Business North (upper Minnesota and Wisconsin) Online reports:
On January 1, Michigan Senate Bill 332 goes into effect.
The Michigan bill mandates that all ships with ballast tanks that have floated on salt water and then expect to use Michigan ports must either keep their ballast onboard or use a state-approved method to treat the aquatic life in outgoing water.
The Detroit News provides this update:
But as of Wednesday [12/27], not a single ship owner or operator has applied for a permit, and shipping officials said it’s possible none will. Rather than spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on ballast treatment technology they say hasn’t yet been approved by the U.S. Coast Guard or International Maritime Organization, ships will just go to other nearby ports in Windsor or Toledo and avoid Michigan ports altogether.
Technorati Tags: ballast, great lakes
