April 11, 2005 Discharge permits needed for ballast water?
Environmentalists say that a ruling by a federal court in San
Francisco means that "ships arriving in all United States ports
will need to obtain discharge permits before dumping their
ballast water or be in violation of the law." The ruling--you
can read it The groups first petitioned the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency to regulate ships' ballast water discharges
over six years ago. The San Francisco court has now ruled that
EPA lacks authority to exempt ballast water discharges from the
requirements of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The
FWPCA, with limited exemptions, prohibits discharges of any
pollutant from a point source (such as a ship) into navigable
waters of the United States, except in accordance with the
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). "This
ruling reverses a dangerous exemption from the Clean Water Act
for ballast water discharge and is a solid step forward in
responsible, ecosystem-based management