Great Lakes Blogger

in defense of Congressman Stupak

Concerning the bottled water loophole that Birkholz wants to dismiss, I recommend that she and others check the comments of University of Chicago Law Professor Anu Bradford. Bradford, an expert on international trade law, does not equivocate when quoted in a Washington Post article on the Compact when she says that once water leaves its pristine, natural state and is declared a product (bottled water), it is subject to export under international trade agreements.

on the way out, Bush team unprotecting natural resources

The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.

One rule, being pursued over some opposition within the EPA, would allow current emissions at a power plant to match the highest levels produced by that plant, overturning a rule that more strictly limits such emission increases. According to the EPA's estimate, it would allow millions of tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, worsening global warming.

A related regulation would ease limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants near national parks.

A third rule would allow increased emissions from oil refineries, chemical factories and other industrial plants with complex manufacturing operations.

Wawa waves

The bottom photo is exquisite.

a new effort to protect the Lakes from raids

...begins Nov. 16 in Traverse City, Michigan.

Download mcwc_flow_press_release.pdf

first do some harm

After reading these pieces about moves by Indiana and Ohio that could allow increased pollution of the Great Lakes, a recent post about getting Great Lakes governments to first do no harm before they get federal money to restore the Great Lakes comes to mind. Let's go one step farther and withhold federal water pollution cleanup money from states that weaken their standards. Great Lakes states that hold out their hands for federal Great Lakes restoration money while carving polluter exceptions in their rules are behaving hypocritically.

atrazine and amphibians

Atrazine, the second-most widely used agricultural pesticide in America, can pose a toxic double whammy to tadpoles. The weed killer not only increases the likelihood that massive concentrations of flatworms will thrive in the amphibians’ ponds, a new study reports, but also diminishes the ability of larval frogs to fight infection with these parasites.

Val R. Beasley of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his colleagues quantified more than 240 separate factors in 18 Minnesota wetlands that might affect amphibian trematode infection rates, including water quality, habitat and resident species. In the Oct. 30 Nature, the team now reports that atrazine concentrations stood out as the prime correlate with trematode infection rates in Minnesota’s declining northern leopard frog.

Michigan's natural areas program back in business

It was a pleasure to be part of the dedication of Michigan's first state-sanctioned natural area in 20 years last month. Even in tight budget times, Michigan's DNR is trying to do the right thing.

What's particularly interesting is that "setting aside" natural areas is not the simple thing it appeared to be two decades ago. Algonac State Park is colonized by a number of invasive plants that interfere with the natural prairie habitat. For the foreseeable future, active human intervention will be needed to pull the weeds and undertake prescribed burning to mimic natural processes. Humankind and nature are partners in the endeavor of natural areas protection.

Congratulations, Michigan, on conserving an important part of the state's natural history.

issue 3, Ohio

Creating a state constitutional amendment that protects private property owners' use of ground and surface water on their land is the goal of Issue 3, a proposal with an unusual history.

It would help if the article said, "an amendment that could lead to the massive extraction and sale for private profit of water feeding Lake Erie and the Ohio River."

To persist, and even constitutionalize an artificial distinction between groundwater that feeds streams and 'navigable waters' is to overlook the plain facts in the interest of placating a far-right legislator.

The amendment should go down.

a thoughtful letter on the Great Lakes Compact

...and the vote this member of the U.S. House cast against it.

Download compact_letter.tiff

no kidding

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Offshore wind turbines could generate lots of clean electricity in the Great Lakes region, but thorny questions must be answered before any projects get started.

Government regulators, environmental activists and scientists discussed offshore wind generation this week at the International Submerged Lands Management Conference in Traverse City.

No offshore developments have been proposed yet. But it may be just a matter of time, and advocates say the eight Great Lakes states should begin writing rules and preparing for companies to seek permits.

Sites for offshore wind turbines would have to be chosen carefully to avoid damaging fish habitat or disrupting shipping lanes.