My Enviro-Rant for the Day

[RobBob]

This dumb Bush Administration stance even pisses me off. This is an old issue that needs fixing, and they've chosen to ignore it:

 

 

[san Jose Mercury News] - September 3, 2003 - Skirting what some scientists say is the most significant water quality threat to San Francisco Bay and other ports -- invasive species -- the Bush administration on Tuesday announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will not regulate ballast water discharges from ships.

 

A coalition of 15 environmental and fishing groups had asked the EPA to declare that ballast water was a pollutant that could be regulated under the federal Clean Water Act.

 

That tactic represents the best hope, the groups said, of reigning in the billions of tiny crabs, fish, clams, plants and other organisms that are sucked into ships' ballast tanks in foreign harbors and then pumped out in U.S. waters when they unload cargo. The tiny stowaways kill native species, clog water pipes and disrupt the food chain.

 

San Francisco Bay is among the most severely affected places in North America. A study done in 1998 found that there were at least 234 invasive species in the bay, many of which had no natural predators and were crowding out native species for food and habitat.

 

Some species, such as the Chinese mitten crab, also have cost millions to remove from water treatment systems and water pipes after they have moved up the bay's delta and clogged water facilities at the Central Valley Project. Mitten crabs also have burrowed into levees around the bay and delta, increasing flood risks.

 

Similarly, the hardy zebra mussel, which federal officials estimate will cost $5 billion to remove from the Great Lakes, has jammed water pipes and cooling systems at power plants across the Midwest and has crowded out native clams and fish.

 

But the EPA on Tuesday said it would not step in. The Coast Guard has already taken the lead in dealing with the problem, EPA officials said, and it would be duplicative if EPA also began regulating commercial shipping.

 

[AlpineK]

The Bush administration is only interested in keeping short term costs to campaign contributors low. They don't care if 10 years down the road someone has to spend billions to fix a problem that would have cost millions to fix at the start.

 

We've only seen the tip of the iceburg when it comes to invasive species.

[iain]

I worked on an EPA-funded project to research the spread of zebra mussels in US waterways and their effects on ecosystems. They are absolutely devastating. It would be REALLY BAD if they were introduced into the west coast waterways. Several of the great lakes are noticeably clearer due to the intense filtering ability of these guys, starving everything around of nutrients. So far they have proven unstoppable once introduced.

[Jim]

The Bushies are not a very forward-looking group. Yes it would likely cost some money to set things up and have the industry under compliance, but it could cost hundreds times more to fix the problems one a particular exotic pest is introduced.

[babnik]

Google this:

 

Gore ranch

[catbirdseat]

That's right, babnik, divert attention from a national issue of great importance to one of only local and minor importance involving a polical figure, a classic tactic of the Right.

 

We're going to pay for this failure to control invasive species for a long time to come. It may be that the cat is already out of the bag, so to speak.

[babnik]

i am not right. i am just showing you morinic liberlas that this shit goes down on boths sides of the fence. you are naive to believe that you donkey punchin padnah is not scammin over the enviro too. politicians are all corrupt get over it. look at it this way. what are you doing to help other than spraying on some BBS? yeah that's what i thought. "but i clean up on adopt a crag day"

[RobBob]

Catbird, it's not like the Clinton administration didn't know about the properties of ballast water. That information has been around a loooong time.

[iain]

Jim said:

but it could cost hundreds times more to fix the problems one a particular exotic pest is introduced.

 

It is frequently not an issue of money. There is currently no way to remove zebra mussels without totally trashing an ecosystem after introduction. Once established, they are a permanent resident. There is no record of any agency successfully dealing with them, and they have no natural predator/competition. Sucks when those in charge don't know what they are dealing with. If it helps, it should be stressed that this will cost PNW taxpayers millions to mitigate. This is not just a "tree-hugger" issue, by far.