Great Lakes Blogger

coastal report: fair to middlin' but improved (slightly)

The overall condition of the nation's coastal waters has improved slightly, based on a recently released environmental assessment. The National Coastal Condition Report III (NCCRIII) is the third in a series of environmental assessments of U.S. coastal and Great Lakes waters.

The overall condition of America's coasts is rated as "fair," based on these five indicators. Comparison of the condition scores shows that overall condition in U.S. coastal waters has improved slightly since the 1990s. Coastal conditions improved in the Northeast and the West, but there were slight decreases in conditions in the Southeast and Gulf of Mexico. The conditions in the Great Lakes and Puerto Rico remained the same.

today's best and worst

Best...Northern Lights over Lake Superior.

Worst...an Indiana governor who doesn't understand the meaning of transparency.

lessons of Chesapeake Bay cleanup

Thanks to Gary Wilson at the Great Lakes Town Hall for calling this link to my attention. Key passage:

The goal of rescuing North America's largest estuary was formally entrusted in 1983 to a group of federal, state and local authorities under the loose guidance of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The task: controlling runoff from 4.8 million acres of farmland, installing upgrades at more than 400 sewage plants and managing the catch of more than 11,000 licensed watermen.

But the agencies charged with the cleanup have never mustered enough legal muscle or political will to overcome opposition from the agricultural and fishing industries and other interests.

Instead of strengthening their tactics, though, they tried to make the cleanup effort look less hopeless than it was.

The possibility that a nearly $6 billion 'cleanup' of the Bay is falling far short of its intended goals is alarming. What can the Great Lakes states do to assure billions spent here are more effective -- particularly when some of the same obstacles, including the difficulty of dealing with pollutants running off land from farms and cities exist?

is Great Lakes water public or private?

One of the stalwart defenders of the Lakes, Jim Olson, speaks to the Michigan Land Use Institute.

Who has been against explicitly protecting the public trust in Great Lakes water? Jim answers:

Those who seek to market water as a product for private gain, including bottled water. I don’t know why other users of water including farmers, industry, and utilities would oppose this, because they are not selling water itself and there is no threat that what they are doing would mean that their use would be regulated. This would actually protect the common water uses of farmers, industry, and utilities from claims of private ownership or control to sell the water out from under their noses as an export.

It also appears there has been a loose coalition—at least de facto—of bottled water interests, like Nestle, and some influential conservation organizations that have narrowed the focus of this dialogue on resource impacts and, in doing so, have turned their backs on the commoditization or control and ownership of water—a direct violation of public trust.

Grandparents and Great Lakes

Wise thoughts from Mike Link appropriate to the holiday and the year ahead.

not tainted, just contaminated

The state Department of Environmental Quality announced Monday that a second "beneficial use impairment" has been removed from the Saginaw River and Bay Area of Concern, for the "Tainting of Fish and Wildlife Flavor."

[snip]

But fish consumption advisories still exist in the area, mainly because of historic discharges of polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and mercury.

The idea of "beneficial use impairments" being listed and delisted so arbitrarily undermines the Areas of Concern program. The stink in question may have been gone before the Bay was even listed.

AOCs need a thorough review. Some highly polluted areas of the Lakes never made the list, others may not belong on it now.

the view from space and microscope

If the news of the 186th confirmed invasive species in the Great Lakes (not the gift of ballast water, for a change) doesn't thrill you, then satellite imagery of early ice forming on Lakes Michigan and Superior might be your cup of tea.

thank goodness we're allies

Detroit may have been stealing Canadian water for 44 years.

It seems the Motor City's drinking-water intake pipe extends about 100 yards across the international boundary in the Detroit River, and it's been siphoning as much as 32 billion gallons a year since 1964 without a water-taking permit.

last-minute Great Lakes gift ideas (all books)

Several memorable new books about parts or all of the Great Lakes were published this year and deserve mention on a short 'best of' list. If you can find them at a local bookstore, you won't be ashamed to give them to friends or family.

Of Woods and Water (Christopher Jordan and Ron Leonetti):  a volume that redefines the term 'coffee table book.' It's more like a virtual reality tour of scenes of wild Michigan, the heart of the Great Lakes.

Lake Effect: Two Sisters and a Town's Toxic Legacy:  "A stunning, haunting, exquisite memoir. As a scientist, I'm dumbstruck. As a human being, I'm appalled." (Devra Davis director, Center for Environmental Oncology, University of Pittsburgh )

Looking for Hickories:  The Forgotten Wildness of the Rural Midwest (Tom Springer):  in the spirit of Aldo Leopold, a story-based reflection on our place in the natural world, set in southwest Michigan.

Next year, look for at least two more significant, readable and likely award-winning books from the Lakes region -- Living Waters by Margaret Wooster and Pandora's Locks by Jeff Alexander.

up on the North Shore of Superior

It's deep winter, yet it wasn't officially winter when this photo was taken Thursday.