First-rate conservation reporting as usual by Tom Meersman, but the headline (for which he bears no responsibility) is way off:
Read Tom's story and realize that it's more than likely oceangoing vessels entering the Great Lakes that are causing the ban that in turn hurts MN fish farms.
So control the oceangoing vessels (20 years after their discovery as a major source of GL invaders).
"Obviously, there are a lot of people who care about this area," said Whitney Clark, president of the organization, which contends that the development would obscure views of the river.
Asked Trooien: "Whose view, from where?"
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/772082.html
LANSING - The Department of Community Health (DCH) is having difficulty
creating health advisories for imported and locally caught fish because
it's difficult to determine where the fish is caught.
Case in point: whitefish caught in the Great Lakes.
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061028/NEWS01/110280008/-1/NEWS
Fish advisories in some Great Lakes states are needlessly complicated, and therefore disregarded by many. Why not standard advice by all states, as proposed 20 years ago? Such advice would urge limited or no consumption of large especially fatty Great Lakes fish by women of child-bearing age and children, with somewhat less restrictive requirements for the rest of the population (and certain highly contaminated bays, rivers and lakes off-limits entirely). Why should this be so tough to do?
Threats
to Our Water: NAFTA, SPP, Atlantica, Super-Corridors describes
the Security and Prosperity Partnership for North America (SPP agreed
to by the US, Canada and Mexico without Congressional approval), NAFTA
Super-Corridors, and cross border regions like Atlantica and how they
threaten to put our water up for sale. It also includes web
resources for resisting this shocking threat to our water. The
55 slide presentation is based on extensive research by Dr. Janet M
Eaton and published on-line by the Sierra Club's Water Privatization
Task Force. The report in pdf format is available at
http://www.sierraclub.org/cac/water.
Michigan's DEQ will soon render its first formal judgment on whether to allow a destructive sulfide mine at the headwaters of remarkable streams west of Marquette, Michigan. For five to seven years and about 75 jobs, Kennecott Corporation will mine nickel and create huge risks to the beauty of the region. DEQ, do your job and say no.
http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=7562
For several months over this past summer and fall, Michigan authorities tracked Richard Hebron, 41, and his weekly truck hauls the 140 miles or so from Vandalia to Ann Arbor. To gather evidence, an undercover agent infiltrated an organization that was making private purchases from Hebron.
On the morning of Oct. 13, the authorities closed the loop on their complex sting operation. Just outside of Ann Arbor, a state police officer pulled over Hebron's truck during its weekly run, served Hebron with a search warrant, and with several other agents began removing goods from the truck.
...
The trigger in this huge investigation? No, it wasn't drugs, stolen goods, or terrorism. It was, of all things, raw milk and its various byproducts, including cream, buttermilk, yogurt, butter, and kefir. The Michigan Agriculture Dept., which oversaw the investigation together with the Michigan State Police, sees the situation as a simple matter of enforcing the law. Unfortunately, when it comes to raw milk, the law is no simple matter.
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/oct2006/sb20061019_952010.htm
And when it comes to state agriculture agencies, which have a mission of shutting down organic farmers and other heretics, farming is no simple matter.
Most visitors know the Lake Erie city of Sandusky for its roller coasters and indoor waterparks.
Now, the city wants to be remembered for something else -- perch sandwiches.
In the past decade, the bottled water market has more than doubled in the United States, surpassing juice, milk, and beer to become the second most popular beverage after soft drinks. According to a 2003 Gallup poll, three in four Americans drink bottled water, and one in five drink only bottled water. Together, consumers spent some $10 billion on the product last year, consuming an average of 26 gallons of the stuff per person, according the Beverage Marketing Corporation. At the same time, companies spend some $70 million annually to advertise their products. Typical are Aquafina's ads advertising the beverage as "the purest of waters," Dasani's ads contending the water is "pure as water can get."
In fact, says Kellett, not only does tap water often taste the same as bottled water, but it is also often safer to drink as well. "They are spending tens of millions of dollars every year to undermine our confidence in tap water," she says, "even though water systems here in the United States are better regulated than bottled water." That's because tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which imposes strict limits on chemicals and bacteria, constant testing by government agencies, and mandatory notification to the public in the event of contamination.
Rather than singling out any individuals, the Free Press this year
declines to make endorsements in any of Michigan's lopsided U.S. House
races as a way of expressing disappointment in the incumbents as a
whole. This state at this time needs a more cohesive effort and more
results from its congressional delegation. To endorse any of its
members would be to suggest that they are not part of the problem.
How about a delegation from the Great Lakes State that has accomplished
next to nothing to protect and restore the precious lakes, even after a
massive regional effort to develop a plan that is still just a plan?
Michigan's representatives have done nothing to stop foreign species
from invading the lakes in the ballast water of oceangoing freighters.
They have not even been able to get full funding for a barrier to
protect the lakes from the northward progress of giant, aggressive
Asian carp.
http://freepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061026/OPINION01/610260344/1069
Here's the original headline:
"Panel Says New Great Lakes Water Deal Needed"
The panel, the International Joint Commission, has become a political body that issues visionary reports but in the small print, continues to try to shut out the public, fails to bring its influence to bear where it could do good (namely, by insisting on invasive species control immediately), and is just not up to the challenges of the 21st Century. Something more immediate to the public, less constrained by partisan political considerations, and focused on boundary waters and the Great Lakes rather than process is needed...and fast.
