Michigan pols fight for stricter rules on invasive species

Michigan politicians at the state and federal level are pushing the U.S. Congress to pass stricter rules governing the handling of ballast from ships that go from the oceans to the Great Lakes in order to prevent the costly infestation of invasive species.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, told a hearing of two subcommittees of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the Senate needs to break a deadlock on legislation that would try to keep the zebra mussel and other invaders out of Great Lakes waters.

The mussel — a mollusk blamed for ruining lake habitats and fouling municipal water systems — is believed to have entered Great Lakes waters from its natural habitat in the Black and Caspian seas in ship ballast water.

“The zebra mussel started in the Great Lakes,” Levin told lawmakers. “Thirty states are now infested.” Levin said the Great Lakes need legislation to force ships to destroy stow-away organisms in their ballast water. Lawmakers have deadlocked over whether to set a single national standard or to allow states to set their own rules. Levin said he believes a national standard is the answer, even though state officials from Michigan and elsewhere want the ability to set their own, perhaps tougher, regulations.

Also testifying in front of that committee was Rebecca Humphries, the Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Invasive species in the Great Lakes cost billions of dollars a year in economic damage and eradication costs, causing extinction of native species and an enormous amount of environmental damage.