Mich. (AP) — Oceangoing cargo ships will be required to zap
their ballast water with ultraviolet light, chemicals or other
treatments before dumping it in U.S. waters under a regulation
the Coast Guard announced Friday to prevent species invasions
that damage the environment and cause billions in rule comes
more than two decades after environmental groups began pushing
for a crackdown on ballast water, which provides stability in
rough seas but often harbors stowaway species from abroad. When
the soupy mixtures of water and sediment are discharged in U.S.
ports, the newcomers can spread rapidly, starve out native
competitors and spread diseases. Zebra and quagga mussels that
hitched a ride to the Great Lakes from Europe in the 1980s have
clogged water intake pipes, requiring expensive repairs, and are
blamed for a Lake Huron salmon collapse and botulism that killed
thousands of shore birds. Other invaders that arrived in ballast
tanks include Asian clams in San Francisco Bay, Japanese shore
crabs along the At