Great Lakes Law

Minnesota environmental group challenges the state’s new ballast water permit for failing to protect Lake Superior from aquatic invasive species

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy has filed a petition in the state court of appeals challenging the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s ballast water discharge permit, arguing that the permit fails to protect Lake Superior from the continuing threat posed by aquatic invasive species. The MPCA permit allows ships to delay new treatment technologies to prevent biological pollution until 2016, leaving Lake Superior vulnerable to more invasive species for another seven years. The Minnesota Center... Read more →

Great Lakes Environmental Law Center files challenge in federal court to new EPA rule that would open the door to invasive species and pollution from water transfers

Working on behalf of the Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited, the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center is challenging the U.S. EPA’s new rule exempting water transfers from Clean Water Act regulation. The rule violates the plain language of the Clean Water Act and would open the door to more invasive species and water pollution. For these reasons, the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center has filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals seeking an... Read more →

Coast Guard issues interim rule and request for public comments on dumping cargo residue in the Great Lakes

The Coast Guard last week issued an interim rule and request for public comments regarding the dumping of cargo residue by freighters overboard into the Great Lakes. Under the interim rule, the Coast Guard is allowing the pollution dumping to continue, but prohibiting dumping in protected areas and requiring shippers to record and report their dumping. Coast Guard policy has allowed ships to dump potentially harmful dry cargo residues into the Great Lakes and much... Read more →

Congress reauthorizes Great Lakes Legacy Act to fund clean-up of contaminated sediments

Approval of the Great Lakes compact wasn’t the only Great Lakes news to come out of Congress last week. The Great Lakes Legacy Reauthorization Act (H.R. 6460), sponsored by Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI), continues support for a program to clean-up contaminated sediments in rivers and harbors around the Great Lakes. The U.S. House passed the legislation by a vote of 411 to 9. The U.S. Senate previously approved the legislation by unanimous consent. The Great... Read more →

President Bush signs Great Lakes compact

As expected, President Bush today signed the Great Lakes compact. With everything going on in Congress, the politics of the Presidential election, and the financial crisis, we should acknowledge the focus of Congressional leaders and Great Lakes advocates that saw this through to the finish and didn't let it get put on the back-burner for another day (or year). I don't say it often, but thank you Washington. Read more →

Interstate water management – a growing challenge for the next administration

Even with the recent legislative success of the Great Lakes compact, interstate water management will be a pressing challenge for the next administration. A recent article in the American Bar Association’s Journal highlights two other regions in addition to the Great Lakes where interstate water management disputes have heated up. The so-called tri-state water wars between Alabama, Florida and Georgia over the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River basin are being fought through litigation and political gamesmanship. The article... Read more →