TRAVERSE CITY -- Great Lakes freight haulers will continue sweeping residues of iron ore, coal, limestone and other cargo overboard under a new federal policy that rejects environmentalists' pleas to end the practice.
But the Coast Guard said it was adopting its rule on an interim basis and was opening a new study phase that could lead to tougher requirements, including mandatory use of residue control methods.
For many years, ship crews have used high-powered hoses to wash their decks after loading or dropping off dry bulk cargo in port. They're believed to sweep about 1 million pounds of waste material into the lakes every year.
The regulation, published Monday in the Federal Register, lets cargo sweeping continue but encourages shippers to find ways to discharge less waste material.
It also sets new reporting and record-keeping requirements and adds more locations to a list of ecologically sensitive places where sweeping is off-limits, such as fish spawning areas, wetlands and wildlife refuges.
"Congress expected us to strike an appropriate balance between maritime commercial and environmental protection needs," the Coast Guard said.
The Lake Carriers' Association, which represents U.S.-flagged vessels on the Great Lakes, praised the decision Tuesday. The trade group says cargo sweeping does no environmental harm, and prohibiting it could impose huge costs while creating hazards for crew members.
But spokesman Glen Nekvasil said shippers already have reduced the volume of bits and pieces left on decks and in tunnels as cargo is moved on conveyor belts between a ship's hold and onshore storage facilities. It's unclear what more could be done, he said.
"It is in the companies' best interest, and the docks' best interest, to minimize residues. The customer is paying for that cargo to be delivered," Nekvasil said.
The Coast Guard listed a number of possibilities, such as enclosing or redesigning conveyors; spreading tarps to collect residues; using water mist to limit dust; and training crews on reducing cargo waste.
An environmental impact study found that ship residues can be seen on lake bottoms in small concentrations, but the effects are "barely detectable."
But the Coast Guard said in a news release it "remains concerned that the potential risk from the practice of washing dry cargo residue into the Great Lakes, no matter how benign it appears, may increase over time."
Rear Adm. Peter Neffenger, commander of the 9th District based in Cleveland, invited public comments as the study moves forward.
"The outcome of the final regulatory phase is not predetermined," he said.
Environmental groups contend dry cargo waste is just another form of garbage, which cannot legally be dumped into the lakes, and may do more harm to bottomlands than presently known.
Michael Murray, a staff scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, said he was encouraged that the study would continue and hoped for an eventual phaseout of cargo sweeping.
"We recognize that politically or even logistically it might be a little hard to adopt what we were hoping for at this point," Murray said.
With the prohibitions on cargo sweeping in sensitive areas, "we've at least gotten to the point where the agency is acknowledging this isn't an innocuous practice," said Joel Brammeier, vice president for policy with the Alliance for the Great Lakes. "That's progress."
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