An estimated 1,457 barrels were secretly dumped off barges from 1957 to 1962 after being trucked to Duluth from a Honeywell weapons plant in the Twin Cities.
Several theories developed over the years as to what was in the barrels, and the issue captured the imagination of many. Speculation ranged from radioactive nuclear waste to a purple, oozing toxic fluid to live explosives. A Superior author even penned a fiction novel on the barrels.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/11520749.htm
Here's the official announcement:
Granholm Appoints Scott Hill-Kennedy Judge of 49th Circuit Court
LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced the appointment of Scott Hill-Kennedy as judge of the 49th Circuit Court which serves Mecosta and Osceola counties.
Mr. Hill-Kennedy, of Big Rapids, most recently served as chief governmental relations and legal officer for Ferris State University, having served the university for over 13 years.
And here's the local reaction. It is particularly distressing in the event that the key anti-water piracy ruling of the judge's predecessor is remanded by the State Appeals Court to this new "jurist."
This person, Scott Hill-Kennedy, is a hard core Republican, pro-Nestle (publicly lauded Nestle for the jobs and money coming into this area), anti-union and in general was a destroyer of any person that got in his way when he was at FSU.
Will be searching for any on-the-record comments by the appointee.
UPDATE: RECUSE THYSELF
Here's a comment the new judge made after Nestle lost its case in the very court to which he is now appointed:
“This is an economic emergency for our region. We sincerely hope this is a temporary setback, and the issue will be resolved in an expedient and positive way,” said Mecosta County Development Corporation President Scott Hill-Kennedy. “This ruling, and its potential impacts are of major concern to Mecosta County, and certainly to the families whose lives depend on the jobs provided by Ice Mountain.”
http://www.bottledwaterweb.com/news/nw_120803.html
Great news today: believed long extinct, the ivory-billed woodpecker lives in Arkansas.
"This is huge. Just huge," said Frank Gill, senior ornithologist at the Audubon Society. "It is kind of like finding Elvis."
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050428/sc_nm/environment_woodpecker_dc_4
A salute to all those who protected the suitable habitat.
Now if we can only find somewhere in the Great Lakes region...a blue pike, a passenger pigeon, and a bison.
Environmental groups are often seen as not following the Bush administration's lead, but in restoration planning efforts for the Great Lakes, that appears to be happening.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050428/NEWS06/504280345
Interesting juxtaposition of Michigan DNR news releases. Two releases, three days, one about legal killing of wolves, one about illegal killing. The headlines say it all:
DNR Obtains Federal Permit to Address Wolf Depredations
U.P. Resident Found Guilty of Killing Gray Wolf
While it is one thing for a government agency to "cull" the wolf population to address "depradations" and quite another for an individual to shoot a wolf out of pique, the releases suggest wolf matters in the Lake Superior region are reaching a breaking point. And it may well be difficult to understand why the government can kill wolves but citizens cannot. How about a wolf education initiative like the one that led to their successful reintroduction in the 80s?
DNR Obtains Federal Permit to Address Wolf Depredations
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources can take up to 20 wolves under a permit granted April 19 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The permit allows the DNR, under certain conditions, to use lethal methods to address wolf-related livestock loss for the remainder of 2005.
"An ability to deal with animals that are causing problems, such as livestock depredation, is important for the effective management and conservation of gray wolves in Michigan," said DNR Director Rebecca Humphries. "This permit will allow us to manage wolves in an ecologically and socially responsible manner."
In January, a federal district court in Oregon withdrew a 2003 federal decision that had reclassified gray wolves from endangered to threatened status throughout much of the United States. Due to the change, management actions pertaining to the species became more restricted. The DNR lost the legal authority to use lethal control to deal with wolf-related livestock depredation.
Although the wolf populations in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have exceeded recovery goals for several years, the status of wolves elsewhere in the country drove the court's decision. As a result of this ruling, the federal status of wolves in Michigan reverted to endangered.
The federal permit allows the DNR to take wolves under the following conditions:
* Depredation must have occurred on lawfully present domestic animals, including livestock as legally defined by the Michigan Department of Agriculture. Lethal control may not be used when wolves kill dogs that are free-roaming on, hunting on, or training
on public lands;
* Depredation at the site is likely to continue in the immediate future if the depredating wolf or wolves are not removed;
* Depredation control activities must occur within one mile of the depredation site;
* Traps and snares must be checked at least every 24 hours;
* Wolves born in 2005 and captured before Aug. 1 must be released near the capture site;
* Lactating females trapped before July 1 must be released near the capture site, unless they have been involved in three or more depredation events, in which case they may be euthanized;
* Depredation control on tribal lands must be coordinated with tribal natural resources personnel, and lethal control will only be carried out if requested by the tribe;
* Prior to Aug. 1, no more than four accidental, serious trap-related injuries or mortalities to wolves born in 2005 may occur. In the event this number is reached, all trapping shall cease until Aug 1; and
* Prior to July 1, capture of lactating females may not exceed four individuals. In the event this number is reached, all trapping shall cease until July 1.
U.P. Resident Found Guilty of Killing Gray Wolf
A resident of the Manistique area pleaded guilty on April 11 on charges
connected with the death of a gray wolf in Iron County during the 2004 firearm
deer hunting season. James Lakosky, 55, appeared in 95th District Court before
Judge Joseph Schwedler, where he pleaded guilty to the charge of killing the
radio-collared wolf.
On Monday, Judge Schwedler sentenced Lakosky to seven days in jail or 14 days of community service. In addition Lakosky was fined $910, paid $1500 restitution and was placed on probation for three months. The judge told Lakosky at sentencing that the penalty imposed was designed to send the message that it is not acceptable to illegally kill a wolf in Iron County.
Conservation officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources were
called to the scene of the animal's killing in Iron County after the radio
transmitter on the wolf went into mortality mode, a signal that emanates when
the wolf has not moved for 24 hours.
Coalitions for the Great Lakes are good. This new one is good. But history seems to be repeating itself. This reads like a release from the 80s. Let's hope this generation has more success.
Unprecedented Coalition Forms
to Restore the Great Lakes
Healthy Great Lakes Benefit People, Wildlife, Economy
TRAVERSE CITY, MI (April 27)- As government officials from throughout the
nation gather this week to participate in the most comprehensive Great
Lakes conservation planning effort in the history of the region, over 50
national, state and local conservation organizations today announced the
formation of a Great Lakes restoration coalition aimed at securing a
sustainable restoration plan and obtaining the billions of dollars needed
to implement it.
"People and organizations throughout the nation recognize the
unprecedented opportunity we have to protect and restore the Great Lakes,"
said coalition co-chair and National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)
President Tom Kiernan. "This is the first time in this region's history
that national, regional, state and local organizations have joined together
to fight for comprehensive Great Lakes restoration and the billions of
dollars such an effort will require. By restoring the Great Lakes, we will
be protecting our national heritage, as well as the memories of millions of
families."
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and NPCA are heading the Healing Our
WatersSM - Great Lakes coalition, which seeks to protect and restore the
Great Lakes by addressing such issues as reclaiming sensitive coastal
wetlands and other critical habitat, stopping the introduction of invasive
species, eliminating toxic pollution that contaminates fish, reducing
polluted runoff, ending beach closings, and cleaning up contaminated sediments.
The announcement comes a day before federal, state, local, and tribal
leaders are joined by civic, business and conservation leaders in Traverse
City, Michigan, to craft a comprehensive Great Lakes restoration plan. The
meeting is part of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency-led process charged by President Bush with
developing a plan to restore the Great Lakes.
"The federal process has made some progress, but the jury's still out on
whether it will succeed in crafting an effective restoration plan for the
Great Lakes," said Buchsbaum. "Unless it combines a comprehensive vision
with on-the-ground, fundable projects, then it may turn out to be yet
another plan that ends up sitting on a shelf gathering dust. Our coalition
is working hard to make sure that this time, there's a plan that results in
the action and funding the Great Lakes and our region need."
The drive for the Healing Our Waters - Great Lakes coalition began in May
2004, at the Great Lakes Healing Our Waters conference, sponsored by Peter
M. Wege and the Wege Foundation at Steelcase University in Grand Rapids,
Michgan. Following that meeting, Wege and his foundation pledged $5 million
over five years to the National Wildlife Federation and National Parks
Conservation Association to lead a broad coalition to make Great Lakes
restoration a reality.
The coalition includes 55 national, regional, state and local organizations
that seek to inspire federal and state initiatives to protect and improve
the health of the Great Lakes. The coalition, led by NWF and NPCA, will be
guided by a steering committee comprised of regional and national
organizations and two state organizations. Steering committee members
include representatives from Alliance for the Great Lakes (formerly the
Lake Michigan Federation), American Rivers, Ducks Unlimited, Great Lakes
United, The Nature Conservancy, Ohio Environmental Council, Sierra Club,
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, Trout Unlimited, University of
Michigan's School of Natural Resources, U.S. Public Interest Research
Group, and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.
Coalition and steering committee members are deeply involved in the Great
Lakes restoration planning meetings convened by U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency in Traverse City this week. These organizations are
available to provide updates on the different issue areas being addressed
by the planning process. Contact information for each organization is
available from NWF.
To date, efforts to restore the Great Lakes have lacked coordination and
funding, according to a 2003 report by the Government Accountability
Office. Over the years many piecemeal restoration plans have been drafted,
yet few have been implemented.
The Great Lakes comprise almost 20 percent of the world's surface fresh
water and supply drinking water to more than 40 million U.S. and Canadian
residents. They are home to eight national parks. The Great Lakes also
support a diversity of wildlife, including a world-class fishery, maritime
trade, industry, and agriculture.
Immediate Release: April 27, 2005
Contact: Jordan Lubetkin, NWF - (734) 904-1589; lubetkin@nwf.org
Andy Buchsbaum, NWF - (734) 717-3665;
buchsbaum@nwf.org
Andrea Keller Helsel, NPCA - (202) 454-3332; akeller@npca.org
The headline and content of this story don't exactly match up:
More than 600 people in Michigan and Wisconsin responded to a survey about wolves done by Northland College Sociology Professor Kevin Schanning. He says people from both states feel the same way: 62% think there's reason to worry about wolves being dangerous, and only 20-percent think killing a wolf is wrong. But Schanning says 57% think wolves should be protected.
http://www.businessnorth.com/kuws.asp?RID=1118
Fifty-seven percent is not a landslide, and it's five percent less than those who worry about the dangers of wolves. It sounds like time for another burst of education to dispel the myth that wolves will snatch babies out of their strollers.
This is old news, but still much more fun than policy discussions. The cute, cuddly, and vicious Michigan wolverine has been spotted for the second year in a row. The article comes with a photograph.
http://www.michigansthumb.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14354483&BRD=2292&PAG=461&dept_id=472759&rfi=6
Great story by Hugh McDiarmid, Jr. in today's Detroit Free Press about research into the return of the Lake Erie dead zone. One slight clarification: one of the chief "modern pollution controls" that reduced the problem in the 1960s and 1970s was an effort by all the Lake Erie governments to limit phosphorus in laundry detergents. This happened over great resistance from the soap and detergent industry, but once implemented, was immediately effective. Which shows that getting to the source of the problem -- a product -- is often more efficient than treating it at the sewage plant. And our clothes still get clean.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/deadzone26e_20050426.htm
The dead zone is not new. It occurs every year in late summer in the lake's shallow central basin off the Cleveland area, when organic matter like algae dies and settles to the bottom. As it decomposes, it eats oxygen, creating a blanket of water on the bottom several feet deep where living things can't survive.
In the 1960s -- fueled by phosphorus and other organic pollutants that fed huge mats of algae and weeds -- dissolved oxygen was virtually nonexistent in many parts of Lake Erie.
Modern pollution controls stemming from the 1972 Clean Water Act successfully reversed that problem, forcing polluters like the Detroit wastewater treatment plant, which sends effluent directly to Lake Erie via the Detroit River, to control its phosphorus emissions. The dead zone shrank accordingly.
It's nice they're finally telling all of us, including the tourists:
While Mayor Richard M. Daley and other civic leaders promote the Chicago
River as the city's second lakefront, signs are going up that provide a stark reminder of the waterway's sewage-choked history.
The river is the cleanest it has been in decades. But people riding the popular downtown tour boats or canoeing the concrete-lined channels soon will see warnings above each of the 241 pipes that pour untreated human and industrial waste into the river's murky flow after heavy rains.
Posting the signs marks the beginning of a campaign to draw attention to Chicago's chronic sewage overflows, which are hampering efforts to make the river clean enough for the surging number of people drawn to it for recreation. More than 10 billion gallons of bacteria-laden wastewater and storm runoff spilled from the pipes last year alone.
At 37 locations along the river, the district will caution that overflow pipes "may discharge sewage contaminated rainwater during and after rainfall." The warnings will be more explicit at 204 other locations maintained by the city, noting the discharges "may contain bacteria that can cause illness."
Good think piece on conservatives and the environment:
Why do so many conservatives yawn, laugh derisively or change the subject at the first mention of Earth Day? How can they be so apathetic to the same earth that their preachers praise as “God’s creation”? Why don’t all Christians hold the Bush administration accountable for decisions that threaten our water, our air, and life itself? Having listened to countless conservative sermons on the subject, and to evangelicals and fundamentalists (not necessarily the same people), I’ve discovered that their denials of scientific evidence regarding environmental destruction aren’t really believed at a deep level. Instead, this “reactive thinking” has been learned from others.
http://www.buzzflash.com/whitehurst/05/04/whi05003.html
This looks like a book every Michigan schoolchild should read. (Thanks to George Weeks of the Detroit News for mentioning it in his Sunday column.)
http://www.mackinacislandpress.com/books_greatlakes.html
What would happen if we didn’t have the Great Lakes? What would we find on our lake floors? These and many other questions are explored in this intriguing children’s book. With concern about the Great Lakes paramount, Charles Ferguson Barker set out to create a book that takes children on an incredible journey, revealing the secrets of the lake floors if the unimaginable happened: the Great Lakes drained away. This book serves to entertain, but also to educate – children and adults will learn about the amazing newly discovered geologic features under the Great Lakes. Most importantly, the book will remind readers to never take the Great Lakes for granted.
Based on a career of observations in Michigan and Minnesota, this rings true -- government professionals literally terrorized by politicians who don't want the truth about pollution to get out and harm their greedy pals in polluting industries.
Here is another true story. Recently I met a public health specialist employed by the ATSDR [Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry], a small federal agency employing about 400 public-health specialists, with headquarters in Atlanta. We got to talking about the subject of "fear at work" and she told me that a couple of years ago one of her colleagues, as part of a study he was thinking of doing, sent out an Email to everyone in ATSDR asking them if they ever felt afraid to speak openly about their work. She told me he was "astonished" to receive more than 100 emails in response from professionals who said they felt afraid to speak openly within the agency. Furthermore, there were many other people who were so afraid that they would not respond by Email but would only respond one-on-one in the hallways.
http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/index.cfm?St=1
It happened during Earth Day week:
A House committee Wednesday killed a plan to permanently ban oil and gas drilling on the Great Lakes, the source of one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/politics/0504/23/A06-157649.htm
A likely culprit, Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers, who a week ago said he opposed "federalizing" the Great Lakes with an oil and drilling ban in national legislation, is not mentioned in the article. Let's hope his Republican colleague Vern Ehlers continues to try to federalize sensible bans and standards that protect the Great Lakes -- including a tough stance on invasive species.
It's always better to keep decision-making as close to the community as possible. But when the community is the Great Lakes ecosystem, that can mean national or even binational action.
The secret thought of many environmentalists is, "Thank God Earth Day comes only once a year." The torrent of green scam announcements by politicians who ignore or plunder the environment the other 364 days of the year is particularly hard to take.
And then there's that ongoing and needed critique of the environmental movement going on. 35 years after the first E-Day, something needs to be changed if the environment is going to be something to the average American besides "just another special interest." See:
The leaders of the organizations are working hard for a good cause; this planet and its people need their collective expertise, dedication, and clout. But we also need them to step back and take a look at what they're doing and what they aren't.
Instead of a broad, values-based vision, they're offering up narrow policy fixes. Instead of reaching out to young people of all backgrounds, they're preaching to a middle-aged, upper-middle-class choir. Instead of looking at the plight of inner cities and rural areas, they're focusing on urban sprawl and wild lands.
Instead of connecting environmental concerns to unemployment, outsourcing, rising health care costs, rising gas prices, and rising disease rates -- in short, to the issues that matter most to tens of millions of people -- they're talking a language almost no one speaks: CAFE standards, NSR rules, POPs treaties.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0421-27.htm
Keith Schneider offers a poignant remembrance of earlier Earth Days and a political analysis of where the movement is going. He's a sunny optimist on the latter; more sanguine than the facts support, but it's good to see him looking for silver linings.
http://www.mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16846
Here is an excerpt from Ruin and Recovery on Michigan's Earth Day 1970:
All three major TV networks covered the events around the country. A geology student attending Albion College, Walter Pomeroy, appeared on a CBS-TV prime-time special April 22, Earth Day: A Question of Survival, hosted by Walter Cronkite. In contrast to protests on other campuses that Cronkite called sometimes “frivolous,” the Albion activities Pomeroy organized included the cleanup of a vacant lot to create a small urban park.
Albion called itself “Manufacturing City U.S.A.,” CBS reported, and not all its foundries had installed air pollution control equipment. But Pomeroy told reporter Hughes Rudd that he had arranged meetings with the local polluters to promote dialogue. “We were afraid,” he said, “that if we picketed the factories, it would actually turn the community against us.” The special showed Pomeroy’s fellow students jumping up and down on the non-aluminum cans they’d collected in the cleanup, making them easier to return to the manufacturer with a message that it should switch to recyclable materials. Michigan television stations also broadcast specials in the season of Earth Day. WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids broadcast a series, Our Poisoned World, detailing serious local air, water and noise pollution and the problem of garbage disposal.
Michigan was one of the hotbeds of Earth Day action. At a five-day teach-in on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor in March, in which an estimated 50,000 persons participated, Victor Yannacone, who in 1967 had filed the Environmental Defense Fund lawsuits to stop the spraying of DDT and dieldrin, spoke on use of the courts to halt pollution. He told students, “This land is your land. It doesn’t belong to Ford, General Motors, or Chrysler…it doesn’t belong to any soulless corporation. It belongs to you and me.” A new student group called ENACT organized the week’s events, which included an “Environmental Scream-Out,” a tour of local pollution sites, music by popular singer Gordon Lightfoot and speeches by entertainer Arthur Godfrey, scientist Barry Commoner, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, and Senators Nelson and Edward Muskie of Maine.
Business Week magazine said the Ann Arbor event had attracted the greatest turnout of any teach-in to that date. Noting that President Richard Nixon and college administrators hoped environmental issues would turn students away from Vietnam War protests, the magazine fretted that it appeared “the struggle for clean air and water is producing as many radicals as the war. And if the rhetoric at Michigan is any guide, business will bear the brunt of criticism.”
Action took different forms on different campuses. Tom Bailey, a Marquette high school student, worked with students at Northern Michigan University to plan Earth Day activities. One was a “flush-in.” Students flushed fluorescent dye tablets down dorm toilets at a synchronized moment in an effort to prove that sewage was directly discharging into Lake Superior. Events like these not only attracted the attention of the press, but also gave future environmental professionals their first major public exposure. Bailey later worked for the state Department of Natural Resources, as had his father, and became executive director of the Little Traverse Conservancy. One of ENACT’s founders on the University of Michigan campus, John Turner, later became director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Doug Scott, a graduate student active in ENACT’s teach-in planning, moved on to the national staff of the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club.
Student concern and action did not stop on Earth Day. Walt Pomeroy of Albion College contacted activists on other campuses who agreed the next logical step was the formation of a student lobby for the environment. Described as “lobbyists in blue jeans” by one newspaper, the new Michigan Student Environmental Confederation received a surprisingly warm welcome from some in the Capitol.
“Soon we made friends in the legislature on both sides of the aisle,” said Pomeroy. “We learned a day at a time. And since we were in the Capitol almost every day, our network of friends and supporters expanded from just student groups to a diversity of community, environmental and sportsmen groups. Legislative priorities turned into victories…We started an environmental organization with a good cause, not much financial support and worked with the sportsmen and other environmental groups. We created the path – the opportunity – for others to also organize environmental groups and hire staff. None had existed solely to focus on state environmental legislative policies prior to the creation of MSEC. Many followed and are now part of the accepted political landscape in Lansing and throughout Michigan.”
Another typical student activist of the time was Alex Sagady. Son of a General Motors engineer interested in automobile emissions control, Sagady joined the MSEC in the early 1970s after studying at the University of Michigan. He credited his environmental concern to his father’s example and rustic camping with a “significant other.” Disdaining automobile ownership and transporting himself on a bicycle, Sagady volunteered for the Confederation and then became its head when money ran low in late 1973. An uncompromising, fierce battler, Sagady stirred anger among the legislators he attacked in the MSEC’s publication, Earth Beat. His greatest victory came in 1982 when, working for the American Lung Association of Michigan, he mobilized public opinion to enforce the state’s sulfur dioxide cleanup rule against the Detroit Edison Company’s Monroe Plant, cutting emissions by 120,000 tons per year.
The mood of grave concern in 1970 gripped some elders, too. Ralph MacMullan, the director of Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, authored an article in the Michigan Natural Resources, his agency’s magazine, entitled “Ten Years to Save Mankind.” Said MacMullan: “Nature is giving clear signals that it will not continue indefinitely to accept the garbage, the filth, the fumes that are the byproduct of this drive to the supersonic life.”
At a speech on Earth Day, Governor Milliken talked of making Michigan “a model state” in the fight against pollution. Contrary to the views of a few contemporary skeptics unimpressed with his response to the mercury crisis, Milliken’s concern for the environment did not begin with its discovery or with Earth Day. In fact, he was about to become the first governor in Michigan’s history to demonstrate courageous leadership in the fight to protect the environment, fusing with the new public movement to enact landmark reforms.
Panelist Lana Pollack, president of the Michigan Environmental Council, disagreed with Johnston’s attitude on bottled water.
“This is a stupid, stupid environmentally wasteful way to get a drink of water,” Pollack said.
http://www.cm-life.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/04/20/4265e89f0e47b
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has put in place a key piece for a plan to have Michigan -- ideally joined by other Great Lakes states and provinces -- regulate the ballast water of ocean-going ships. DEQ Director Steve Chester officially declared last week that sufficient means exist for those ships to treat any water that they have sloshing around in their ballast tanks before they pump it anywhere within the state's jurisdiction.
http://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/eballast21e_20050421.htm
The headline says it all -- almost. Jeff Alexander, an award-winning environmental reporter, says the rest.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1113923727250340.xml
Oceangoing freighters which are supposed to be clean before entering the Great Lakes carry billions of foreign organisms into the freshwater seas each year, including saltwater algae, invertebrates and potentially deadly bacteria.
The Michigan Department of Community Health has determined that a Montmorency County power company poses no apparent public health hazard to the surrounding community.
During a power failure at the plant in April 2004, ash was released into the air. Due to wind patterns that day, the ash dispersed over and deposited on a local playground, which was being used by school children. Several children had complained of irritated skin and eyes and breathing problems.
Although there were complaints of adverse health effects, no chemicals exceeded health-based screening levels. The report suggests that proactive measures, such as erecting a windsock and returning indoors when the wind is blowing from the north, be taken to prevent future exposure to ash emissions.
http://www.michigan.gov/minewswire/0,1607,7-136-3452-115478--,00.html
Gee, we'd sure hate to put the burden on the polluter to take the "proactive measures," wouldn't we? Talk about externalizing costs to the community.
This is one of the wonders of the Great Lakes, and it's good news it's on the rebound....
"Hooking a sturgeon is like hooking a John Deere tractor."
http://www.detnews.com/2005/outdoors/0504/19/B06-97961.htm
This e-mail from Great Lakes United's Jen Nalbone is about a report on ships exempted from the Coast Guard's ballast exchange regulations requiring dumping of ballast in the open ocean to rid it of invasive species. As Jen points out, the study shows that most vessels claim the no ballast on board (NOBOB) exemption with predictable consequences for the Great Lakes:
The new NOBOB report by Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory was just released. A few of the many important findings in this 285 page report--
Of the NOBOB vessels sampled, residuals can be salty, brackish or freshwater. About 50% of NOBOB tanks sampled had freshwater or brackish residuals.
Those with freshwater residuals present the most serious threat of inoculation of new invaders.
The researchers reviewed the inconsistent records of ships entering the Great Lakes and determined that since the 1990’s the best estimate is that over 90% of ships entering the Great Lakes are NOBOB.
Microbial pathogens were found in residuals (including cholera and giardia), and while the researchers said tanks carrying pathogens not a likely health risk to humans, they recommended more investigation.
Tests showed that, while results varied, ballast water exchange is effective at removing non-indigenous species from ballast tanks. In most cases and across target taxa, ballast water exchange was greater than 90% effective at removing organisms. However, because each tank can contain different organisms which can have a wide variability of tolerance to salt water, it is difficult to generalize BWE efficacy for any given tank.
Find the report “Assessment of Transoceanic NOBOB Vessels and Low-Salinity Ballast Water as Vectors for Non-indigenous Species Introductions to the Great Lakes” on GLERL website at:
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/projects/nobob/products/
"The states have to act. Senate Bill 332 and House Bill 4603 also authorize Michigan to work with other Great Lakes states in fighting invasive species. This is needed legislation. It deserves widespread support from Republicans and Democrats, and should be on Gov. Jennifer Granholm's desk for signing by summer's end."
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050417/OPINION01/504170334/1086/opinion
The first sentence is unobjectionable. The states do have to act. But there are quicker ways than passing a law that postpones enforceable standards almost two more years (and likely more, given court challenges). The Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature could urgently request that the Bush Administration not appeal a recent court ruling requiring EPA to impose rules on the discharge of invasives from ballast water. Every month we wait increases the risk of new invasive species in the Great Lakes.
It's more than a gleam in someone's eye. Here are the details:
There are already plans for a "Great Lakes Aid" concert...and now there are the Great Lakes Boys. Maybe musicians will do for the lakes what policy wonks cannot.
http://www.ashland-wi.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=4&story_id=198313
This column by Minneapolis Star-Tribune outdoor writer Dennis Anderson sounds a theme that conservationists in Minnesota, Michigan and practically any other state could recognize. And its citation of Republican conservationist Teddy Roosevelt is worthy of reproducing:
"Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying 'the game belongs to the people.'
"So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction.
"Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/5349230.html
...at least calling the bluff of the federal government on cracking down on invasive aquatic species by supporting a state control system.
http://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1113559808191930.xml
This should increase the heat on Congress and EPA to do something promptly after 20 years of pretense.
Side note: since Rep. Mike Rogers (as noted yesterday) claims to oppose "federalizing" the Lakes, will he step up and support this Michigan legislation to protect the Lakes?
The very successful 35-year-old Lake Michigan Federation has now rechristened itself "The Alliance for the Great Lakes."
The intent is hopeful and commendable. But one has to remember, dilution is not always the solution to organizational confusion. Great Lakes United, another citizens' group, is still out there. Let's hope for the best.
http://lakemichigan.org/news/alliance.asp
Although oil drilling under the Great Lakes isn't the most pressing issue at the moment, Congressman Mike Rogers' rhetoric about opposing a federal drilling ban is comical. He says he doesn't want to "federalize" the Great Lakes. Does that mean he supports separate actions by eight different states to stop invasive species from the ballast water of oceangoing vesseles? And he's co-sponsoring a bill to plow $6 billion in federal money into restoring the Lakes. Finally, he supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. One has to wonder what his true basis for opposition to the ban is.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/drill14e_20050414.htm
Congressman Rogers' vote in favor of Arctic drilling (part of his near-zero environmental voting record) is recorded here:
http://www.capwiz.com/lcv/issues/votes/?votenum=241&chamber=H&congress=1082
Tribes Unite on Water
Niagara Falls, Ontario
April 12, 2005
It has been over 240 years since Great Lakes Tribes descended upon the
great Niagara Falls to discuss issues of profound consequence. This
week, representatives from over 140 indigenous Tribes from both sides
of the border participated in the most significant and historic
international gathering since the signing of the 1764 Treaty of
Niagara.
First Nations in Canada and Tribes in the United States came together
to discuss issues surrounding the Great Lakes Charter, Annex 2001. The
Annex, signed between the two provinces, and eight states is an
addendum to the Great Lakes Charter, which governs the Great Lakes
ecosystem and resources that are shared within these jurisdictions.
In November 2004, the Indigenous Nations of the Great Lakes united to
unanimously reject the Great Lakes Charter Annex, the commodification,
diversion and export of water, and the lack of inclusion in the
intergovernmental process.
Today, United Indian Nations of the Great Lakes, consisting of
indigenous leadership from: Quebec, Ontario, New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota reaffirmed
the principles outlined in the Tribal and First Nations Great Lakes
Water Accord of November 2004, and committed to defining a process to
further indigenous management of the Great Lakes through the immediate
development of a task force of representatives of the Tribes and First
Nations.
“Tribes on both sides of the border are united in developing our own
parallel process and ensuring our participation in decision making
involving the management of the Great Lakes,” said Frank Ettawageshik,
Tribal Chairman of the Little Traverse Bands of Odawa Indians, and
co-chair for the United Indian Nations of the Great Lakes meeting.
“The consensus that we have reached here will guide our efforts in
responding to these issues,” said Nelson Toulouse, Deputy Grand Chief
of the Anishinabek Nations, and co-chair for the meeting. “More
importantly, we remain committed to making this our own process, done
in our own way.”
The Tribes and First Nations pledged to take back this information to
their respective councils for review and to follow through with the
2004 Accord.
-30-
For more information contact:
Bob Goulais
Chief of Staff,
Union of Ontario Indians
Cell: 705.498.5250
Office: 705.497.9127
E-mail: goubob@anishinabek.ca
Granholm Water Letter Invites Caution
City’s Water Deal Prompts DEQ Scrutiny
LANSING, MI—Environmentalists reacted cautiously today to a decision by Governor Jennifer Granholm to scrutinize a deal reached late last month between the Nestle Corporation and the City of Evart to bottle and export water from the Great Lakes basin.
“We are pleased that the Governor is raising questions about this wholesale grab of Michigan’s water,” said David Holtz, Clean Water Action Michigan Director. “What must happen next is for the Legislature to act on protecting our waters, and for the governor to meet the requirements of the federal Water Resources Development Act (WRDA)--that means regional consultation with the other seven Great Lakes states before water can be diverted or exported outside the Great Lakes basin. "
On March 28 the City of Evart, located northwest of Clare and northeast of Nestle’ Ice Mountain plant in Mecosta County, approved a 10-year contract with Nestle Ice Mountain brand that would allow the international company to pump spring water from a municipal well that is currently permitted to pump 500 gallons a minute.
Today's comments from environmentalists are in reaction to an April 8 letter from Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven E. Chester. In the letter, Chester notified the City of Evart and Nestle that the governor had directed him to evaluate the water deal under Michigan’s Safe Drinking Water Act. Among the questions Chester raised in his notification letter was where Nestles intended to distribute the water.
According to the company, Nestles may pump as much as 250 million gallons a year from Evart. In 1998, a Canadian company raised an uproar when it received approval from Ontario to ship 168 million gallons per year of Lake Superior water to Asia. The company surrendered its permit and the fear over water exports led to current efforts to tighten Great Lakes protections.
Four environmental groups wrote Gov. Granholm last month, saying the selling of municipal water to Nestle for bottling and sale outside the Basin was “plainly unlawful” without a regional consultation process as provided for under WRDA.
“Michigan’s legislators have failed to protect our waterways from harmful water use or to safeguard our water from being shipped out of state,” said Kate Madigan, PIRGIM Environmental Advocate. “Without water use laws, Nestle and other companies have free reign over our waters unless the Governor steps in.”
In a letter delivered this month to Granholm, Clean Water Action, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, the Sierra Club Mackinac Chapter and the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM) cited a 2001 opinion by then-Attorney General Granholm that Nestle’original pumping and bottling plan in Mecosta County was subject to the federal law. In the September 2001 opinion, Granholm wrote, “The withdrawal and bottling of such water for sale in interstate commerce outside the Great Lakes basin would constitute a diversion or export ‘for use outside the basin’ and therefore would be subject to the WRDA.”
April8 DEQ letter to Evart, Nestle:
http://www.cleanwateraction.org/mi/chesterevartletter.pdf
Water Resources Development Act/Great Lakes:
http://michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3313_3677_3704-12588--,00.html
Text of Attorney General Granholm's September, 2001 letter:
http://www.waterissweet.org/pdf/granholmletter.pdf
The Rally for Ducks, Wetlands and Clean Water held April 2 on the State Capitol grounds by a coalition of Minnesota sportsmen, conservation and environmental groups was an inspiring first step toward restoring our state's wildlife and natural environment.
However, the group whose actions are most responsible for degrading Minnesota's environment, industrial agriculture practitioners, was nowhere to be found. Furthermore, the speakers who mentioned agriculture as the major contributor to the problem were quick to point out that no one was placing blame.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5342363.html
LA CROSSE, WIS. -- The fur flew in Wisconsin on Monday night.
A proposal that would open the door to letting hunters legally shoot Wisconsin's 1.4 million-plus free-roaming cats was debated at simultaneous hearings in all of the state's 72 counties.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/5342349.html
A reader writes, in reference to this comment from the Detroit News column linked yesterday:
Even scarier is the prospect of creeping nationalization by the voracious state. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality recently asserted control over newly uncovered bottom land left by lower lake levels.
The reader's comment:
It was interesting how he equated the "seizing" of property with the state's
fundamental ability (and responsibility) to regulate. Using the same reasoning,
he should be comfortable if, for example, lake levels rise in commensurate
fashion (which is the natural cycle), whereupon the state decides to do some
fish habitat management on his front lawn.
This notice of a Michigan DNR meeting on wolves comes at a time when UP friends report that tales of wolves eyeing human children are again beginning to swirl. And wolves are being blamed by some for eating too many deer and depressing hunting.
It's worrisome that these archetypal stories are coming back; 15 years ago, the return of the wolves was made possible by strong public education that laid so many myths to rest.
Wolf Management Will be Focus of Statewide DNR Public Meetings
A series of public meetings will be hosted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to discuss wolf management in the state. The meetings will provide the public with an opportunity to identify important issues and express opinions regarding wolves and wolf management in the state. Public input received at these meetings will help guide revision of the state's wolf management plan.
"Social input is a critical component of our planning process with the DNR," said DNR Director Rebecca Humphries. "We realize the importance of understanding public perceptions and concerns when it comes to managing the wolf population."
Wolves began returning naturally to the Michigan's Upper Peninsula via Wisconsin and Canada in the late 1980s. Today, the minimum estimate of population size is approximately 400 animals. Wolf populations in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have exceeded federal recovery goals for several years, but the animal remains on the endangered species list, largely due to management issues occurring elsewhere in the country.
Director Humphries is beginning the process of establishing a joint citizen/agency committee, which will be charged with developing "guiding principles" for management of wolves in Michigan. Once assembled, the group will begin work next winter. The issues identified and the attitudes expressed at the public meetings will be considered by this joint committee when developing its recommendations.
Meeting dates, locations and times are listed below:
* Watersmeet: 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, May 2 in Watersmeet Public Schools' all purpose room located at N4720 Highway 45, Watersmeet;
* Houghton: 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, at Michigan Technological University's Forest Center located at the corner of McGinnis Avenue and 7th Street in Houghton;
* Escanaba: 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 11, in the auditorium of the Learning Resources Center at Bay de Noc Community College, 2001 North Lincoln Road in Escanaba;
* Newberry: 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 12, in the main conference room at the Comfort Inn, located at the junction of M-28 and M-123 in Newberry;
* Sault Ste. Marie: 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 13, at the Crow's Nest in the Cisler Conference Center at Lake Superior State University;
* Marquette: 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, May 14, in the Embers Room of the Northwoods Supper Club, 260 Northwoods Road, Marquette;
* Clare: 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, May 14, location to be announced;
* Grand Rapids: 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, at Grand Valley State University's downtown campus. Room location to be announced;
* Ann Arbor: 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, location to be announced;
* Gaylord: 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 19, at the Best Western Alpine Lodge, 833 W. Main Street.
Meeting information can also be located on the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr.
Those individuals who cannot attend any of the meetings may still provide comments by sending an email to: wolf_comments@michigan.gov; or mail comments to: DNR Wildlife Division, Attn: Endangered Species Coordinator, PO Box 30444, Lansing, MI 48909. All comments will be given full consideration. The DNR will not provide return responses to submitted comments.
The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural resources for current and future generations.
###
"Even scarier is the prospect of creeping nationalization by the voracious state. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality recently asserted control over newly uncovered bottom land left by lower lake levels. This was a massive uncompensated taking of private property by regulation."
Even scarier is the ignorance of this statement in a Detroit News op-ed. DEQ didn't "assert control," it exercised authority on behalf of all of the people of the state, who own the bottom of the Lakes and their waters. Michigan has had this power since joining the Union. It's the property owners who now want to claim they own the bottom of the Great Lakes. Just like Nestle wants to claim it owns the waters of the Great Lakes Basin.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0504/10/A15-145098.htm
Governor Granholm proved with her State of the State message in early February that the best way to advance environmental concerns in Lansing right now is to talk about them as economic development issues.
What was missing from the Governor’s discussion of Michigan’s economic future was a discussion of the importance of water. The state’s most abundant resource, water supports two of the three top Michigan industries tourism and agriculture — and is also central to manufacturing. But the only way to protect those industries and water they depend on is to take bold action now. So here’s what the Governor could have said, and still should. “Keeping water in the Great Lakes and in Michigan is critical to our economic future. Retaining and creating water-reliant jobs means retaining water here and attracting the employers of the future who will require it. Any policies on managing the waters of the state and the Great Lakes have to pass this test.”
http://www.minutemanmedia.org/GLM%20040605.htm
Michigan DEQ has commendably stepped in to the attempt by the City of Evart and Nestle to commercialize and privatize a public water well for export outside of the Great Lakes Basin. In a two-page letter dated yesterday, Director Steve Chester peppered the City with questions about the deal and its implications. A good first step. DEQ has the legal authority to stop the project if it chooses to do so.
This sounds better...but how will the sale of water (in bottles, pipelines and tankers) be treated?
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/11342641.htm
With today's editorial by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, virtually every major newspaper in the Great Lakes region has now editorialized in favor of rules by EPA toughening the Basin's defenses against invasive species in ballast water. About every eight months, a new invasive species enters the Lakes. It would be great if EPA would spend its energy writing the rules, rather than appealing the court judgment.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5336267.html
Enjoy this video of a "transparent" state/Dow Chemical Company meeting on dioxin contamination. Memo to Dow: shoving cameras and microphones back is not good PR. Or as Rita Jack of the Sierra Club, who posted this link on the statewide Enviro-Mich list said: "Dow? DEQ?? When will you let the public in?? What are you afraid of?"
http://wnem.com/Global/category.asp?C=5517&nav=7k76
Go to featured videos, and click on "TV5 Shut Out of Dioxin Meeting."
Michigan officials this week may consider a request to use taxpayer money to help bring more trash into the state.
Texas-based Waste Management Inc. has asked the Michigan Strategic Fund for $68 million in tax-exempt bonds to improve or expand 13 landfills, including the state's busiest, Pine Tree Acres in Macomb County's Lenox Township.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0504/07/C01-141355.htm
UPDATE: If this House Dem news release is true, somebody did just say no.
LANSING – House Democrats today hailed two victories in the fight against imported garbage: the withdrawal of a request from the nation's largest trash conglomerate for $68 million in tax-exempt state bonds, which it wanted to use to expand landfills in Michigan; and changes in how those bonds are allocated that now disqualify landfill expansion projects.
Waste Management Inc.'s request for the Industrial Development Revenue Bonds had been included on the agenda of the Michigan Strategic Fund board meeting to discuss development projects today. The meeting was to focus on development projects in the state. WMI withdrew its request today.
"Our public resources are already stretched thin and they should be used for development projects that will create jobs in Michigan, strengthen our economy and improve our residents' lives," House Democratic Leader Dianne Byrum (D-Onondaga) said.
Also, the MSF announced changes in what projects get priority for low-interest, tax-free bonds meant to encourage economic development. One key change: Disqualifying companies from landfill projects.
And maybe the Detroit News will adjust its editorial policy. Well, it's worth voting anyway.
http://info.detnews.com/autostalk/lettersindex.cfm?topic=Pressure_to_be_green&forum=autostalk
An environmental toxin linked to common neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has been found in blue-green algae-contaminated water throughout North America and the world.
The international team of researchers that reported the finding this week suggested that public health officials now should consider monitoring for the neurotoxin in waters that have blue-green algae "blooms," including water from the Great Lakes and smaller inland waters. The neurotoxin is called B-N-methylamino-L-alanine, or BMAA.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/apr05/315374.asp
For those who think the private sector will voluntarily do all that is needed to protect the environment, this news is a strong rejoinder. Without a strong Canadian policy the automakers would not have had an incentive to negotiate the deal. While this is a "voluntary" plan, like so many other voluntary plans, it arose out of a government mandate the private sector wanted to recraft to its advantage.
Canada, Automakers Announce Breakthrough Global Warming Agreement
Automakers To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Million of Tons Beginning
2007
WINDSOR, ONTARIO - Today, the Canadian government and automobile
manufacturers signed a historic agreement to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from automobiles by over 15 million tons by the end of 2010.*
If implemented correctly, this reduction will be consistent with the first
phase of the California Clean Car Law (known as the Pavley Law). This
improvement will be made by using existing, cost effective technologies -
like more efficient engines, smarter transmissions, and better
aerodynamics.
"This agreement is a breakthrough because it will both cut global warming
emissions in Canada, and set the stage for similar reductions in the United
States, " said Dan Becker, Washington Director of the Sierra Club's Global
Warming Program.
Right now, California and seven eastern states either have, or are in the
process of adopting clean car laws. With the addition of Canada, one-third
of the North American auto market will have to meet California's tougher
emissions rules.
"The automakers will find it financially impossible to make one clean set
of cars for eight states and Canada and a dirty set for the rest,"
continued Becker. "Eight plus one equals 50."
To ensure that the auto companies comply with their commitment, the
Canadian government is setting milestones, and will step in with a
regulatory backstop if the automakers fail to live up to their promise.
With this agreement, the automakers unilaterally disarm from their
long-standing position that they cannot make clean cars. In fact, they
have sued to overturn the California Clean Car Law which is the basis for
Canada's action. The auto companies are now in the awkward position of
telling a judge that they cannot make the same cars in California that they
will make in Canada.
"When it comes to dealing with automobile manufacturers, Canada is leading
way," continued Becker. "Canada told automobile manufacturers what they
needed to protect the health their citizens and environment, and said that
they would not take no for an answer."
Automakers have long claimed they cannot cut global warming emissions - and
won't. Now they are promising Canada that they will. The automakers have
now lost their last excuse for inaction. It is time for the automakers to
bring the benefits of clean cars to Americans, and do in the U.S. what they
have promised to do abroad.
"We look forward to examining the fine print of the agreement," continued
Becker.
* The agreement would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles by
10 million tons between 2007 and 2010 and 5.3 million tons in 2010.
Federal regulations require that bottled water "manufacturers" establish that their water is really coming from springs before they can label it "natural spring water."
A good question for an investigative reporter to ask would be: Why, in the minutes of the special Evart City Council meeting of 1/24/05, does the following passage appear with respect to that city's sale of water from its supply to Nestle Corporation for bottling and export out of the Great Lakes region?
"The Spring Water Agreement is being reviewed...and is to be on the agenda at the next Council meeting. It is to state in the agreement, the City does not agree with Nestle that the water they are purchasing is Spring Water."
It's not, but they're going to call it that on the bottle?
Read this from a bottled water industry site:
What are FDA Standard of Identity?
FDA requires uniform use of terms like "purified" and "spring," so consumers can be sure different companies use the same descriptions consistently on their product labels. For example, a bottle marked "spring water" must be from a spring. One-fourth of bottled water comes from municipal sources, rather than a spring or well. The FDA requires these products be labeled "from a community water system" or "from a municipal source." However, if this water goes through a purification process such as distillation or reverse osmosis, FDA has determined that the product can be defined by the type of purification (i.e.; "drinking water"), rather than as from a municipal source.
http://www.finewaters.com/FAQ/Federal%2C_State_Industry_Regulations.asp
Saturday's MN event in support of habitat protection, wetlands, waterfowl -- went smashingly well.
If anyone in the crowd at Saturday's Ducks, Wetlands and Clean Water rally had any doubts about Bud Grant's passion for changing the way Minnesota manages its natural resources, they surely dissolved with this declaration from the retired Vikings coach: Legislation for ongoing funding for conservation is more important than any bill to finance any new stadium in this state.
The remark, and others from hunters, anglers and environmentalists on the State Capitol mall in St. Paul, got a rousing cheer punctuated by duck calls from the crowd, many of them decked out in camouflage and blaze orange. Close to 4,000 people attended the event, according to Capitol security.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/5326935.html
In 1998, a Canadian company got a permit to take 158 million gallons a year of water from Lake Superior and ship it in oceangoing tankers to Asia. The resulting public outrage was so great that the company gave up its right to take the water and the region's governors vowed to toughen our defenses against water exports.
In March 2005, Nestle Corporation cut a deal to take up to 250 million gallons a year of water from wells owned by the City of Evart. Most will be bottled, shipped and sold outside the Great Lakes Basin. And city officials are pleased with themselves.
But when you remove 250 million gallons of water from the headwaters of a tributary of the Great Lakes, you remove it from the Great Lakes just as surely as those Canadian tankers would have.
Nestle continues to claim that water in bottles is not the same as water in a pipeline to Texas or a tanker traveling to Asia. "It's a consumptive use." But to the ecosystem, it's "just" lost water no matter what technical term you use for it.
This court ruling is good news. But it will be challenged, and if it survives that process, EPA will probably take 10 years to write the regulations to implement the court order.
A faster solution, although too radical for politicos to handle, is to shut the Welland Canal down, as a federal government scientist proposed in December, until the shipping industry can demonstrate it can keep nonnatives out of the Great Lakes. Off-load the cargo to lakers, trains or trucks until they do.
Ships No Longer Allowed to Dump Ballast
By TERENCE CHEA, AP
SAN FRANCISCO (March 31) - A federal judge ruled Thursday the government can no longer allow ships to dump without a permit any ballast water containing nonnative species that could harm local ecosystems.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately repeal regulations exempting ship operators from having to obtain such permits.
"This is a slam dunk for healthy oceans," said Sarah Newkirk, clean water advocate for the Washington, D.C.-based Ocean Conservancy. "The court decision will prevent a vast amount of pollutants from the shipping industry from entering U.S. waters."
EPA officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
In 1999, the Ocean Conservancy and four other environmental groups petitioned the EPA to repeal the ballast-water exemption. They claimed the Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants, including biological materials - such as invasive species - into U.S. waters without a permit.
When the EPA denied the petition, the conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco in 2003.
Invasive species are known to cause significant economic and environmental damage. Marine species such as mollusks often are inadvertently transported in the ballast water of ships and discharged at ports far from their origins.
The bay's two most destructive species that originated in ballast water are Chinese mitten crabs, which clog irrigation and drinking water pipes, and Asian clams, which consume large amounts of plankton at the expense of other marine species.
Invasive species in San Francisco Bay cause more than $40 million in economic damage each year, Newkirk said.