Coast Guard announces ballast water rule

   The Coast Guard announced Friday publication in the Federal Register of a final rule on standards for living organisms in ship ballast discharged into waters of the United States.
   The Coast Guard specifically seeks to establish a standard for the allowable concentration of living organisms in ballast water discharges. The agency is also amending its regulations to include an approval process for ballast water management systems.
   “Once fully implemented, this ballast water discharge standard will significantly reduce the risk of an introduction of aquatic nuisance species into the Great Lakes,” said Rear Adm. Michael N. Parks, commander of the Ninth Coast Guard District in Cleveland.
   The agency said the numerical limits set by the discharge standard are supported by reports from the National Academy of Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board in 2011 as the most stringent that vessels can practicably implement and the Coast Guard can enforce at this time.
   The Coast Guard said vessels entering the Great Lakes will still be required to fully exchange or flush their ballast tanks with seawater until they are equipped with the approved ballast water treatment systems that meet the discharge standard. Inbound foreign vessels are examined in Montreal by a working group of U.S. and Canadian agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, to ensure the ballast tanks are exchanged or flushed as required.