Since 1900, Lake Michigan has been losing water to the Mississippi River Basin from an artificial diversion at Chicago. Originally constructed to flush the sewage of the city away from its Lake-based drinking water intakes and public beaches, the diversion is now a major source of water supply for Chicago.
And it is "grandfathered," with unknown implications, in the proposed new Great Lakes anti-export agreement.
This is one of the best pieces of journalism done in years on what the diversion means in NE Illinois -- and why that region might want more water from Lake Michigan in years to come.
The Chicago area sits on the world's largest source of lake freshwater, yet mid-summer lawns are as brown as a scarecrow in October.
"We're the only major city in America that is on water rations," said Jack Farnan, general superintendent for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
The Chicago area's water rations stem from a decades-old Supreme Court decree that limits how much water Illinois can take out of the Great Lakes. That limit is the reason that any community that receives lake water must have some type of conservation ordinance in effect. In many parts of the Southland, that means restrictions on when you can wash your car, sprinkle your lawn or water your plants.
http://www.starnewspapers.com/star/spnews/news/31-sp1.htm
The first of a half dozen hearings on the Bush Administration's draft cleanup plan took place in Gary, IN Thursday night. Turnout was impressive. "Fund it," was the cry.
Either Bush is an organizing genius, and when he signed an executive order about the Great Lakes in May 2004 realized it would take a year or two of coalition building to galvanize public interest in the $20 billion cleanup plan -- or he hoped to postpone action until after the 2004 election, and didn't realize his order would create a large community that would be very frustrated if he didn't fund it. And delighted if he did.
Either way, the Great Lakes may win.
GARY, Ind. -- Advocates on Thursday urged politicians to fund a proposal aimed at reviving and protecting the ailing Great Lakes by cleaning the water and stopping the invasion of exotic species.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--greatlakesrestora0728jul28,0,5351187.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
GARY — A few years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency produced an ambitious plan to clean up and restore the Great Lakes. But buried in it was a warning: Don’t expect more funding.
This month, a collective effort by state officials, mayors, tribes and environmentalists produced the first draft of a Great Lakes improvement plan that, if fully carried out, could cost $20 billion.
It addresses eight subject areas, from coastal health to toxic pollutants.
But this time, a meeting room full of citizens and environmentalists urged Thursday night, legislators need to make sure the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration plan is funded.
http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/news/z1/07-29-05_z1_news_15.html
TRAVERSE CITY -- People can stroll along Michigan's 3,200 miles of Great Lakes beaches whether owners of adjacent private property like it or not, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0507/30/metro-264320.htm
An Oakland County developer is not entitled to cash from the state after regulators prohibited him from developing wetlands, the state Court of Appeals ruled in a decision released Wednesday.
Wednesday's ruling found that no compensation was required because the developers were able to build on non-wetland portions of their property.
Congratulations to the outstanding work by staff of the DEQ and Attorney General's office who prepared the state's arguments and presented them effectively.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/date29e_20050729.htm
From the New York Times' dining section yesterday:
The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research and advocacy organization financed by foundations including the Rockefeller Family Fund and the Joyce Foundation, says items other than pans are likely to be the major sources of PFOA. But the group, along with many scientists, points out a different problem: an empty overheated Teflon-coated pan does pose a risk by releasing toxic fumes. DuPont does not dispute that, but there is no agreement between the company and Teflon's critics over what temperature releases the fumes. The Environmental Working Group says 325 degrees, or a medium flame; DuPont says 660 degrees.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/27/dining/27well.html?
Cigarette boats, that is. How many different types of use can the world's largest lake (by surface area) take?
ASHLAND, Wis. - A speedboat rally in the waters of Chequamegon Bay and the Apostle Islands later this week is stirring up some anxiety among enthusiasts of paddle and sail sports who worry the event will set a dangerous precedent.
http://www.gazetteextra.com/pokerrun072505.asp
Lakes Michigan and Erie were like this back in the good old 50s and 60s.
Residents along Little Traverse Bay have inquired about algae growth at an unprecedented pace, according to officials with the Petoskey-based Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.
Gail Gruenwald, the council's director, said algae growth is promoted mostly by excess nutrients and as a side effect of the presence of invading zebra mussels -- but warmer water has accelerated the troubles.
"One lady on Little Traverse Bay said the algae was 18 inches deep in one spot," Gruenwald said Tuesday. Though that type of algae is harmless, it's no fun to swim in.
"There's very little they can do about it," Gruenwald said.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/hotwater27e_20050727.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Oil and gas drilling would be banned in the Great Lakes under a measure adopted by House and Senate negotiators on Tuesday.
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, had sought the prohibition amid concerns that the Great Lakes, a large source of drinking water and integral part of the state's tourism industry, could be threatened by an oil spill.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, has opposed Stupak's approach, arguing that the powers should be left to the states in the region. Rogers, who also opposes drilling in the lakes, has said the federal ban could empower western states to gain access to drinking water from the Great Lakes in the future.
Note: Coincidentally, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, received $28,300 for his 2004 reelection from the oil and gas industry, more than any other Michigan Congressperson (source: Center for Responsible Politics, www.opensecrets.org).
Wind power on Lake Erie started to take shape Monday just offshore of downtown Cleveland.
Technicians and volunteers began building the tallest wind-monitoring tower on the Great Lakes atop the Cleveland Water Department intake crib, the bright orange-and-white structure 3.5 miles north of Edgewater Park and the major collection point for Greater Cleveland's drinking water.
When it is completed in several weeks, the galvanized steel tower will rise 165 feet above the lake's surface like a silver needle. Its six arms will hold a variety of small, lightweight instruments at three heights to record weather conditions and the wind's speed, frequency and direction.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/112237048186950.xml&coll=2
What women are putting on their faces and bodies could be hurting unborn children.
Makeup is part of the magic that keeps Cathryn Williams looking her best. Williams is a busy mom of two, soon to be three.
"The quick five minute routine in the morning is good for me," Williams explained.
Williams said she never really thought much about what is in her makeup until recently.
New research shows products Williams and many other women use every day could potentially cause problems for unborn babies, because they contain phthalates.
http://wcco.com/local/local_story_207095142.html
It will take citizens demanding that legislators take the lead. More letters to the editor like this -- naming specific legislators -- are needed.
I am writing to commend The Blade for correctly stating that it will take unity by the Great Lakes states in order to pass and fund meaningful restoration legislation ("A little Great Lakes unity," July 20). The Bush Administration is not disposed to implementing this type of plan. Therefore, in addition to unity, it will also take legislators to lead and citizens to demand action in order to fund the programs that will cure the Great Lakes' ills.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050725/OPINION03/507250323
Terry Swier, President Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation - 231-972-8856
Jim Olson, Attorney for Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation - 231-882-7789
MICHIGAN CITIZENS FOR WATER CONSERVATION WILL GIVE A PUBLIC PRESENTATION ABOUT THE UNFOLDING POLITICAL DRAMA TO STOP THE PRIVATE SALE OF WATER OUT OF THE GREAT LAKES BASIN.
(Traverse City, Michigan) Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC), along with its President, Terry Swier, and noted environmental attorney, Jim Olson, will be at the Horizon Books in downtown Traverse City on Saturday, July 30 from 11:00 a.m. to Noon. They will host a public presentation on efforts to stop Nestlė, the State, and others from establishing precedents to divert public water for private export out of the watersheds of the Great Lakes Basin.
Swier will tell the story of how a nonprofit grassroots citizens group has successfully fought Nestle's -- the international Swiss food giant -- attempt to privately claim the waters of Michigan for export. Olson will describe how this political drama to privately control water in the Great Lakes Basin – nearly twenty percent of the world’s freshwater -- has unfolded, and what citizens can do to stop it. The presentation will cover:
- How Michigan Circuit Court Judge, Lawrence Root, reasoned through 19 days of trial testimony and stacks of scientific data and complex legal arguments, and ordered Nestle to stop pumping and exporting water out of a watershed of the Great Lakes.
- How Nestle with the help of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) arrogantly circumvented the Judge’s order to stop pumping.
- How Nestle has appealed to Michigan’s appellate courts in an attempt to erase a century of water law protection so it can establish legal precedent to gain private rights over public and common waters at the expense of citizens, landowners, farmers, and businesses.
- How Nestle met with officials of the City of Evart and State and engineered a takeover of part of the City’s municipal water supply for export and private sale.
- How Nestle desires to win an exemption from pending international agreements that may protect the Great Lakes from diversions and exports. These agreements remain open for public comment until August 30, 2005.
- How Nestle has threatened Michigan’s Governor, the State, and its citizens with a federal lawsuit that would destroy attempts to safeguard this water.
- How the Michigan Legislature has stalled and delayed doing anything about water diversions and exports.
- How citizens, landowners, and businesses can join MCWC and others to win the fight to save these precious public waters from diversion and sale.
The idea of placing old ships at the bottom of the Great Lakes to create diving havens may sound harmless...but where does it stop once it begins? A few years ago there was talk of disposing of old subway cars at the south end of the lake this way.
Scuba enthusiasts aren't giving up the ship on their plan to sink a cleaned vessel in Lake Michigan off Muskegon for divers to explore, despite two rejections by the state Department of Environmental Quality.
http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1121958941116530.xml?muchronicle?NEM&coll=8
People who are interested in ships lying at the bottom of Lake Superior are excited about a recent discovery. A ship called the Benjamin Noble was lost with all 20 crewmen, back in 1914. It disappeared into the lake during an April storm, and it's been the target of a lot of unsuccessful searches over the years. But now a few people know exactly where it is.
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/07/20_hemphills_superiorwreck/
Eric Sharp of the Detroit Free Press is one of the most freethinking and outspoken outdoor writers in the region. Perhaps his origins as an environmental reporter in the 70s, coupled with his love of outdoor sports, qualify him better than most to look at the issues from holistically.
His column is a reminder that there are Great Lakes region residents who believe Coho and Chinook salmon have always been here.
If I could wave a magic wand and rid the Great Lakes of every salmon, steelhead and brown trout, I would do it in a Grayling minute, with one stipulation. I would get to wave it again to restore the lakes to the incredible fishery they were in 1805.
After I wrote last week about using cut steelhead as bait for flathead catfish, I heard from a guide who thought that using steelhead as bait was a sacrilege. I told him that I love to catch them, but steelhead are just another exotic species, like zebra mussels, that don't belong in the lakes.
http://www.freep.com/sports/outdoors/outcol23e_20050723.htm
GREAT LAKES REGIONAL COLLABORATION SETS PUBLIC MEETINGS ON STRATEGY
(but doesn't know yet where to send you in some cities)
The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration has announced the locations of
six public meetings to hear comments on its recently announced draft
strategy and to receive input on priority actions to restore the Great
Lakes. The Draft Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes was
released for a 60-day public comment period on July 7.
The strategy may be reviewed on the collaboration's Web site:
The scheduled meetings are:
July 28 -- Gary, Ind. -- Marquette Park Pavilion, 1 North Grand
Boulevard
Aug. 1 -- Grand Rapids, Mich. Grand Valley State University Loosemore
Auditorium
Aug. 4 -- Superior, Wis. (location to be announced)
Aug. 18 -- Detroit, Mich. Cobo Hall, Room W262, Riverfront Entrance
Aug. 23 -- Cleveland, Ohio (location to be announced)
Aug. 30 -- Buffalo, N.Y. (location to be announced)
All of the meetings will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time.
Locations for each meeting will be posted on the collaboration's Web
site as they become final. Although each meeting will provide an opportunity for oral comments on the strategy, only written comments will be considered.
Written comments may be submitted in three ways:
1. Submitted in electronic form (diskette, CDROM) or hard-copy at one of
the public meetings,
2. Submitted online via the Web site at www.glrc.us,
or
3. Mailed to:
Comments Great Lakes Regional Collaboration
c/o U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office
77 W. Jackson Blvd. (G-17J)
Chicago, IL 60604-3511
The deadline for comments is Sept. 9, 2005.
For more information contact:
Nancy Guiden, EPA, at (312) 353-5006, guiden.nancy@epa.gov or
David Ullrich, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Northeast
Midwest Institute, at (312) 201-4516, david.ullrich@nemw.org
One of the north country's emblematic species is the subject of a mercury study in northern Minnesota:
For 10 nights this month, a specialized team patrolled 13 northern Minnesota lakes in Superior National Forest. Their target? Loons.
The researchers captured, tested and released 34 of the birds. The primary goal was to measure levels of mercury in them by sampling their feathers and blood; that could help shed light on how much mercury is accumulating in the environment.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/5519783.html
A BBC newscast on Nestle's water wars in Brazil and Michigan can be heard tomorrow at 12:30 BST, which is 7:30 am EST.
You can go to BBC's website where you can hear it live at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
or listen again at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/facethefacts/
The letters to the editor in response to this ought to be pretty interesting:
My concern is, how can we possibly justify the consumption of fossil fuels for recreation given what we know about the impacts on the planet and the fast approaching "End of Oil" (despite what some suggest, it is a finite resource!)? It would seem that if we weigh the importance of moving a person from home to work versus someone jumping waves, pumping out a few more decibels, or seeking thrills on racetracks or trails with motorized devices, the answer would be pretty straightforward.
OK, so here come the tomatoes: "You're limiting my freedom!"
But think about it. How can we possibly justify extracting oil from places around the world (most of our oil is not from the U.S.), putting it through a refining process that uses huge amounts of energy and emits lots of pollution, and then shipping it to our local gasoline station so that we can frolic about on our preferred recreational vehicle?
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050721/OPINION02/507210330/1087/opinion
An editorial:
Complaints already have been heard that the task force plan is too costly and too complex. But the Great Lakes are under siege from urban pollution, agricultural run-off, toxic hot spots stemming from short-sighted industrial development, and discharges from ships that have introduced invasive species like zebra mussels into the lakes.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050720/OPINION02/507200302
And a worrisome article yesterday about Lake Erie's dead zone(s):
CLEVELAND - Lake Erie's "dead zone" near here is expected to return in August, but scientists are more concerned about another such zone that is much closer to Toledo.
In a dead zone, there is so little oxygen along the lake bottom that fish cannot survive. Scientists have monitored the phenomenon in Lake Erie's central basin from Ashtabula to Cleveland for years, but 70 miles west, in the Sandusky sub-basin, the problem has worsened to the point that there is no oxygen at all.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050719/NEWS06/507190355
A small gull with red legs and a red beak is making a comeback and that's good news.
"We as humans are part of an ecosystem," said John H. Hartig, manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. "What we do to the environment, we do to ourselves. We have sentinel species out there.
"Like the canary in the coal mine. These sentinel species tell us what is happening to the ecosystem."
http://www.detnews.com/2005/nngrosseile/0507/14/R02-243794.htm
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A new poll shows that voters are split on whether to restore a ban on mourning dove hunting in Michigan.
About 42 percent of those polled by Lansing-based EPIC/MRA say they would vote against or lean toward voting against a proposal that would restore the ban. About 40 percent would vote for the proposal or lean toward supporting it, with 18 percent undecided.
The poll of 1,000 Michigan registered voters was conducted June 29 through July 7. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
This California news story has significance in Michigan, which has banned the same two flame retardants but has no real means of verifying compliance with the ban. Two researchers recently consulted in Michigan say they are finding startlingly high levels of these compounds in Great Lakes fish and sediments. And it's undoubtedly present in us, too.
WITH LESS than a year before California's ban on a class of flame retardants takes effect, no substantive discussions at any level of state government are taking place on how to enforce it, according to interviews with regulators at various levels in several agencies.
The banned compounds, two flame retardants within a class of chemicals known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are extremely effective at stopping fire in foam and certain plastics. But they also are potent neurotoxins and, in animals, disrupt thyroid activity at low levels.
Studies show increasing contamination of the blood of almost every U.S. adult, with levels 10 to 100 times higher than elsewhere in the world,near concentrations causing harm in animals. California, with some of the most stringent fire safety standards in the world, has proven to be a particular hot spot. http://insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_2866424
Translation of the text below: There is, in Washington, D.C., a lobby in favor of more invasive species in the Great Lakes. It is called the shipping and port lobby.
Bill Undermines Clean Water Act and State Efforts to Curb Aquatic Invasive Species!
A bill has quickly gained momentum that threatens to preempt Michigan’s state bill, exempt pollutants and activities from the Clean Water Act, as well as undermine existing efforts to prevent aquatic invasive species. The Ballast Water Management Act of 2005 (S. 363) would establish treatment standards and timelines for ships to treat ballast to prevent aquatic invasive species. Any good intentions aside, S. 363 contains weaker ballast water standards, and much longer timelines for implementation, than the widely supported, comprehensive National Aquatic Invasive Species Act (S. 770). S. 363 also contains some dangerous provisions that would undermine efforts in the Great Lakes, including:
Preemption of Stronger State Efforts
Frustrated with the lack of federal action, many states nationwide are currently moving forward to require ships to treat their ballast for invasive species. For example, Michigan’s new state legislation requires treatment options for ocean vessels operating within the Great Lakes by 2007. S. 363 would undercut these efforts by preempting the ability of states to take action and delay treatment until S. 363 standards are implemented, for over a decade or more depending upon the pending federal program’s implementation. Without enforcement provisions to ensure deadlines are met, and without a guaranteed source of federal funding, states have little confidence that even the lengthy federal deadlines will be met. The preemption section must be stricken from the bill. (Section 3(r) (1), July 1st 2005 Committee Draft).
Removal of EPA Clean Water Act Authority
S. 363 would exempt the discharge of pollutants- both biological and chemical- from ballast water from regulation under the Clean Water Act (or CWA). Any exemption from the Clean Water Act is a dangerous precedent.
The bill’s timing is poised to undercut a recent court ruling requiring EPA to move forward in regulating discharges under CWA, with the court’s expected order for the agency expected this fall. See, Northwest Environmental Advocates et. al. vs. U.S. EPA, No. C. 03-05760 SI (March 20, 2005). Again frustrated by the lack of federal action, Great Lakes states intervened in this lawsuit. The EPA, with its environmental protection mission and expertise in developing discharge standards, is a critical partner with the Coast Guard in protecting national waters from invasive species. EPA’s role in S. 363 has been relegated to one of merely ‘consultation’ to Coast Guard.
As drafted, S. 363 not only directly usurps the court order requiring EPA to address ballast water discharges under the CWA, but is so loosely drafted that it would additionally remove all federal authority to address pollutants other than invasive species in ballast water, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Exemption of any pollutants or activities from the CWA is a direct assault on the Act itself and must be stricken from the bill.
Last week's dual announcements showing newborns carry hundreds of toxic chemicals in their bodies, and that EPA is unwilling or unable to test most chemicals before they are introduced to the marketplace, in normal times would be an impetus for major national environmental policy reform. These aren't normal times, but perhaps, as the Minneapolis Star Tribune hopes, reform will happen anyway.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/5509286.html
Aerial photos taken three separate months this year all show an inky black stream more than a mile in length gushing from the company's outfall No. 009 directly into the Detroit River.
http://www.thenewsherald.com/stories/071705/loc_20050717004.shtml
Environmental agencies face this dilemma frequently: should they grant a new permit to a facility breaking the law, with the promise that the new law will bring the facility back within the law? In downriver Detroit that's been the rationale for allowing at least one landfill to keep hauling in trash -- to raise the revenue to correct the problem. It's not an easy call. But no one is served by failing to call a violation a violation.
"We do not have a statewide problem. ... Define the problem through science before you regulate the problem," Johnston said.
Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, said she heard enough "cries" and "scare tactics" about job losses if Michigan restricted groundwater use.
Near the end of the hearing, she challenged manufacturers: "Where's your proof?"
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1121438847145110.xml
The recent invasion of algae is grossing out beach goers who prefer clear waters to being slimed.
A sign at Petoskey State Park said "Algae along shoreline. No refunds on permits."
Despite the warning and lingering seaweed smell, the beach was full Wednesday.
"Gross," shouted Nathaniel Dunn, 6, of Ann Arbor, while inspecting the water.
http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/2005/07/14/news/local_regional/news01.txt
When pressed on his generally dismal record of environmental stewardship, President Bush's defenders like to point out a leading exception -- his call for cleaning up the Great Lakes.
Fair enough. These lakes are in deep trouble. They are also in many political jurisdictions, and the concerted restoration work they need requires, in turn, a presidential call to action.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/5507327.html
This column appeared in the Detroit Free Press a few weeks ago but escaped attention.
Granholm's effort to enact some rules at least keeping Michigan water within the Great Lakes basin is now tied up in state and federal court cases with Nestle Waters, which bottles Michigan groundwater under its Ice Mountain brand and wants to take more. It is likely that those cases are going to produce a de facto water policy for Michigan while the Legislature holds more hearings and the Department of Environmental Quality tries to write more rules.
My guess is that in the absence of a genuine water law, the courts are going to open the faucet and Michigan will only be able to watch the trucks roll.
http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/erdz26e_20050626.htm
But every day should be Lake Superior Day! It's the world's largest lake by surface area, and holds 10% of the world's surface freshwater.
http://www.superiorforum.info/event.php?eid=1
Interesting comment was overheard at the recent biennial meeting in Kingston, Ontario of the International Joint Commission, a binational U.S.-Canada panel dating back to 1909 that in the 1980s and early 1990s provided a forum for citizens to air their grievances and concerns about the need for Great Lakes cleanup. It also in those days galvanized the news media and public to demand faster action.
The IJC had scheduled this year, at the very end of its three days of meetings, a public comment period. This also happened two years ago in Ann Arbor, when many had left or were leaving to catch planes, trains and automobiles. Great way to minimize and undermine serious interaction between the public and its government.
Two commissioners were overheard in the men's room saying to each other something along these lines just before the public comment session, as they contributed their runoff to the eastern end of the Great Lakes Basin: "How fast do you think we can get this over with?"
Four letters to the editor in the Detroit News challenging the Nestle water grab; only one that backs the company and other water takers. Who's it from? Michigan's former "environmental protector," of course.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0507/13/A12-244210.htm
Last week's fanfare over the $20 billion draft plan to restore the Great Lakes -- now out for public comment -- has yielded to a closer scrutiny of what's proposed.
While acknowledging the harm posed by invasive aquatic species, the plan calls for full control of ballast water, their major source, six years from now. That could allow another half dozen species to enter the Lakes.
And then there's the approach to toxic substances. Not even a serious mention of the new chemicals that are showing up in the Lakes at alarming levels, like the fire retardant PBDEs. Or, as one advocate recently said, "I feel like I'm time-warped back to the 70's when reading the Great Lakes Toxics Strategy. Have we really not moved on?"
The advocate added, "There is no mention of working with industry sectors to promote cleaner chemical use in cars, textiles, plastics, etc and to hold companies responsible to a safer chemicals policy...In short, I feel that unless the advocacy community presents an alternative vision we are following the same old tired path."
Sent a link to this story to two friends in the Lake Michigan Basin who know the territory well:
Waukesha County is pushing for Lake Michigan water as hard as someone crossing the desert without a canteen.
But about a century ago, the only thing people knew about Waukesha was its famous spring water, bubbling up in large quantities from the earth.
http://www.onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/wispol071205.html
One of the friends responded:
Let 'em go thirsty.
The other said:
Tell them to learn to conserve water before tapping Lake Michigan.
Of course, Michigan needs to learn to conserve too.
The number of Kirtland's warblers in Michigan has reached its highest level since monitoring of the endangered songbird began in 1951, the state Department of Natural Resources said.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0507/12/0metr-244941.htm
Great Lakes Restoration
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, through a process begun by an executive order signed by President Bush in May 2004, has released a draft plan outlining steps and costs needed to protect the health of the Great Lakes. The estimated $20 billion cost of the plan comes without any guaranteed state or federal commitment to fund it. To learn more about the plan -- and to insist that there be funding, and to register your comments by the deadline of September 9, 2005, go here:
http://www.glrc.us/
Limiting Harmful Great Lakes Water Uses and Exports
The Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario have released revised draft agreements intended to promote water conservation and to limit the risk of harmful water uses and exports outside the Great Lakes Basin. Debate persists over whether the agreements will be effective in preventing the loss of Great Lakes water, and control of that water, to other regions of the U.S., North America, and even other continents. The Great Lakes contain almost one-fifth of the world's surface freshwater at a time of severe global fresh water scarcity.
Five public meetings are scheduled in Michigan but nothing has been confirmed for Minnesota yet.
To learn more about the agreements -- and to speak out by the official deadline of August 30, 2005, go here:
http://www.cglg.org/projects/water/annex2001Implementing.asp
Detroit Free Press, July 17, 1975:
"Michigan Shouldn't Delay Setting Own Land Use Law"
"So it's up to Michigan now to protect its own interests in land use. And the time is short: Some 200,000 acres of the state's most productive farm land is being lost annually to development, and urban sprawl is affecting even pleasant little communities whose popularity is proving a curse."
"Critical areas, for example, must be protected...These are the areas -- presently defined as agricultural areas, mineral land, historic sites, and 'significantly unique land forms' -- that are critical to the public interest."
How many acres of open space have been lost since then?
Noise, aesthetics, bird strikes -- these and many other arguments have been hurled against proponents of wind turbine projects. Each is valid but each can be addressed, and the impact minimized. Given Michigan's economically suicidal dependence on out-of-state coal and on nuclear power for most of its electricity generation, projects like this need public support. Or else prepare for a century of increasingly dire warming and climate upheaval.
The most ambitious wind power project in Michigan history is taking shape in rural Oceana County on the picturesque shores of Lake Michigan.
With hopes of bringing this state up to speed with the nation's fastest growing source of electricity, Rich VanderVeen of Grand Rapids-based Mackinaw Power has proposed a 21-turbine wind farm on an elevated 8,000 acres of farmland north of Muskegon.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0507/10/D01-242564.htm
This essay on the attempt by the right wing to link mainstream environmentalism and terrorism deserves a close reading. In case it seems extreme to associate khaki-wearing Audubon lobbyists with threats to domestic security, be aware that a conservative legislative thinktank has produced a model bill to stop "animal and ecological terrorism."
"The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act (AETA) creates penalties for persons encouraging, financing, assisting or engaged in acts of animal and ecological terrorism."
What liberals and their allies in the environmentalist wacko movement fail to understand is: their message has gotten out. Their anti-capitalist, socialist, gloom-and-doom, fear-based, lunatic ravings have been amplified -- and Americans understand exactly who they are, and what they're about. As the "Mr. Big" of the vast right-wing conspiracy, I am proud, ladies and gentlemen, to play a major part in the exposé leading to their depression.
- Rush Limbaugh April 25, 2005
Currently, about 20 million people tune in to Rush Limbaugh every week. His lingo is now conservative lingua franca. Limbaugh figured out that if you repeat your best lines -- e.g. "environmentalist wackos" -- often enough, they become more than just funny catchphrases; they become a reconfiguration of reality and a call to arms. In his world (and it's a world in which a lot of people live), you can't be an environmentalist and escape wacko-ism.
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/07/08/kavanagh/
Lee Sprague, chairman of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians near Manistee, Michigan, says he's disappointed the report didn't take a stronger stand on mercury.
"We had recently tested a bald eagle at the highest level of mercury in the feather of that bird in any place," said Sprague. "So air deposition into Great Lakes water is certainly a concern of ours."
Mercury is produced when anything is burned. Coal-fired power plants are the biggest source of airborne mercury in the region. It accumulates in fish and causes developmental and nervous system problems, especially in children. Sprague says it's time for a concerted attack against mercury.
"This country came together under EPA leadership when we got lead out of gasoline. It's going to take that same kind of work, that same shared vision, to make mercury this century's lead. We got rid of lead in gasoline; we can get rid of mercury," said Sprague.
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/07/07_hemphills_greatlakes/
WASHINGTON, July 7 - A coalition of government agencies, businesses and environmental groups on Thursday offered a blueprint for improving the deteriorating health of the Great Lakes, including spending $13.75 billion over five years to stop untreated sewage from overflowing into the lakes from aging wastewater treatment plants.
http://nytimes.com/2005/07/08/politics/08lakes.html?pagewanted=all
"We have a lot of musicians," former EPA administrator Michael Leavitt said on the day the task force was created. "What we need is harmony."
Leavitt and Bush were criticized at the time by some who perceived the creation of the task force as a campaign ploy to grab headlines - and conservationists' hearts - without committing any new money toward Great Lakes protection. So when numbers were finally put on paper Thursday, Great Lakes conservationist groups harmoniously pounced, calling their own news conference before the EPA and other officials formally released the draft.
"We now have a blueprint for how to move forward with restoring and protecting the health of the Great Lakes," Buchsbaum said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jul05/339466.asp
"We must call into question whether the federal and state governments will fully fund the program," said Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Coalition, in a telephone press conference. "If not, the Great Lakes as we know them will continue to slowly die."
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/12077671.htm
Many sincere people who have poured thousands of hours into the effort to draw up a draft plan to help restore the Great Lakes attended an announcement about that plan on the shores of Lake Superior in Duluth today. The plan now goes out for two months of public comment. It contains scores of recommendations that would cost more than $20 billion to implement. Here's a taste of the publicity for the plan:
DULUTH, Minn. (July 7) – A national and regional coalition of restoration-minded groups today warned that the forthcoming plan from President Bush’s Great Lakes task force would languish without sufficient funding from the administration, Congress, and state governments.
Exactly. This is the second new strategy to protect the Great Lakes since the century began, and the fifth or sixth since the 1980s. Most have not been funded or enforced. For example:
CHICAGO (April 2, 2002) — The Great Lakes U.S. Policy Committee, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, today unveiled an ambitious new plan to protect and restore the Great Lakes: Great Lakes Strategy 2002–A Plan for the New Millennium. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced the plan during a visit to Muskegon, Mich. Whitman also discussed the President's Clear Skies initiative – an aggressive, mandatory initiative that will dramatically cut power plant emissions of three of the worst air pollutants and improve the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem and the people who live in the Great Lakes region.
http://www.epa.gov/region5/news/news02/02opa046.htm
Let's keep our eyes on the $20 billion prize this time.
Great Lakes Forever has set up a terrific website to help the public participate in the (appallingly short) 60-day comment period on the new anti-water export draft agreements. Go here:
http://www.greatlakesforever.org/html/actonannex2005.html
It's just too bad that an agreement that could shape the future of the Lakes for centuries gets 60 days, during the height of the summer vacation season, for public review.
Anyone wondering why Canadians are so sensitive about North Dakota's intent to divert water from Devils Lake into a Canadian watershed, without treaty-required consultation, needs to consider the context.
http://www.devilslakejournal.com/articles/2005/07/05/news/news01.txt
First, a treaty is supreme law, trumping domestic law. And the U.S. and Canada have had a Boundary Waters Treaty requiring consultation for almost 100 years.
Second, some north of the border see it as an omen of things to come. The new proposed pact to protect the Great Lakes from water exports excludes Canada (except in a good-faith sense) and exempts the existing Chicago diversion from any Canadian oversight.
Third, the ignorance of the U.S. federal government and its emissaries about Canada is a bit worrisome:
David Wilkins, the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, introduced himself to Prime Minister Paul Martin in Ottawa on Wednesday. Canadians may have been glad to see him again: It was the first time he'd visited the country in 30 years.
Only a few weeks before, in an interview with Canada's CBC News, the newly appointed Wilkins said he'd been to Canada only one time -- and that was in the mid-1970s. He told the interviewer he'd visited the Niagara Falls area.
When pressed for other cities he'd been to in Canada, he named none specifically. When pressed further, he said he'd visited the area "back toward Indiana" where he was stationed in the Army, but added it was "well, obviously above Indiana."
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050630/NEWS/506300368/1036
Good news...
During the 2000 provincial survey, 53 breeding sites were confirmed in Ontario. Roughly 69 nests have been documented to date this year.
Nice pictures, too.
http://www.grandmarais-mn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=2&story_id=204338
The average surface temperatures of the Great Lakes are at their highest in five years. Readings in the 60s and 70s from all but Lake Superior already are warmer than they were during last summer's most comfortable mid-August swimming days
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0507/03/D01-235807.htm
Today's Detroit News has a point/counterpoint on whether Michigan should conserve and protect water quantity through state standards, or let the rules of the frontier apply.
Here's the pro-rules position by Andy Guy of the Michigan Land Use Institute:
http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0507/03/A15-235262.htm
Here's the position of Doug Roberts, Jr. of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce:
http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0507/03/A15-235265.htm
Sadly, the Chamber doesn't realize that Nestle's interests and those of 99% of its members diverge. Here's the passage that reveals the misunderstanding:
According to the governor's order, Ice Mountain is allowed to purchase water from the city of Evart for bottling -- much the same way several other Michigan water and beverage bottlers do -- but forbids the company to market its products within the same marketplace to which other Michigan bottlers enjoy unrestricted access.
Imagine if similar restrictions were placed on other Michigan manufacturers, all of which rely heavily on having access to and use of water. The state's economy would grind to a standstill.
Imagine if the moon were made of green cheese. No one is proposing restrictions on manufacturers. And note the errant use of the word "manufacturers." The only thing Nestle is manufacturing is the bottles in which it is putting the public's water. Nestle didn't create water; I think higher powers had something to do with this.
Nestle's claim to "ownership" of water is what discriminates, not the Governor's order. Every other traditional use -- manufacturing among them -- has nothing to fear from restrictions on private ownership of water. But if the Chamber persists in protecting Nestle, soon its members will be competing with other out-of-state-based, even multinational companies that can pay more for Michigan's water than the members can.
Interesting and somewhat alarming study. Banned 3 decades ago, PCBs are still around to trouble us.
*****************
Organochlorines in Carpet Dust and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Epidemiology. 16(4):516-525, July 2005.
Colt, Joanne S. *; Severson, Richard K. +; Lubin, Jay *; Rothman, Nat *;
Camann, David ++; Davis, Scott [S]; Cerhan, James R. [//]; Cozen, Wendy
[P]; Hartge, Patricia *
Abstract:
Background: The incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) has risen over
the past several decades. Reasons for this increase are largely
unexplained.
Methods: In this population-based case-control study, we examined NHL
risk and exposure to organochlorine compounds using concentrations in
carpet dust as an exposure indicator. We identified NHL cases,
uninfected with HIV, diagnosed between 1998 and 2000 among women and men
ages 20-74 years in Iowa, Los Angeles County, and the Detroit and
Seattle metropolitan areas. Controls were selected using
random-digit-dialing or Medicare files. Organochlorine concentrations
were measured in vacuum bag dust from 603 white cases and 443 white
controls who had owned most of their carpets for at least 5 years.
Results: NHL risk was elevated if any of the polychlorinated biphenyl
(PCB) congeners (PCBs 105, 138, 153, 170, or 180) was detected (odds
ratio = 1.5; 95% confidence interval = 1.2-2.0). Risk was elevated in
the top tertile of PCB 180 (1.7; 1.1-2.6) and in the top 2 tertiles of
total PCBs (middle tertile, 1.6 [1.1-2.4]; top tertile 1.5 [1.0-2.2]).
There was a positive trend in risk with increasing PCB 180 levels (P
trend = 0.03). NHL risk was elevated if dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene
(DDE) was detected (1.3; 1.0-1.7), but only among men. A positive, but
not monotonic, dose-response relationship was observed for DDE (P trend
= 0.02).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest an increased risk of NHL associated
with exposure to PCBs, with evidence of greater effects for PCB 180.
There is also some evidence of an association with DDE.
"Choice" is a proven winner with American audiences in focus groups. Choice is an American good. That's why you see it in quotes from the bottled water industry.
Michigan has a choice, too -- whether to surrender control of the public's water to private parties. Will we one day have to ask permission from them (and pay them) to get water to drink?
According to the International Bottled Water Association and statistics it compiled from the Beverage Marketing Corporation, Americans are thirsty for bottled water. In 2004, the volume of bottled water rose to nearly 6.8 billion gallons, an 8.6-percent increase over 2003. In 2004, each person drinking bottled water consumed about 23.8 gallons, compared with 22.1 gallons the previous year.
"The numbers are showing that consumers are growing in their choice for bottled water," said Stephen Kay, vice president of communications for the Alexandria, Va.-based International Bottled Water Association. Because bottled water is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a packaged food product, "you can find it virtually any place you can find other beverages."
"Consumers are looking to exercise that choice," he added. "As consumers become more conscious of their diet, they are looking for choices."
This is a crucial point about the new Great Lakes water quantity agreement that was released yesterday -- and it's something that must be revised.
Christine Elwell, environmental law specialist with the Sierra Club of Canada, said allowing diversions based on political rather than existing hydrological boundaries also could open the agreement to challenges under trade or commerce laws.
Using this opening, people in Arizona could use trade laws to argue they should be treated the same as residents of counties that qualify for diversions, she said.
This threat can be eliminated by basing diversions solely on hydrological boundaries, Elwell said. "They need to limit diversions to where the watershed is, where the basin is." http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/07/01/1112718-sun.html
Different opinions in different places...most seem to agree this draft is superior to last year's.
Best soundbite might be: better, but go back to the drawing board one more time.
The "limited" exceptions to the new anti-diversion language are troublesome, as is the absence of any reference to the public trust values of the Lakes, and a policy opposing the export of water in something besides pipelines (i.e., bottles).
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/01lakes.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20050630/ca_pr_on_na/water_diversion_deal_7