Bill gets tough on invasive species By Denis Cuff CONTRA COSTA TIMES Friday, September 8, 2006 California is on the verge of blazing a new environmental path with the toughest restrictions in the nation on exotic clams, crabs and other non-native aquatic species that harm river and Bay environments, threaten water supplies and clog water pipes. State lawmakers last week sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bill that would require ships entering California ports to treat their ballast water to kill the aquatic species that hitchhike from port to port around the world. "If this becomes law, it's likely to spur national and international attention to standards for ballast water," said Andrew Cohen, a scientist with the San Francisco Estuary Institute. "Someone has to be daring enough to go fast about a serious problem." Just one state, Michigan, has passed a rule that will make treatment of ship ballast water mandatory, but it does not spell out how thorough the treatment must be, California officials say. Invasive species spread around the globe in ballast water have wreaked environmental havoc in many coastal waters. In the San Francisco Bay and the Delta, the overbite clam has gobbled up so much plankton that it is suspected of contributing to the collapses of some fish species in the estuary. Ships pump in seawater when traveling less than full, and then dump it when loading cargo. Under the state bill, given final approval last week on a 50-28 Assembly vote, ships would have to treat ballast water before dumping it in ports or coastal waters The treatment standards would be phased in, starting in 2009, to provide time for systems to be developed to kill the organisms. By 2020, no discharge of organisms larger than 50 microns -- about the size of a grain of sand -- would be allowed. Schwarzenegger has not decided whether to sign the bill, his staff said. Commercial shippers were neutral on the bill but said they would have preferred that California wait for the federal government or an international trade organization to adopt standards. "The nightmare scenario I have is that technology developed to meet standards for the rest of the U.S. (will not meet) the California standard," said John Berge, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association in San Francisco. "We don't want to be out of sync with everyone else." A coalition of California water, farm and environmental leaders supports the bill. They said many environmental standards have stimulated new technology to clean up air, land and water Effective controls on the biological invaders are overdue, said the author of the bill, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. "These invasive species have already caused a nightmare in terms of local ecosystems, but their impact is not limited to the environment," he said. Water delivery agencies in many states spend huge sums unclogging pipes fouled by invasive mussels or clams, he said. California's biggest water source, the Delta, has been placed at risk by invasive species, California water leaders said. Farms and cities that rely on Delta water live with the risk that environmental regulators will cut back water deliveries to try to offset the ecological damage caused by invasive species. "To the extent the Delta environment is in trouble, it puts all the users at risk," said Steve Hall, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "One of the few levers regulators can pull when the fish are in trouble is to control water exports and pumping." His group supports the ballast water controls. "We don't want to hurt the shipping industry," Hall said, "but they have an obligation like we all do to protect the environment." The shipping industry initially opposed the bill, but agreed to be neutral after Simitian amended his measure to clarify that the State Lands Commission will be the only enforcement agency. Some environmentalists have argued that state water pollution boards would be more rigorous. Simitian said he did not want that debate to derail his legislation. "These are going to be the toughest standards in the country," Simitian said. "Let's not let an argument over jurisdiction get in the way." Congress and an internal trade organization are considering adopting their own ballast water treatment standards, but they are not as strict as those passed by California's Legislature. Reach Denis Cuff at 925-943-8267 or dcuff@cctimes.com. http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/community/15469045.htm

 

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