GO FIGURE: Shippers fight Michigan law regulating ballast water

Shipping interests in the U.S. and Canada have banded together to try to strike down a Michigan law that attempts to stop the spread of invasive species such as zebra mussels into the Great Lakes.

Four shipping companies, four shipping associations and one dock company filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Detroit asking a judge to declare the Michigan Ballast Water Act unconstitutional.

As I've said previously, I'm not a big one for environmental regulations. But again, this one seems reasonable and not too difficult to comply with.

The shippers are complaining that the regulations are wrong because only a tiny fraction of the ships that visit Michigan ports actually dump their ballast water.

So, um, why's it such a hardship, then?

State Sen. Patty Birkholz, R-Saugatuck, said she introduced her legislation after the federal government failed to act against the obvious source for invasive species entering the Great Lakes.

"I am just shocked," Birkholz said of the suit by the shippers. "If anything, we ought to be suing them."