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Interesting how the Sierra Club Legal Defence report on sewage spewing into the Great Lakes is becoming a cause for local boosterism.
Green Bay is in first place:
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2006/11/27/daily20.html?from_rss=1
Milwaukee is in the middle of the pack, but given preseason ratings, that's huge!
Since May 2005, except for the depths of winter, crews have been
grave digging, so-to-speak. They're exhuming Reserve's industrial dump.
It was in use from 1955 to 1980. There were no permits required back
then.
Johnson lists what they've removed, "A lot of rags, plastic sheet and metal pipes." And most notably, barrels.
She says they've recovered 5,000 barrels - and that was the running count in early September.
The barrels contain lubricant that is basically industrial grease with lead in it.
Many of the barrels are open, crushed or decaying.
Johnson
recalls, "We did find four to six feet, at the very bottom of the
landfill, of very heavily contaminated grease, that we're guessing came
out of the barrels."
Some 26 billion gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the Great Lakes every year, according to the Great Lakes Sewage Report Card, a study published by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund. As you might discern from the spelling, the organization is Canadian, and it's mainly the Canadian press that's taking note, even though -- theoretically at least -- more Americans are the cause and at possible risk.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nellie-b/great-lakes-great-toile_b_35202.html
U.S. media rarely cover reports now; and sewage in the Great Lakes is old news to them. So are most Great Lakes problems -- and most are also still unsolved. It's called "attention span."
TORONTO -- The untreated urban sewage and effluents that flow into the Great Lakes each year are threatening a critical ecosystem that supplies water to millions of people, according to a study by a Canadian environmental group.
Even though municipalities in the Great Lakes region have spent vast sums of money in recent decades upgrading their wastewater plants, the situation remains appalling, said the Sierra Legal Defense Fund.
MILWAUKEE — An
environmental group urged a state agency Monday to abide by rules that
would require it to get approval from the governors of the eight Great
Lakes states before acting on a Milwaukee suburb's proposal to draw
more than 1.8 million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan. A spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources contends
the proposal doesn't fall under the category of requests that require
full consent, and that the DNR might handle the decision alone.
If Wisconsin goes ahead on this without the consent of the other seven Great Lakes states as required by federal law, so much for regional cooperation on the Lakes. The new compact itself should then receive further scrutiny. A state that won't follow a federal law won't follow a compact either.
Now that the State of Michigan has floated what has previously been the unthinkable - a ban on Great Lakes freighters using ballast water on many of their traditional shipping routes to prevent the spread of dangerous invasive species - the debate is picking up steam across the region.
Conservation groups and state fishery bosses from New York to Minnesota are applauding the decision by the Michigan Natural Resources Commission to at least put the idea on the table.
But one shipping industry representative says the toll such a ban would take on the region's economy would be catastrophic.
And 170 invasive aquatic species in the Great Lakes aren't catastrophic?
A longtime fighter for the Detroit River passed away last week. Don A. Griffin of Dearborn, Michigan was given the Michigan Environmental Council's Petoskey Prize for grassroots activism in September. Don was well known as a defender of the river from pollution, inappropriate development and neglect. He'll be deeply missed.
A story about Don's award is available at this link:
http://mecprotects.org/MER/fall06/griffin.htm
Don was recently a "guest speaker" on the Great Lakes Town Hall website, where he discussed some of the lessons of his work in advocacy. He offered some meaningful insights:
Don's posts can be found at the link below. They are a fitting summing up of his work on behalf of the future:
I expect that within the next thousand years, a drop of pure, sweet,
fresh water will be regarded as more precious than a comparable sized
diamond. Water sustains life and is indestructible. It is renewable
forever. The rainwater that refreshed the sailors on the ships of
Columbus could very well be at this moment sustaining us in southeast
Michigan.
And:
It is true that most of our goals and purposes are long term, requiring
time to achieve; however, delayed gratification coupled with instant
gratification is a more powerful motivator than delayed gratification
alone.
Let’s also identify the aspects of actions that give immediate or
short-term satisfaction and contribute to improvement of the quality of
life right now. Not only for others, but also for ourselves.
Bird watching, fishing, and kayaking have already been improved in the Detroit River to the great satisfaction of many.
Walking along the newly created Riverwalk on Detroit’s waterfront
already affords pleasure right now to many urban dwellers who never
before had access to the river. The Detroit River is a beautiful river
and many more people now appreciate it.
What can you do right now to add pleasure and appreciation of what
the natural world can provide to enrich your life and contribute to
your well being?
Do it! You will find the time and effort to be well spent
.
Like the young Ojibwa men, I had gone to the shore of the lake in a quest, a pilgrimage. But they found power in the rocks and meaning in a vision. I found strength and some measure of solace in the beauty of a lake and the shadows of my own soul.
Greg Breining is the author of "Wild Shore: Exploring Lake Superior by Kayak."
We may have bigger fish to fry than to argue about a new license plate.
But the new Minnesota plate that is adorned with a Mystery Fish,
unveiled just before Thanksgiving, demands comment.
It's fishy, all right, but that ain't no fish you'd want to pull out of the water. This looks like the kind of "fish" that "fish" sticks come from.
http://www.startribune.com/357/story/831768.html
Nick's right; there are bigger fish to fry. The plate is visually attractive and the money goes to conservation, so why quibble?
And to find out the full inspiring story of why they exist, you need to read this and buy the book:
http://lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/GRANDLEDGE01/611190421
