VHS, or Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, is a contagious virus that weakens the blood vessels of infected fish and often leads to fatal hemorrhaging. In 2005, the disease was present in all the Great Lakes except Superior. Since then it has been responsible for wide spread die-offs of northern pike, yellow perch, bluegill, black crappie, walleye, and more. VHS is diffused through ships’ untreated ballast water discharges. Ballast water is also responsible for transmitting other invasive species, many of which threaten ecosystems, cost taxpayers money to control, and are nearly impossible to extirpate.

In 2007, MCEA took the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to court, charging that the agency was required to regulate ballast water discharges and that its failure to do so violated state environmental laws. The District Court agreed with MCEA and charged MPCA to develop permit standards and issue permits to ships desiring to discharge in Minnesota waters.

MPCA developed a discharge permit limiting the number of live organisms that can be dumped based on the type and size of organisms. Ships built before 2012 would have until 2016 to comply with the new permit and ships built after 2012 would need to comply before entering Minnesota waters. MCEA opposed the permit because the standards were not stringent enough to protect current water quality from degradation. Allowing hundreds of millions of fish-sized organisms, tens of billions of smaller organisms, and an unlimited number of virus-sized organisms into Lake Superior will not preserve its high water quality. In addition, the seven years given to ships to reach compliance was too long given the possible economic and ecological harm invasive species can wreck on an environment.

For these reasons, in 2009 MCEA challenged MPCA’s permit in the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The Court ruled that the permit was not arbitrary or capricious. In 2010 VHS was detected in Lake Superior.

MCEA Documents

MCEA’s Brief appealing MPCA’s ballast water permit

Outside Documents

District Court Order to MPCA to being regulating ballast water

Minnesota Court of Appeals Decision