Opinion ID: 3007001
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The NAS Committee

Text: EPA created the NAS Committee to examine ʺthe relationship between the concentration of living organisms in ballast water discharges and the probability of nonindigenous organisms successfully establishing populations in U.S. waters.ʺ Id. at 235. In its June 2011 report, Assessing the Relationship Between Propagule Pressure and Invasion Risk in Ballast Water (the ʺNAS Reportʺ), the NAS Committee concluded (1) there was ʺno significant relationship between ballast volume and invasions,ʺ and (2) ʺ[t]he current state of science does not allow a quantitative evaluation of the relative merits of various discharge standards in terms of invasion probability.ʺ Id. at 363. Essentially, the Committee said that it was unable to establish a reliable numeric limit on discharges that would guarantee protection against invasive species, other than zero.