Inside Washington ballast water management NPRM is out.

Stopping potential terrorists from infiltrating U.S. land borders is a tall order. But errant molluscs may be another story. That's because current voluntary ballast water management (BWM) practices could become mandatory under a new Coast Guard Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Comments on the

proposed rulemaking are due by Oct. 28, 2003. Under the National Invasive Species Act of 1996 (NISA), the Coast Guard issued an interim rule in 1999 and a final rule in 2001 implementing a voluntary BWM program and mandatory reporting requirements. NISA required that the Coast Guard evaluate the effectiveness of the voluntary BWM program and make the program mandatory if compliance was inadequate. The interim and final rules did not contain penalty provisions.

The new NPRM would convert the program into a mandatory one affecting about 7,240 vessels operating in U.S. waters.

According to law firm Blank Rome, in addition to the current voluntary BWM practices related to operations conducted in U.S. waters (i.e., taking certain measures to minimize the release of harmful aquatic organisms, pathogens, and sediments) that would become mandatory under the NPRM, the NPRM would amend current voluntary regulations governing mid-ocean ballast water exchanges by allowing a ballast water exchange to occur at any location not less than 200 miles from shore (even if the depth is less than 2000 m).

Specifically, all vessels entering U.S. waters from outside the U.S. exclusive economic zone that are carrying ballast water taken from waters less than 200 miles from any shore would have to do at least one of the following:

* Perform a complete ballast water exchange in an area no less than 200 nautical miles from any shore before discharging ballast water in U.S. waters;

* Retain ballast water onboard;

* Use an alternative, environmentally sound method of ballast water management that has been approved by the Coast Guard before entering U.S. waters; or

* Discharge ballast water to an approved reception facility.

The Coast Guard notes that it expects mid-ocean ballast water exchanges to be the most common practice because (1) many ships are not able to retain ballast water, (2) there are limited alternative methods to ballast exchange, and (3) there are few approved reception facilities.