EPA missed boat by letting invasive species into Great Lakes

A new book by Michigan journalist Jeff Alexander exposes how the Environmental Protection Agency should have acted to protect the Great Lakes when the St. Lawrence Seaway was built.

Since the seaway began letting ocean vessels into the Great Lakes in 1959, more than 57 invasive species have come into the lakes through ballast water discharges, according to “Pandora’s Locks: the Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway.”

The damage caused by lake invaders such as zebra and quagga mussels adds up to more destruction than the $3 billion Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Even before the devastating consequences of invasive species were understood, U.S. Congress amended what is now the Clean Water Act to regulate ballast discharges. But a year later, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made an exemption, and sea water — along with sea creatures — once again came pouring out of boats into the Great Lakes.

“That’s where the regulation should have happened,” Alexander said. “The EPA should have never given that exemption.”

The other big player, of course, was the shipping industry. But Alexander said it’s not practical to expect businesses to regulate themselves.

“Businesses will do what they can get away with — that’s why we have regulatory agencies,” he said.

Even after the science clearly showed invasive species were creating a slew of problems in the Great Lakes, the U.S. government didn’t act.

“It’s really clear that the U.S. EPA and Coast Guard and Canadian authorities just didn’t do their jobs,” Alexander said. “They had the legal authority and science, and they just didn’t do it.”

The mistake wasn’t corrected until 2005, when a federal court ruled the EPA’s exemption was illegal. The court ruled ocean barges must have ballast water regulations.

Now, Alexander said it’s time citizens take up the cause of the Great Lakes so further damage doesn’t come to these waterways. The EPA reports 30 new invasive species could come to the Great Lakes in coming years, he said.

The book recommends ocean vessels should have ballast water treatment systems and states should have their own laws to protect the waters.

“We have 57 species, but it would be great if we could not have 58 ... or 100,” he said.