States win court fight with EPA on ship discharges

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Environmental groups and several states say they have a won court battle over a federal rule that allowed some dumping of ballast contaminated with invasive species by large commercial ships in coastal ports and the Great Lakes.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says the decision prohibits large vessels from discharging polluted ballast water without a permit.

A federal Appeals Court sided with New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, Northwest Environmental Advocates, The Ocean Conservancy, Waterkeepers of Northern California.

Beginning Sept. 30, the ships will need a federal permit to discharge the ballast. The contested Environmental Protection Agency rule had allowed biological discharges as an exemption to the federal Clean Water Act.