Posted by Melissa Burlaga
Six Minnesota organizations urged the U.S. Coast Guard to adopt tough national standards for ships on the Great Lakes in order to finally stop the introduction and spread of harmful invasive species into those five water bodies and their tributaries on Monday.
The environmental organizations, in a letter to the Coast Guard, stressed the proposed rules must be effective in killing even small organisms in the ships’ ballast water and the deadlines for this must be soon.
The groups are Clean Water Action, Izaak Walton League of America-Minnesota Division, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Minnesota Environmental Partnership, Save Lake Superior Association and the Minnesota Council of Trout Unlimited.
“Now is the time for action,” said Henry VanOffelen, natural resources scientist for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. “A new aquatic invader is discovered in the Great Lakes every six to nine months.
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