If this were the only impact of mercury pollution, it would be bad enough. It's not. And it's too bad we have to put a pricetag on the damage done to children to get a policy response.
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Reductions in IQ due to mercury pollution affect between 300,000 and 600,000 American children each year and will cost the United States an estimated $8.7 billion in lost earnings annually (range: $2.2-$43.8 billion), according to a new study by scientists at the Mount Sinai Center for Children's Health and the Environment in New York, released today in Environmental Health Perspectives (http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2005/7743/7743.pdf), the peer- reviewed journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Globally unique wildlife species pique the interest of many people. But what if the species is a watersnake found only in Lake Erie?
An education campaign encouraging people not to "persecute" the snake, and habitat protection, have brought the Lake Erie watersnake back almost literally from the dead.
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Researchers have received more than $26,000 to help remove a watersnake native to the Lake Erie islands from the federal threatened species list after the population has rebounded from once-dwindling numbers.
This comes after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department allocated $960,000 in 2003 for a plan to preserve shoreline habitat and to study the Lake Erie watersnake.
The goal is to continue to increase the snake population to the point where the snakes, which are only found on the Lake Erie Islands and Catawba Island and Marblehead peninsulas, no longer need to be listed as federally threatened, said Northern Illinois Associate Professor Richard King, who is participating in the study.
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/news/stories/20050225/localnews/2027661.html
Enlisting Great Lakes recreational boaters in the War on Terror -- who can argue with that? But would the same righteous politicians support enlisting them in the war on pollution by giving them numbers to call and ideas on what to look for (rotting fish, sewage stains in the water, pipes and vessels dumping wastes into the lakes and connecting rivers)? Probably not.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0502/27/A20-101168.htm
The Michigan environmental community is losing a leader...but gaining her back in a new, more independent role.
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Someone forgot to tell Tanya Cabala you can't fight city hall.
Cabala, one of West Michigan's best known and most influential environmental activists, has made a career out of battling bureaucrats at the local, state and federal levels.
Now Cabala, 45, is stepping off the front lines of the environmental movement. She is resigning Monday as associate director of the Lake Michigan Federation, a Chicago-based regional environmental group with an office in Grand Haven. She will work as an environmental consultant for the federation and other groups.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-6/110941654817270.xml
Michigan's Natural Resources Trust Fund takes oil and gas revenues from land where the state owns rights and puts the money back into buying and developing parks and environmentally important land. One potential Trust Fund buy is a public access site at the mouth of the Gratiot River in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Here's the river:
http://www.northwoodsconservancy.org/grpark.htm
But at a hearing in Lansing this week, several legislators suggested they'd rather spend the Trust Fund on reimbursing local governments for taxes they don't get on state-owned land, or removing dams, or balancing the budget, or whatever. One legislator said the state owns enough land already. (Not apparently realizing that many of the lands bought with Trust Fund dollars end up in conservancy or local government ownership.)
That means this year's list of 15 land purchase projects worth $26.03 million in state funds and 26 development projects worth $6.14 million are at risk. Including the 270,000-acre land deal The Nature Conservancy brokered in the U.P. and the magnificent Saugatuck Dunes on Lake Michigan.
Time to gear up for a fight to protect, once again, this constitutionally-protected fund.
This is the most contaminated site in the lake's basin.
EAST CHICAGO, Ind. — A sea wall along a northwestern Indiana canal is collapsing, threatening to allow tainted soil from an abandoned oil refinery to spill into the waterway linked to Lake Michigan.
Since January, the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal's World War II-era steel barrier has bowed nearly 3 feet, creating what local, state and federal officials call a potential environmental crisis.
"We regard this as an emergency situation," Bill White, project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told the city's Waterway Management District Board on Wednesday.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/breakingnews/posts/2631.html
Read the fresh post on Enviro-Mich below from Michelle Hurd Riddick, and then read below it, the November 2004 document responding to Dow misinformation that DEQ for some reason never released. What gives?
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Dow Chemical Co. has mailed 220 invitations to the owners and occupants of the most-polluted properties along the dioxin-tainted floodplain, specifically those with contamination levels higher than 1,000 parts per trillion.
snip
DEQ spokeswoman Patricia Spitzley raised no objections to the meetings.
................................ "The more information and education people can receive about the effects of dioxin the better."
http://www.mlive.com/business/sanews/index.ssf?/base/business-1/110934665121931.xml
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One more example of State of Michigan permitting the polluter to frame the conversation and explain the science surrounding dioxin. As recently as two weeks ago Dow stated in the Midland Daily News that they see no problem with dioxin in the soils and that the only problem with dioxin is chloracne. Obviously it is ok with DEQ that Dow perpetuate this misinformation contrary to the preponderance of independent science from around the globe that says otherwise.
In November, Dow distributed a Community Update filled with distortions and half truths about dioxin. It was one of Dow's most blatant efforts to date to minimize the risks associated with dioxin. We were told by DEQ management that a response was being prepared but it never came to fruition. The last we heard it was sent to the Governor's communications people and never returned. It is with absolute impunity and with no apparent fear of reprisal from the state that Dow continues to shamefully put communities and our natural resources at risk.
Michelle Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council
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Comments on Dow’s November 2004 Community Update
1. Page 1, Column 1, Paragraph 2: This is an overly generalized and ambiguous statement. The Environmental Protection Agency, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other government organizations recognize 2,3,7,8-TCDD as a known human carcinogen and dioxin mixtures (toxic equivalence or TEQ) as suspected or probable human carcinogen.
2. Page 1, Columns 2 and 3: It is difficult to review this section because Dow would not provide the actual study results or even a copy of the Powerpoint presentation given to staff of the Departments of Community Health (DCH) and Environmental Quality on November 3, 2004. DCH staff requested this information on November 4, 2004. Dr. Michael Carson of Dow declined to provide the requested information.
3. Page 1, Column 2, Paragraph 3: The heading of this section states “No Indication of Health Effects” and the text indicates that Dow finds “little indication of any health effect related to dioxin exposure in our chlorophenol workers.”
4. Page 1, Columns 2 and 3, Paragraph 6: In 2004, this is the range Dow reports. Dioxin is eliminated from the body with a half life of approximately seven years. If the Dow reported levels are corrected for elimination via half life, this range would be much higher. It is not accurate to compare the 2004 Dow data to the levels reported by the Centers for Disease Control which are the estimated highest serum levels at the time of last exposure.
5. Page 1, Columns 3, Paragraph 2: The section, “People More Resistant,” is misleading. The statement cited is not proven for all adverse effects that have been associated with dioxin exposure. For example, for effects that have been clearly associated with dioxin exposure, such as chloracne and the induction of liver enzymes, humans and animals respond at similar body burdens. For some effects, humans are more sensitive than certain other mammalian species (e.g., chloracne in mice, cancer in hamsters, decreased testosterone in rats).
6. Page 2, Column1, Paragraph 4: The more comprehensive studies by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and IARC do show increased risk of disease (cancer, ischemic heart disease). These results were reaffirmed in 2004. Dow should cite the study to which they referred.
7. Page 2, Column 2, Paragraph 4: The bioavailability study design has not been approved by the DEQ. An independent peer review by Toxicology Excellence in Risk Assessment (TERA) indicates that there are major problems with the study design. In addition, it has not been demonstrated at this location that dioxins are “firmly bound” to soil and are not readily absorbed into the blood. In fact, based on Dow’s wild game study and Michigan State University’s (MSU) ecological risk studies, dioxins in the Tittabawassee River floodplain appear to be very bioavailable.
The German study referred to in this discussion may not be relevant as bioavailability varies based, in part, on soil type and contamination.
8. Page 3, Columns 2 and 3: Dow’s graphs and comparisons are flat out misrepresentations of the actual facts, data, and model for the DEQ’s screening level terrestrial ecological risk assessment (ERA) evaluation.
The DEQ made no estimates of the level of contamination expected to be present in squirrels and turkeys from the Tittabawassee River floodplain. It would have been, and is, inappropriate to use the DEQ’s screening level terrestrial ERA to attempt to make such calculations.
The DEQ was, in fact, surprised by the high levels of dioxins found in the portions of squirrels, turkeys, and deer consumed by humans. Higher levels of contamination are expected to be present in portions of animals that are consumed by prey species. The recently released MSU ecological data support the DEQ’s conclusion that ecological risk from dioxins is present in the Tittabawassee River floodplain. Levels of dioxin in small ground dwelling mammals is on the order of 100 times higher than the squirrel data reported by Dow.
9. Page 4, Column 3, Paragraph 1: The “guidelines” referred to in this paragraph are actually concentration ranges. Exposure to these concentration ranges may result in adverse health effects. Some studies in humans have shown adverse health effects associated with background levels of dioxin.
10. Page 5, Columns 1 and 2: The Interim Response Activities (IRAs) referred to in this section have not been approved by the DEQ. This section does not discuss critical components of the IRAs, which include advisory signage to reduce exposure to contaminated soil and fish.
Please note that “permit approval” likely refers to floodplain permits, not Part 111 approval of the IRAs for corrective action purposes as is implied by the wording.
11. Page 5, Column 3, Paragraph 1: Based on Dow’s November 3, 2004 presentation to DCH and DEQ staff, chloracne did not predict serum dioxin levels (i.e., some workers with high dioxin levels did not exhibit chloracne).
Dow’s exposure estimates did not predict actual measured dioxin levels as stated in this paragraph. Instead, they predicted relative levels of exposure.
12. Page 5, Column 7: Although Dow briefed DCH and DEQ staff on the worker study, Dow declined to provide the actual study results when requested to do so on November 4, 2004.
13. Page 6, Column 2, Paragraph 2: A publication of the study cited by Dow supports the TEQ approach, which is an order of magnitude estimate of overall toxic potency (not just cancer). Also, it should be clarified that toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) are developed based on specific toxicity studies of the individual compounds. The TEF for 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF (not 2,4,7,8-PCDF) estimated from this study were 0.16 to 0.34 for four tumor types, which are within half an order of magnitude of the current TEF of 0.5. The study cited here also verified that the cancer incidence from a mixture of three dioxin-like compounds was adequately predicted by the TEF approach and did not over-predict toxicity as implied by Dow.
14. Page 7, Column 1, Paragraphs 3 and 4: The University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study (UMDES) as designed will not be able to conclusively determine the exposure of the specific population of greatest concern, residents who live on properties that frequently flood. Also, as noted above, even if these residents have dioxin levels within the background range, it does not mean that there will be no increased health risk.
The DEQ will not be able to use the UMDES for corrective action purposes as described here. In addition, it is not appropriate to wait until the study is completed in 2007 to begin to take actions to reduce exposure.
As spring slowly approaches, keep in mind that per acre, more pounds of pesticides are poured over suburban lawns than farm fields.
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/photostories/week_62_11_29_04/week_62.htm
Minnesota pollution control authorities have issued an air pollution advisory for the southern half of Minnesota for today and Saturday.
High humidity, heavy clouds and relatively light winds are expected to allow fine particles such as soot to accumulate, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency warned. The fine particles can enter the lungs and cause breathing difficulties.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1556/5259093.html
Don't laugh; it's not funny. It could be dangerous to infants. Will EPA act?
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A study published today in a peer-reviewed scientific journal found the toxic rocket fuel chemical perchlorate in every one of 36 samples of breast milk from nursing mothers in 18 states.
The study comes just days after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted a safety standard for perchlorate in drinking water recommended last month by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The findings of today's breast milk study raise serious concerns for breast-feeding infants relative to the EPA/NAS safety standard.
http://www.ewg.org/issues/perchlorate/20050222/index.php
After decades of denying it, Michigan's DNR admits at least one cougar exists (or existed) in the Upper Peninsula. Eric Sharp skewers the agency for its continuing reluctance to face the implications of a cougar population.
"...[T]he DNR has no plans for a cougar management program. Its biologists say there's no proof cougars are breeding in Michigan and any seen probably wandered in from Wisconsin or are escaped pets. (In the '70s and '80s, some DNR officials attributed loose cougars to Detroit drug dealers.)
"That argument won't hack it anymore. It's threadbare, flies in the face of common sense and DNA evidence, and it violates the state Endangered Species Act."
http://www.freep.com/sports/outdoors/outcol24e_20050224.htm
MI DEQ's annual landfill report shows a new record high for the percentage of waste buried in Michigan that is coming from elsewhere -- 28.2%, up from 13.5% in 1996. Oh, Canada.
http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-whm-stsw-reportOFsolidwastelandfilled2-22-5.pdf
Fortunately, DEQ has a new strategy to deal with solid waste, and it includes expanding the bottle/can deposit. That one will only happen via the ballot -- just like the original law in 1976. But at least they're thinking constructively in DEQ.
http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-whm-stsw-recyclingreport2-22-05.pdf
Great photos of the great gray owl in Minnesota. Here:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/5255157.html
Click on the photo gallery link for spectacular photography.
Let us hope for something similar about Dow in Michigan. For those who think "the government is protecting our health from pollution," this is not just a wake-up call, it's a clanging fire alarm.
"3M announced in 2000 that it was phasing out its popular Scotchgard product, because the anti-stain spray contained chemicals toxic to lab animals. The chemicals had also turned up in the blood of 3M workers, though the company said its employees were not harmed.
3M produced the chemicals at its plant in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. An investigation by Minnesota Public Radio and American RadioWorks found that even after 3M said it would no longer make the toxic chemicals, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency let two years pass before it began any inquiries.
The story raises questions about who is responsible for the safety of the public and the environment, and about whether state agencies are doing enough to protect citizens from toxic chemicals. "
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2005/02/toxictraces/
Great news about the lake sturgeon. The only twist is the ending, where the zebra mussel is offered up as a possible reason for its recent recovery. Good eatin', perhaps?
POINT EDWARD, Ont.—After decades of decline, a prehistoric giant is reawakening in the deep waters of the Great Lakes.
The typical lifespan of lake sturgeon is 55 years for males and 80 to 150 years for females. Males spawn once every two to seven years and females, beginning at 24 years of age, lay their eggs every four to nine years, resulting in only 10 to 20 per cent of the population spawning during a given year.
And here is his six-point plan to bring Michigan's environment to its knees.
http://www.mackinac.org/article.asp?ID=6942
My favorite is: "Adopt a law that prohibits the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality from promulgating regulations that are more stringent than federal requirements without explicit approval from the governor and the Legislature." In other words, subject all new environmental rules to a legislative veto, and make sure Michigan has the same environmental standards as Mississippi. Now that's a clever idea.
Why doesn't the Mackinac Center do something besides flacking for its polluting contributors? Some real dialogue (or even monologue) on how to spur better environmental performance by business (incentive-based, perhaps?) would be more constructive than this look backward to the good old days of wanton spewing of waste into the environment.
(Thanks to Tom Knight for pointing this out.)
"Tired of the constant warnings about eating the fish and engaging in recreational activities on the Great Lakes? Then let your congressmen know.
Nothing is likely to change unless Congress provides the money needed to clean up the greatest bodies of fresh water in the world."
Yes -- but. The states have to take the lead and put up significant new money first. One, to demonstrate they really care and aren't just seeking handouts. Two, because the more of the cleanup money comes from the feds, the more the feds will think they have a claim on the Lakes -- including exporting them as need be when water demands in the Sunbelt accelerate.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050221/OPINION02/502210302
Whether you're from Michigan, Minnesota or somewhere close, you're familiar with those summertime stretches of hot, stagnant, polluted air that are relieved by a storm and passage of a refreshing cool front. This research suggests the fronts may be less frequent as a result of climate change.
It's an ominous scenario. But very few in the general public think of climate change as something relevant to their lives. There's much more thinking about a supposed Social Security shortfall 40 years from now than a climate shortfall 40 years from now. Is it the environmental movement's fault? Or whose?
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050219/us_nm/environment_warming_dc_2
Global warming could stifle cleansing summer winds across parts of the northern United States over the next 50 years and worsen air pollution, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.
Further warming of the atmosphere, as is happening now, would block cold fronts bringing cooler, cleaner air from Canada and allow stagnant air and ozone pollution to build up over cities in the Northeast and Midwest, they predicted.
"The air just cooks," said Loretta Mickley of Harvard University's Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. "The pollution accumulates, accumulates,
accumulates, until a cold front comes in and the winds sweep it away."
As part of the rethinking process underway in the environmental movement, some are questioning its fundamental modern premises. Without endorsing everything in this piece, I recommend it as thought-provoking:
"Perhaps in its fragmentation, institutionalization and complexity environmentalism has become a failed social movement - capable only of bringing about limited changes institutionalized into the continuing social and cultural structures of contemporary society. The failure of environmentalism to fashion a compelling core narrative of contemporary society, with a critique of the present, a vision of the future and a map for getting there, may have a very high cost. We have to ask, can a diverse, fragmented, often technical narrative stand a chance of being persuasive against mass media promotion of mass consumption? Should we not try to locate the particular and specialized narratives of a diverse movement in the context of a larger narrative which is simple, clear and widely shared?"
http://www.sustreport.org/resource/shoenfeld.html
In the 1970s, the people of the region demanded strong action to restore the health of their freshwater treasure. It looks like they’ll have to do it again. Their governments don’t seem ready to do it on their own.
http://minutemanmedia.org/GLM%20020905.htm
In response to the recent "rural development" package announced by Senate Republicans in Michigan, a rural resident who wishes to remain anonymous writes:
Sen. Sikkema notes that "rural areas are a great place to live and
raise a family." In general, I'd be the first to agree with that statement. However, those families who live in the vicinity of CAFO's and similar operations that the Senator and his colleagues appears to desire to further de-regulate may not agree... Keeping the country a great place to live means environmental stewardship. Family farms have practiced that for decades, but agribusiness increasingly does not, which means, like it or not, regulation of farming activities will be increasingly necessary to protect both our farmland resources and the quality of life for farm families.
"Renewable" generally means solar or wind energy. But a Minnesota board has found a way to define exhaustible, high-polluting coal (think global warming, soot and smog) as renewable. When you look at it that way, petroleum is pretty renewable, too. Stuff like this undermines faith in government.
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Xcel Energy electric customers will help pay for a coal-fired power plant on Minnesota's Iron Range, in a controversial use of money from the utility's renewable energy fund.
A state panel is finalizing the order to approve the payments of $10 million over the next five years for the Mesaba Energy Project, proposed by Excelsior Energy Inc. of Minnetonka.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5247438.html
Two conferences on water exports in Chicago the last three days. One is featured in the linked article, and has to do with those sprawling communities either straddling the border or just outside the border of the Great Lakes Basin. They're wasting water, they're growing -- and they want to slurp from the Lakes. But other alternatives have to be exhausted first.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/feb05/302393.asp
Today's conference, at the Chicago Kent College of Law, got at the assumptions behind the proposed Great Lakes interstate compact designed to set rules that would limit, but not prevent the shipment of water out of the Basin. The upshot to anyone who went to the meeting with an open mind is that the assumptions are flawed, and the Great Lakes states have a sound footing for saying "no" to all experts for the foreseeable future. Which means the governors had better go back to the drawing board and strengthen the draft they put out last year -- or risk being remembered as the governors who let the lakes slip away for no good reason.
As someone who supported and actually liked Al Gore in 2000 (and thought him genuine ever since "Earth in the Balance" was published in 1992), let those of us who care about the future of the planet and its people thank the former VP for pushing the Kyoto Protocol to completion in the late 1990s. The pact took effect today. Some nations ratified the treaty for noble reasons, some because it didn't force them to do anything, others because it forced others to bear sacrifices. In the long run, if succeeded by stronger and even more profitable measures, it may save the habitat on which humans, who sometimes deny it, depend. And Gore should get some of the credit. And Bush, who has never read it or understood it, should be held accountable when history renders its judgment.
The Senate Republican Caucus in Michigan has done a nice spin job with its so-called "rural development" strategy, a Valentine's Day gift to the people. Imagine, $500 tax credits to build more cell phone towers in remote areas -- great idea! They're lovelier and taller than the white pine ever was.
And even better, let's create a "rural community advisory council" within the state environmental agency (DEQ) to keep those nasty regulators from cracking down on stinking factory farms.
http://www.senate.michigan.gov/gop/senator/vanwoerkom/news/february2005/21405.pdf
Here's a nice piece of modern Great Lakes lore that reaches back across the decades...the cuisine of the Great Lakes sailor.
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On a recent chilly winter day on Lake Erie aboard the Wolverine, ship steward Calvin Statham Sr. stands over a steaming platter of baby back ribs, an aromatic chicken stir fry, a kettle of hearty beef vegetable soup and crispy pizza fresh from the oven. It's lunchtime aboard Oglebay Norton's 20,000-ton capacity bulk freighter.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/feb/14food.htm
Republicans sure do like to challenge people to duels. First Zell Miller menaces Chris Matthews, now L. Brooks Patterson goes after Keith Schneider. (Yes, technically Zell Miller was a Democrat, but that was false advertising.)
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If dueling was legal in Michigan, Patterson said, "I'd smack Schneider across the face with my glove."
Say what?
The Republican politician bristles when politicians and environmental activists, especially Schneider, criticize Oakland County as an example of unfettered sprawl.
"Where do I start to rebut this idiot?" queried Patterson. "Sprawl is not bad. It's in the eye of the beholder: If you have it, you call it economic development. If you don't have it, you whine and call it sprawl."
http://www.freep.com/news/politics/bytes14e_20050214.htm
Everyday foods consumed by Canadians — such as salmon, ground beef, cheese and butter — are laced with chemical flame retardants, according to research commissioned by The Globe and Mail and CTV News.
But Samuel Ben Rejeb, associate director of the bureau of chemical safety in the health products and food branch of Health Canada, said the level of PBDEs in the country's food supply has been closely monitored for years and there is no cause for alarm.
Dr. Schecter said that while it is easy to dismiss levels in food as insignificant, the chemicals do accumulate in the body. He said it's also likely PBDEs pose similar risks to human health as their chemical cousins, polychlorinated biphenyls. The use of PCBs was curtailed in the 1970s after they were found to cause birth defects, impair brain and memory functions, and increase the risk of some forms of cancers.
Here's an appropriate posting for a Sunday morning (or Saturday morning, for that matter):
With the Kyoto Protocol set to go into effect without U.S. support on the same day the Clear Skies Initiative is scheduled for markup in Congress next week, over 75 Michigan religious leaders are joining colleagues nationwide to tell the Bush administration and members of Congress that the only "mandate" that matters is God's.
http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/last30days/msg15514.html
Enough serious (and often depressing) policy stuff. It's Saturday night and time to tell stories of supernatural in the Great Lakes.
The Lake Erie serpent:
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~bz050/HomePage.erie.html
http://www.monstertracker.com/serpent.html
And the Great Lakes Triangle, cousin of the Bermuda Triangle:
http://www.mimufon.org/1980%20articles/TheGreatLakesTriangle.htm
An utterly fearless family has moved into Golden Valley, MN.
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A brood with attitude has strutted into the heart of Golden Valley and made itself right at home.
The two turkey hens and two toms have so far shown a brazen disregard for authority, pecking at police bumpers and car tires of anyone trying to shoo them off city streets.
Their favorite spot to hang out seems to be Duluth Street from Byerly's near Hwy. 100 to the SuperAmerica at Douglas Drive. "They are utterly fearless," said SuperAmerica manager Jay Hanson. "They know they have the right of way."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5236720.html
After being disinvited as a keynote speaker at a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency conference -- apparently because of pressure from chemical companies -- researcher Tyrone Hayes is making the rounds of those who do want to hear from him in the state. He should also be invited to Michigan, another major abuser of toxic atrazine.
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A scientist embroiled in a political firestorm this year in Minnesota because of his 2002 research showing links between atrazine and frog malformities will speak Saturday in St. Charles.
Professor Tyrone B. Hayes of the University of California at Berkeley will talk at the annual meeting of the Sustainable Farming Association of Southeast Minnesota. Hayes also will speak April 8 at Saint Mary's University.
Hayes' talk Saturday is titled "From silent spring to silent night: Pesticides, amphibian decline and what it means to us."
http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2005/02/11/news/01hayes_11.txt
Is a story about the clout of the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers an environmental story? It is if you remember the group was and is one of the leading opponents of Michigan's bottle deposit law, and its proposed expansion. And if you also remember that other special interests use all of the same techniques to checkmate environmental and other progressive reforms. Good job, Detroit Free Press.
Michigan's beer and wine wholesalers like to take along special guests when they jet off every winter for a convention at a luxury resort.
The lucky travelers? They're some of Michigan's most powerful lawmakers.
The legislators fly for free to beachfront retreats like the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas and the Hyatt Regency on Grand Cayman Island. They pay nothing for their rooms and can bring spouses, too.
They give a speech or two. Then they can kick back and enjoy their escape from cold, gloomy Michigan.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/beer10e_20050210.htm
With all due respect to Tom Henry, who does excellent environmental reporting for the Toledo Blade, the headline suggestion that the Great Lakes are a "winner" in Bush's budget is valid only in a relative sense. That is, cleanup funding wasn't cut. But Bush's proposed $50M for toxic cleanup is approximately one percent of what is needed. At this pace, in the year 2105 we should have the current mess cleaned up, and be ready to start cleaning up the messes of the 21st Century. Bush always benefits environmentally from the soft bigotry of low expectations.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050209/NEWS06/502090348
Two weeks ago, it was Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty pushing an ethanol mandate in his annual message. Last night it was Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm calling for $2 billion in bonds, among other things to boost the development of auto fuel cell technology. Looks like energy policy will now come from the states -- and has to -- since drill and burn is the Bush policy.
"Michigan, the Great Lakes state, could be the state that finally makes the United States independent of foreign oil," Granholm said.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/sos9e_20050209.htm
The Prez got a lot of publicity over the weekend for recommending $50 million for cleaning up Great Lakes toxic hot spots. That's nice, but five years ago the Clinton/Gore Administration proposed exactly the same amount of money and was shot down by a hostile Congress.
And here's the rest of the story of this year's Bush Great Lakes budget courtesy of the Northeast-Midwest Institute. We get another new Great Lakes office (in the Department of Commerce, NOAA). But at least funding for the so-called navigation study (an attempt to justify spending billions to let bigger ships and more invasive species into the Great Lakes) is cut.
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Great Lakes – Numerous agencies and approximately 140 federal programs operate on behalf of the Great Lakes. Of particular significance, the president's fiscal 2006 budget fully funds the Great Lakes Legacy program at $50.0 million; this equates to an increase of $27.5 million, and more than doubles the level funded by Congress in fiscal 2005. The president's proposed budget also includes $2.0 million in the Department of Commerce for a new Great Lakes Restoration Office, which will be housed in the Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab and will assist with the on-going regional collaboration efforts under the May 2004 Executive Order. At this time, the office's specific objectives are not known.
The president increases funding for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to $14.0 million, a $1.0 million boost over fiscal 2005 levels. The St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation's budget remains level at $17.0 million, however only $8.0 million will be provided by the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. The administration cuts by 21.3 percent - from $80.0 million to $63.0 million - the budget for the Corps of Engineers' navigation work in the Great Lakes. Other Corps cuts include a $1.34 million decrease in the Great Lakes Navigation Study. The Great Lakes Fishery Ecosystem Restoration program, section 401 Remedial Action Plan assistance, and the Soo Lock Replacement project were all unfunded. In general, the budget offers insufficient information to determine the funding status of several key programs, including EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office and NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab.
Invasive Species Prevention and Control – The president’s fiscal 2006 budget appears to provide little relief against the onslaught of invasive species arriving in and damaging aquatic resources in the Northeast-Midwest region, and nationally. The budget would cut the entire $3.5 million Congress provided in fiscal 2005 for ballast treatment technology development, a priority for preventing new introductions of aquatic invasive species. The budget also provides no funding in fiscal 2006 for Sea Grant research on aquatic invasive species. The president’s budget offers level funding for the United States Geological Survey’s meager research and information management efforts involving aquatic invasive species ($3 million). A slight positive development is the $2-million increase (to total $2.5 million) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s programs to implement the National Invasive Species Act. However, this funding will be devoted almost entirely to monitoring and controlling those organisms already established in United States waters, rather than prevention.
The budget does not provide sufficient detail to determine any proposed changes to the United States Coast Guard’s operating funds that support enforcement of its newly expanded ballast water management requirements.
A similar experiment with dioxin has been going on in Michigan's Tittabawasee and Saginaw River watershed for the past couple of years. It's not called that -- in that case the exposure was caused by pollution decades ago that lingers in the floodplain of the two rivers -- but in the lack of an effective cleanup since the discovery of contamination, an appalling human experiment is occurring.
http://www.ems.org/nws/2005/02/07/epa_embraces_hum
Washington, DC —In a notice slated for publication in the Federal Register, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will formally adopt an open door policy of accepting experiments conducted by pesticide companies and chemical manufacturers using human subjects, according to a draft posted by EPA late last Friday. At the same time, the agency is indefinitely delaying development of ethical rules to protect test subjects, instead relying on its political appointees to flag immoral or unsafe practices on a “case-by-case” basis.
“At the request of chemical companies seeking to justify higher exposure limits, EPA will sanction dosing of infants, pregnant women and other vulnerable persons with commercial poisons,” stated Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization has highlighted the agency’s lack of ethical or safety guidelines. “EPA’s stance is appallingly amoral.”
Dennis Anderson, outdoor columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, has done great work this past few months exploring the history of wetland destruction and this piece on the introduction of carp to the waters of the region is another example. Aside from looking nice in a child's aquarium, the chief benefit non-native carp provide is concentrating toxic pollutants in their bodies because they feed on the bottom and nose around in the polluted sediments. So many environmental agencies use levels of toxins in carp as a key environmental indicator.
The story's the same throughout the Great Lakes region.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/533/5223895.html
You have to be registered with the New York Times to see this, but here's the gist. When you ask a general audience, including audiences of college students, to free associate with the word "environmentalist," they come back with a litany of synonyms for "extremist." Good brainwashing job done over the last 20 years by the hard right -- but it's a reality that must be dealt with, as McKibben says.
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The election results may not have been the only reason they have struck a nerve. Other nagging concerns abound, like worries about the effect of repeated defeats on morale and concerns about image; a recent survey conducted for the Nature Conservancy suggested that the group use the term "conservationist" rather than "environmentalist."
"To a large extent, most of us in the environmental movement think most people agree with us," said Bill McKibben, a scholar in residence at Middlebury College and the author of "The End of Nature," a 1989 book on global warming.
But Mr. McKibben, who called Mr. Shellenberger and Mr. Nordhaus "the bad boys of American environmentalism," said their data showed that the kind of political support the movement had in the late 1970's had come and gone. "The political ecosystem is as real as the physical ecosystem so we might as well deal with it," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/national/06enviro.html?ex=1108357200&en=2eca4f92ee78a493&ei=5070
Tom Furman is an amazing activist, having conceived and begun to whip up support for this original idea:
Live Aid helped battle an African famine. And Farm Aid helps America's family farmers annually. Now comes Great Lakes Aid — a planned series of concerts in U.S. and Canadian cities to raise money for environmental projects that will benefit the Great Lakes.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-02-06-lakes-music_x.htm?csp=34
20 good books by Michigan authors or about Michigan, including one about the Great Lakes...
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160--109911--,00.html
Library of Michigan's 2005 Michigan Notable Books List Offers 20 Chances to Get Lost in a Great Read
Contact: Casey Warner (517) 373-5578
Agency: History, Arts and Libraries
Feb. 4, 2005
The Library of Michigan today announced the list of 2005 Michigan Notable Books (formerly known as Read Michigan). According to acting State Librarian Nancy Robertson, this year’s crop of titles covers the spectrum and is certain to appeal to fans of all genres.
“Michigan and the Great Lakes have been home to many compelling events that have had social, emotional and historical impact,” said Robertson. “The titles on this year’s Michigan Notable Books list gives readers the chance to see that some of the best storytelling happens right here at home.”
Each year’s Michigan Notable Books list features 20 books published the previous calendar year that are about or set in Michigan or on the Great Lakes or written by a native or resident of Michigan...
“On the Brink: The Great Lakes in the 21st Century” by Dave Dempsey (Michigan State University Press). This book explores the environmental history of the Great Lakes, the public policies and laws crafted to protect them, the threats such as climate change and population growth that continue to endanger them, and a glimpse into what the future may hold.
All 20 listed here:
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17447_18630_22778-109909--,00.html
No one should be surprised at this story.
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration overlooked health effects and sided with the electric industry in developing rules for cutting toxic mercury pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites)'s inspector general said Thursday.
The agency fell short of its own requirements and presidential orders by "not fully analyzing the cost-benefit of regulatory alternatives and not fully assessing the rule's impact on children's health," the agency's internal watchdog said in a 54-page report.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050204/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/epa_mercury_3
Reflecting on yesterday's posting about state parks in Michigan and elsewhere introducing wireless Internet service --
There may come a time when it'll be necessary to enact laws or rules creating wireless-free, cell-free, and even humanmade-light-free zones if we are going to have any experience of the wonder of true absorption in the natural world. Exceptions on the cell-free, of course, could be made for emergency workers or other special needs. But if there are no longer places to go where you can't see a full night sky, and realize you can't get your e-mail and that the world immediately around you is your support, study and mystery, something truly human will have been lost. As someone e-mailed yesterday, perhaps those who want to get their e-mail in the wilderness should stay home in the first place and enjoy a virtual campsite. Holograms, whatever.
Further evidence of our alienation from the natural world --
Boston Globe EDITORIAL
Wired weary
January 30, 2005
PEOPLE LIVING in a wired culture can get tense if they have to unplug.
That's why California and Michigan are making high-speed Internet access
available in recreation areas--a move that would seem to run counter to
the whole point of recreation.
But ''getting away from it all" often means taking it all along, in
sport utility vehicles or campers. The list includes televisions, boom
boxes, satellite dishes, cellphones, gas grills, and even portable
privies. So, the reasoning goes, who could object to a tiny, electronic
box placed in a snack bar or ranger station to allow people fast access
to the Web?
''Technology is already there," said Roy Stearns, deputy director of
California parks, in a phone interview, referring to the beeps, rings,
canned sitcom laughter, and blaring music that have invaded public
campgrounds. He noted that using a laptop to quickly check e-mail or
surf the Net ''is no more obtrusive than sitting at a picnic table
reading a book."
California has provided the high-speed wireless Internet access --
called 'WiFi" -- at San Elijo State Beach near San Diego, and is
planning to have the technology in 84 more parks by summer. Michigan has
wired five state parks, as well as public marinas, welcome centers, and
rest areas.
Rest? It's a vanishing concept. Kurt Weiss, communications director for
Michigan's information technology department, said the state is
responding to public demand. He said that the two most requested
improvements in recreation areas have been WiFi and cable television
access.
Cable? Do they expect heat lamps and room service too? The state isn't
installing cable, but one wonders if it could become as common as
mosquito repellent--and if laptops will one day be tapping out e-mail
messages from wilderness trails, sounding like so many mechanical
creatures. There are no plans to take WiFi beyond campgrounds and common
areas, but if the public pushes for more, will public officials be able
to deny what is popularly viewed as ''progress"?
Jessica Nunez, press spokeswoman for SBC Communications Inc.--the San
Antonio company that is wiring the Michigan and California sites--said
the access would enable people to e-mail vacation photos back home while
still on vacation. She added that being able to check office e-mail
anywhere allows people more freedom.
But are people really free if they're always reachable?
California officials say the Internet access is the 2005 version of the
campsite pay phone--but that phone was there primarily for emergencies,
not a daily, or hourly, data dump.
People may praise the convenience. But they might come home more rested
if they embraced more inconvenience.
Ah, just a year ago...Great Lakes environmental organizations were excited about rumors swirling in Washington that in his 2004 State of the Union speech, a President running for re-election would announce his support for a major Great Lakes cleanup package. He didn't. But a few months later, he did announce a Great Lakes task force, and it worked: he got the media bump he needed without committing a penny.
Now it's 2005. The election is past, and here's all we hear on the environment.
"Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment. (Applause.) I have sent you a comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home. (Applause.) Note: This is a plan to drill in Alaska wilderness, topple key environmental safeguards, and build more nuclear power plants. Why can't he just say what he means?
I have sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years. (Applause.) Note: This proposal would slow already-mandated cuts required by the Clean Air Act.
I have sent you a Healthy Forests Initiative, to help prevent the catastrophic fires that devastate communities, kill wildlife, and burn away millions of acres of treasured forest. (Applause.) Note: This initiative will turn huge chunks of the national forests over to big timber and do almost nothing to prevent devastating fires.
I urge you to pass these measures, for the good of both our environment and our economy. (Applause.) Even more, I ask you to take a crucial step and protect our environment in ways that generations before us could not have imagined.
In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about not through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations, but through technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles. (Applause.) Note: Bush made a similar proposal last year. The Clinton/Gore Administration spent a comparable amount trying to work with the domestic auto industry on a prototype high-efficiency car and it didn't pan out. This is both another stall and a subsidy. Hydrogen will take 30-40 years to develop on a large scale.
A single chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power a car -- producing only water, not exhaust fumes. With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom, so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free. (Applause.)
Join me in this important innovation to make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.) Note: "Join me in this program to undo 30 years of environmental progress in the name of clear skies, healthy forests, and hydrogen cars, while ignoring the Great Lakes for four more."
When the next weather front blows all this soot away, someone needs to do research on hospital admissions for respiratory problems during the Twin Cities' bad air episode.
***
Dr. Paul Kubic, a pediatric lung specialist, saw more children in his St. Paul clinic Tuesday than any other day in several weeks. The kids show up with asthma or respiratory diseases, and winter's cold air and viruses make everything worse for them.
The past few days added another complication: bad air.
State officials issued an "unhealthy for all" air pollution alert Tuesday for the Twin Cities, the first time that level has been reached for any air pollutant in Minnesota for at least 25 years.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1556/5216268.html
National Caucus of Environmental Legislators
For Immediate Release Contact:
February 1, 2005 Jane Krentz 612-581-6978
Del. Jim Hubbard 301-858-3103
GREAT LAKES STATE LEGISLATORS WORK ACROSS STATE LINES TO PROTECT CHILDREN'S HEALTH
Bethesda, MD - Today, Midwest legislators participating in the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators announced a joint effort to make the Great Lakes region a better, safer place to raise children. By introducing and working to pass children’s environmental health legislation in each state, legislators hope to address adverse affects of toxic chemicals and air and water pollution on these most sensitive members of our society.
“Protecting our children and pregnant women from pollution and harmful chemicals will make the Great Lakes region a healthier place for all of us,” said NCEL Midwest Coordinator and former Minnesota State Senator Jane Krentz.
Legislators in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin are working together to improve the environment and improve the health of children living in the region. The goal is to develop an ad hoc regional policy by introducing similar legislation in each state.
“Working in a bi-partisan manner at the state level to protect the health of our kids and their environment is the right thing to do,” said NCEL Chair Maryland Delegate James Hubbard who sponsored legislation to create Maryland’s children’s environmental health advisory council.
Throughout the Great Lakes region, legislators will be introducing bills focused on children’s environmental health which may include banning the use of toxic flame retardants, curbing mercury pollution, notifying students and parents when pesticides are sprayed around schools, and limiting idling times for school buses. Some states are also hoping to establish children’s environmental health advisory councils.
“According to environmental health experts, children are more vulnerable and therefore need further protection from toxic chemicals and pollution. Pound for pound, children eat more food, drink more water and breathe more air than adults,” Krentz said. “Thus, they are likely to be more exposed to dangerous substances in their environment than are adults.”
A $30 million ad campaign to convince young men who drive SUVs to do so safely? Not wise. But the author's contention that it's wrong to link gas-gulping SUV driving with dependence on foreign oil and our entanglements with Middle East oil reserves and terrorism? Not wise either.
********************
A nasty looking Muppet on steroids debuted Monday in the latest attempt to convince drivers that SUVs are Satan's spawn, the things the Lord of the Rings' Dark Riders would have used to hunt down Frodo, if only they could have afforded the gasoline.
http://www.freep.com/money/autoreviews/phelan1e_20050201.htm