The Environmental Protection Agency agreed Friday to finalize nationwide standards that will protect U.S. waterways from the harmful effects of discharges from ships. Under the agreement, the EPA must release its final standards on vessel discharges by Sept. 24, 2024. The standards are required by the Clean Water Act. The agreement is the end result of a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth this past February. In their complaint, the groups claimed that ballast water adversely affects waterways by spreading harmful zebra mussels, coral diseases and human pathogens. Both groups were represented by the Stanford Law Clinic.