Attorney General Jennifer M. Granholm has joined Attorneys General from around the Great Lakes states in filing a brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that asks the Court to order the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address the problem of aquatic nuisance species in the ballast water of Great Lakes ships. In a "friend of the court" brief filed jointly with the states of New York, Minnesota, and Illinois, Granholm asked the EPA to repeal its exemption of ballast water from federal Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations. Currently, the CWA requires sea-going vessels that discharge pollutants to obtain a permit, but ballast water is exempt from the requirement.