Wisconsin's shipping season will go on as normal as an eleventh hour action has prevented shipping from being stopped this Thursday. Mike Simonson reports from Superior.

The dispute over certifying Wisconsin's Clean Water Act plan with the United States Environmental Protection Agency threatened to shutdown shipping four weeks early during a critical time that would have stopped cargo such as coal and iron ore from getting to customers before the three month winter lay-off. It would have also prevented shipyards in Sturgeon Bay and Superior from getting ships during the winter months costing hundreds of jobs.

DNR spokesman Adam Collins says they still hope to enact stricter guidelines but needed to act now so they dropped a bureaucratic roadblock and sent the EPA the paperwork they needed, withdrawing their request for extension of the water quality certification plan.

"From the beginning with disagreed with the EPA assessment that federal enforcement could be taken or citzens could be brought in this matter. But our action today ensures that shipping will continue on the Great Lakes and Wisconsin. The shipping industry is vital to many local economies and the cargo includes necessities for all parts of the state."

Collins hopes to have an remaining challenges and conflicts worked out with the federal government and the Clean Water Act before the beginning of the 2009 shipping season...to avoid any other threats to the shipping industry.

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