Great Lakes Blogger

what goes up must come down...across the lake

It's good that Canadians are aware of proposals on the far side of Lake Erie. This isn't exactly a closed-loop system with a projected eight tons of soot per day.

An application has been filed to build a massive tire-burning facility in the United States across Lake Erie from Norfolk and Haldimand counties.

The plant would become the largest of its kind in the U.S, if approved.                                

The Ontario Ministry of Environment and Canadian environmentalists are closely watching the project, proposed for an industrial property in Erie, Pa., about 70 kilometres south of Port Dover.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2008/01/31/4803331-sun.html

just clumps

With a little mercury...not to worry. Right?

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management received the test results Wednesday of the black charcoal-looking lumps found on Ogden Dunes beach after the flooding early January.

Although some mercury was present in the clumps, it wasn't in unusual amounts.

http://www.post-trib.com/news/769334,ogdenfolo.article

how much pollution enters the Lakes?

An Indiana newspaper recently did the government's job for it by calculating the total amount of direct water pollution from Indiana sources enters Lake Michigan. Is there a Great Lakes member of Congress who will request the GAO do the same for the entire U.S. side of the Great Lakes -- or who will introduce a bill to require EPA to do so and update it regularly? If not, why not?

good news for lake superior watershed

Nearly 10 square miles of forest in Lake County will remain undeveloped and open to logging and public recreation under a land preservation agreement announced Tuesday.

The land is considered important habitat for a variety of wildlife and bird species and includes the headwaters of the Manitou River, a prime trout stream.

“The Manitou watershed is one of the most undeveloped in the entire Great Lakes. There are just so few roads and so little development up there,’’ said Daryl Peterson, field representative for the Nature Conservancy. “This deal is going to help it stay that way.’’

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=59189

michigan bids to get back in the clean energy race for jobs

Gov. Granholm of Michigan spent a good chunk of her annual State of the State message Tuesday night on clean, renewable energy and its potential to help transform the state's economy. The message was badly needed in a state that is still wasting time trying to get back to the good old days of automaking greatness. Autos will always be big in the state's economy, but the chances for the state's economy and environment in coming decades hinge on how large and speedy a commitment the state makes to wind power and energy efficiency over coal.

"Alternative energy companies have watched closely as 25 other states have set aggressive goals for their alternative energy use. We have to meet and beat other states' goals here in Michigan if we are going to attract those companies here," she said. "There is no way to overestimate the importance of setting state renewable energy use goals when it comes to creating jobs."

Granholm also announced that, once lawmakers act on a comprehensive energy package that could encourage Jackson-based Consumers Energy Co. and Detroit Energy to build new generating plants, the two utility giants will begin to jointly invest up to $6 million in Michigan in alternative energy.

About four-fifths of that investment will be in wind turbines and wind farms to produce electricity.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-50/1201658422267570.xml&storylist=newsmichigan&thispage=2

image of the day: Isle Royale

The most striking aspects of this image are the deep blue waters of the lake around the main island and the long parallel ridges formed from lava flows some 1.2 billion years ago running the 45-mile length of Isle Royale.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1006.html

stop starving Michigan's air, water and land

Michigan's DEQ needs a rescue job --

"The reason we are becoming more fee-dependent is because in the past five years we have lost 68 percent of our general fund revenues," Chester said.

"There are a number of good reasons why we should not be a fee-for-service organization. It does a lot of perverse things to our operations," Chester said. "All of a sudden, you're hiring more accountants and auditors than engineers or biologists."

It's time to free and fund the DEQ. Either a bond issue or an earmarked tax -- although the latter is unlikely to be popular in Michigan. Or almost anywhere else. But a well-reasoned and delivered campaign could change that. People do care about their resources, especially the water.

If Michigan is serious about protecting the air, water, and land, it will have to put meaningful dollars behind that commitment.

http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/012908/loc_n2001.shtml

Michigan's toxic legacy needs action now

The Kalamazoo Gazette has done an outstanding job of reporting on the crisis facing toxic cleanup funding in Michigan. Regrettably, while citizens want to see toxic messes addressed, Lansing lawmakers yawn at the concept.

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/01/deq_funds_drying_up.html#post

It took over 100 years to generate thousands of chemical contamination sites in Michigan. Serious cleanup with adequate funding dates back to about 1983. How about a $1 billion bond to finish the job, or at least carry it forward 25 more years? (And meanwhile, we could institute a policy of prevention to make sure that future generations don't have to clean up our toxic messes.)

Download michigan_cleanup_and_michigans_health_and_future.ppt

recycling old Great Lakes bromides

Brooks said the United States and Canada must make "a bold commitment" to improve water quality and ensure that fish, water and beaches are safe.

Yes, they must -- and the International Joint Commission has been saying so in its reports for ages, to no avail. But the IJC has no power to compel the two countries to do anything, and can't even get a serious platform to show who's accountable. It's time to revive or reform the IJC, or get rid of it and create an organization that can provide a true Great Lakes forum for the public and spur the governments to act.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080127/NEWS06/801270638/1008

michigan working on Great Lakes laws

But sometimes legislators' logic eludes me:

State Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores, told about 75 people at a town hall meeting Thursday that adding public trust doctrine protection to groundwater amounts to regulatory overkill. He said groundwater already is protected under Michigan's 1963 constitution, which extended public trust protection to all waters of the state.

So -- we don't need to protect it because it's already constitutionally protected? Then why not affirm that existing protection in a statute?

And:  Republicans fear the public trust doctrine could give the state ownership of the water and hurt industries that rely on water to make a wide variety of products.

Give the state ownership? It already owns the water on behalf of all citizens. What opponents would do, intentionally or not, is transfer ownership held by the public under centuries of common law to private parties, creating a gold rush for water 'rights.'

http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/01/parties_split_over_water_withd.html