Please join U.S. Representative Elijah E. Cummings and other special
guests who will be dedicating the Maritime Environmental Resource Center
(MERC) Mobile Ballast Water Treatment Test Platform. The dedication
ceremony will last from 10-11 followed by tours of the MERC barge-based
Test Platform as well as the Institute of Marine and Environmental
Technology, hosts of the event.

When: 27 September 2011, 9:30 am - 12:00 pm

Where: Pier 5 - 701 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD

Background: In 2008, a partnership between the University of Maryland Center for
Environmental Sciences and Maryland Department of Transportation
(through the Maryland Port Administration) established MERC. MERC has
been conducting evaluations of several diverse ballast water management
systems in the Port of Baltimore and is addressing other Green Ship
issues, including vessel biofouling and alternative fuels.

The MERC Mobile Test Platform provides a truly unique ability to
evaluated the performance of ballast water management systems under
various salinities and temperatures, and on the diverse and abundant
biota, found throughout the Chesapeake Bay. The Maryland Port
Administration, US Maritime Administration, and National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration have funded the conversion of a barge to
serve as the MERC Mobile Test Platform for evaluating ballast water
treatment technologies at different locations in the Chesapeake Bay
region and MERC is equipped to test according to both IMO and US EPA
protocols.