Court Orders Epa to Issue Ballast Rule

A federal court has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to start regulating the discharge of ballast water from ships. Rebecca Williams reports it’s the first time the agency has had to take responsibility for the problem:

Transcript

A federal court has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to start
regulating the discharge of ballast water from ships. Rebecca Williams
reports it’s the first time the agency has had to take responsibility for
the problem:


Ballast water helps stabilize ships, but it can also carry foreign invasive
species that might harm local waterways.


For 30 years, the EPA has exempted ballast water from the Clean Water Act.


Now, the judge has given the EPA two years to come up with rules to limit
the discharge of ballast water.


Tim Eichenberg is with The Ocean Conservancy. The group is one of three
environmental groups that sued the EPA.


“Within two years, EPA should come up with something, some approach, that
could phase in a series of controls that could eliminate invasive species in
ballast water over a period of time.”


The shipping industry is concerned about having enough time to comply with
any new federal regulations.


Shippers already face some new laws at the state level. States such as
Michigan and California have passed their own laws restricting what ships
can do with their ballast in local waters.


For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

Related Links

Bird Groups Sue Fcc Over Towers

Conservation groups want the FCC to be more careful about allowing the building of communications towers. The groups say the fate of millions of migratory birds may be at stake. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

Conservation groups want the FCC to be more careful about allowing the
building of communications towers. The groups say the fate of millions
of migratory birds may be at stake. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Chuck Quirmbach reports:


A lawsuit recently re-filed in federal court charges the Federal
Communications Commission with failing to comply with several
environmental laws in its licensing of communications towers.


David Fischer of the American Bird Conservancy says the FCC rarely
considers the potential effect of towers on birds.


“On birds that have been known for many years now to fly in or around
or otherwise impact towers and either injure themselves or die.”


The lawsuit specifically involves towers along the Gulf Coast… which
is on the migration route of many birds that spend summers in the
Midwest. But the Bird Conservancy says the case may set an example for
tower projects all over the U.S.


The FCC says it doesn’t comment on pending litigation. The
conservation groups first brought their case three years ago.


For the GLRC, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

Related Links

Forest Service Sued Over Aspen Logging

The Sierra Club is suing the U.S. Forest Service to block logging of aspen in national forests in three Great Lakes states. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:

Transcript

The Sierra Club is suing the U.S. Forest Service to block logging of aspen on national forests in three Great Lakes states. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports.


The lawsuit asks a federal court to force the Forest Service to stop cutting aspen on its land in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The Sierra Club’s Anne Woiwode says the Forest Service favors aspen production at the expense of a healthy forest, and a healthy economy.


“When they choose to keep aspen at very high levels, they choose not to bring back forests that may be of greater economic value, may actually produce many more jobs than aspen does for the amount of wood produced.”


Woiwode says clear cutting aspen prevents white pine and hardwood forests from growing back.


The Forest Service says it manages forests for a variety of types and ages of trees, and doesn’t try to encourage aspen where it would not grow naturally.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill in Duluth.