The new head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, met with the Great Lakes Coalition in Washington last week and said that the Obama administration planned to revisit the issue of ship ballast permit rules that were written by the Bush administration in December.
 

EPA in December released a general permit for cargo vessels entering the lakes or other U.S. waters from overseas. It includes rules for 26 types of discharges, such as ballast, oily bilge water and “gray water” from showers and sinks.

Breaking with the Bush administration, Jackson said the permit “doesn’t begin to address some of the concerns that are out there.”

“I don’t have an answer for you today but I want to you know that’s very much on my radar screen,” she said during a meeting of the Great Lakes Commission in Washington, D.C.

Inadequate safeguards on the discharge of ballast water from ships has caused enormous damage to the Great Lakes ecosystems. Dozens of invasive species have reached the lakes that way, causing damage in the many billions of dollars and resulting in the extinction of several native species.