Sikkema, a Republican state senator from Grandville, chairs the Natural Resources committee, so he has the standing to take his bill at least this far. Whether he can get any farther will depend on whether his colleagues can stiffen their spines. Untreated ballast water has delivered a host of unwanted species into the Great Lakes. Zebra mussels have wreaked billions of dollars of havoc and are in the process of wiping out every native mussel and clam.
Desirable fish have to compete with nasty species like the ruffe.
But the opposing chorus is in full voice, crooning pieties about the need for cooperation among all the Great Lakes states and provinces and screeching fears that a lone Michigan regulation would kill all the shipping in the upper lakes. Even the cost of losing Great Lakes shipping is not too steep a price to pay to keep out another species like the zebra mussel. Besides, the better bet is that shippers will figure out fast how to meet the regulation. This state once had a proud history of stepping out ahead of the pack whenever its precious waters were threatened. Unlike other types of pollution, which can be halted and cleaned up, biological pollution is forever.