Opinion ID: 3007001
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The SAB

Text: In 2010, EPA asked the SAB to ʺprovide advice on technologies and systems to minimize the impacts of invasive species in vessel ballast water discharge.ʺ App. at 599. Specifically, the SAB looked at four issues: (1) the performance of shipboard systems with available effluent testing data; (2) the potential performance of shipboard systems without reliable testing data; (3) system development for the shipboard systems identified in issues 1 and 2; and (4) the development of reliable information about the status of ballast water treatment technologies and system performance. In considering these questions, the SAB was to take into account The International Convention for the Control and ‐17‐ Management of Shipsʹ Ballast Water and Sediments (the ʺIMO Standardʺ), adopted by the International Maritime Organization in 2004, which set certain concentration‐based ballast water effluent limits. Id. at 610.7 In July 2011, the SAB issued its report Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems: A Report by the EPA Science Advisory Board (the ʺSAB Reportʺ). The SAB identified fifty‐one ballast‐water treatment systems, with five categories of shipboard systems that could reliably achieve the IMO Standard. Id. at 601. 8 The SAB found that none of the systems could meet standards 100 or 1,000 times greater than the IMO Standard. Id. at 602. The SAB also found that none of the fifty‐one shipboard treatments identified could reliably achieve a ʺno living organismʺ standard. Id. 7 The Coast Guard proposed the same standard in a rulemaking in 2011 pursuant to its authority under the National Invasive Species Act. See Standards for Living Organisms in Shipsʹ Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters, 74 Fed. Reg. 44,632 (Aug. 28, 2009). In 2012, the Coast Guard finalized the rule, entitled Standards for Living Organisms in Ships’ Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters. 77 Fed. Reg. 17,254 (Mar. 23, 2012). 8 The five categories were: (1) deoxygenation + cavitation; (2) filtration + chlorine dioxide; (3) filtration + UV; (4) filtration + UV + TiO2; and (5) filtration + electro‐chlorination. ‐18‐