At long last, Coast Guard proposes new rule on ballast water

Public comments on the rule wraps up December 4, and citizens from across the region are making it clear what works in this rule, and what could still be strengthened.

Politics hold up historic ballast legislation

When Congress returns next week it will mean a short window to pass legislation that sets a global precedence for protection from aquatic invasive species. After this window closes the session ends and politicians become absorbed in fall election campaigns. The opportunity to pass this bill will not come again until next year.

Congress must act in face of $200 million losses to Great Lakes region by invasive species

Time is running out on a solution to the Great Lakes invasive species problem, and the cost to the region has swelled to at least $200 million a year and is growing, according to a team of scientists and economists.

Federal ballast legislation passes House of Representatives

In a landslide vote, the U.S. House of Representatives made a huge step in protecting the Great Lakes, passing legislation to stop invasive species discharged from ocean-going vessels.

The zebra mussel: Twenty years later

It was an invasion predicted 95 years before it arrived. Research reports, dating back to 1893 and including a 1981 report to Environment Canada, warned of the risk the zebra mussel posed to the Great Lakes. Despite the warnings, Canada and the United States failed to act. And today, twenty years after the mussel’s discovery, both countries still lack the regulations that would have stopped it in the first place.

An important step against ocean-vessel hitchhikers

The National Wildlife Federation recently released a parody of a horror movie poster to raise awareness of the need to improve and pass the Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill in the House, and Ballast Water Management Act in the Senate.

The National Wildlife Federation recently released a parody of a horror movie poster to raise awareness of [...]