Page 24: of Marine News Magazine (May 2017)

23 25

OP/ED

Commercial Vessel Incidental

Discharge Act (CVIDA):

Good for the Environment, Good for the Economy.

By James Weakley

I think it safe to say everyone agrees Vessel General Permit (VGP).

the discharge of ballast water has intro- CVIDA’s state-of-the-art discharge standard is not duced non-native species to ports and static, it is dynamic, and the legislation uses risk-based harbors worldwide and more must be science to develop what will be increasingly stringent done to stop future invasions. Unfor- discharge standards going forward. The USCG is tasked tunately, beyond that, there’s less agree- with determining that to meet these higher standards ment, much less. As a result, here in the there must be BWMS that actually work in the com-

United States we have two federal agen- mercial shipboard environment, so we won’t face unat- cies, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) tainable standards such as cries for “1,000 times IMO”

Weakley and the U.S. Environmental Protection (International Maritime Organization).

Agency (EPA), plus, at last count, 25 As important as the Great Lakes are as an avenue for states regulating discharges incidental to the normal op- waterborne commerce, they are also the source of drinking eration of vessels, 16 of which are speci