Ballast Water Management Hearing Held
On March 25, the Subcommittees on Coast Guard & Maritime Transportation and on Water Resources & Environment of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure conducted a joint hearing on Ballast Water Management. The purpose of the hearing was to examine the international ballast water standards recently agreed to by the IMO and to review reauthorization of the National Invasive Species Act (NISA). RADM Thomas Gilmour, USCG, Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection, testified that the new international convention sets reasonable standards, while allowing individual port states to establish more stringent requirements. Joseph J. Cox, Shipping Industry Ballast Water Coalition, testified in support of international regime adopted at IMO.
INTERTANKO to Intervene in Ballast Water Decision
A U.S. Federal judge in the Northern California District has granted INTERTANKO's Motion to Intervene on the court's decision that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) exemption of ballast water discharges from the permit requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) was improper under the Clean Water Act. INTERTANKO filed this motion along with industry coalition partners the American Waterways Operators (AWO), the Chamber of Shipping of America (CSA), the Lake Carriers' Association (LCA), the World Shipping Council (WSC) and the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL), referred to as the Shipping Industry Ballast Water Coalition, which is now a party in this case.
Shipping Industry Ballast Water Coalition Files Remedy Brief
Intertanko has filed a remedy brief in the North California District Court case of Northwest Environmental Advocates against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of a Shipping Industry Ballast Water Coalition, which consists of INTERTANKO, the American Waterways Operators, Chamber of Shipping of America, International Council of Cruise Lines, Lake Carriers’ Association, and the World Shipping Council. This brief, whose four main arguments are detailed below, sets out the ‘remedy’ that should be imposed as a result of the Court ruling that the EPA’s long-standing exclusion from Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements of operational discharges from ships is not authorised by the CWA and is therefore invalid. Background. In 1973, shortly after the U.S.
