Cummings: Tougher ballast water rules needed

Cummings: Tougher ballast water rules needed    Laws to control invasive species in ballast water on ships must be strengthened, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., said Monday.
   The chairman of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation said neither at sea ballast water exchange, nor Environmental Protection Agency regulations that went into effect in February are strong enough.
   “Congress must establish a national standard that ensures that ships do not introduce invasive species when they enter the United States,” Cummings said in remarks prepared for an address on Monday to the Connecticut Maritime Association’s annual conference.
   While the House passed the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2008, which included ballast water treatment legislation to address this problem, the bill died in the Senate. He said his committee is developing new legislation that would provide added authority for the Coast Guard and EPA to regulate ballast water under the Clean Water Act.
   “I am hopeful that the Senate will pass this legislation this year so that ships will begin to install the best technology available to protect the water quality of our nation's rivers, bays, and seaports,” he said.
   In other comments, Cummings said the stimulus bill includes a number of items that will benefit the shipping industry including $98 million to enable the Coast Guard to repair shore facilities or vessels and $142 million under the Truman-Hobbs program for the repair or removal of bridges that obstruct navigation on waterways, and $100 million for the Maritime Administration's Small Shipyard Modernization program.
   Cummings said his committee would support the effort to expand short sea shipping and continue oversight of international shipping cartels. He said he is planning to introduce legislation aimed at expanding “mariner education and training programs to attract the next generation of mariners to the water. I am hopeful that these can move through the Congress quickly.”
   He also said he would introduce legislation “to build on the Coast Guard's acquisition reform management initiatives,” referencing the controversy over the Deepwater ship modernization program. He said the law would require the appointment of a chief acquisition officer who must have at least 10 years of professional experience in acquisition management. He added that Commandant Thad Allen has “moved decisively to revise its procedures for managing acquisition programs.”
   Cummings, whose committee has held hearings on piracy, said assertion of the rule of law at sea in the Horn of Africa region will likely first require the establishment of some semblance of the rule of law on land in Somalia, “a goal that only the international community working together can hope to achieve.” ' Chris Dupin