Courtney Bourgoin (202) 495-3022 or courtney.bourgoin@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC-- Today, the Democrats voted against taking up a measure to reauthorize the Coast Guard that included a controversial Clean Water Act exemption, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA). The VIDA provision would have exempted ballast water from Clean Water Act oversight and stopped most states’ attempts to regulate ballast water. On Tuesday, a broad coalition of national and regional environmental groups penned a letter urging opposition to this part of the bill to Senate leadership.
In response, Sierra Club’s Director of Water Policy Dalal Aboulhosn released the following statement:
“This is a huge win for clean water and the American economy. The VIDA provision would have weakened state’s ability to keep invasive species out of key water resources. Thanks to strong leaders in the Senate and a broad range of concerned stakeholders, our water faces one less threat today.
“The discharge of contaminated ballast waters have been absolutely detrimental to the Great Lakes-- one of the most valuable resources in the United States. International ships brought zebra and quagga mussels into Lake St. Clair and then Lake Michigan, destroying habitat, degrading water quality and deteriorating the crude oil Line 5 pipeline at risk of leaking in the Straits of Mackinac.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.