruggers of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Some quotes:

Twenty-two states -- but not Kentucky -- have enacted more stringent measures to control mercury emissions from power plants or are considering doing so, a national survey shows.

The results suggest that many states are concerned that the Bush administration's mercury rules, which were adopted last year, do not go far enough to protect the public and the environment from a potent neurotoxin, said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which conducted the survey.

Some are concluding that the federal rules give coal-fired plants too many years to comply with mercury limits, that the limits themselves are too lenient or that they will perpetuate polluted "hot spots" by letting some plants comply by paying others to cut back through a cap-and-trade program, Becker said.

Indiana is considering a proposal to stiffen its mercury rules, but Thomas W. Easterly, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, has recommended going along with the federal rules, said Rob Elstro, an IDEM spokesman.

An editorial today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette begins:
Hoosier conservationists aren’t likely to shed tears over Kyle Hupfer’s departure from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The DNR director too often focused on exploitation instead of preservation when it came to Indiana’s natural resources. Hupfer’s replacement needs to make good stewardship and protection of state resources his priority.

Hupfer, Gov. Mitch Daniel’s controversial appointment to lead the DNR, is resigning, effective Friday. Daniels has named Robert Carter Jr. as his replacement. Carter, who has served as the director of DNR law enforcement for the past 21 months, needs to make it clear to Hoosiers he understands his duty to protect the state’s natural assets. * * *

Carter should take action to correct some of Hupfer’s missteps. For example, he should put an end to coal mining in the Glendale State Fish and Wildlife Area. Carter’s experience leading the conservation officers should be beneficial, but overseeing the entire DNR will be challenging. He should not be shy about enlisting the assistance of the state’s many outspoken environmentalists, hunters and anglers when he has difficult decisions to make.

From the Milwaulkee Journal-Sentinel, a story headlined "Proposed ballast ban makes waves: Idea alarms Great Lakes shippers, thrills fisheries." Some quotes from the story by Dan Egan:
Now that the State of Michigan has floated what has previously been the unthinkable - a ban on Great Lakes freighters using ballast water on many of their traditional shipping routes to prevent the spread of dangerous invasive species - the debate is picking up steam across the region.

Conservation groups and state fishery bosses from New York to Minnesota are applauding the decision by the Michigan Natural Resources Commission to at least put the idea on the table.

But one shipping industry representative says the toll such a ban would take on the region's economy would be catastrophic.

The Michigan commission's request came in the form of a resolution to ban the uptake of ballast water in all Great Lakes waters infected by viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a disease that poses no danger to humans but causes fish to bleed to death.

The disease, first discovered in the Great Lakes in 2005, has been detected in Lakes Erie and Ontario, as well as Michigan's Lake St. Clair and the lower St. Lawrence River.

To halt its spread, the federal government's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued emergency restrictions on many live fish shipments from the eight Great Lakes states. APHIS officials say they are also considering the Michigan request to ban ballast uptakes, though they will not discuss how long it may take to reach a decision. * * *

"Anything we can do to further regulate or curtail or shut down ballast water movement and the potential impacts brought about by the transfer of that water would be a great thing to do," said Doug Stang, Bureau of Fisheries chief for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

His counterpart in Minnesota agrees that the ballast water problem can no longer be ignored in the fight to slow the arrival and spread of invasive species.

"If we leave a major vector, a major pathway like ballast water open, the other efforts are doomed to failure," said Ron Payer, fisheries chief for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Caught somewhere in the middle is the Great Lakes Commission, a bi-national agency created by the Great Lakes states and provinces to promote both the economic development and conservation of Great Lakes resources.

"We have not sorted out what the commission's position is, but it's becoming more and more apparent we have to have a solution to the ballast water problem, and we have to have a solution that respects the importance of the Great Lakes as a freshwater resource - a resource that we rely on for drinking water," said Tim Eder, the commission's executive director. "Whether that (rule) is federal, bi-national, international or just regional, at this point I don't care, as long as it happens quickly."

Weakley said he'd like to see the federal government pass tougher ballast regulations for the oceangoing vessels. Legislation to accomplish just that has languished in Congress for several years.

"It's not our fault," Weakley said of the species that have been brought into the lakes by the salty fleet. "But it's certainly become our problem."

See this earlier ILB entry from Sept. 20th.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 27, 2006 03:53 PM
Posted to Environment