Great Lakes Blogger

Coming back from space: Great Lakes water

This is nice. Apparently astronauts have more of an environmental ethic than most politicians.

"We managed to convince NASA to bring little ampoules - they are really small, about half an inch - and in there, there is a drop [of water] from all the five Great Lakes and the three oceans that surround Canada: the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific and Atlantic," shared Payette during a preflight interview with collectSPACE.com. "It is afterwards going to be used in an exhibit in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto about water awareness and the importance it will play very soon in our lives."

Mixed news out of Michigan

First, an indefensible statement by the Democratic Speaker of the State House of Representatives:

Dillon would not specify what the new proposed slate of broader reforms would be, but he talked about the need to speed up Department of Environmental Quality reviews of such key projects as power plants in Midland and in Bay County's Hampton township. LS Power, which had proposed a 750-megawatt coal-fired plant in Midland, pulled out earlier this year, citing economic constraints as a major reason.

"I think it's a culture change," he said of the DEQ. "That department needs to know that they are there to serve businesses in the state."

No, sorry, that's the job of what used to be called the Department of Commerce.  The DEQ is there to protect human health and natural resources. Maybe this needs to be put into a law or executive order just to make it clear.

Second, although there's some important misjudgments made in this Muskegon Chronicle editorial -- particularly dismissing the fact that Michigan may have converted the public's water to a commodity under law -- its praise of a citizen lawsuit to defend that water is on target.

The Cleveland area meeting on GL funding

Main themes:

Lake Erie needs it most.

Don't overdo the paperwork requirements.

Quantifiable results.

All have merit, but there is still something missing from the spending plan:  smarts about serving the Lakes rather than agency needs. And true creative thinking.

Land and water

Ever wonder why our rivers and lakes, including areas of the Great Lakes, continue to suffer from too much polluted runoff after 30 years of effort?  Although this piece is about waterways outside the Great Lakes Basin in Minnesota, it has a lot to do with the conditions in western Lake Erie, parts of southern Lake Michigan and perhaps Saginaw Bay.

Money quote:

I saw those same kinds of violations during our travels on the Minnesota River this past week. In one case the corn rows were about as close to the edge of the eight foot high bank as farm machinery could get without tumbling into the river. We also watched unfenced cattle amble down to the river and defecate into the water.

OK, agriculture is not the sole culprit, but it has to be dealt with more effectively, and the political system seems incapable of it.

Preliminary verdict on Michigan wetland legislation

Does the wetland resource get any additional protection?  Slim to none. And it gets another dozen cuts or so from this latest proposal. But if it's the only way to avoid forfeiting the law and program after 30 years...

"Great Lakes Bay" troubled by E. coli

Tests conducted on July 23 showed that four out of nine beaches monitored in Arenac County by the Central Michigan District Health Department – including the Arenac County Park in AuGres – surpass the Environmental Protection Agency’s ambient standards for E. Coli.

A naturally shallow bay, wetland loss, sewage and animal waste = bad beaches.

Michigan's wetland program may be saved, but at a cost

The draft bill, worked out by an interest group-based task force, is now available.  It preserves Michigan's 30 year old wetland law (good) but appears to add to its Swiss Cheese character with numerous shortcuts for wetland alteration and lowering of standards in some cases to federal minimums.  Is it a good deal?

Download Bholz Outline of Wetlands Draft 6 FINAL

Awareness of zebra mussel link to algae spreading

As far west as the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Now the problem: Zebra mussels like to eat beneficial green algae, but they don't like another strain called blue-green algae, according to Gary Montz of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Gary Fahnenstiel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As a result, zebra-mussel infested lakes can wind up with a disproportionate amount of blue-green algae that sometimes gets out of control, scientists said.

Why Wisconsin is hesitating to write Great Lakes diversion rules

Jim Rowen has the explanation.

Why the hesitancy?

Politics - - pure and simple - - at two levels.

Great Lakes Triangle

No, we're not talking about a place out in the Lakes where ships and planes mysteriously disappear.

The late President Eisenhower's phrase "the military-industrial complex" is famous.  He referred to "an immense military establishment and a large arms industry" sometimes unduly influencing policy.

A well-known concept in political science is "The Iron Triangle," referring to the entanglement of Congressional committees, bureaucrats and interest groups.  It typically refers to the effect of powerful, well-paid special interests on Congress, which in turns limits the regulatory powers of agencies. The recent banking and finance scandals are an example.

What follows is not a parallel.  Nor are the motives of those involved, or the effects of their actions on public policy and the public interest. They will not benefit commercially and do have the interests of the Lakes at heart. But given that to date, most of the speakers and attendees at meetings on the proposed $475 million Great Lakes plan have reportedly been people paid to advocate on the Great Lakes or people paid by those who are regulated by Great Lakes agencies, one has to wonder how and whether "the public" will actually participate in the funded recovery of the Lakes.

EPA's e-mail response form is one way, and commendable. But still -- as with thousand-page appropriations bills or health care reform bills -- it's unlikely more than a handful of citizens will wade through and understand the restoration plan and the spending plan.

It's time for innovation in our democracy -- matching ecosystems and political systems and truly engaging the public. Here's more on that.

Yes, I am a paid environmental advocate and have been for the last 19 years.