An air pollution alert for parts of the state -- including the Twin Cities -- has been issued by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
In addition to the metro area, the alert includes Rochester, St. Cloud and Brainerd, but not Duluth. The alert is coded ''orange,'' meaning air pollution levels are unhealthy for those with heart or lung disease (including asthma), adults over 50, and for healthy adults and children engaged in vigorous exercise in which they breathe deeply.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5214108.html
Probably not, but in Minnesota it's being touted as one. The governor has just called for a doubling of the minimum ethanol level. It's good for farmers and does clean the air -- but it doesn't save energy.
Worthington, Minn. — Minnesota drivers have been burning the 10 percent mix for almost eight years. It's the only state in the nation requiring use of the corn based fuel. State Senator Dallas Sams says increasing the use of ethanol is a good thing.
"Certainly it's been an economic boom to Minnesota," says Sams. "For the corn industry, for farmers outstate and certainly addressed a lot of the concerns for pollution in the metropolitan area."
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/01/24_steilm_ethanol/
Let the developers themselves, and those who benefit from their strip malls and lookalike subdivisions, pay the freight for disrupting ecosystems and plundering open space.
Anybody up for sponsoring such a state law?
"State and local governments are subsidizing "runaway sprawl in Michigan" with multibillion-dollar-a-year public investment practices that erase greenfields and erode the vitality of cities."
http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0501/30/A20-73955.htm
Renewable energy supporters in Michigan have in hand a preliminary analysis of the potential of wind turbines in (not along the shores of) the Great Lakes.
It says: "Newly published wind speed maps of Michigan indicate very significant offshore wind resources. Much of the total wind resource that might be harnessed for energy development lies offshore, over the Great Lakes. Offshore wind is a potentially huge resource that could make a significant contribution to Michigan’s energy future. Calculations performed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for this report estimate that wind generating capacity in the Great Lakes near the shorelines of Michigan is 44,000 MW. This number only reflects the wind resources identified in current wind maps (up to 12 miles offshore) and excludes specific protected areas, plus all areas within 5 miles of the shoreline."
What are the pros and cons of offshore wind turbines in, say, Lake Michigan?
No, but the author argues it's time for a fundamental (no pun intended) rethinking of how environmentalists make their arguments. The survey results are eye-opening, to say the least.
**************
Across 105 different values - everything from "concern for appearance" and "joy of consumption" to "acceptance of violence" and "xenophobia" - they found that over the past decade, an already generally conservative country has been making a beeline in the direction of status and security. A decade ago, 30 percent of Americans thought men were naturally superior; now the number is 40 percent. No matter what you ask, be it whether "to relieve tension a little violence is OK," or "it's important that people admire things I own," the numbers show a nation almost inconceivable to your average card-carrying Sierra Clubber. A decade ago, 17 percent of Americans thought that pollution was necessary to preserve jobs; now the number is 29 percent. In 1992, 66 percent of Americans said they "discussed local problems with people in my community," a number that has since dropped to 39 percent.
In other words, the sweet notion that we still live in a world where most people more or less agree with a worldview congenial to environmentalism - and particularly to the difficult changes required to deal with global warming - is simply wrong. Dorothy, we're not in 1978 anymore. Or, as Nordhaus and Shellenberger put it, there's been a "Fundamental Political Realignment."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012805H.shtml
Lest we forget, the possible hostile takeover of the Great Lakes by zebra mussels was foretold in the early 1980s by a Canadian study -- but shipping interests and their friends in government looked the other way. And there are still no effective controls on invasives in ballast water almost 25 years later.
CLEVELAND, Wis. - A rising tide of stringy, smelly algae on Great Lakes beaches in recent years likely results from zebra mussels creating clearer water while also adding nutrients to the lake bottom, researchers say.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/10754643.htm
Even more reason to clamp down on the mercury spewed by coal-fired power plants and other sources.
Mercury, like lead, ruins brains.
Virtually all inland lakes in Michigan and Minnesota has a health advisory cautioning against eating too much fish caught in them.
***********************
Scientists have long known that people like Pugliese who eat lots of fish tend to have higher mercury levels in their bodies, but it's only recently that the seriousness of the public health problem has become widely recognized.
Some scientists are calling mercury "the new lead." As with lead, the more scientists study mercury, the more they find subtle damage to the brain at lower and lower levels of exposure.
It also appears that so many people carry mercury contamination in their bodies, the pollutant may be impairing the intelligence and brain functioning of the population at large. And, as with lead, brain damage from mercury is permanent.
Most at risk is the developing fetus. The EPA estimates that one in every six children born in the United States _ about 630,000 children annually _ is exposed in the womb to mercury levels that exceed the current safety level. This places children at risk for an average IQ loss of 1.5 points, learning disabilities and other cognitive impairments.
Even that number may be an underestimate. Dr. Philippe Grandjean, an adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health who has studied the effects of prenatal mercury exposure for nearly two decades, said the EPA should consider cutting in half the amount of mercury it estimates a person can safely ingest each day.
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=CHILDMERCURY-01-26-05
If the link doesn't work, go to the link below and in the search function, type in "mercury."
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=home
How does your member of Congress stand on the proposed federal rule to allow "sewage blending"? What a phrase. Makes it sound like making daiquiris, not the risk of disease.
**************************
Michigan and Ohio lawmakers ought to be yelling their heads off in protest.
"The losers are the people who breathe and drink the water," says Blair McGowan of Grosse Ile, a developer and member of Friends of the Detroit River. Groups such as the Michigan Municipal League support the dilution of sewage as a cheap and feasible solution to flooding that would cost anywhere from $100 million to $500 million in municipal sewage upgrades to eliminate.
As it is, everybody upstream of any other community tends to regard sewage discharges as the problem of people who live downstream and must still rely on Great Lakes water.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050125/OPINION02/501250302
Since former Michigan governor Engler created the Department of Environmental Quality in 1995, environmental groups have clamored intermittently for creation of a citizens board to oversee its activities. The Michigan DNR has had a board, now known as the Natural Resources Commission, since its creation in 1921.
When Governor Granholm took office, dozens of environmental groups wrote to ask her to create such a board for DEQ. Reasons? Such a board can promote public confidence in the environmental decisionmaking process by providing a forum for concerned citizens, a buffer for the agency on sensitive issues, and a watchdog to make sure the laws are being faithfully executed and enforced.
The board does not yet exist, and the clamor has gone away.
Minnesota has such a board for its Pollution Control Agency. Yesterday there was an example of its function. It overrode a staff recommendation and called for more study of a proposed tire burning plant. Michigan, take notice.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5204990.html
This is the sort of story that causes friends not intimately involved with the environmental movement to throw up their hands and say, "It's hopeless." But it's not. Not if we practice a prevention first approach to the environment -- and someday that will happen.
******************
Many rivers and streams in the United States are believed to contain a toxic antimicrobial chemical whose environmental fate was never thoroughly scrutinized despite large-scale production and usage for almost half a century, according to an analysis conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The chemical, triclocarban, has been widely used for decades in hand soaps and other cleaning products, but rarely was monitored for or detected in the environment. The new findings suggest that triclocarban contamination is greatly underreported. The study is published in the current online edition of Environmental Science & Technology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society.
“We’ve been using triclocarban for almost half a century at rates approaching 1 million pounds per year, but we have essentially no idea of what exactly happens to the compound after we flush it down the drain,” said the study’s lead author, Rolf U. Halden, PhD, PE, assistant professor in the School’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences and founding member of its Center for Water and Health.
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/news/daily.htm
And so another round begins of pollution discovery and predictable spin control by our public health protectors and a corporation probably responsible for the pollution.
Here are just two of the predictable "reassurances."
1) The only proof of harm is in animals, at much higher doses in laboratory tests.
Answer: Yes, but were those animals also exposed to the scores of other industrial chemicals and conventional pollutants, and at the levels each of us faces, on a daily basis?
2) Still, Sarrack says he's confident Oakdale's water is safe -- and he even drank a glass of tap water from a sink in the council chambers to prove his point.
Answer: What does that prove? Drinking one glass of water with low levels of a chemical used to make Teflon in it is not going to harm anyone. Lifetime exposure -- taking into account all of the routes of exposure to the same chemical and others as well -- is the issue.
The most important question is not being asked: What is the corporation responsible for this going to do to get the chemical trespass on Oakdale's drinking water supply fixed?
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/01/25_bensonl_oakdale/
Large Permanent Drop Discovered
In Huron, Michigan Lake Levels
“A Bigger Drain Hole in the Great Lakes
Threatens Region’s Environment, Economy”
TORONTO, ONTARIO (January 24)— Shoreline alteration, historical aggregate riverbed mining and navigation dredging are resulting in ongoing erosion at the bottom of the St. Clair River and have resulted in the permanent and continuing lowering of water levels on Lakes Michigan and Huron, according to a new report issued today.
“In 1962, a shipping channel was dredged out of the St. Clair River that effectively opened a bigger drain hole in the Great Lakes,” said John Pepperell, president of Georgian Bay Association, a Canadian non-profit organization which coordinated the six-month study by W.F. Baird & Associates Coastal Engineers for GBA Foundation, a registered Canadian research charity. “Everyone knew about the one-time loss of water that was caused when that channel was first opened. However, we have now discovered that ongoing erosion is making the outlet from Lake Huron larger, allowing water to leave faster than had been recognized.”
According to the report, the channel is eroding and is now over 60 feet deep at critical sections near the outflow. It only needs to be 30 feet deep for shipping. Pepperell said that “without implementation of corrective measures, this drop represents an irreversible and ongoing decline in the long-term average levels of Lakes Michigan and Huron.”
W.F. Baird & Associates found that declines in actual water level since the mid 1800s in Lakes Michigan and Huron are double the latest International Joint Commission (IJC) estimates. According to Baird, the amount of water permanently withdrawn from the entire surface of Lakes Michigan/Huron is close to 80cm or 32 in. That is the equivalent of 28 times the volume of water in Lake St. Clair or ¼ the volume of water in Lake Erie.
“The recent riverbed erosion is unprecedented, even on a geologic time scale,” said Rob Nairn, author of the report. “It has led to a significant lowering of Lakes Michigan and Huron with corresponding implications for the economy and environment.”
Lower lake levels impact the amount of cargo that ships can transport through the lakes, the access and value of property along the shores, and the quantity and quality of habitat for wildlife. The report’s findings also have legal implications under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty.
“This report is a wake-up call,” said Georgian Baykeeper Mary Muter. “In recent years we have had a significant number of wetlands dry up on Georgian Bay, and the aquatic life forced out onto steep granite shorelines among the 30,000 islands cannot survive. Continued low water levels will threaten an already declining fishery. We need to protect the ecology and economy of this region, and we’re asking the Canadian and U.S. governments to take appropriate action and stop the water loss from our lakes.”
For two generations the continuing decline resulting in permanent withdrawals has gone undetected by the U.S. and Canadian governments and the agencies charged with monitoring Great Lakes water levels (the IJC, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environment Canada). In part, the problem was masked by the cyclical high water levels that dominated from the mid 1970s, through the 1980s and into the 1990s and may be related to government cutbacks in funding for the important monitoring of the finite resource we have in Lakes Michigan/Huron.
The report comes at a time when the IJC is undertaking a study of the Lower Great Lakes and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Transport Canada are studying the future prospects for Great Lakes commercial navigation. The government agencies will now have to re-calculate the math for outflows and net basin supply numbers (precipitation, runoff minus evaporation, diversions and outflow).
“This report serves as a cautionary tale to those who want to tinker with our Great Lakes,” said Tim Eder, the National Wildlife Federation’s director of Water Resources. “You can’t fool Mother Nature. We can’t keep dredging deeper channels for navigation without serious repercussions for the people and wildlife who depend on Great Lakes waters.”
“The Great Lakes are more than simply a navigation corridor, and the time has come for the management of the lakes to reflect that,” said Jennifer Nalbone, habitat and biodiversity coordinator for Great Lakes United, a bi-national environmental organization. “We have to stop treating the Great Lakes as though they can be literally molded to fit our short-term economic desires. We need a transportation system that fits within the physical confines of the Great Lakes ecosystem, not vice versa.”
The study takes into account other factors which influence lake levels, including fluctuations in precipitation and the effects of glacial rebound—the rise of large masses of land that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last ice age. The study shows that levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron have declined more than can be attributed to any factor other than erosion of the St. Clair riverbed.
Lakes Superior and Ontario have control structures to manage lake levels under a variety of climate conditions. There are no such control structures for Lakes Michigan and Huron. Once the water is gone, it is gone.
“Today, we have sophisticated methods of monitoring available but this study clearly shows the need and importance of using and making those tools available,” said Cheryl Mendoza, from Lake Michigan Federation. “At a time when Canada and the United States are negotiating how to monitor and regulate Great Lakes water usage, we are witnessing a constant and large-scale permanent loss of water under the noses of both governments.”
GBA Foundation, a Canadian research and education charity, commissioned the report in response to concerns expressed by Georgian Bay Association’s over 4,000 member families. W.F. Baird & Associates Coastal Engineers Ltd. is an internationally respected coastal-engineering consulting firm.
“Regime Change (Man-Made Intervention) and Ongoing Erosion in the St. Clair River and Impacts on Lake Michigan-Huron Lake Levels” Technical and Non Technical Summaries are available in PDF format www.georgianbay.ca
For Immediate Release: January 24, 2005
Contact:
Mary Muter, Georgian Baykeeper for GBA Foundation, 416-489-8101
John Pepperell, Georgian Bay Association 416-983-3721
Jennifer Nalbone, Great Lakes United, 716-213-0408
Cheryl Mendoza, Lake Michigan Federation, 616-850-0745
Tim Eder, National Wildlife Federation, 734-769-3351, ext. 25
Jordan Lubetkin, National Wildlife Federation, 734-769-3351, ext. 49
Gregor Beck, Ontario Nature, 416-444-8419 ext. 237
Rob Nairn, W.F. Baird & Associates Coastal Engineers, 416-489-8101
Wendy Douglas, World Wildlife Fund Canada 416-484-7726
Canada shares the Great Lakes with the United States and Tribes and First Nations. Some on the U.S. side seem to have forgotten that, and a nearly century-old treaty that covers all boundary waters. But the Canadians haven't forgotten. All Great Lakes advocates can be thankful for that; from the provincial view of "Americans," Canada may be the ace card in rescuing the Lakes from water raids.
*********************
The federal government also wants the text of the governors' draft agreements changed to acknowledge the primacy of the obligations of both Canada and the U.S. as set out in the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Such changes, Ottawa suggests, would reduce the exposure of initiatives taken under the governors' agreements to potential legal challenges.
While this might sound like a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo, it is critical that the agreements spell out in the clearest terms the precedence of the Boundary Waters Treaty should a conflict arise, and the International Joint Commission's central role in resolving any disputes.
A similar story holds in Michigan. Wetlands were associated with wickedness, wildness, and mosquitoes for so long we almost rid ourselves of them. Now we're spending millions to bring some of them back, while we destroy still others in the name of development.
Michigan still has elected county "drain commissioners," rather than elected "watershed protectors."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/533/5199005.html
Sounds like the Coast Guard has finally gotten the message. Unless this is another bluff.
"The U.S. Coast Guard says it must find new ways to keep foreign species out of the Great Lakes, conceding that its regulation of transoceanic ships since 1993 hasn't done the job."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5199406.html
All you have to do is write a ten word (or less) slogan that tells automakers to bring more efficient hybrid vehicles to market -- a slogan that will capture the automakers' attention and inspire action...
http://www.newdream.org/emails/ta3.html
This doesn't speak directly to the environment, but if you've heard of Bush's "Clear Skies" or "Healthy Forests" plans -- or his EPA's "collaboration to restore and protect the Great Lakes" -- you may see the connection.
Bush Administration Propaganda Bears More than Passing Resemblance to the Soviet Brand
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0121-30.htm
There is more and more reason to believe chemical manufacturers in the U.S. and elsewhere are less than forthcoming about the risks their products pose to children's health. It's time to legislate against this kind of endangerment.
Here is the text of applicable Michigan law on who is required to report suspected child abuse to the law enforcement. After the stars comes legislative language that would create a parallel requirement for manufacturers of chemical compounds sold to customers in the state. All that's needed are penalties, enforcement language and protection for whistleblowers, and a legislative sponsor.
CHILD PROTECTION LAW (EXCERPT)
Act 238 of 1975
722.623 Persons required to report child abuse or neglect; written report; transmitting report and results of investigation to prosecuting attorney, county family independence agency, or law enforcement agency; etc.
Sec. 3.
(1) An individual is required to report under this act as follows:
(a) A physician, dentist, physician's assistant, registered dental hygienist, medical examiner, nurse, person licensed to provide emergency medical care, audiologist, psychologist, marriage and family therapist, licensed professional counselor, certified social worker, social worker, social work technician, school administrator, school counselor or teacher, law enforcement officer, member of the clergy, or regulated child care provider who has reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or neglect shall make immediately, by telephone or otherwise, an oral report, or cause an oral report to be made, of the suspected child abuse or neglect to the department. Within 72 hours after making the oral report, the reporting person shall file a written report as required in this act. If the reporting person is a member of the staff of a hospital, agency, or school, the reporting person shall notify the person in charge of the hospital, agency, or school of his or her finding and that the report has been made, and shall make a copy of the written report available to the person in charge. A notification to the person in charge of a hospital, agency, or school does not relieve the member of the staff of the hospital, agency, or school of the obligation of reporting to the department as required by this section. One report from a hospital, agency, or school shall be considered adequate to meet the reporting requirement. A member of the staff of a hospital, agency, or school shall not be dismissed or otherwise penalized for making a report required by this act or for cooperating in an investigation.
*******************
Chemical Endangerment of Children's Health
Persons required to report child endangerment from the manufacture and use of toxic chemicals; written report; transmitting report and results of investigation to prosecuting attorney, department of environmental quality, or law enforcement agency.
Sec. 3.
(1) An individual is required to report under this act as follows:
(a) A chemical manufacturer doing business with industrial users in this state, an employee of the manufacturer, or a purchaser of a chemical for industrial use or an employee of the purchaser who has reasonable cause to suspect, based on scientific studies, including peer-reviewed studies known only to the manfacturer or purchaser or their employees that a chemical sold or purchased by the manufacturer or purchaser poses significant risk of endangering the physical or mental health or development of a child shall make immediately, by telephone or otherwise, an oral report, or cause an oral report to be made, of the suspected child abuse or neglect to the department of environmental quality.
Within 72 hours after making the oral report, the reporting person shall file a written report as required in this act, including any scientific evidence to suppor the claim of child endangerment. An employee of a manufacturer or purchase shall not be dismissed or otherwise penalized for making a report required by this act or for cooperating in an investigation.
There are pros and cons, but maybe it's time to push a Constitutional amendment to a clean environment. Such an amendment has been proposed but never received serious consideration.
http://www.ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/risk/rsk-15.cfm?&CFID=17331335&CFTOKEN=71127093
Admittedly, Michigan's Constitution says:
Article IV, Sec. 52.
The conservation and development of the natural resources of the state are hereby declared to be of paramount public concern in the interest of the health, safety and general welfare of the people. The legislature shall provide for the protection of the air, water and other natural resources of the state from pollution, impairment and destruction.
And the Michigan Legislature frequently shuns, reverses or breaks faith with this constitutional language, but it could mean something much more in the U.S. Constitution. It's time to affirm the value of a clean and healthful environment and to challenge the opponents of same to come out of the woodwork.
Almost every state in the union now has laws requiring caretakers of children (teachers, counselors, physicians) to report suspected child abuse to authorities. How about passing a law in every state of the union requiring chemical compnies who have evidence their products (like Teflon) may damage the development and health of children to report this to the proper authorities on penalty of prosecution, fines and jail terms?
The news that even Bush's EPA suspects a maker of Teflon of concealing significant health risk should make everyone shudder. It's serving as a source of commentary about the no-stick Presidency, too.
Here for the serious news:
"Researchers studying PFOA levels in the Great Lakes think that when carpets and clothing treated with telomers are cleaned, some of the chemicals wash into sewage treatment plants that are not equipped to remove them before wastewater is dumped into lakes and rivers. Landfill runoff could be another source."
Here for the metaphor:
3M used to manufacture related compounds but gave that up a few years ago when the residues were found around the world, even in Arctic regions. Time for an investigation of 3M and Dupont. What did they know and when did they know it?
How the heck did a report saying that Great Lakes coasts are in fair to poor condition ever get out of the federal government? Somebody slipped up.
Lakes score low in report
A report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that coastal areas of the Great Lakes are in “fair to poor” condition.
The document the National Coastal Condition Report II uses data from the last five years to evaluate the condition of coastal areas throughout the United States.
The overall condition was rated on 12 factors, each given a score of one through five, where five was the best.
The Great Lakes scored the lowest rating, a 1, for sediment contamination. The highest rating, a 5, was given for dissolved oxygen.
http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/nccr/2005/Chap7_GreatLakes.pdf
It would be nice to think that today's news of a "framework" agreement between Dow Chemical and the Michigan DEQ is the good news it's billed as being. Maybe it is. But one has to ask why citizens were excluded from these negotiations, including many whose health may be directly affected by exposure to dioxin. At best, this is not the "transparent" process that was promised when the new DEQ leadership took over in 2003.
********************
The Department of Environmental Quality announced today that an agreement has been reached with the Dow Chemical Company on framework to begin immediate work towards the cleanup of dioxin contamination in Midland, along the Tittabawassee River, the Saginaw River, and Saginaw Bay.
http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135--108427--,00.html
Think twice, or thrice, before buying the propaganda of the increasingly desperate chemical "lawn care" industry.
U.S. lawn-care industry fighting back against pesticide bans
By JOAN LOWY Scripps Howard News Service
Fearing that a Canadian movement to ban the use of pesticides on lawns
will take root in the United States, the lawn-care industry has thrown
down the gauntlet - literally.
"The gloves are off," declares an industry ad running in trade magazines
under a picture of masculine-looking leather gardening gloves lying atop
a lush green lawn.
"Yes, legislation and regulations have been throwing the green industry
some rough punches," the ad says. "And we're about to start fighting
back."
The ads are underwritten by Project Evergreen, a trade association
formed by pesticide makers, applicators, garden centers and mower
manufacturers that plans to launch a national public-relations campaign
this spring touting the health and lifestyle benefits of thick, green
lawns.
The green industry, as the lawn-products industry calls itself, has
reason to worry. Increasing concern about the impact of pesticides and
synthetic fertilizers on human health and the environment is fueling a
movement to ban or restrict the "cosmetic" or "esthetic" use of
artificial chemicals for lawns and gardens.
In Canada, the province of Quebec and nearly 70 cities and towns -
including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax - have passed laws
banning or restricting the use of pesticides for lawn care.
Some activists are predicting that pesticides will become the next
tobacco. "Pesticides are a bit like secondhand smoke - if you can smell your
neighbor using them on their property, then you're being exposed, too,"
said Michel Gaudet, president of the Coalition for Alternatives to
Pesticides, in St. Bruno, Quebec.
The picture in the United States is more complicated. Over the last
several years, the pesticide industry has successfully lobbied state
legislatures to pass what are known as "pre-emption laws." These give
states responsibility for pesticide regulation and prevent cities and
towns from enacting their own laws. So far, 30 states have adopted
pre-emption laws.
"Local communities generally do not have the expertise on issues about
pesticides to make responsible decisions," said Allen James, president
of RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment), a
pesticide-industry lobbying group. "Decisions are made much more
carefully and the train moves much more slowly" at the state level.
At the same time, however, 20 states have adopted laws requiring signs
or some sort of public notification when pesticides are applied to
lawns.
Dozens of communities have also adopted policies barring or restricting
the use of pesticides on school property, public ball fields and parks.
Beyond Pesticides, an environmental group in Washington, has responded
to Project Evergreen's "gloves are off" ad with a copycat ad that
features a pair of feminine-looking gardening gloves decorated with
daisies over the headline, "Get a Grip."
"The chemical lawn care industry is worried that the word is getting out
on the toxic hazards of lawn pesticides," the ad says. "It is possible
to have a green lawn without toxic pesticides."
A team of medical researchers with the Ontario College of Family
Physicians, a Canadian professional society for family doctors, released
a report last year that analyzed 250 previously published
epidemiological studies from around the world on possible adverse
effects of pesticides on human health.
The report found "consistent positive associations" between popular
pesticides used in lawn care and cancers, reproductive problems,
neurotoxic effects and other serious illnesses.
Pets and wildlife are at risk, too. Another study, by scientists at
Purdue University in Indiana, found that Scottish terriers were four to
seven times more likely to develop bladder cancer if they had been
exposed to lawn chemicals.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2005
Contact: Jennifer Nalbone, Great Lakes United 716-213-0408
Jordan Lubetkin, National Wildlife Federation 734-769-3351
Loophole Plagues Invasive Species Program, Coast Guard Concedes
As Shipping Season Comes to A Close, Coalition Urges:
“Close Great Lakes to Aquatic Invasive Species”
BUFFALO, NY—Days after the U.S. Coast Guard admitted that its program to stop non-native species from entering the Great Lakes had major shortcomings, an international coalition insisted today on the immediate enforcement of existing law to protect the Great Lakes from aquatic invasive species.
“We are calling on the Coast Guard to enforce the National Invasive Species Act and to stop granting exemptions to 80 percent of the ocean-going vessels that enter the Great Lakes claiming that they do not carry ballast,” said Jennifer Nalbone, habitat and biodiversity coordinator for Great Lakes United. “These vessels carry residual water and sediment that can harbor invasive organisms. The Coast Guard has the ability to require these vessels to retain all ballast contents onboard the ship or employ an approved treatment to prevent invasive species introductions. If vessels fail to carry out these protective measures, they should not be granted access into the Great Lakes.”
The U.S. Coast Guard admitted on January 7 in the Federal Register that its ballast water program to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species omits at least 80 percent of ocean-vessels that enter each season. The Coast Guard is now taking the first step to develop a program to address these unregulated vessels.
“The Coast Guard’s program has a loophole big enough to drive a cargo ship through,” said Nalbone. “For years, scientists have known that ships classified as ‘no ballast on board’ carried invaders. While the Coast Guard is addressing this issue now, the lakes desperately needed an effective comprehensive ballast management program 12 years ago. Today, we are calling for immediate enforcement of the stricter regulations the Coast Guard can access.”
Congress authorized the U.S. Coast Guard to implement ballast water regulations in the wake of the zebra mussel invasion and corresponding impacts to the region’s environment and economy. In 1993, the Coast Guard initiated the Great Lakes program, in which any ocean-going vessels equipped with ballast tanks entering the Great Lakes must exchange the tank contents in the open ocean, employ an approved alternative to treat hitchhiking organisms, or retain ballast contents and seal its tanks.
However, a loophole allows more than 80 percent of the oceangoing ships that enter the lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway to escape what policy makers and the public thought were stringent ballast water regulations. Ships heavy with cargo have avoided Great Lakes program requirements by reporting they have “no ballast on board.” In fact, these ships likely harbor live, viable invasive organisms in the residual tons of ballast water and sediments they carry.
The Canadians seem to have a more visceral, ethical understanding of the importance of the Great Lakes than U.S. governments do.
"The Canadian government's cool reaction to a U.S.-led plan for curbing Great Lakes diversions and bulk withdrawals could reopen public hearings on the debate this summer."
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050117/NEWS06/501170327/-1/ARCHIVES30
With all due respect to the many committed professionals in Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality, what does this quote mean?
"When you put it in writing and put it out in front of the regulatory environment, they are not going to like it," said Brenda Sayles, a DEQ Water Bureau supervisor. "It is going to be very controversial and very political."
Who are "they," and why do "they" oppose keeping Traverse Bay clean, and most importantly, why does "their" opinion matter to an agency charged with protecting the waters of the state for all time?
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jan/17deq.htm
As noted a few weeks ago, the Great Lakes have known a few spectacular waves of their own, some with fatal effects. Here's an oldtime story from Marquette:
On Friday, June 16, 1939, shortly after 10:30 a.m., Lake Superior's water level at Marquette Harbor began to rise, pulling docks off their pilings and inundating the shoreline.
The surge reversed the flow of creeks, inundated wetlands, and flooded highways. Pilings in the lower harbor of Marquette, normally four feet above water, were submerged. Boats were washed onto shore. When the surge pulled away, boats had to be pushed back into the water to prevent them from becoming stranded as the water level dropped. Every half hour for the rest of the afternoon the surge alternately rose and fell. It continued into Saturday.
http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/0114202005_new04-n0114.asp
In the last 15 years, most of the nation's environmental gains have resulted in spite of, not because of, government. Legislative bodies in some places are almost wholly owned by polluting industries as is Congress; in Washington, lobbyists for polluters are now running many federal environmental and natural resource programs. So what's to be done? Direct pressure from citizens mostly. It's happening in Minnesota now on wetlands and in Michigan on Dow's dioxin mess. And here's a story of how it can work nationally.
VICTORY --- Around Dioxin Emissions Nationwide Won By Grassroots Groups
This decrease is the direct result of organized efforts and enormous undertakings by grassroots groups across the country that successfully shut down dioxin emission facilities at their source.
The decease is far reaching and goes beyond what a regulation would have been able to achieve at a national level. This nationwide reduction will have the practical effect of protecting human health in ways that government has been unwilling to bring about due to their cowering to the chemical industry.
Here are the facts:
The decrease in dioxin air emissions from 1987 to 1995 reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (and repeated continuously by the chlorine and vinyl industry) is due to the closure of the worst sources of dioxin emissions - Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators (MSWI) with Hot-side Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs) and Medical Waste Incinerators (MWI). The reduction in dioxin emissions from these two sources alone accounted for over 90% of the total reduction in dioxin emissions during this time period.
The grassroots movement’s first efforts to eliminate sources of dioxin were focused on waste disposal. We began by working with communities around 54 of the worst garbage incinerators. In partnership with groups living near these incinerators, referred to as “dioxin factories” by the USEPA, 49 were successfully closed down!
This is significant because as a result of this local “source-based” work, we’ve reduced overall dioxin air emissions. According to EPA estimates, these 49 plants generated 84% of the total amount of dioxin generated by garbage incinerators and 53% of the total air emissions released by all sources.
Similarly, working with grassroots groups living near medical waste incinerators, which were the second largest source of dioxin air emissions, resulted in the closure of over 2,600 medical waste incinerators between 1987 and 1995. The reduction in air emissions attributable to shutting down these medical waste incinerators is 20%.
At the same time that grassroots community-based groups living near municipal and medical waste incinerator were successfully organizing to shut the facilities down, other grassroots groups were fighting to force many paper and pulp companies to stop using chlorine and to move to a less harmful bleaching process. In addition, since 1995, there have been many successful efforts to pass laws to eliminate backyard burning, another major source of dioxin air emissions as well as successful campaigns, such as Health Care Without Harm, that changed the purchasing and waste management practices in specific industry sectors.
The chlorine and chemical industry have done nothing to reduce dioxin levels.
This editorial calls "radical" both enlarging the St. Lawrence Seaway to admit larger oceangoing ships and closing the Welland Canal to block invasive species, and calls for a middle ground. But the damage being done to the Great Lkaes by invaders is real and massive and potentially terminal to the ecosystem as we know it. And the shipping industry won't get serious until a deadline for cutoff of the Canal -- or deployment of a control technology close to 100% effective -- is issued. The region has got to get serious about this and this editorial is faint-hearted.
"Some distinguished voices are suggesting the only way to save the Great Lakes from future invasions of exotic destroyers is to bar the doors. This could come at a great cost to the Midwest economy. The alternative to doing nothing, though, seems just as daunting. Billions of dollars have been spent over the past decade to deal with the problems caused by zebra mussels and other exotic species."
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1105710304101440.xml
From the Environmental News Service. Michigan's ban on slant drilling under the Lakes should take precedence. Should, that is, if an "oil emergency" doesn't lead to some kind of federal override.
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting a study on the environmental effects of gas and oil drilling in the Great Lakes. The information will be used by Congress to determine if the current drilling moratorium in the Great Lakes should be extended or not.
Congress required the study in the Energy and Water Appropriations Act of 2002. The same law established a moratorium on all federal and state permits and leases for gas and oil drilling in, or under the Great Lakes.
That moratorium was extended through Fiscal Year 2005 in the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2003.
The geologic formations under Eastern and Middle Lake Erie and those under Lakes Michigan and Huron have some gas and oil production potential that has been mined, the Corps says.
Some 2,200 vertical wells have been constructed in Lake Erie since 1913, all in Canada. Thirteen slant drilling wells have been constructed underneath Lake Michigan since 1979, all in Michigan.
There does not appear to be any oil or gas production potential under Southern Lake Michigan or under Lake Ontario in New York.
With the Detroit auto show opening, the schizophrenia of the domestic auto industry is on full display. Massive SUVs (which are selling), and compact hybrids, which are starting to, but far, far behind.
In another day and time, like 1975, when Congress mandated fuel efficiency in autos as being in the national interest, there would be talk of policies to encourage expansion of the hybrid market. Instead, we're waiting for $3 a gallon gas to make it happen.
From the Metro Times, one of the smarter sources of journalism in all of the Midwest.
"In a moment rife with symbolism, the profligate past and potential future took center stage when the North America International Auto Show opened to the media on Sunday.
For an industry in the throes of what many see as revolutionary change, the schizophrenia displayed in selecting the car and truck of the year couldn’t have been more perfect. There was the Chrysler 300C, selected North American Car of the Year by a panel of auto writers. A muscled-up sedan that’s powered by a V-8 Hemi, the car provides the sort of performance gearheads salivate over. And with a mileage rating of about 17 miles per gallon in the city, it and the other gas-guzzlers on display at the Cobo Center show represent a mind-set that fails to recognize economic and ecologic reality."
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=7197
From Science News.
"New research suggests that the PBDEs used as flame retardants in
consumer goods such as couches are escaping from the products they are
used to protect and attaching themselves to people's clothes. Children
are at particularly high risk of taking up the chemicals, which are
suspected to be endocrine disrupters, from PBDEs in house dust.
"By using EPA estimates of how much dust a toddler between the ages of 1
and 4 can be expected to take up, Stapleton and her colleagues
determined that children in homes with high levels of PBDEs could be
ingesting as much 1180 ng of PBDEs from dust each day. She warns that
this is sufficiently close to the levels that cause behavioral effects
in laboratory animals to highlight the need for more data on indoor
exposure to PBDEs. This is particularly true for children, because
previous studies have revealed that nursing infants may already be
consuming a high dose. PBDEs are slated for evaluation by the Children's
Environmental Exposure Research Study program, which is currently
undergoing additional peer review (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2005, 39,
40A).
It's clever to associate Muslim mullahs (bad and irrational, in the view of this columnist) with crazy environmentalists. Not sure which environmentalists have been blaming humankind for the tsunami, but there are a few points worth pondering in this piece. However, the author is overcomplicating things. "Floodplain management" is the technical term for trying to keep as many people as possible out of the way of sudden surges of water and it's a highly rational response and prevention strategy that would save lives and money in lots of places -- at least those that can afford it. The tsunami is a horror; but many flood-caused disasters at home are preventable tragedies.
"In the wake of the killer tsunami in East Asia, a Muslim mullah in Indonesia has been quoted as claiming that the giant waves were Allah's vengeance on the infidel Christians. That seems pretty crazy. After all, most victims were non-Christian.
But is it any crazier than the notion, propagated by a few environmentalists in recent weeks, that the devastation was nature's vengeance on modern man for spewing too many hydrocarbons into the air?"
http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0501/12/A09-57511.htm
Sometimes the U.S. forgets the Great Lakes aren't a "national treasure," they're an international ecosystem. And a shared political system (with Tribes and First Nations as well as Canadians). And thank goodness they are. Maybe the Lakes will get a better deal because of them on the water export treaty.
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Canadian Government Urges U.S. States To Strengthen Protections for Ecosystem
OTTAWA--Canadian Environment Minister Stephane Dion Jan. 11 urged the
governments of U.S. states bordering the Great Lakes to adopt protections for
the ecosystem that are as stringent as those in place in Canada.
A submission made Jan. 11 to the Council of Great Lakes Governors asks the
states to put in place a ban on out-of-basin bulk transfers of boundary
waters, as is provided by Canada, Ontario, and Quebec, Dion said in a
statement. The submission responds to the proposed agreements to implement
the Great Lakes Charter Annex.
"The government of Canada is committed to protect the integrity of the Great
Lakes Basin, and is therefore determined to keep the ban in place," he said.
"After reviewing the draft agreements, consulting with our provincial
partners, and listening to the concerns of Canadians, we believe that the
proposed agreements do not provide a sufficient degree of protection."
The draft agreements proposed to implement the Annex provide only specific
administrative procedures to manage proposals for new and increased
diversions, withdrawals, and consumptive uses of water from the Great Lakes,
said Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew.
The submission calls for an ecosystem approach to managing the Great Lakes
basin and for any decisions on water management to be based on sound science, sustainable management, a precautionary approach, and ongoing public
involvement, Pettigrew said.
"TRAVERSE CITY - Area environmentalists want local governments to help stop pollution discharges into Grand Traverse Bay by changing the bay's designation to an Outstanding State Water Resource."
Good move. Instead of just having Great Lakes "areas of concern" that we try to clean up, why not have "areas of quality" that we try to keep from deteriorating? Grand Traverse Bay is just one of many potential candidates. All of Lake Superior is another. But many high-quality bays around the Lakes should be protected in this way.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jan/10bay.htm
Everybody in the Great Lakes region is for Great Lakes restoration. But about half of the Great Lakes Congressional delegation is also for Great Lakes destruction, in the form of spending billions of taxpayer dollars to wreck wetlands, dig deeper channels, stir up toxins, and introduce more invasive species in ballast water, all to accommodate the largest ocean-going vessels. Time to take a tally on where each Congressional "Great Lakes advocate" stands.
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will soon receive a reminder that Congress wants a navigation study of the St. Lawrence Seaway to go only so far.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and other lawmakers are collecting congressional signatures on a letter to the Army Corps, asking for more information about how the agency plans to involve the public in the review and address environmental concerns along the St. Lawrence River.
Their request comes as the Bush administration prepares to send its annual budget to Congress in early February. If the past is any indication, the Army Corps may ask for as much as $1 million to continue the multi-year study, which examines the condition of the shipping route and possible measures to improve it.
Lawmakers have been on a constant watch to see if the Army Corps recommends enlarging the system's locks and deepening the shipping channels or extending navigation into winter, both of which, environmental groups say, could be disastrous to the shoreline. But the letter, which has yet to be made public, may be neutral on those issues because it bears the letterhead of the House and Senate Great Lakes task forces, including proponents of the study.
The conflict between shipping interests and environmentalists is reflected in the split between Midwestern and New York members of Congress on the study. The leading congressional advocate for expanded shipping, Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., is a co-chairman of the House Great Lakes Task Force.
While at times it appears Northern Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak is David going after the Goliath of a federal government, we hope he doesn't give up the fight.
Stupak's latest effort involves new federal standards being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency. The new rules would allow communities to dump partially-treated sewage into local waterways during heavy rainfalls.
http://www.dailypress.net/letters/story/0110202005_let01-l0110.asp
For the original unannotated version, go here:
http://www.glrc.org/transcript.php3?story_id=2517
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2005's GREAT LAKES ISSUES
Lester Graham
January 10, 2005
This coming year likely will see some major policy decisions regarding the Great Lakes. Because the Lakes stretch out along eight states in the U.S. and two provinces in Canada, getting all the governments to agree on issues is a long and sometimes trying process. But those involved think 2005 will be the year that some real progress on Great Lakes issues will be made. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Lester Graham recently talked with the chair of the U.S. Section of the International Joint Commission, Dennis Schornack. The IJC deals with disputes and advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on issues regarding the Great Lakes:
The International Joint Commission and the Government Accountability Office both have been critical of the U.S. government for not finding clear leadership on Great Lakes issues. Different agencies sometimes find their efforts overlap or conflict with others. At times, it seems there's no organized effort to restore the health of the Great Lakes. Dennis Schornack says he thinks things were starting to get better because recently appointed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt took a real interest in the Great Lakes. But now Leavitt is leaving to become the new Health and Human Services chief.
"It's going to be hard to beat the enthusiasm of Mike Leavitt. He spent literally about fifty percent of his time as EPA Administrator in the Great Lakes throughout. He was everywhere this past summer. But it does fall to the new administrator, whomever he or she may be; but in the meantime, the governors and mayors are proceeding forward on the priorities that they set over a year ago, and fleshing those out into very tight kinds of recommendations."
It's nice that Leavitt spent a lot of time on the Great Lakes. Quite charitable of him, given that they comprise almost 90% of U.S. fresh water. Quite nice that he organized the bagpipes and drums at the Chicago EPA meeting in December. How many Great Lakes toxic hotspots did he clean up, by the way?
Countless studies and reports on the Great Lakes point out one of the biggest threats to the lakes is invasive species. Those are foreign critters such as zebra mussels and round gobies that hitchhike in the ballast water of cargo ships, or are introduced unintentionally. Often the invasives damage the native fish, plants, and ecosystems of the Great Lakes. Nothing has been done to effectively stop importing the invasives, and some have gone so far as to suggest that the St. Lawrence Seaway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean should be closed. The IJC's Dennis Schornack says he's hopeful that we'll soon see laws that will do more to help prevent invasive species from getting into the Lakes.
"In the United States, at least, there is pending legislation that has been pending for over two years now called the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act. This legislation is overdue. It's time for Congress to act on it. And in the '05 legislative Congressional year, it's time for them to act. And that's the place where the standards get set, the authority gets established and where all of the rubber really hits the road. Now, that's just in the United States. Bi-nationally, because the Great Lakes are a shared resource, the IJC, that I'm the chair of the U.S. section, has continued to advocate cooperation and collaboration between the two countries in terms of at least setting a common standard, a common rule, common regulation on the Great Lakes. Because, obviously, setting it on one side of the boundary line doesn't do any good if the other side doesn't follow."
We don't need standards, or even the toughened Act. We need to draw the line now against any further biological degradation of the Lakes. Tell the shipping industry to come up with a foolproof plan by year's end or close the Welland Canal to oceangoing vessels. Processes underway aren't likely to stop the flow of invasive species for a decade, if ever.
Another issue that's recieved a lot of attention in the Great Lakes region recently is water diversion. A document called Annex 2001 tackles the issue of how much water can be used or withdrawn from the Lakes. The various state governors and province premiers put together draft agreements for public comment. Schornack says there's been a huge response, and a lot of it hasn't been positive.
"They recieved, I think, over ten-thousand public comments. And there is differing viewpoint, a growing difference between the view taken in Canada and the view taken in the United States on this effort. Canada, the province of Ontario, has come out and point-blank opposed the existing documents. There are concerns in Canada that this is just some kind of a ruse to somehow allow diversions of the Great Lakes waters to occur. I'm not part of that viewpoint, to tell you the truth. What's being done right now and what will happen in 2005 is that the comments are being digested, we'll see new draft documents come out from the governors and premiers and hopefully begin the process making those agreements stick."
The question isn't whether the Annex is a ruse. The question is whether it's based on flawed legal assumptions that will legitimize the commercialization and export of Great Lakes waters. It's time for a moratorium on any more water bottling and an open discussion on whether selling off our birthright is a good idea.
Schornack says 2005 will also see some important reports on the economic costs of invasive species. Studies on the logistics of shipping, cargo ship traffic and alternative freight haulers and design plans that look at the total cost of shipping - including the infrastructure costs and the environmental damage caused by invasive species. It should be an interesting year for the Great Lake if Congress moves on key issues, and then finds money to make the Great Lakes more sound.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
© 2004 Great Lakes Radio Consortium
Especially, don't inhale it. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
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Recently we read in your column about the dangers of mercury from a broken thermometer. My sister and I remember playing with mercury on more than one occasion when we were young, some 45 years ago. We rolled it around on the bathroom floor along the tile grooves and splatting it with fingers to see the tiny balls fly out. Are there any health concerns at this point in time? What are the short-term and long-term effects of mercury exposure? What do we do if we break a thermometer now?
http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/5174593.html
Declining duck populations are the impulse for a save the wetlands rally in Minnesota, but now the coalition is broadening to include many other interests and people affected by wetland loss. While ducks aren't disappearing as fast in Michigan, wetlands are.
"Date for the rally at the Capitol in support of Minnesota ducks, wetlands and clean water will be Saturday, April 2. Time will be 1 p.m.
Interest in the rally, spurred initially by Minnesota duck hunters, is growing, and likely for the first time in the state will see sportsmen and women -- meaning, generally, hunters and anglers -- join with environmentalists in an effort to jump-start a broad-based overhaul in the way wetlands, wetland wildlife and water are managed and conserved in the state."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/533/5174755.html
Dumping used motor oil in a drain is water pollution, all right, and should be deterred, but this gentleman got a bigger fine for what he did than most major corporations that flush their tens of thousands of gallons of waste into a river...
From California. Maybe they take pollution more seriously there.
Blue Lake man fined for flushing motor oil into gutter
Saturday, January 08, 2005 -
EUREKA -- Superior Court Judge Marilyn Miles sentenced a Blue Lake man to two years of summary probation Friday and fined him $540 for flushing used motor oil into a gutter.
Shane Allen Gibbens, 33, had pleaded guilty to one count of permitting petroleum to pass into waters of the state or placing petroleum where it can pass into the waters of the state under the Fish and Game Code, a misdemeanor.
According to the District Attorney's Office, the Blue Lake Police Department received an anonymous call on Oct. 26, 2003, that Gibbens was spraying motor oil down the storm drain in the 300 block of Broad Street in Blue Lake.
When the police arrived at Gibbens' residence, Gibbens said he had noticed that a 5-gallon bucket of motor oil he had in the back of his Chevy Blazer had spilled and that he had used a garden hose to spray most of the oil down the gutter into the storm drain, which leads to the Mad River.
The police called a HazMat team, which cleaned up what was left of the oil.
"Used motor oil contains heavy metals and other constituents toxic to life," said Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagen in a press release. "It is also considered a hazardous waste and must be managed as such. We ask the public to respect not only the law, but the fact that even small actions can have consequences to public health and safety."
Keep an eye on this Supreme Court case, which has a lot to do with "personal accountability" of corporations that make economic poisons for sale.
Physicians for Social Responsibility * Farmworker Justice Fund *
Beyond Pesticides * Sierra Club * Defenders of Wildlife *
Earthjustice * Natural Resources Defense Council *
Public Citizen * Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Federal Pesticide Law Prevents Citizens From Seeking Redress for Harm Caused by Pesticides
On January 10, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in Bates v. Dow Agrosciences, a case that will determine whether federal pesticide law closes the courthouse doors to people injured by pesticides. In Bates, Texas farmers applied an herbicide called “Strongarm” to prevent weeds in their peanut crops, but Strongarm stunted the peanut crops, causing serious economic damage. The Texas farmers went to state court in an effort to make the pesticide makers pay for damage to the crops. The pesticide makers claim they are shielded from court challenges by federal law, the key dispute now before the US Supreme Court. The importance of the case, however, goes beyond the right to recover for crop damage. The Supreme Court’s ruling will also determine whether the thousands of people harmed by pesticides can hold pesticide companies accountable for making and distributing dangerous chemicals. Pesticide companies hold that federal law shields them from all such suits.
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Farmworker Justice Fund, Beyond Pesticides, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, Public Citizen, and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice filed a friend of the court brief written by Earthjustice, Public Citizen, and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, urging the Court to preserve citizens’ rights to recover for harms caused by pesticides.
Federal Pesticide Regulation Does Not Guard Against Harm to People From Pesticide Use
Under federal pesticide law, pesticide companies must write and update labels for their products that guard against adverse health and environmental effects. EPA approves the labels submitted by the companies under a risk-benefit standard that does not prevent all harm to the public. A pesticide is misbranded if its label does not provide adequate health and environmental protection, and EPA’s approval of the label is no defense to a misbranding offense.
In the wake of Silent Spring, Congress added health and environmental standards to federal pesticide law, but it allowed previously registered pesticides to remain on the market until EPA reviewed them under the new standards. EPA will not complete its review of pre-1972 pesticides until 2008, presuming it meets the deadline. Even then, pesticides must pass muster under standards that are constantly upgraded by Congress and EPA based on new information and health and environmental concerns. State court actions bring these effects to light and spur better compliance with federal standards.
State Court Actions Provide Compensation to People Injured due to EPA’s Delays in Bringing its Pesticide Licenses into Compliance with Federal Standards and for Harm to People that is not Regulatd by EPA
In 1993, Amvac Corp. marketed an extremely toxic pesticide, phosdrin, for the first time in Washington state, even though it had been suspected of poisoning more than 600 workers in California from 1982 through 1989, and Amvac had acknowledged that the existing pesticide label did not adequately protect workers. Throughout the summer of 1993, 29 workers reported acute pesticide poisoning from exposure to phosdrin. The Washington Department of Agriculture banned all phosdrin use before the end of the summer, and, in the face of EPA’s plans to cancel the pesticide nationwide, Amvac cancelled its use the following year. The workers became casualties of EPA’s delays in canceling the pesticide. Three workers sued Amvac and the distributor for the poisonings and eventually obtained a settlement.
Ruiz-Guzman v. Amvac Chemical Corp., 7 P.3d 795 (Wash. 2000) (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=wa&vol=684341maj&searchval&invol=1). The Ninth Circuit held that FIFRA did not preempt the workers’ design defect claims. Ruiz-Guzman v. Amvac Chemical Corp., 243 F.3d 549 (9th Cir. 2000).
In 1994 a nine-year-old boy ate rat poison that tasted sweet and looked like candy at a boys’ club and died as a result. While the label cautioned to keep the rat poison out of reach of children, a jury awarded the boy’s family damages upon finding that the company withheld adverse incidents of human exposure from EPA and that the product could have been designed with a bittering agent to avoid being mistaken for candy and with a substance that would induce vomiting.
Banks v. ICI Americas, Inc., 264 Ga. 732, 734, 450 S.E.2d 671, 673 (1994).
Dozens of people, including children, suffered poisonings and other adverse health effects from coming into contact with arsenic-treated wood used in playground structures and wood decks. EPA had found that the wood products cause excessive cancer and birth defects as long ago as 1984, but did not require mandatory warnings. When numerous lawsuits were filed against the pesticide companies, the industry and EPA agreed to a phase-out of the arsenic-treated wood for residential uses.
A. Liptak, The Poison is Arsenic & the Suspect Wood, THE NEW YORK TIMES, at A1, June 19, 2002 ; Environmental Working Group & Healthy Bldg Network, Poisoned Playgrounds, 13-14 (2001) (http://www.ewg.org/reports/poisonedplaygrounds/); 67 Fed. Reg. 8244 (Feb. 22, 2002); http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/cca_transition.htm.
In 1977, EPA found that the fungicide benomyl causes birth defects, including rats born with no or very small eyes after in utero exposure, but EPA allowed the pesticide to be used without any birth defect warnings. Dozens of children in rural areas have since been born with no or tiny eyes after their mothers were exposed to benomyl during pregnancy. One family successfully sued the company for compensation for the harm to a child whose mother was exposed by applications at a nearby farm.
42 Fed. Reg. 61,788 (1977); 44 Fed. Reg. 51,169 (1979); 47 Fed. Reg. 46,747, 46,750 (1982); Castillo v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Co., 854 So.2d 1264 (Fla. 2003); http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/floridastatecases/7_2003/sc00-490.pdf
In 1993, Harold Eyl, a maintenance worker for the City of Wisner, Nebraska, came into contact with an herbicide (Pramitol) applied to the playground where he was laying pea rock. He experienced a severe skin reaction that caused swelling in his legs, blood vessel inflammation, and blood clots that left him permanently disabled and unable to work. A jury returned a verdict against the pesticide distributor, but the Nebraska Supreme Court reversed on preemption grounds.
http://www.citizen.org/documents/Petition for Cert in Final PDF.pdf
This Supreme Court case comes at a time when federal health and safety regulations are in full retreat as evidenced by the recent scandals involving approval of harmful drugs by the federal Food and Drug Administration. In addition, the federal government in 2004 made it much easier for pesticide makers to get federal approval for their poisons where their use threatens wildlife protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Mostly, more good news. A large chunk of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is now formally protected as wilderness. But some voices think more of the treasured area should have been designated.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/5173278.html
http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/5167045.html
A large slice of Wisconsin's Apostle Islands is now the Gaylord A. Nelson Wilderness. Named for the man who cosponsored the Wilderness Act in 1964, the wilderness area encompasses 33,500 acres and all or part of 18 of the 21 islands and a strip of shoreline. Nelson, 88, left office in 1981 but still works part time for the Wilderness Society.
About 44 states are taking some action to deal with climate change, since the federal government seems reluctant to admit it's a problem. Here's a searchable data base. But you can't look up anything from Michigan -- apparently, the state isn't acting either.
Why does it make sense to act on climate change? Because in many cases you can lower greenhouse gas emissions with energy efficiency -- and save lots of money as an individual or a business. Even if climate change were the myth that Rush Limbaugh says it is, the savings from energy efficiency are no myth.
http://www.pewclimate.org/states.cfm
Here is the full story filed by AP's John Flesher on the massive land deal that will protect a large area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Again, the Nature Conservancy of Michigan deserves enormous credit for the patient negotiations to make this happen. So does Michigan's Constitutionally-protected Natural Resources Trust Fund, which is providing millions of dollars in public funds to help complete the deal. The Trust Fund is the best idea Michigan ever had.
*************
By JOHN FLESHER
Associated Press Writer
¶ TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) _ Two years after losing a bidding war
over a mammoth tract of Upper Peninsula timberland, conservationists and
state officials have struck a deal that will keep most of the property
open for public recreation, The Associated Press has learned.
¶ The $57.9 million agreement is the biggest land-protection project
in Michigan history, said Helen Taylor, state director of The Nature
Conservancy, which spearheaded the deal with financial backing from the
state government and private foundations.
¶ It covers 271,000 acres in eight counties, or 423 square miles _ an
area larger than the surface of Lake St. Clair. Most will continue to be
owned by The Forestland Group LLC, a timber investment group that bought
it in 2002. But the land will be placed under a conservation easement
that assures continued public access and sharply limits development.
¶ An ecological treasure trove, the sprawling landscape features some
of Michigan's most spectacular forests and inland waterways, including
more than 300 lakes and 516 miles of rivers and streams. Most of the
land is in the northeastern Upper Peninsula, but the deal also includes
parcels in Marquette County and near the Porcupine Mountains State Park
on the western end.
¶ "Michigan is literally defined by its environmental treasures," said
Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who took part in behind-the-scenes negotiations
that produced the deal. "Thanks to the vision of this project, in 100
years the Upper Peninsula's majestic trees and breathtaking shorelines
... will still be a reality, not just a memory."
¶ A news conference was scheduled for Thursday in Lansing to announce
the deal, which was signed Dec. 22. Chris Zinkhan, managing director of
The Forestland Group, confirmed Wednesday in a phone interview the deal
had been reached.
¶ The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, which buys land for
public recreation with royalties from state mineral rights leases, has
set aside $10 million toward funding the plan. Other big contributors
include and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which is giving $10
million, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which added $5 million.
¶ "It's a substantially large grant for us," said Marilyn Lefeber,
vice president for communications for the Mott Foundation.
¶ The final $18.5 million committed under the deal hasn't been raised,
Taylor said. Additional grants are being sought from the federal
government and other foundations.
¶ The land is part of an even larger tract _ totaling 390,000 acres in
10 counties _ previously owned by a mining company and later by
investors. The Kamehameha Schools Trust of Hawaii sold it in 2002 to The
Forestland Group, based in Chapel Hill, N.C. Zinkhan would not divulge
the purchase price.
¶ A coalition led by Michigan officials and The Nature Conservancy
made an unsuccessful bid. After their high-profile campaign failed, the
group quietly began talks with the new owners in hopes of securing
promises of continued public access and limited development on the
environmentally sensitive land.
¶ "We couldn't afford not to try," Taylor said. "This project links so
many core values _ not just conservation of natural resources, but
cultural heritage, jobs, public recreation, sustainable use, even the
local tax base."
¶ An agreement in principle was reached in November 2003 when key
players met at the governor's office. When talks bogged down, Granholm
put the two sides in separate rooms and shuttled back and forth until
they reached the outlines of a deal, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said.
¶ Another year was needed to iron out the details, Taylor said.
¶ The plan calls for The Nature Conservancy to buy 23,239 acres in the
Big Two Hearted River watershed. But a crucial feature is that The
Forestland Group will continue owning the rest of the land _ nearly
248,000 acres.
¶ That section will be covered by a working forest conservation
easement, which sets conditions for the land's use. It allows timber
harvesting under internationally recognized sustainable forestry guidelines.
¶ Also permitted will be limited development, including construction
of no more than 40 single-family houses and two forest-management
buildings. Buffer zones and other restrictions will protect water
quality of rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands.
¶ For many years, people have used this land for hunting, fishing,
hiking, snowmobiling and other recreation courtesy of the Michigan
Commercial Forestry Act, which gave the owners a tax break for granting
public access.
¶ But in recent years, some timber companies have sold off acreage for
residential development, leaving less for recreation. Under the
easement, public access will be guaranteed permanently.
¶ "It really cements a very large portion of the U.P. for future
generations, and we were particularly overjoyed that recreational access
was a prime consideration," said Sam Washington, executive director of
Michigan United Conservation Clubs.
¶ From an ecological standpoint, the plan is important because it
helps link more than 2.5 million acres of protected forest and natural
area, including federal and state land, Taylor said.
¶ "It fills in missing pieces of the conservation puzzle" at a time of
rising concern about land fragmentation, which interrupts wildlife
migration corridors and causes other environmental problems, she said.
¶ Another consideration was protecting the forest products industry, a
crucial sector of the Upper Peninsula's economy. A study by The Nature
Conservancy showed that timber harvesting in the area covered by the
agreement generates $200 million a year and supports 3,000 jobs.
__________
By The Associated Press
¶ The 271,000 acres covered by a recent Upper Peninsula land
protection deal includes:
¶ _More than 300 natural lakes, including 74 larger than 10 acres.
¶ _516 miles of lakes and streams, including Two Hearted and Presque
Isle rivers.
¶ _More than 31 miles of land bordering Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
¶ _About 10,000 acres around Tahquamenon Falls State Park and an
additional 10,000 acres around Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.
¶ _More than 52,000 acres of wetlands.
¶ _Habitat for endangered species including the bald eagle, common
loon, osprey and gray wolf.
¶ _About 50,000 acres of watershed protection, buffer land around
Seney National Wildlife Refuge.
¶ _23,000 acres of land near The Nature Conservancy's existing
preserve in the Big Two Hearted River watershed.
¶ _30,000 acres around Hiawatha National Forest, 27,000 acres around
Ottawa National Forest, 100,000 acres around various state forests.
¶ _Natural features such as old-growth hemlock gorges and
high-elevation peatland-forest ecosystems.
¶ ___
¶ Source: The Nature Conservancy.
Congratulations to The Nature Conservancy's Michigan office and director Helen Taylor, for this enormous accomplishment.
AP Exclusive: Deal reached to protect 271,000 acres in U.P.
January 5, 2005, 6:34 PM
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Two years after losing a bidding war over a mammoth tract of Upper Peninsula timberland, conservationists and state officials have struck a deal that will keep most of the property open for public recreation, The Associated Press has learned.
The $57.9 million agreement is the biggest land-protection project in Michigan history, said Helen Taylor, state director of The Nature Conservancy, which spearheaded the deal with financial backing from the state government and private foundations.
It covers 271,000 acres in eight counties, or 423 square miles -- an area larger than the surface of Lake St. Clair. Most will continue to be owned by The Forestland Group LLC, a timber investment group that bought it in 2002. But the land will be placed under a conservation easement that assures continued public access and sharply limits development.
An ecological treasure trove, the sprawling landscape features some of Michigan's most spectacular forests and inland waterways, including more than 300 lakes and 516 miles of rivers and streams. Most of the land is in the northeastern Upper Peninsula, but the deal also includes parcels in Marquette County and near the Porcupine Mountains State Park on the western end.
**************
More tomorrow.
"What's disturbing is what's showing up in the water: industrial chemicals, human and veterinary drugs, feces, natural and synthetic hormones, microorganisms, detergents, and even fire retardants. Water companies do not yet test for most of these substances, and their effects on health and the environment are largely unknown."
This is not a reason to turn away from tap water, especially from a public water supply. It is a reason to insist on tougher water pollution prevention policies, now. Although it's not specifically mentioned in the Constitution (but should be), we do have a fundamental right to clean air and water.
http://search.csmonitor.com/search_content/1230/p14s01-sten.html
Michigan bans two nasties. This is a nice tribute to the work of the late, great Mary Beth Doyle.
Health Advocates Applaud New State Ban on Flame Retardants
New law outlaws two chemicals, but third still subject of controversy
January 4, 2005
Contact:
Tracey Easthope (734) 663-2400 ext. 109
James Clift (517) 487-9539
LANSING - State public health advocates and environmental groups today cheered Governor Granholm's signature of landmark bills banning two dangerous flame retardants, and urged legislators to move quickly on a third related chemical.
Health concerns about the flame retardants emerged in 1999 when Swedish scientists reported that levels of these chemicals in human breast milk had increased 60-fold between 1972 and 1997. Subsequent studies found flame retardant levels in American women to be up to ten times higher than in Sweden and doubling every five years. Children are also exposed to the chemicals from meat and dairy foods, from house dust, and possibly from gases that vaporize from household products using the flame retardants. These chemicals will persist in their bodies through adulthood.
"This is an important first step to protect Michigan residents from chemicals found in mother's milk and likely to be dangerous to people," said Tracey Easthope, Environmental Health Director of the Ecology Center. "These chemicals can damage the thyroid and impair the central nervous system, and viable alternatives exist for most uses."
Public Acts 526 and 562 ban two kinds of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE's) - penta-BDE and octa-BDE, but not a related "deca" form of the chemical. PBDEs have been used since the 1970s as flame retardants in plastic and foam consumer products, primarily electronics, furnishing, and insulation. Structurally, PBDEs are very similar to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), which were also once used as flame retardants and insulators. Both PCBs and PBBs are banned or severely restricted in most countries due to health and environmental effects.
"Now that these bills are law, the Legislature should move swiftly to complete investigation of the "deca" form and phase it out if studies confirm it also can cause neurological damage, or breaks down in the environment into the other banned forms," said James Clift, Policy Director of the Michigan Environmental Council. "In order to protect public health, we need to switch quickly to alternative chemicals that do not pose the same health risks."
The following products usually contain the flame retardant: computers, television sets, mobile phones, electronics and electrical items, automotive equipment, construction materials, polyurethane foam mattresses, cushions, carpets, upholstered furniture, and draperies, among others.
Sections of the new laws were dedicated to the memory of Mary Beth Doyle, a leading advocate of the flames retardant ban, who died in a vehicle accident on November 13. Doyle worked as the Ecology Center' Campaign Director, and was a long-time colleague of Tracey Easthope's. "Mary Beth would be pleased to know that the Governor started off the New Year by signing these bills into law" said Easthope. "She would also be pleased to see the Legislature next take up proposals to phase out 'deca', and to further address toxic chemicals that threaten the health of Michigan residents."
###
Great report out of NWF:
A new report by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) on the toll of invasive species to the Great Lakes food web, a phenomenon that's impacting some of our most storied sport fisheries more every day, is a case in point.
Diporeia, Murray said, are an important, high-energy food source for many fish. "Most fish feed on them [diporeia] at some point in their life cycles," he said. "They're very important to the food web."
But diporeia, along with fingernail clams, have declined significantly over the last 20 years, in large part, researchers believe, due to the introduction of two invasive species: zebra and quagga mussels.
The upshot is that scientists, Murray said, have observed "impacts" on fish that depend on diporeia as a food source.
http://www.walkermn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=6&story_id=190532
Freighter lovers, rejoice. Traffic on the Seaway was up last year. Lakes lovers, take warning. Traffic on the Seaway (including ocean vessels) was up last year. There is no mention of this news release of the role shipping is playing in upsetting the balance of the Great Lakes ecosystem.
ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY CLOSES 46TH NAVIGATION SEASON
(Cornwall, January 4, 2005) - The St. Lawrence Seaway officially closed for the season on December 30, 2004, with the passage of the McKeil Marine integrated tug and barge, McCleary's Spirit, through the St. Lambert Lock at 5:51 a.m. in the Montreal/Lake Ontario section. The Seaway opened its 46th shipping season on March 25 and remained open for 281 days in 2004.
The Welland Canal section closed at 5:19 p.m. on December 31, with the transit of the Canada Steamship Lines vessel CSL Niagara.
"We are pleased to report excellent traffic results, with an overall estimated 5.3% increase in tonnage this year," said Richard Corfe, President of The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. "The growth in traffic shows across the board, with higher numbers for both lakers and ocean vessels, and greater tonnage in bulk and in general cargo. I think this attests to a strong economic recovery that will continue to bring vessels to the Seaway next year as well."
The Seaway has benefited from the strength of the steel industry at home and the need for imported steel from abroad. Labour disputes in the iron ore industry and supply problems in the coal industry created low inventory levels, and a half million-tonne shortfall in shipments on the Seaway through the summer. Once these issues were settled, continued Corfe, "we agreed to stay open longer, to accommodate our clients who were trying to make up for lost ground. Water levels in the Lakes remained sufficient to ensure that navigation could continue at full draft throughout most of December."
This year, substantial gains were made in the movement of general cargo, principally iron and steel, driven by high prices for these goods. Coupled with modest gains in other bulk, such as coke and stone, and a near-doubling of scrap metal shipments, overall volumes are estimated to have increased over last year by 5.5% in the Montreal/Lake Ontario section (totaling 30.49 million tonnes) and 6.5% in the Welland Canal section (totaling 33.94 million tonnes).
"We aren't relying solely on economic growth to power the turnaround in Seaway traffic," Mr. Corfe pointed out. "HWY H2O, our public awareness campaign, was a success. It has now evolved into a 'branding' project for the overall Great Lakes / St. Lawrence System, linking the St. Lawrence River ports, the Seaway ports and the Great Lakes ports into one marine highway, with 20 partners already signed on."
"We are now seeing some early results from our initiative to grow our business. We have recaptured the movement of aluminum ingots from Sept-Iles to Toledo from rail; we have seen some Ontario grain moved by barge, as opposed to truck, from Prescott to Sorel; and we have determined the conditions necessary for attracting container movements to the system. We also expect to benefit indirectly from the booming China trade, which is now saturating West Coast ports. The East Coast is getting some of the overflow business, and we will be working to get a fair proportion of that through the Seaway next year."
In the meantime, the Seaway is now closed for the winter to accommodate the annual maintenance program on its 13 Canadian locks and connecting channels. This year's winter works program is again a substantial one, amounting to $5 million in the Montreal/Lake Ontario section and $20 million on the Welland Canal. Work will include improvements to bridges, locks, communications and power facilities, roads, weirs, and walls. The Seaway is expected to re-open in late March 2005.
Michigan's wind power potential is huge, but its present reality is pitiful, as this map shows. While there are legitimate arguments about noise and bird mortality that result from wind turbines, getting more electricity from wind is essential to the future of the state and region. Minnesota's extensive wind power development is far short of what could be done, but shows the way for nearby states. The alternative -- other than energy efficiency, which needs a squeeze too -- is more coal or nuclear power. All the Midwest states should pass laws requiring 10%, 20% or more of their electricity to come from wind and other renewable sources. Right now the average is closer to 5% or less, far less in some cases.
http://www.elpc.org/energy/windmap2004v2.pdf
Both Minnesota and Michigan are struggling to find state money to attract four times as much federal money to maximize their role in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). It's a great initiative that pays farmers to convert marginal cropland to wildlife habitat, while creating water quality buffers that protect streams and lakes. But the pauperizing of state government and unrelated phobias over "permanent conservation easements" -- essentially, using the government money to assure the affected land is never turned into subdivisions -- have kept the legislatures of both states from doing what they should. Govs. Granholm of Michigan and Pawlenty of Minnesota can make plenty of friends this month if they use their agenda-setting State of the State messages to push for full state matching funding.
A story on the Minnesota program:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/5163283.html
Sudden shocking waves are not unknown in the Great Lakes, although nothing remotely like the Indian Ocean tsunami has happened here:
CADILLAC - People in the Great Lakes states should be aware of a phenomenon that occurs every year.
A tsunami, like the one that has resulted in the death of more than 117,000 people in Southeast Asia, would be very unlikely in Michigan but a seiche is not.
A seiche, pronounced SAY-shh, is the sloshing of water back and forth in a lake. It is usually caused by abrupt wind speed change like the ones associated with thunderstorms, according to Meteorologist Jim Keysor at National Weather Service in Gaylord.
http://www.cadillacnews.com/articles/2005/01/03/news/news06.txt
COTTON, MINN.
Toby Skov pulled his car over, rolled down the window and poked a long telephoto camera lens into the frigid air.
The 34-year-old Texan had driven 1,400 miles for this moment: Just 30 yards away, perched atop a 20-foot balsam tree, a rare great gray owl stared back, unperturbed by the attention.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/5154945.html