Facts on Wisconsin’s Proposed Ballast Water Discharge Permit
· The DNR proposal for unrealistic standards for ballast water discharge from ocean going vessels will put Wisconsin at a competitive disadvantage with our neighboring states, causing our ports to suffer to lose international shipping business and our state to lose jobs.
· If ocean going ships stop calling at Wisconsin’s ports in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Superior(the largest port on the Great Lakes), the results will be a loss of revenue to those cities and communities, the closing of port terminals and a loss of jobs in an already struggling economy.
· Wisconsin manufacturers and farmers who use the ports will see their transportation costs rise, as they are forced to use truck or rail to reach an alternate port. Their ability to compete in very competitive markets will suffer, as will the state’s economy.
· Other Great Lakes states − Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania − have adopted rigorous international standards for ballast water treatment that will go into effect in 2016. Right now, vendors of onboard ballast water cleaning technology are struggling to come up with equipment.
· Wisconsin will isolate itself if it adopts the DNR’s proposed standards that are 100 TIMES more stringent and will take effect four years earlier, in 2012. It is doubtful that such a strict standard will ever be technically possible, and it is certain that it will not be achievable in the next three years.
· The DNR has stated that, if by 2012, no technology is available to comply with its unrealistic standards, it will let vessel owners petition to meet the regular international standards. It is doubtful that this technology will exist and be available by that time. Ship owners will be forced to take their business to ports in Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana.
· The DNR proposal will do little to help protect the integrity of the Great lakes and do much harm to the state’s economy. Because vessels will be unable to comply with this these proposed unrealistic standards, they will have to take their business elsewhere, hurting Wisconsin’s already struggling economy.
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