one-sided talk about ballast water treatment

The Superior, WI newspaper is all about equal time:

Ballast water can effectively be treated onshore, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said earlier this month in a press release distributed statewide.

“This is good news in the fight against invasive species,” said DNR Secretary Matthew Frank, crediting a DNR-funded Port of Milwaukee study for his conclusion.

[snip]

Notably, the study did not analyze the financial impact on shippers, vessel operators or ports. There are two sides to every equation. So far, only one has been examined, and those numbers are highly preliminary.

You have to give the Great Lakes port/shipping lobby credit. They are capable of making shipping seem a victim of bad PR, when it's the Great Lakes that are the victim of their callousness; when after 20 years and no real full-cost accounting for the hell caused by the zebra mussel and its followers, we're still hearing chirps about the 'financial impact on shippers, vessel operators or ports.' Are the Great Lakes merely the liquid equivalent of the cement/asphalt roadways on which trucks bear commerce, or are they living, breathing ecosystems? And do they have economic value (e.g., sportfishing) other than as highways?

http://www.superiortelegram.com/articles/index.cfm?id=24510&section=Opinion