By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Speaking under Persons to Be Heard at Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, resident Jay Erie said the city should be aware of the potential harm to wild and hatchery fish from ballast water discharges by ships coming to load bulk water under the sale contract just approved by the Assembly.
“I’d like to see some type of two- to three-stage filtration, sterilization, of all the ballast discharges water of ships and water barges,” Erie said. “We have quite a few million dollars worth of hatchery fish around here, plus the wild stocks that could be (harmed).”
Garry White, director of the Gary Paxton Industrial Park, said today that this issue is addressed in the bulk water sales contract the Assembly approved on Tuesday.
Section 11 of the contract says that the company must follow all international, state, federal and local rules related to discharging ballast water and disposing of waste.
Responding to a question from the Sentinel on Thursday, the Coast Guard pointed to the International Maritime Organization Ballast Water Management Convention, an international maritime treaty approved in 2004 that went into effect around the world in 2017. In general, a Coast Guard representative said, vessels are not allowed to discharge ballast water while in port.
The city’s water sale contract says the purchaser is required to comply with all federal, state and local requirements for use and disposal of any raw or treated water for vessel washdown or washout “or any other non-export application.”
