Habitat Destruction

Buffalo: The Come Back Kid

[caption id="attachment_1922" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Lake Erie Harbor"][/caption][caption id="attachment_1924" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Buffalo\'s Erie Harbor"][/caption]

Buffalo, NY - Buffalo, the second poorest city in the nation has a plan to stimulate a long depressed local economy by making Buffalo and the Great Lakes one and the same in people’s minds. That is right, the Queen City has rediscovered her historical link to the Great Lakes and expects this revival to lead to more jobs and transform the quality of life for those Read More » »

We’re Back to Clean Water

Sen. Russ Feingold introduced the Clean Water Restoration Act yesterday. This bill would finally restore the safeguards to wetlands, lakes and streams that have been neglected due to a loophole and court interpretation of the Clean Water Act.

“We applaud Sen. Feingold for introducing this bill and urge Great Lakes Senators to lead the effort to pass this bill quickly,” said Jeff Skelding the national campaign director of the Healing Our Waters- Great Lakes Coalition. “Delay in restoring these protections jeopardizes America’s wetlands, streams and other sources of clean water.”

This legislation is absolutely necessary if we want to achieve our restoration Read More » »

Doyle’s War

In an economy like this, who needs to spend $200 million a year dealing with destructive invasive species in our fresh water lakes? Wisconsin’s Governor Jim Doyle has had enough. By 2012, Doyle has proposed that all ocean-going vessels clean their ballast water 100 times more stringently than the international standard, according to the Capitol Times.

But wait, it gets even better, under Doyle’s proposal all newly constructed ships that dock in the state’s ports would be required to clean their ballast water 1,000 times more stringently than the international standard by 2013. (New York and Pennsylvania have a similar Read More » »

Cha-Ching

An article by Spencer Hunt of the Columbus Dispatch reminds us not to forget about our great fight with invasive species in the Lakes. The story makes it clear we need to implore our US Congress to pass restrictions on ballast water discharges as soon as possible. We continue to write and speak about the crisis point that we are at - that no return is just around the corner - yet the valuable Ballast Bill of 2007 and 2008 continues to languish. “We have never been able to eliminate any aquatic invader that’s gotten into the (Great Lakes) Read More » »

Never Say Never

Could it be? Could it be that the new head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson will be a real leader? It has been so long since we have experienced leadership at any level of government in out efforts to restore the Great Lakes and it is difficult to believe that we may be on the verge of such guidance.

In her very first email to the Environmental Protection Agency staff, Jackson actually wrote that the Great Lakes are a treasure and that protection and restoration will be a priority for her. Unbelievable! She wrote: “The Agency will make robust use Read More » »

Timing is Everything

This past year was a banner year for the Great Lakes. We watched as momentum for the Great Lakes Compact built from state house to state house as each passed the international agreement driving it through the US Congress and home to the President’s desk where it was adorned with his signature. We then hoped the wave of favor would push the US House version of the Great Lakes Legacy Act (that tripled the funding from $50 million to $150 million a year) into law, but we were hit with the financial crisis at the very same moment and it Read More » »

Bon Appetite

OK Foodies, why should you care about the Great Lakes? They offer a cornucopia of native, succulent foods from the fresh water lakes and the rich soil of the watershed. A Great Lake’s gormet meal could begin with American caviar or duck foie gras before moving onto the main dish of roast duck, succulent whitefish or trout, Coho salmon perhaps some sea bass, sturgeon, perch, catfish or walleye. Some of these fish have been wrongly relegated to the poor man’s plate, but they could soon be on the verge of a great taste revival.

When early Read More » »

Michigan’s Ballast Law Passes another Test

It looks more and more like Michigan’s spunky ballast law is here to stay. Last week, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the shipping group’s challenge to the 2005 law that requires Salties to obtain a permit to use the state’s ports.

The permit ensures that ships will not release ballast into the port or that it will clean the water with approved technology before ejecting it. We now know the damaging cost of invasive species to the region due to an enterprising and frustrated Notre Dame graduate student who has used his doctorate to put a Read More » »

A New Deal Could Keep the Terrible Asian Carp Away

A century ago, when the sage and wise in Chicago decided to reverse the flow of the Chicago River to keep their poop out of their drinking water (i.e., Lake Michigan) the dreaded Asian Carp were still in Asia. In the last couple decades, the imported fish have been terrible guests destroying habitats and fishing up and down the Mississippi and connecting rivers. Every moment of each day the precocious pests draw nearer and nearer to Lake Michigan, their gateway to North America’s fresh water seascape. Congress did approve funds to build a stronger, more permanent electric barrier to Read More » »

Don’t Let The Door Hit You

Even in the waning days of his administration, President George W. Bush is promoting business over restoration in our region. In stark contrast to the heady days of his presidential campaign when he stood on our northern coast and promised restoration, Bush has instructed his lackeys at the Environmental Protection Agency to exempt water transfers from the Clean Water Act and lobby Congressional leadership to give us less money to clean up the stinky, hazardous areas of concern.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is suing the EPA for creating a loophole in the CWA that would allow lots of Read More » »