Legislation introduced recently in Congress is aimed at protecting the Great Lakes and other parts of the country from invasive aquatic species. The exotic organisms cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars every year. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland has more:
Transcript
Legislation introduced recently in Congress is aimed at protecting the
Great Lakes and other parts of the country from invasive aquatic species.
The exotic organisms cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars every year.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland has more:
Most aquatic invasive species are introduced into the Great Lakes
region after hitching a ride in the ballast water tanks of freighters.
Scientists believe the zebra mussel got to North America from Europe
that way in the late 1980’s. Since then, government and industry have
spent billions of dollars trying to keep the mussel from clogging intake
pipes of water and power plants.
Congressman Vern Ehlers of Michigan is co-sponsoring legislation aimed
at regulating the shipping industry and researching new ways to prevent
exotic species from reaching North America.
“I think the biggest problem is that people just don’t understand the problem
and how dangerous it is. And, so it’s hard to persuade ship captains that they
have to sterilize their ballast water or at least exchange it while they’re
crossing the ocean.”
The legislation calls for ships put into service after 2006 to have on-board
treatment systems for ballast water. The federal government says economic
losses and the cost of fighting invasive species in the United States add up to
about 135-billion dollars a year.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Michael Leland.