1. Make sure Great Lakes water doesn't become just another commodity of interstate commerce -- like trash. In other words, stop it from being converted to gold by greedy entrepreneurs. No more water-for-sale projects, period.
2. Trust in the conservation impulse of the public to hold fast despite massive rollbacks in national environmental protections about to dawn this year.
3. Educate people about the true cost of our affluence -- including poisoned bodies, shrinking natural lands, and degraded waters. Offer a vision of an economy that can generate prosperity without depleting our natural capital for future generations.
4. When you hear a politician talk about "Clear Skies" or "Healthy Forests," understand it means more air pollution and public tree farms.
5. Believe in the power of nature's mystery to work magic even in dark times.
"In the past three years Minnesota pollution control officials have allowed the builders of at least 92 construction projects near wetlands to decide on their own whether they comply with water quality rules, an environmental group says."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5160393.html
Great idea. Now why don't we expand the concept? Let's let drivers self-certify that they are complying with speed limits on the interstate. We're sick and tired of all that unnecessary enforcement. Let's trust drivers to do the right thing, just like we trust developers.
Detroit Free Press today:
"Biological anarchy in the Great Lakes has a growing chorus of scientists and policymakers exploring a radical, simple solution: Ban all oceangoing cargo ships."
It ain't radical, it's common sense. The destruction of the Great Lakes food web by oceangoing vessels with their loads of slop and invasives the last 40 years is what's radical. The shipping industry has two options: stop the invasions now on their own, by assuming the costs via ballast water control that the general public has been paying for the destruction caused by zebra mussels et al -- or face decisive controls by government. The Great Lakes are at risk, for God's sake.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/invasive30e_20041230.htm
Another deplorable session of the Michigan Legislature died officially on Wednesday. RIP.
This is the sesssion where legislators tried to rewrite toxic cleanup standards to protect a powerful chemical corporation, dodged their responsibility to save the Great Lakes by creating water conservation standards, further slashed the environmental and natural resources budget, and took repeated shots at wetlands protection. Fine example for our descendants.
Michigan Legislature officially adjourns for the year
December 30, 2004, 12:49 AM
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Lawmakers officially closed shop Wednesday.
They adjourned the legislative session sine die, Latin for "without day." It marked the official last day of the Legislature.
Though largely a formality, sine die is important in one way because many new laws will take effect 90 days after the session's end. Legislation that was not passed died Wednesday and has to be reintroduced next session.
Only a handful of senators and representatives were in attendance for the final day. They mostly discussed New Year's plans while waiting for the session to end at noon.
Lawmakers unofficially finished business Dec. 9. They will return Jan. 12, when representatives are sworn in for a two-year term and senators begin the third year of a four-year term. The state Constitution requires lawmakers to start the next session by meeting on the second Wednesday in January.
Democratic Gov. Jennifer is scheduled to deliver her third State of the State speech Feb. 2 in the House chamber.
Unlike previous years, sine die was uneventful.
In 2002, former Gov. John Engler wanted the Senate to pass a bill authorizing up to 15 more charter schools for Detroit. Time ran out at noon, and he failed to get the 20 votes needed to pass the bill.
In 1999, sine die was staged three weeks earlier than normal to ward off a challenge to a law affecting where police, firefighters and other city workers can live.
The 90-day mark after sine die is the deadline to turn in referendum petition signatures. A group threatened a referendum to overturn the new law and lawmakers knew holding sine die earlier gave organizers less time to collect the needed signatures.
Here's another good commentary on the link between chemicals and the brain development of children:
"Although there is no reason for panic, there is plenty of reason for action. When it comes to the health of children's brains, there is no cost-benefit equation that can properly render the chemical damage done by reduced intelligence, behavioral problems, and the resulting emotional price that families pay. As a society, we're smarter than we were in the 1920s -- so do we really want to make our children dumber so we adults can enjoy "the good life" allegedly made possible by chemicals?"
http://www.minutemanmedia.org/GLM%20122904.htm
Here's Part 3 of the excellent Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel series on the invasion of the Great Lakes by non-native aquatic species. Great work by reporter Dan Egan.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec04/286806.asp
Please note the dire urgency of the threat posed by Asian carp, and the somewhat less-than-urgent response of the governments responsible for stopping them from getting to the Lakes:
Great Lakes advocates who had to scramble to find $9 million to build a carp barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal - which links the Illinois River with Lake Michigan - are baffled as to why the government would risk leaving wide open another door to invasions.
"It's clear-cut to me. It's clear-cut to all of us working night and day to get the (carp) barrier built," says Marc Gaden, spokesman for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, which helps coordinate fishery management decisions across the region. "If I sound incredulous, it's because I am."
A likely reason for the holdup is political pressure from the Southern fish-farming industry, which uses one type of Asian carp to control parasite-carrying snails in their fishery operations. Fish farmers also raise bighead to sell to Asian fish markets in places such as Illinois and Canada.
"It's time to close the Welland Canal," said Gary Fahnenstiel, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Lake Michigan Field Station in Muskegon.
"This a simple problem with a simple solution," Fahnenstiel said. "We have a natural choke point and we can shut off the flow of exotics into the Great Lakes."
Aye, it is a simple problem with a simple -- but politically difficult -- solution. Here is where the rhetoric of politicians meets the reality. Thanks to Mr. Fahnenstiel for speaking truth. Can we have a show of hands from the politicians on how many will act on it?
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1104059701272974.xml
The Great Lakes have 18 percent of the world's available surface freshwater.
It takes 170 years for a molecule of water to traverse Lake Superior.
Only 1% of the volume of the Great Lakes is renewed annually by rainfall and snowmelt.
"Legal experts" have convinced many insiders, wrongly, that it is unconstitutional to limit or ban trade in Great Lakes Basin water.
Water scarcity will affect more than 3 billion people in the world by 2025.
These huge lakes are more fragile than they seem -- and in 2005 and beyond, it's up to the people of the Great Lakes Basin to protect them from exports, pollution, invasive species, and corporations and the politicians they control.
"In wilderness people can find the silence and the solitude and the noncivilized surroundings that can connect them once again to their evolutionary heritage, and through an experience of the eternal mystery, can give them a sense of the sacredness of all creation."
-- Sigurd Olson (1899-1982)
If the Governor and Legislature will just give 2 cents of each dollar they spend out of Michigan's general fund to environmental protection, the state will have the ability to deter polluters and conserve our resources. But the funding is going in the other direction. Lansing, please put a better environmental budget on your list of New Year's resolutions.
"Compromising the state's resources compromises the safety of the public, which government is sworn to protect. Further diminishing DEQ would likely speed the plundering of Michigan's resources and lessen the quality of life for many."
http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1103730065311190.xml
Only this time, the President has merged the Great Lakes with the oceans. Why not? There's not that much difference between fresh water and salt, is there? They're both wet!
"Honestly, a lot of us in the ocean conservation community are concerned that the bulk of this response is largely window dressing," said Buffy Baumann, of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a liberal advocacy group.
For the best and bravest action by any citizen or public official in defense of the environment this year. And for the most heinous action against the environment by any public or corporate official or individual this year. Deadline is New Year's Eve. The winning nominator (and there may only be one entry, so the odds are good!) gets his or her choice of a Sierra Club calendar or datebook, or a copy of Silent Spring.
International, national, state or local actions are all eligible.
Sticking with the positive, I'll nominate 15-year-old Jenn Stigers of Copper Harbor, Michigan, whose 5-day outdoor "sit-in" in the town last August raised more than $7,500 toward the environmental protection purchase of beautiful Hunter's Point.
Read more about her here:
http://www.hunters-point.org/chair.html
That kind of youthful determination for the environment makes all kinds of good things seem possible.
The morning's e-mail brought news that a respected investigative journalist, Jack Newfield, has passed away. His work on exposing childhood lead poisoning in New York was important. As the author of the e-mail said, "Newfield's complaint became a prediction: as our knowledge of
lead's effects at lower levels of exposure showed that indeed middle class
children were being seriously harmed, lead poisoning garnered unprecedented
political and cultural power, and its victims appeared on the front pages of
major newspapers and magazines." Coincidentally, Governor Granholm of Michigan yesterday signed 5 bills to curb childhood lead poisoning in Michigan. That feat is traceable directly to a series on the lead crisis in the Detroit Free Press a couple of years ago.
**********************
Jack Newfield passed away yesterday. Newfield took up many causes in his long
career as journalist activist, including childhood lead poisoning. In 1969,
the Village Voice published a series of important pieces by Newfield on "The
Silent Epidemic of the Slums." Newfield was shocked at the lack of
awareness--and worse, the lack of action on the part of those who were aware
of the problem (this being in the day when a half-dozen or so NYC kids died
from lead every year--the mere tip of a huge iceberg of crippling plumbism).
In one piece he took on the nation's institutional racism and class biases, as
manifested in the silence of the media: "[I]f lead poisoning affected white,
middle-class children, it would be covered on the front page of the New York
Times....But 30,000 undiagnosed cases of lead poisoning, living in Bed Stuy,
El Barrio, and the South Bronx, is not news."
Of course, Newfield's complaint became a prediction: as our knowledge of
lead's effects at lower levels of exposure showed that indeed middle class
children were being seriously harmed, lead poisoning garnered unprecedented
political and cultural power, and its victims appeared on the front pages of
major newspapers and magazines. Much of the measurable progress in lifting the burden of lead poisoning in the last twenty years derived from this
reconception of environmental lead as a universal threat. Unfortunately, most
of the current resistance to further progress comes from the return to the
notion of lead poisoning as "only" a problem of poverty.
If you use Google's News engine, you can read plenty of the Newfield obits.
Here's one link:
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/36844.htm
Dear Santa,
Like most middle-aged white males in the U.S., I have all I need this holiday season. But could you please bring these gifts that will benefit all of us, including me?
1. Politicians who realize history will judge them not primarily by whether they got re-elected, but whether they did the right thing by the trust they were given, and as they knew was best to do.
2. The end of empty talk and signings of pointless documents affirming the Great Lakes, and the beginning of tough choices by all of us to protect them for all time.
3. More protected natural jewels. In Michigan, that means designated natural areas on state land, and a new category of state monuments.
4. An end to the grip that corporations like Dow in Michigan and 3M in Minnesota have on decisions about their pollution that affect all of us.
5. A child-centered environmental protection policy, rather than a profit-centered policy.
6. An awakening on the part of some environmentalists who have bought into the industry line that there is no difference between selling Lake Superior as Superrier and selling Coke with Great Lakes water in it.
7. An appreciation of the beauty and importance of wetlands throughout the Great Lakes region.
8. A ban on alien species entering the Great Lakes via ballast water -- implemented by whatever means necessary. This is an ecosystem emergency and it has been for two decades.
9. Redemption by both Minnesota and Michigan of their faltering reputations as environmental leaders.
10. More time outdoors for all of us, including policymakers, who can't help but be made a little more visionary by feeling nature's wonder.
The Milwaukee J-S is running a fantastic series on the effects of alien species on the Great Lakes system -- and the utter incapacity of our political system to deal with this threat. Commentary to follow. Here's Sunday's installment:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec04/285202.asp
This proposal is a long way from passing -- but it could be a model for other states like Michigan. An especially interesting reaction in the article comes from Gov. "No Tax" Pawlenty.
"An unusual coalition of environmental, business and farm groups has proposed an ambitious plan to raise $80 million a year to clean up contaminated lakes and rivers by charging most Minnesotans an extra $36 a year on their water bills or property taxes."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5145644.html
What price are we willing to pay for our pretty tomatoes and strawberries? Was the election a mandate, too, for puncturing the ozone shield?
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/news/daily.htm
Final Days: Leavitt Signs Sharp Increase in Unhealthy Pesticide
(Beyond Pesticides, December 17, 2004) Outgoing Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Leavitt released regulations yesterday allowing a 2 million pound increase in 2005 in the use of methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting and cancer-causing farm chemical, in violation of both an international treaty and the Clean Air Act. This new action follows several other decisions by the Bush administration to allow more use of the pesticide.
"Catering to a handful of big chemical and agribusiness interests, the Bush administration is actually expanding the use of this dangerous, ozone-destroying chemical," said David Doniger, policy director of the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) Climate Center. "More methyl bromide means more ozone depletion and higher risks of skin cancer, cataracts, and immune diseases for millions of Americans."
After a 12 year phase-out process under the treaty, known as the Montreal Protocol, methyl bromide production and use is supposed to end at the close of this year, with very highly restricted exemptions available only for "critical uses." But under the new EPA regulations, methyl bromide use will actually increase in 2005.
The EPA exemptions will allow agribusiness interests to use 19.7 million pounds of methyl bromide next year, an increase of nearly 2 million pounds over the amount used in 2003. More than three-quarters of the chemical will be used by two crops -- Florida tomatoes and California strawberries.
The EPA exemptions will also allow a handful of U.S. chemical companies to produce and import 17 million pounds methyl bromide in 2005, even though they have already stockpiled more than 22 million pounds of the chemical. The rules violate conditions that countries use up the available stockpile of methyl bromide before authorizing new production -- conditions the Bush administration agreed to in Montreal Protocol talks with 180 countries just last March.
The Bush administration's move contrasts sharply with action this week by the European Union, which is dramatically cutting methyl bromide use across the continent, including the tomato- and strawberry-growing regions of Italy, Spain, and other southern European countries. While American use of this ozone-depleting chemical in 2005 will grow to 35 percent of the amount used in 1991 (when the phase-out process began), the Europeans will cut their use to just 14 percent of their 1991 starting point. "The United States used to be the world leader in protecting the ozone layer, under presidents stretching back to Ronald Reagan," Doniger said. "Why is the Bush administration walking the other way?"
The new exemptions follow a pattern by the Bush administration of industry-friendly increases in methyl bromide use. This September, USDA published new requirements that could double worldwide methyl bromide use by providing for raw wood pallets and packaging materials to be sprayed with the chemical, even though the government admits this will not solve the problem of foreign pest invasions. In August, USDA proposed a separate new system of domestic exemptions that could allow farmers to increase use even above the levels allowed by EPA today.
The Montreal Protocol, signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and supported by subsequent U.S. presidents from both political parties, is intended to protect the ozone layer, which shields us from cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation that increases risks of skin cancer, cataracts and immunological disease. Methyl bromide also causes prostate cancer in agricultural workers and others who are directly exposed, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The last two Sundays, Minneapolis Star Tribune outdoor columnist Dennis Anderson has touched a statewide nerve, calling for a State Capitol rally of conservationists to demand restoration of duck populations -- by targeting the need to restore and protect rapidly vanishing wetland habitat. It's a heartening cry, and one that offers hope not just for ducks, but for a reconciliation of the outdoor and environmental communities, which waste too much time fighting each other while the real foes destroy our cherished national heritage.
Here's Anderson's column today:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/533/5143494.html
And here's an excerpt from a letter to the editor about last week's column that gives me hope:
"What to do: The rift between "hunter conservationists" and "environmentalists" must be bridged. The critical mass of political power necessary for the gigantic endeavor of rebuilding Minnesota's broken landscapes will never be realized while these natural allies view each other as the enemy.
In fact, the real enemies of hunters, bird watchers and tree huggers alike -- and I proudly claim to embody all three -- are large agri-business, chemical/petroleum companies, giant food corporations and the political machine of leeches that sucks on them all."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/5143708.html
Perhaps Michigan's wetland backers should organize a similar campaign -- and rally at the Capitol.
Was it Mark Twain who said, "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth finishes lacing its boots?"
In any case, media speculation about a recent fire in a controversial housing development in Maryland centered on the possibility of eco-terrorism. The first person arrested in the case, yesterday, is a guard at the development whom authorities speculate has emotional problems. But how many will remember that against the memory of the vivid first stories?
It's likely that Congress and state legislatures will work on measures dealing with purported eco-terrorists in the next two years. Watch them carefully to be sure they are not hooded attempts to get after free speech in the name of protecting polluters.
This brief story about new research on Lake Erie fails to mention two things. First, Lake Erie has suffered a recurrence of anoxia the last four-to-five years, suggesting something is deeply amiss in the ecology of this lake. Second, when Lake Erie struggles, often the other four Great Lakes are not far behind. It's also important to recognize that Michigan provides the majority of the flow to Lake Erie, so many of the lake's problems are traceable to pollution in Michigan -- including factory farms, phosphorus from fertilizers, and others.
http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=2704738
And this is just the tip of the melting iceberg:
"The endangered Kirtland's warbler, which spends winters in the Caribbean and summers in jack pine stands of northern Michigan, is an example of migratory birds that could be particularly vulnerable, the study says."
http://www.record-eagle.com/2004/dec/16warming.htm
Since the Bush Administration is determined to do as little as possible about climate change, it's time for the Great Lakes governors to lead. A regional climate change action plan (like those put forth by governors of other regions of the U.S.) would promote energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- and benefiting the region's economic competitiveness. Not to mention wildlife.
MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 16 DEC 04
Contact: Lt. Thomas Courchaine, 906-353-6651
U.P. resident sentenced for killing sow bear and two cubs
State conservation officers today announced the conviction of a
Dickinson County man charged with the illegal killing of a sow bear and
her two cubs.
Homer Dunkas, 73, of Norway, was sentenced Dec. 8 by 95B District Court
Judge Michael Kusz.
Michigan DNR Conservation Officer David Painter, Iron County, led the
investigation, after receiving a complaint about three dead bears that
were discovered near Benton Lake Road, north of Norway.
An anonymous tip led Painter to question Dunkas, who confessed that he
saw the bears come onto his property on or about Sept. 21, 2004. The
defendant went into his house, got a shotgun and shot the sow bear. When
the cubs would not leave the property, Dunkas shot and killed them as
well. He told the officer he then loaded the animals in a truck and
dumped the carcasses in a vacant lot on Benton Lake Road, where they
were found a few days later. Following his confession, a warrant was
issued charging Dunkas with six counts of killing bears out of season
and without license.
Judge Kusz ordered Dunkas to pay $1,500 restitution to the state of
Michigan for each bear, which will be deposited in the Game and Fish
Fund, plus court costs and fines totaling $1,790. He also forfeited the
shotgun used to shoot the bears, lost all hunting privileges until 2008,
was ordered to serve 20 days of community service and will be on
probation for one year.
"These bears were not causing any problems, but if they had been, the
DNR is always ready to assist with nuisance animals," Officer Painter
said. "The need to dispatch problem animals almost never occurs and the
killing of these bears was a senseless, shameful act."
Painter was assisted in the investigation by DNR officers Ryan Aho and
Sgt. Tim Robson.
Anyone with information regarding any crime related to natural
resources is encouraged to call the DNR's Report All Poaching Hotline at
800-292-7800. Information can be provided anonymously.
###
Here's another gem from Joyce Braithwaite-Brickley:
"If wishes were horses, beggars might ride. And if conferences were clean-ups, the Great Lakes would be absolutely untainted. So what are we to make of the December 3 Great Lakes summit gathering, convened in Chicago by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Michael Leavitt? One of the latest in a long series of such summits organized since the mid-1980s, this one attracted attention from “The New York Times” and other national news media. But that doesn't necessarily distinguish it from any of its mostly ineffective conference predecessors."
http://www.minutemanmedia.org/GLM%20121504.htm
Bravo to Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, the only group openly challenging the City of Evart's desire to turn over part of its municipal water well field to Nestle Corporation in a dangerous privatization scheme of a public water supply. In a letter to Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality yesterday, MCWC attorney Jim Olson says the state's blessing to the City could lead to an "unforeseen disastrous precedent" for the people of the state and their environment.
Amen. So why isn't there more of an outcry?
A copy of Olson's letter is available upon request.
Is Dow Chemical Company seeking to pull off a holiday surprise and bail itself out of huge liabilities for dioxin contamination reaching into the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay? No one yet knows what those liabilities are, and they may be less than supposed, but recent evidence suggests there are serious environmental and health risks (and multi-million cleanup costs) from dioxin all the way out into the Bay. If there is going to be an agreement between the state and Dow anytime soon, let it be one that preserves the state's role as a defender of the public trust and the public health, one that does not set a "price certain" for contamination that is as yet uncertain in scope. And let it not be an agreement purchased with corporate intimidation. Principle must govern; the people shall rule.
For a refresher course on how Dow tries to manage government agencies in Michigan, go here:
"Michigan Gov. John Engler's administration has abandoned efforts to significantly ease state standards for toxic dioxin pollution that would likely have allowed Dow Chemical Co. to avoid huge cleanup costs near its Midland, Mich., plant."
Just in time for the Christmas bird count by Audubon (not to mention Saturnalia) a great gray owl is in the neighborhood! Time to go out and take a look.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5133552.html
Partial good news from the Michigan Legislature. In a last gasp move before adjourning for this session, lawmakers banned two kinds of PBDEs, which are a nasty family of chemicals that have been associated with neurological damage and other health effects in wildlife, and pose a risk to humans. Bad news: the manufacturer of the two compounds banned has already pledged to discontinue making them; and a third PBDE compound of great concern is not banned by this bill. But DEQ has a license to do its best to act on that compound, deca-PBDE. This ban was pursued by the Ecology Center and Michigan Environmental Council for the last 3 years. Here's the story from the sponsor of one of the bills, Rep. Chris Kolb of Ann Arbor:
PBDEs TO BE BANNED
Polybrominated diphenyl ether, or PBDE, is a fire-retardant often used as a flame retardant in computers, wiring, carpets, fabrics, upholstery, and foam products. PBDEs include: deca-PBDE; octa-PDBE; and penta-PDBE. In 1998, Swedish scientists discovered that PBDEs may pose significant risks to human and environmental health. As a result, the European Union and the states of California, Hawaii, Maine, New York and Washington took action to reduce, or ban, the use of PBDEs.
My legislation, along with Senate Bill 1458 sponsored by Senator Patricia Birkholz (R-Saugatuck), is part of a similar bi-partisan, bi-cameral effort to ban PBDEs in Michigan.
Specifically, HB 4406 will ban penta-PBDEs and SB 1458 will ban octa-PBDEs. Both bans are scheduled to go into effect by June 1, 2006. The legislation also directs the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to either form a PBDE advisory committee or use an existing structure to continue to follow other PBDE congeners and their possible threat to public health. Beginning with the June 1, 2006 ban, it will be a misdemeanor offense to use any banned PBDE, punishable by a $2,500 to $25,000 fine.
A Milwaukee newspaper today has the best answer to the City of Waukesha's bid to be a "test case" for raiding Great Lakes water. Admittedly, Milwaukee leaders don't want to send "their" Lake Michigan water to a sprawling suburb, but their self-service also serves the cause of the Basin in this instance. Here's hoping the governors of the Great Lakes states will agree with the Journal Sentinel:
"...Waukesha and other dry communities in Waukesha County should look first to themselves and then to their neighbors. Stricter controls on development and on water usage would help. As would working with neighboring rural townships where more groundwater may be available."
http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/dec04/283032.asp
Insiders, some in EPA, continue to say the recent Great Lakes lovefest in Chicago hosted by EPA chief Mike Leavitt was a poorly-designed attempt to regain control of the Lakes restoration issue from a region that was starting to get its agenda together. But not a single editorialist has yet commented on this. Perhaps this region deserves to lose control of the Lakes if its wise observers and leaders aren't subtle enough to know when they're being gamed.
And just exactly why does it make sense for Republican-run Washington to get control of our Great Lakes when Michigan's previous Republican Governor and U.S. Senator (Abraham) condemned the idea of letting Washington make Great Lakes decisions?
Great Lakes states waiting for the Bush Administration to develop a genuine environmental commitment is like chickens waiting for Colonel Sanders to become a vegetarian.
"Too much of anything could hurt you; it's possible you could eat too much broccoli and die from that," said Laurie Hudson, chief executive officer of Jewelry.com, a retail Web site. "I would have a hard time believing that too much lead content in a pair of earrings or costume bracelet would destroy a life."
http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm1754_20041211.htm
Has Ms. Hudson ever heard that lead is a potent neurotoxin? Broccoli, to my knowledge, is not. In Michigan and Minnesota, thousands of kids' lives have been seriously damaged by low level lead exposure.
This is a major milestone for those who love and cherish the Keewenaw Peninsula of Michigan. Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board member Sam Washington worked this week to assure the full grant request to protect this site was recommended.
*****************************
COPPER HARBOR, MI - Trustees for the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund have placed on their final recommendation list of projects a $560,000 grant application to purchase Copper Harbor's Hunter's Point at their December 8th meeting in Lansing. The Trust Fund's decision caps a two-year effort by Grant Township, which includes the Upper Peninsula villages of Copper Harbor and Lac LaBelle, to purchase a picturesque section of Copper Harbor's Lake Superior shoreline in order to protect it from development. “Christmas has come early to Copper Harbor this year,” said Richard Powers, Grant Township Supervisor. “This is very exciting news, and on behalf of the residents of Copper Harbor I would like to thank the trustees for their support.”
http://www.hunters-point.org/update.html
There is some joy in Mudville today!
SAUGATUCK -- West Michigan conservationists looking to preserve large stretches of environmentally sensitive Lake Michigan dune land hit the proverbial lottery Wednesday.
http://www.mlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-1/1102607168251170.xml
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation
P.O. Box 1
Mecosta, MI 49332
For Immediate Release:
December 9, 2004
Contact: Terry Swier, President Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation - 231-972-8856
Jim Olson, Attorney for Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation – 231-946-0044
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation Warns City of Evart
of Nestlë’s ATTEMPT TO COMMERCIALIZE PUBLIC’S CITY WATER
Mecosta – December 9, 2004 - Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation sent a letter today to Roger Elkins, City Manager of Evart, and members of the City Council, with copies to Governor Granholm and Attorney General Cox, regarding Nestlë Waters North America Inc. request to commercialize part of the City of Evart’s public taxpayer’s water source. The purpose of the letter is to provide Mr. Elkins and City Council Members, as well as residents, with information on issues of which they should be aware before considering any contract, agreement, deed or other transaction with Nestlë regarding the Nestlé request to acquire a substantial portion of the City’s water supply.
“This is nothing more than another unlawful diversion and privatization of state and public water in disguise,” said Terry Swier, President of MCWC.
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation fought Nestlë in the Mecosta County Circuit Court during 19 days of trial and 2 days of closing arguments. Judge Lawrence Root ruled in favor of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and issued an opinion on Michigan riparian and environmental laws applicable to Nestlé’s operations at the Sanctuary Springs. Copies of Judge Root’s decisions were enclosed in the letter (see decisions at www.saveMIwater or www.envlaw.com) According to Jim Olson, Olson, Bzdok & Howard, attorney for Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, “Judge Root’s Circuit Court includes Osceola County where Evart is located. The city of Evart needs to take his ruling into consideration when reviewing the Nestlë request. The public needs to be aware to protect itself from being taken advantage of at taxpayer’s expense. This is not beer, pop, or juice. The public’s water would be re-sold at huge gains simply because the water is in a container called a bottle.”
Judge Root’s ruling took great pains to conduct a fair, impartial, and thorough examination of the facts and law. Any water for diversion and sale out of a watershed that falls within the prohibitions of Judge Root’s decision is unlawful and unreasonable.
MCWC has urged Evart’s officials to: (l. consider and evaluate effects on water, soils, hydrology, and the environment; 2) not allow a diversion and selling of water out of the watershed or Great Lakes basin under Judge Root’s ruling or Michigan’s Great Lakes Preservation Act and similar federal law; 3) consider the application of Michigan’s constitution and law that limits sale and delivery or transfer of city waterworks and/or water supplies to private entities for private purposes. In an opinion sent to Governor Engler and the Legislature when she was Attorney General, Governor Granholm advised that waters of the state shipped out of the basin as bottled water was subject to a federal law prohibiting diversions out of the Great Lakes Basin.
####
Terry Swier
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation
231-972-8856 phone and fax
tswier@centurytel.net
www.saveMIwater.org
For those gullible ones who think the recent federal summit on the Lakes convened in Chicago by Bush EPA chief Michael Levitt means anything, here's some sobering reality. An Ocean Commission with members appointed by Bush came up with proposals for major new spending and government reorganization to improve ocean protection. "Instead, the White House appears to be leaning toward 'giving us a menu of all the wonderful things they are doing right now and saying they believe they can handle it within the current (government) structure and so forth,' said retired Adm. James Watkins, a former secretary of energy who was chairman of the oceans commission.
After the year-long Great Lakes planning process that Leavitt has proposed, no doubt the major new announcement will be what a good job our federal government is doing to protect the Lakes.
If anything is going to happen to improve the Great Lakes, including new federal funding, the citizens of the Lakes states and their governors are going to have to retake the reins. Leaving them in the hands of the Bush Administration is as good as kissing the whole restoration idea goodbye for now.
http://www.independent-media.tv/itemprint.cfm?fmedia_id=9900&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported
UPDATE: For a contrary (and incredibly naive) point of view, read today's Detroit Free Press editorial:
http://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/elakes9e_20041209.htm
Good friends have worked hard on this project, and both the mining company and the state expect to reap huge revenues from it. It should be noted that Wisconsin rejected a similar project on the grounds of atrocious environmental impact. The only sure thing is that what passed the Senate is better than the absence of rules Michigan has had for this kind of mining.
******************************
LANSING, Mich. The Michigan Senate today unanimously approved a bill that would set up rules for sulfide mining in the state.
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2668301
Now here's an idea worth considering. In fact, worth adopting. Any reactions?
**************
TIME FOR A BILATERAL LAKE SUPERIOR PEACE PARK – by Joyce Braithwaite-Brickley
In Lake Superior, the United States and Canada have a global wonder. The biggest lake in the world by surface area, big enough to hold the other four Great Lakes and then some, it is the cleanest of the bunch, the coldest, and in some ways the least damaged by accidents and greed. So why do both governments give Superior more lip service than protection?
http://minutemanmedia.org/GLM%20120804.htm
A little more than a decade ago, there was talk of making Lake Superior a "demonstration zone" for sustainable development that protects the environment. Now it's a demonstration zone of a different sort.
*************
Where do you put 7.2 million gallons of unwanted water every day?
A new option would send the water south, into the West Two Rivers Reservoir, which flows into the St. Louis River system and, eventually, into Lake Superior.
The problem is that the water contains sediments and sulfates, and the sheer volume makes it an issue no matter where the agency looks for an outlet.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthtribune/10357406.htm
Congressman Bart Stupak is often a strong defender of the Great Lakes. Thanks to him for raising this issue.
"The Sewage Free Waters Act, HR 5421, was introduced to block a proposal Stupak expects from the EPA in coming weeks. The bill would prohibit the EPA from allowing partially treated human sewage to be pumped into waterways."
http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/126202004_new03-n1206.asp
Lone Tree Council
P.O. 1251, Bay City, Michigan 48706
(Fighting for environmental justice since 1978)
Terry Miller 989-686-6386
Michelle Hurd Riddick 799-3313
Sue Roller Cameron 752-2302
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 6, 2004
UPPER SAGINAW RIVER DIOXIN SAMPLING RESULTS RAISE TROUBLING QUESTIONS
High Numbers Prompt Groups to Ask County and Corps to Rethink Dredging Project
Through the Freedom of Information Act, Lone Tree Council and Citizens Against Toxic Substances (CATS) has learned sediment sampling for dioxin in the Upper Saginaw River, conducted by the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACOE), far exceeds any samples identified along the Tittabawassee River. A total of 50 samples revealed concentrations as high as 11,812 ppt (TEQ) in the Saginaw River.
Samples taken in the navigational channel of the Upper Saginaw River are intended as a baseline analysis for the sediments which the Corp of Engineers intends to dredge and dispose of in a proposed Saginaw County owned disposal facility in Zilwaukee and Frankenlust Twps. A second Freedom of Information Act has been filed to gather additional information on exact location of the samples as well as the fingerprint.
Environmentalists have expressed concern about the site location, design, and long-term impacts of the proposed Dredged Materials Disposal Facility (DMDF). Citizens and groups have repeatedly requested a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). They point out that the new data adds urgency to proper handling of the dredge spoils and the need to fully involve all federal and state agencies.
“This project has been rife with environmental problems from day one because of the USACOE’s efforts to do it on the cheap. However, the discovery of these severely elevated samples is reason to go back to the drawing board and do it right beginning with a commitment to do an Environmental Impact Statement,” said Sue Cameron of Zilwaukee Twp. To date the USACOE has refused an EIS.
Environmentalists support dredging -- in the proper location and with proper care of contaminated sediment.
“The dredging project is desirable and if done correctly can be a huge economic and environmental success, something that we all want for Saginaw County,” said Michelle Hurd Riddick of the Lone Tree Council, “but given these disturbing baseline numbers, it’s imperative that all government entities get serious and interject scientific integrity into the debate. That means a serious look at public health, site construction and natural resource protection. Refusal to do an EIS is irresponsible.”
The groups also believe the new data is a significant addition to existing concerns, particularly those raised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In a November 8, 2004, letter from the EPA, Region 5, to the COE, EPA officials questioned the COE’s use of “selective dredging” that could “ultimately lead to the dispersal of sediments downstream,” failure to characterize the PCBs in the sediment, and the adequacy of the dikes. This new sampling data adds incentive to the sponsor, Saginaw County, and the Corps to address these issues “and more,” said Terry Miller of the Lone Tree Council. “These are no longer simply navigational spoils but highly toxic, persistent materials.”
Saginaw River Dioxin TEQ
Results
(TEQ ppt)
Station Result
1 61.05
2 38.46
3 130.49
4 192.79
5 132.10
6 184.70
7 0.28
8 214.02
9 375.23
10 101.30
11 264.40
12 232.81
13 406.56
14 0.00
15 94.67
16 156.76
17 13.40
18 66.29
19 576.51
20 248.81
21 182.78
22 111.66
23 82.78
24 73.17
25 0.51
26 14.79
27 0.43
28 64.13
29 no sample
30 12.00
31 287.93
32 834.65
33 5872.33
34 142.18
35 293.31
36 219.36
37 100.83
38 282.79
39 138.30
40 413.59
41 5204.12
42 272.66
43 no sample
44 229.41
45 8187.18
46 27.14
47 134.18
48 923.60
49 718.49
50 173.09
51 11812.81
52 144.24
Bad:
An influx of great gray owls this winter in northwest Minnesota has resulted in at least one ugly incident of someone shooting the federally protected birds.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/sports/outdoors/10342697.htm
Good:
Once staked for a subdivision, 1,103 acres, including 1.5 miles of Lake Superior shoreline, will now be forever protected thanks to an extensive partnership organized by The Nature Conservancy's Michigan Chapter.
http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/2004-12/msg00048.html
Several of those in attendance said the following remarks were one "real" moment amidst the hype at Friday's Great Lakes summit in Chicago. I concur.
Tribal Chairman Frank Ettawageshik delivered a statement, as a spokesman, on behalf of and at the behest of the consortium of Great Lakes Tribes. He was one of several presiders who delivered addresses on behalf of their separate constituencies.
*******************
Tribal Presider’s Comments
Chairman Frank Ettawageshik
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians
The Great Lakes Collaboration Meeting in Chicago, IL
12-4-2004
Mother Earth can live without us. When we assume that we are protecting her we are mistaken. She provides for us but she can heal herself totally without our assistance. Actually, what we are seeking to do is to save ourselves. If we work with creation and honor our place and responsibilities within it then we will survive. But we must learn these lessons before it is too late for us, before we become even more of a liability to our own existence.
Aanii. Hello. Naakwegeshik n'diznikaaz. Pepegwezance ododem. My name is Frank Ettawageshik. I serve as the Tribal Chairman for my tribe, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians on the shores of northern Lake Michigan. I've been honored with the responsibility of speaking as the Tribal Presider for today's ceremony. It is a daunting task to try to speak in a few minutes and with a single voice what would demand days of talk and hundreds, if not thousands, of voices.
Our Elders teach us to learn how to ask our questions. This can take years to understand. Only then can we start to learn how to understand the answers that come to us, the answers that are all around us waiting for us to recognize them.
What we learn in our traditions is to honor the other beings in creation. To honor those who provide themselves for our sustenance. To respect the waters and lands within and upon which they and we live. Our very existence is in peril when we forget these simple truths.
Our Tribes are rooted in and upon this land and these waters of our Great Lakes Region. We have asked our questions. We receive our answers. For generations we have heard the cries and felt the tears of our Mother Earth, felt the pulse of her life blood waters struggling to survive the abuses that have been heaped upon her. One hundred and fifty years ago we had a resource in the Great Lakes region that was considered inexhaustible. It lasted barely two generations. This was the White Pine forest. The White Pine of this century is Water.
This concern for the Water by native peoples is rooted within our entire view of creation and is a part of our daily lives. Two years ago, Josephine Mandamin, an Anishinabe grandmother, was so moved by the plight of the waters that she organized a walk around Lake Superior, a walk on which several grandmothers carried a copper bucket of water and an Eagle Feather Staff. This last year they walked for Lake Michigan and will walk in the coming years for Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario. By putting their lives on the line in traffic and weather and physical exertion they have inspired many others to relearn, reawaken and remember our true place and responsibilities. Our concern for the Lakes arises from deep within our very beings, from deep within our culture and heritage.
Our Tribal Nations believe that this day is a good day to sign this Declaration, that today, now, is a good time to pledge to work together with each other and with our neighbors in the Great Lakes Basin. We are pleased to have the other governments within the Great Lakes Basin indicate the importance of the Lakes as evidenced by their dedication in working on this process. We are pleased to join them in signing this Declaration and we believe successfully reaching the goals within the Declaration will also help Tribal Nations fulfill our sacred duties and responsibilities to the Waters of the Great Lakes.
Miigwetch. Thank you.
Thanks to Anne Woiwode of the Sierra Club for pointing out the results of last week's Michigan Farm Bureau Annual meeting. The MFB came out strongly against water use standards as being unnecessary to Great Lakes protection, but in favor of stronger penalties for those who commit agricultural terrorism. One has to wonder which is the greater threat to Michigan agriculture, agricultural terrorism or the draining of the Lakes, which is more likely to happen if Michigan fails to adopt water use standards.
Michigan Farm Bureau 2004 Annual Meeting
http://www.michiganfarmbureau.com/annual/20041203b.php
Printed: December 4, 2004
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MFB policy-makers take stances on water use, other priority issues
For more information, contact Jill Corrin at (517) 230-6038 or the MFB Newsroom at (231) 938-5151.
ACME, Dec. 3, 2004 - Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB) policy-makers expressed their strong opposition to water use permitting during the MFB 85th Annual Meeting in Acme. Concluding today, MFB members spent the better part of the week adopting policies on state and national issues that will guide the organization in 2005.
Through the policy process, delegates were quick to recognize the crucial importance of water as a resource, adopting policy stating: "The Great Lakes Basin represents the largest reserve of fresh water in the world. It is a unique resource that should be utilized in a responsible manner and protected for future generations and the future of Michigan agriculture."
At the same time, delegates gave considerable attention to agriculture's many concerns regarding water use.
New language inserted into the organization's existing water use policy resolved to oppose any laws that include water use permitting if they do not provide that "no fees will ever be charged" for agricultural water use, among other provisions.
Delegates also adopted policy that calls for "credible scientific research" for all water use policies. However, they expressed concern over increasing calls for permitting that many feel will harm producers' abilities to operate their farms.
"Consumptive use or simple withdrawal values do not accurately describe agricultural water use," the policy says. "Michigan Farm Bureau will not accept a water management system that does not balance efficient agricultural water use with the amount of water recovered for groundwater recharge from rain falling on farmland.
"Management and regulation of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin does not require water use permitting. Burdensome regulation is not necessary to protect the Great Lakes and could challenge the competitiveness of Michigan farms."
In other action, delegates voted to:
* Support the removal of abandoned and/or neglected fruit orchards and vineyards because they "harbor diseases and insects."
* Increase penalties for "individuals who destroy or contaminate agricultural property with the intent to create terror."
* Encourage "the expansion of junior high/middle school and high school agriscience and natural resources education programs and FFA chapters as vital tools for educating young people" to "enable the future leaders of agriculture to obtain foundational knowledge that will help shape their careers and ultimately promote the sustainability of the agriculture industry."
* Support MFB's "active role to involve members in air quality education." This new organizational policy urges education for livestock producers regarding the implementation of an Environmental Protection Agency "safe harbor agreement" that provides them with "protection from legal liabilities associated with air emission issues in exchange for a one-time fine and an industry-financed research study to gather air emissions data specific to the industry's production and manure management systems."
* Support "the development of research and testing that will enhance the adoption of biotechnology products and processes, and address consumer safety and environmental concerns."
* Support "the creation and effective implementation of both temporary and permanent farmland protection tools."
* Support the delisting of the Eastern Timber Wolf as an endangered species.
MFB members also expressed concern "about the lack of large animal practitioners in the area of veterinary medicine" and adopted policy supporting measures and incentives to recruit future veterinarians.
In addition, they adopted amended policy on agricultural terrorism that states there is a "fine line between being over-reactive and creating unnecessary regulation versus being acutely aware of agriculture's vulnerability." As such, the policy opposes "additional regulation without consultation of the agricultural community and verification that there is a real safety concern or risk."
--30--
Editor's Note: For more information after Dec. 3, contact Jill Corrin, MFB Media Support Services Manager, at (800) 292-2680, ext. 6585.
Below are conclusions of a citizen who has worked for years on Great Lakes issues about the import of yesterday's "black comedy" in Chicago. Perhaps this is all you really need to know about the event: "The session began with entrance of the official 'convenors' led by a bagpipe and drum corps in full paraphernalia."
Oh, and Time Magazine will feature the Great Lakes this coming week. Get your copy early and see how accurate it is.
***********************************
My personal conclusions and comments regarding this process are as follows:
1. This process is a top down process laid out by the Bush administration by persons with no real understanding of the issues or past experience in dealing with Great Lakes protection and may be intended to demonstrate that the administration is in charge in the Great Lakes as well as the rest of the world.
2. The fact that the Dec. 3 event was so clearly meant to be symbolic suggests that this may be the aim of the process as well.
3. The governors and mayors from within the region are blinded because they see participation as the means to obtain passage of the so-called restoration legislation that was introduced to Congress in 2003 and provides for control of distribution of federal funding to the states.
4. The time frame for accomplishment is grossly unrealistic for a meaningful result.
5. Participation by government agency staffs will likely undermine existing and ongoing Great Lakes programs.
6. I am troubled by what seems to be an underlying assumption that this process will produce a plan that will restore and protect the Great Lakes for once and all. Protecting the Great Lakes is not comparable to restoring the hydrology of the Everglades that involves one state, one agency and essentially one issue.
7. I believe my doubts and cynicism about the purposes of the process and its likelyresult are shared by many others.
Below is a representative sample of the coverage of yesterday's Great Lakes "summit" in Chicago, at which EPA Administrator Leavitt issued decoder rings to all participants.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec04/281045.asp
Since 1985, at least 5 major "pacts" have been signed to protect the Great Lakes. Little if anything has resulted from them besides meetings and reports.
Yesterday's meeting was likely more about the Bush Administration controlling a process that threatened to get out of control -- imagine, the Great Lakes states demanding the same kind of funding water projects in the South and West get -- than about protection. As Leavitt said, "this is not simply about money, it's about using resources better." And we all know the Bush Administration is very thrifty when it comes to the environment, at least.
The Great Lakes Congressional delegation and governors should forge ahead on their own even while participating in this sham process. The only way to protect the Great Lakes is to arouse citizens and demand action -- via binding statute, not "good-faith agreement." There is a deficit of good faith in Washington.
This verbatim extract from the weekly report by Michigan State Rep. Paul Condino (a solid environmental advocate) gives you detail, and insight, that no Capitol reporter in Lansing appears capable of providing. The deadpan narrative is enjoyable, as is the nonsensical idea of creating a "recycling coordinator" while rejecting real recycling via an expanded container deposit.
***********************
RECYCLING AND BOTTLE DEPOSIT EXPANSION FOR WATER AND JUICE DEFEATED
The House this will took up SB 790, which creates a recycling advisory
council. House Democrats unsuccessfully offered amendments to this bill
that would tie it to a bill expanding the state's bottle deposit law.
This would have expanded mandatory deposits from solely beer and cola
containers to items like fruit juice containers and bottled water.
Supporters of the amendment said that a recycling advisory council is
unnecessary. They said that the House could take significant action by
expanding the bottle deposit law with the tie-bar amendment. They also
said that the debate has taken place for years and that the Republicans
in the Legislature refuse to take action. They said that there is a
need for action, not another task force.
The amendment was rejected on party lines 32-56, with Democrats in
support and Republicans in opposition. The final recycling council bill
passed on a 57-38 vote.
The House also took up SB 854, which would create an office in the
Department of Environmental Quality of a statewide recycling
coordinator. Supporters of the bill said that it would promote
recycling. Opponents said that the bill is worthless because it would
create one additional job at DEQ to do this, and would not be an
"office" in charge of recycling. To show that they thought that
the bill is pointless, opponents offered an amendment to the bill that
would change the name from the "Office of Recycling" to the
"cubicle of the statewide recycling coordinator". The amendment
was defeated, and the bill was also defeated on a 51-44 vote (with 56
supportive votes needed for passage). A motion to reconsider the bill
was granted, and the bill is expected to be taken up and passed when
more members are present next week.
Here's a great new tool out of the regional office of the Izaak Walton League that the entire Great Lakes environmental community should adopt and expand. What better way to pressure for cleanup than by identifying fish kills and closed beaches?
This program has compiled data for each state going back over 20 years, and it is now available in a customizable online search. Users can search over 700 Minnesota event records, or over 5000 regional records, based on variables like date, county, or stream name. New records are posted regularly.
The FKAN program also creates state maps of this information, showing event statistics for each county. These maps include the number fish kills or manure spills, the total number of fish killed, and the cause of the events. Maps are downloadable from the website.
Sorry that you weren't invited to today's EPA meeting on the Great Lakes in Chicago. Only 600 "leaders" were. Citizens, after all, are not leaders. But via the miracle of the Internet you can pretend you're there, and even take your very own Great Lakes pledge to help develop "a widely understood and broadly supported strategy" to restore and protect the inland seas. Enjoy.
http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/collaboration/conveners2004.html
Earlier today, had a chance (via uplink) to participate in a Chicago Public Radio talkfest about tomorrow's "summit" on the Great Lakes in the Windy City. If you want to listen to Gary Gulezian of EPA, Dave Ullrich of the Great Lakes Cities project, and a third white male, me, go to the link below. It lasts a little over 25 minutes. As you'll hear, this is the latest in a series of nearly annual Great Lakes meetings that are billed as "landmarks" and "turning points" in the fate of the Lakes. And aren't.
http://www.wbez.org/audio_library/848_radec04.asp#02
The popular image of Texas cowboys building a pipe from Lake Michigan to the desert belies the fact that the greatest short term water export threats come from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio -- and Wisconsin, as the article below points out.
This is the "Trojan Horse" contained or sanctioned by the current draft of Annex 2001, the Great Lakes water export pact agreement. No near-Basin transfers should be allowed, period, except in a humanitarian emergency. Urban sprawl does not qualify.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/dec04/280334.asp
This morning, the New York Times editorialized strongly against the recommendation of MN Governor Pawlenty that hog farms should trump local zoning. There's still time to protect local land use authority here. But Michigan pre-empted its locals in favor of factory farms several years ago.
Here's a key paragraph from the editorial. The whole text is linked, but you'll probably need to register to see it if you haven't registered already:
"The report has caused an uproar, for good reason. It's a blueprint for the destruction of family farming in Minnesota. The way to aid animal agriculture isn't to sell out to corporate interests or make rural residents feel powerless. It's to increase the diversity of Minnesota farming, build new markets and preserve rural life. Massive feedlots and hog-confinement operations do none of that."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/opinion/02thu3.html
Alex Sagady has posted the note below on a Michigan-wide e-mail list. It essentially says that current Clean Air Act standards for three regulated pollutants don't protect kids' health. The theme here has been clear for years but largely unaddressed in our environmental policies: kids are more vulnerable to pollution than adults because of their small size, developing organs, and natural behavior. But we're pitting their health against the right of polluters to foul the air. Too often the latter wins.
******************
The American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Environmental Health has
published an important new policy statement on "Ambient Air Pollution:
Health Hazards to Children" which finds that there are adverse health
effects at levels near or below the current standards for ozone,
particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide, and concludes that the 1997 NAAQS
may not adequately protect children.
Specifically, the Policy Statement finds that the current annual and
24-hour NAAQS for PM2.5 and PM10 should be lowered to protect public
health, based on recent scientific studies.
In addition, the policy statement cites several studies demonstrating that
ozone may be toxic at concentrations lower than the current 8-hour NAAQS,
and suggests that the ozone standards may need to be revised if these
studies are confirmed.
The Statement makes further specific recommendations on need to set air
quality standards with a margin of safety to protect against the potential
effects of air pollution on the fetus, infant, and child.
Additional recommendations address the need for specific control strategies
to reduce children's exposure to criteria air pollutants and toxic air
pollutants, specifically mercury and diesel.
The policy statement is available
at:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/114/6/1699
In an accompanying article, Dr. Michael W. Shannon, the chair of the AAP
Committee on Environmental Health states: "The revised standards [1997
NAAQS for ozone and PM] will protect children better than the previous
standards but they still won't be adequate."
This is strong stuff from the most credible of environmental health
authorities -- the pediatricians.
--
Deborah Shprentz
Consultant to the American Lung Association
Sometimes the simplest reforms are the hardest to get. The Michigan Legislature is about to send to the Governor a three-page bill making it a crime knowingly to rent lead-contaminated housing. It should have been a crime since 1978, when lead in indoor paint was banned. But at least this law may deter future poisonings. There are believed to be more than 20,000 "officially" lead-poisoned kids in Michigan, and thousands more with levels of lead that don't meet the official standard but are associated with health risks.
Here's the bill:
http://www.michiganlegislature.org/documents/2003-2004/billconcurred/senate/pdf/2003-SCB-0757.pdf