Healing Our Waters Coalition » Threats

Lamprey barrier will help protect Lake Michigan fishery

Jeff Alexander — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:49:39 +0000

The government has upped its game in the eternal effort to reduce the number of sea lamprey in the Great Lakes.

State and federal agencies recently completed construction of a $1.6 million sea lamprey barrier in Trail Creek, a Lake Michigan tributary in northern Indiana. The barrier will prevent sea lamprey from spawning in the creek, which will reduce the number of these monstrous, blood-sucking invaders in Lake Michigan.

The barrier and other efforts to control sea lamprey are paramount to efforts to maintain a healthy Great Lakes fishery. Each sea lamprey can consume up to 40 pounds of fish during its time in the lakes.

Sea lamprey are the biggest threat to the Great Lakes Fishery. (Great Lakes Fishery Commission photo)

Sea lamprey nearly eliminated the lake trout and whitefish fisheries in all the Great Lakes in the first half of the 20th century. The formation of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in 1954 launched a full-scale war on sea lamprey.

That effort has reduced the sea lamprey population by 90 percent in most ares of the lakes. But because there is no way yet to eliminate sea lamprey from the Great Lakes, efforts to keep their numbers in check will continue for the foreseeable future.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission spends about $20 million annually to control sea lamprey populations. That’s a small price to pay when you consider that the sea lamprey, if left unchecked, could wipe out a Great Lakes fishery valued at $7 billion.

Go here to read more about the sea lamprey barrier in Trail Creek.

Ohio residents fear repeat of Lake Erie algae bloom

Jeff Alexander — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 17:46:06 +0000

One year after a toxic algae bloom covered 10 percent of Lake Erie, Ohio residents are on edge about what this summer might bring the state’s most popular tourist attraction.

The 2011 algae bloom, which covered 990 square miles of Lake Erie’s surface area, was the largest in the lake’s history. Experts have said the algae bloom was fueled by excessive amounts of phosphorus washing into the lake from farms, urban areas and municipal sewage treatment facilities; stronger storms driven by climate change and invasive mussels also contribute to the problem. (See video of it here)
Elevated concentrations of phosphorus in Lake Erie, coupled with an unusually warm spring, has anglers, tourism officials and scientists fearing this could be another bad year for toxic algae blooms.

This satellite image shows the 2011 toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie. At its peak, the bloom cover 990 square miles of the lake's surface area.

“There’s a lot of phosphorus in the water, a lot more than there should be. It’s not good news,” said Roger Knight, Lake Erie fisheries program manager at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Knight said the algae blooms are hurting walleye and perch populations in the western and central basins of Lake Erie, but there is no evidence toxins in the algae are contaminating fish. Perch and walleye are the backbone of the lake’s multibillion dollar fishery. (Watch a video of Lake Erie angler discussing algae crisis)

“Pea soup” water threatens fishing, tourism, jobs
The unsightly algae blooms, which make the lake look like pea soup and are large enough to be seen from space, scare away anglers and tourists. Lake Erie accounts for $10 billion annually in tourism spending, one-quarter of all tourism spending in Ohio; the lake also supports 114,000 jobs in Ohio and $2.8 billion annually in wages, according to tourism officials.

Toxic algae blooms coated parts of Lake Erie last year with a fluorescent green scum. The algae is unsightly and poses health threats to humans and animals.

“All of those things are at risk if we don’t have a healthy Lake Erie,” said Larry Fletcher, executive director of Lake Erie Shores & Islands West tourism organization. “Our message isn’t beware of the lake: We have this challenge with algae but the fishing is still good.”

Algae blooms stigmatize Lake Erie … again
The algae blooms that began surfacing in the mid 1990s are similar to those plagued the in the 1960s and ’70s, before Congress enacted laws that curbed water pollution.

Excessive amounts of phosphorus causes rampant algae growth, which leads to surface blooms and contributes to biological dead zones beneath the surface. The toxic algae poses health threats to humans and animals who come in contact with it. (Learn more about how foreign mussels and excessive phosphorus are disrupting the Great Lakes)

Sandy Bihn, the Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper, said she fears the latest algae blooms will resurrect the stigma that plagued Lake Erie in the 1960 and ’70s. Back then, some media outlets reported — incorrectly — that Lake Erie was dead. Comedian Johnny Carson said the lake was “the place fish go to die.”

Lake Erie recovered in the 1980s and supported one of the world’s best walleye fisheries. The lake still supports more fish than the other four Great Lakes combined.

“Lake Erie wasn’t dead in the 1960s and it’s not dying now,” Bihn said. “The lake is sick and we need to heal it.”

We’re all part of the problem
Solving Lake Erie’s algae crisis will require changes by farmers and urban residents who use phosphorus to fertilize crops and feed lawns and golf courses. Bihn said Detroit’s massive wastewater treatment facility also must clean up its act.

Detroit discharges tens of billions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage each year into the Detroit River, which is the major source of water in Lake Erie. Detroit in recent years has also dumped sewage sludge into the Detroit and Rouge rivers, Bihn said. (Learn how curbing sewer overflows in the Great Lakes could create jobs)

Detroit’s sewage treatment facility has been in violation of the federal Clean Water Act for most of the past three decades, according to government data.

“Detroit officials say they can’t afford to fix their sewage treatment equipment, but we can’t afford to have their sewage in our lake,” Bihn said.

$50 million pollution cleanup aims to make Indiana’s Grand Calumet River grand again

Jeff Alexander — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:36:16 +0000

A few miles southeast of Chicago, in the shadow of an elevated toll road that links the Windy City to Indiana, crews are transforming one of America’s most polluted rivers into an oasis for wildlife.

The Grand Calumet River was abused for more than a century by cities and industries that used it as a sewer. Decades of toxic discharges blanketed the river bottom with a thick layer of poisonous mud that fouled the water, drove away every species of fish except carp and goldfish, and coated birds in oil.

A $50 million cleanup of the Grand Calumet’s west branch project aims to reverse the damage and restore life to a river and associated wetlands that once attracted scores of migratory birds.

“We’re returning this to a real river,” said Scott Ireland, a scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “We’re already seeing some bird species returning.”

Before the cleanup, the Roxana Marsh was choked with cattails and Phragmites. (EPA photo)

Daniel Sparks, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who has worked on the Grand Calumet River project since 1989, said aquatic life could return to the river’s west branch soon after the cleanup is finished.

“We’re making real progress; I’m excited,” Sparks said. “Fish could spawn again in this river someday.”

River is one of many Great Lakes toxic hotspots
The Grand Calumet River is one of 42 Great Lakes Areas of Concern. The river flows 13 miles through the heavily industrialized cities of Gary, East Chicago and Hammond, Ind., before flowing into Lake Michigan via the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal.

Roxana Marsh after contaminated sediments and invasive plants were removed. (EPA photo)

The river and harbor — which drain an area that is home to 57 severe pollution sites and wastewater treatment plants that still discharge untreated sewage into the river — contain between 5 million and 10 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment. About 150,000 cubic yards of that polluted sediment washes out of the river and into Lake Michigan annually, according to government studies.

The river’s toxic underbelly was fouled by a witch’s brew of toxic wastes, including oil and grease, heavy metals, PCBs, according to government records.

Cleaning up all of the Grand Calumet River and the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal will cost more than $100 million, according to federal officials.

Since last year, crews working for the U.S. EPA and Indiana’s Department of Environmental Management and Department of Natural Resources have dredged 232,000 cubic yards of toxic sediment from the west branch of the Grand Calumet and one of its largest wetlands, the 19-acre Roxana Marsh. Workers also removed several acres of invasive Phragmites and, in February, will begin depositing a layer of clean sand, clay and rugged fabric on the river bottom that will serve as a cap atop 345,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments that will be left behind.

Ireland said the sand and clay cap would isolate the remaining pollutants from the river and allow the waterway to heal. He said there wasn’t enough money to remove all of the toxic mud.

“In some areas toxins are found 15 feet below the bottom of the river,” Ireland said.

Federal program is cleansing the lakes
Funding for the cleanup came from the EPA’s Great Lakes Legacy Act program and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. State and federal agencies collected $72 million from companies that polluted the river, Ireland said.

The Great Lakes Legacy Act, which is now implemented through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, has proven to be one of the region’s most effective cleanup programs since it was established in 2002. Money from the program has cleaned up 1.5 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment at sites in Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin. Go here to learn more about the program.

This map shows the location of all 42 Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, a Democrat who represents northern Indiana, championed the Great Lakes Legacy Act in Congress and helped secure funding to clean up the Grand Calumet River.

Visclosky in 2008 told the Post Tribune of Gary, Ind., that the benefits of cleaning up the Grand Calumet extend far beyond the boundaries of the river’s basin.

“It will help improve water quality in all areas downstream, including the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal and Lake Michigan,” Visclosky said. “It is one in a series of historic efforts to clean up over a century of contamination in those waters and return them to their natural purity.”

Ireland, who has worked on the Grand Calumet project for 20 years, said he wasn’t sure the cleanup would ever get off the ground.

“If you had asked me 15 years ago if I thought this river would ever be cleaned up, I would have been hard pressed to say yes,” Ireland said recently. “People thought this river would be polluted forever.”

Cornell Davidson, a lifelong resident of East Chicago, Ind., called the Grand Calumet River cleanup “a very good thing.”

“I’m hoping they can get rid of all of the pollution,” Davidson said. “Maybe it will improve our quality of life and we can live longer.”

Modifying dam helps Lake Huron pike fishery recover

Jeff Alexander — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:12:10 +0000

There are thousands of dams in the Great Lakes basin, many of which alter river flows, disrupt the movement of sediment and nutrients and isolate fish and other aquatic life from valuable habitat.

Many states are working to remove or modify obsolete dams to permit fish passage and restore a more natural flow of water.

Installing rock steps in the Potagannissing River allowed northern pike to reach prime spawning areas.

One such project was completed recently on Drummond Island, in Michigan’s portion of northern Lake Huron. Learn more here.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources worked with federal officials and a local conservation group to modify the Potagannissing Dam. Built in 1947, the dam blocked fish passage in the Potagannissing River and contributed to a decline of the northern pike population in northern Lake Huron.

The Michigan DNR installed a fish ladder in 1999, but northern pike were unable to navigate the structure. So the state removed three feet from the top of the dam and built a series of four rock-ramp structures, which allowed all species of fish to swim over the dam and reach 800 acres of prime spawning habitat areas upstream.

The Potagannissing Dam modification was one of a growing number of projects that are reconnecting the Great Lakes to more of their tributaries. Projects like these are systematically restitching the biological fabric of the sprawling Great Lakes ecosystem.

Newspapers calling for faster action on Asian carp

Jeff Alexander — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:31:23 +0000

The rally cry for faster action on Asian carp continues to grow, with more newspapers calling on federal officials to speed up efforts to keep the menacing fish from invading the Great Lakes.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich, has introduced a federal budget amendment that would force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete, within 18 months, a study of how best to halt the movement of Asian carp and other invasive species between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins.

The problem is that Congress can’t agree on a 2012 federal budget. As a result, the fate of Sen. Stabenow’s Stop Asian Carp Amendment is uncertain.

An employee with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service holds a bighead carp. (USFWS photo)

Sen. Stabenow’s amendment warrants immediate approval. It’s the only way the Army Corps will speed up its Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS), which is currently slated for completion in mid-2015.

The Great Lakes can’t wait four years for the Army Corps to figure out how to solve the Asian carp crisis. The ravenous fish are on the verge of invading Lake Michigan.

Newspapers around the region have been publishing editorials recently calling on Congress to take the Asian carp threat seriously and act accordingly.

The Buffalo News said the Stabenow amendment “could go a long way toward protecting the lakes from this destructive fish … the Asian carp isn’t waiting for the corps to act, as it chews its way closer to the Great Lakes and an ecosystem supporting an annual $7 billion sport fishing industry. Read the complete editorial here.

The Battle Creek Enquirer said Congress should take up the Stabenow amendment, regardless of whether it’s part of the federal budget debate. “We agree with the amendment’s 18-month deadline, and hope that all senators in the Great Lakes region, regardless of party, will help put pressure on the Army Corps to press ahead with efforts to protect this valuable water system as quickly as possible,” the newspaper said in an editorial. Read the rest of the editorial here.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer said the Stabenow amendment would put the Army Corps of Engineers “on notice that carp take precedence over complacency. Her proposed Stop Asian Carp amendment to the omnibus spending bill would deliver the boot to that indolent bureaucracy.” Read the complete editorial here.

Army Corps officials have repeatedly said that they take their marching orders from Congress. It’s time for Congress to tell the Army Corps to march in double time to complete the Asian carp study.

Great Lakes groups call on U.S. Senate to adopt Sen. Stabenow’s Stop Asian Carp Amendment

Jeff Alexander — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:57:47 +0000

A coalition of Great Lakes conservation groups is calling on the U.S. Senate to approve the Stop Asian Carp Amendment as part of the 2012 federal budget.

In a Dec. 9 letter to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the groups urged passage of the Stop Asian Carp Amendment. Proposed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich, the amendment would direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite its study of how best to stop the movement of Asian carp and other invasive species between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins.

The letter came as Minnesota is scrambling to keep Asian carp in the Mississippi River from invading some of that state’s most popular lakes. Minnesota officials recently discovered that Asian carp had spread beyond the Coon Rapids Dam near Minneapolis.

Asian carp decimate native fish species and threaten the safety of boaters.

“The Stop Asian Carp amendment is necessary if our nation is to prevent Asian carp and other invasive species from taking over our Great Lakes or Mississippi River,” the groups said in a letter to Sen. Daniel Inouye and Sen. Thad Cochran, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Read the complete letter here).

The Corps plans to complete its Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS) in 2015. The Stop Asian Carp Amendment would require the Corps to complete it within 18 months.

Congress authorized the study in 2007 but the Corps didn’t begin working on it until 2009. The Corps is studying the feasibility of options to prevent the inter-basin transfer of invasive species between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.

The conservation groups said the Asian carp threat is too serious to allow the Corps to spend another four years studying the problem.

“Without the oversight this amendment brings, the Army Corps’ own deadline could easily slip, much as it has with other investigations and projects,” the groups said in the letter. “It took the Army Corps 15 years to study, build, and activate three electrical arrays to repel Asian carp from swimming towards Lake Michigan through the Chicago Waterway System – even as the urgency of the carp invasion had become obvious and too great to ignore.”

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Akron Beacon Journal recently published editorials urging Congress to support the Stop Asian Carp Amendment.

The groups that signed the letter included: Alliance for the Great Lakes; Freshwater Future; Great Lakes United; National Parks Conservation Association; National Wildlife Federation; Natural Resources Defense Council; Ohio Environmental Council; Prairie Rivers Network; Save The River; Friends of the Chicago River; Sierra Club; Save the Dunes; Great Lakes Environmental Law Center; Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council; The Lake Erie Center; Clinton River Watershed Council; River Alliance of Wisconsin; Flow for Water; American Rivers; Minnesota Conservation Federation; Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters; Milwaukee Riverkeeper; Ohio Division, Izaak Walton League of America; Nature Abounds; Shaker Lakes Garden Club; Clean Wisconsin; Michigan United Conservation Clubs; The Watershed Center – Grand Traverse Bay; Religious Coalition for the Great Lakes; Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester Global Environment Committee; Citizens Campaign for the Environment; Audubon Ohio; Clean Water Action; River Network; Kalamazoo River Cleanup Coalition; Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance; and Sierra Club Ontario.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow Offering Asian Carp Amendment in 2012 Budget

Jeff Alexander — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:45:55 +0000

Asian carp will be part of the U.S. Senate’s 2012 budget discussions, thanks to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Sen. Stabenow is introducing a budget amendment that, if approved, would direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete its study of how best to separate the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River basin within 18 months.

U.S. Senators from the Great Lakes states need to support Sen. Stabenow’s Asian carp amendment. They are:
In Michigan: Sen. Carl Levin;
In Wisconsin: Sens. Ron Johnson and Herb Kohl;
In Minnesota: Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken;
In Illinois: Sens. Richard Durbin and Mark Kirk;
In Indiana: Sens. Dan Coats and Richard Lugar;
In Ohio: Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman;
In New York: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer; and,
In Pennsylvania: Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. and Patrick J. Toomey.

As it stands now, the Army Corps won’t complete its Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS) until 2015. That’s far too long — Asian carp are on the verge of invading Lake Michigan.

Sen. Stabenow’s Stop Asian carp amendment would expedite the study and direct the Army Corps to make it a top priority until the project is complete.

The three electric fences that are currently being used to repel the Asian carp from swimming towards Lake Michigan through the Chicago Waterway System took more than 15 years to study, develop and build. And those fences do not repel all sizes of Asian carp, according to the Army Corps’ own studies.

The Stabenow amendment provides the appropriate pressure and oversight to ensure that agencies charged with protecting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins have the information needed to re-imagine the Chicago Waterway System to protect U.S. waters that provide drinking water, jobs and recreational opportunities to millions of Americans.

Please take a moment today to call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask for your senator’s office. You can also e-mail your U.S. senators and urge them to vote for the Stop Asian Carp amendment. It is our best hope of keeping these menacing fish from taking over the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem.

Sen. Durbin stands up for Lake Michigan

Jeff Alexander — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:52:46 +0000

The S.S. Badger (Photo courtesy of boatnerd.com)

Congress may not be popular with the electorate these days, but it’s important to note that some lawmakers are doing their jobs well.

Today we recognize and applaud U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who is trying to end a coal-fired steamship’s longstanding practice of using Lake Michigan as a landfill for toxic coal ash.

For decades, the S.S. Badger has dumped its toxic coal ash into the lake every time it makes a crossing. The ferry, which sails between Ludington, Mi., and Manitowoc, Wis., dumps about 500 tons of coal ash laced with mercury and other toxic metals into Lake Michigan every year.

Four years ago, the company that owns the Badger agreed to end the ship’s polluting ways in 2012. But the firm reneged on that agreement when it didn’t receive a $14 million federal grant to convert to diesel power.

Now the Badgers’ owners are engaged in a high-stakes bid to keep federal regulators at bay so the ferry can use the lake as a landfill indefinitely. Go here to read more about this cynical effort to avoid federal regulations.

Republican lawmakers from Michigan and Wisconsin snuck a provision into a Coast Guard reauthorization bill that would prevent the EPA from halting the ferry’s loathsome coal ash dumping.

The ferry’s owners also asked the National Park Service to designate the 410-foot ship a National Historic Landmark. Such a move would prevent the federal government from forcing the ferry to convert to diesel power and — presto — allow the ship to continue dumping coal ash into Lake Michigan.

Sen. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, is fighting that designation.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Sen. Durbin sent strongly worded letters to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the committee that oversees the Coast Guard. Durbin opposed special exemptions that would allow the S.S. Badger car ferry to keep dumping at least 509 tons of toxic coal ash into the lake every year.

“We cannot let Historic Landmark status be used to evade the federal regulations we rely on to protect public health and the environment,” Durbin wrote to Salazar, who has the final say on the Badger’s application. “This Great Lake cannot take any more toxic dumping, no matter how historic or quaint the source may be.”

Amen, senator. It’s high time the Badger stop using the lake as a dump site.

Report: Upgrading infrastructure would stimulate economy, create jobs, improve water quality

Jeff Alexander — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:55:23 +0000

Upgrading America’s water infrastructure would create 1.9 million jobs and add $265 billion to the economy, according to a new report.

The report, “Water Works: Rebuilding Infrastructure, Creating Jobs and Greening the Environment,” was produced by American Rivers, Green For All and the Economic Policy Institute.

It explored the economic benefits of investing $188.4 billion in water infrastructure. That’s the how much it would cost to properly manage stormwater to preserve water quality, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

An investment of that magnitude would inject a quarter of a trillion dollars into the economy, create nearly 1.3 million direct and indirect jobs and result in 568,000 additional jobs from increased spending, according to the report.

Investing in stormwater management programs would also clean up the nation’s waters.

Every year, 860 billion gallons of raw and partially treated sewage spills into our waterways – enough to cover the entire state of Pennsylvania with an inch of sewage. Cities discharge about 40 billion gallons of raw and partially treated sewage is discharged into the Great Lakes annually. Yuck.

The report is further proof that investing in green infrastructure would create much-needed jobs, stimulate the economy and improve water quality.

American Rivers, Green For All, and the Economic Policy Institute have set up a petition where individuals can show their support for improving the nation’s water infrastructure.

If the groups get 25,000 signatures, White House staff will review the report, ensure it is sent to the appropriate policy experts and issue an official response.

You can read the report here.

You can also sign the petition.

Coalition to Congress: Ballast Provision Undermines Restoration, Economy, Battle against Invasive Species

Jordan Lubetkin — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:54:05 +0000

As reported earlier on this site, the U.S. House Interior and EPA spending bill contains an egregious provision that undermines Great Lakes restoration, hurts state economies and sets back the national effort to stop the influx of harmful invasive species into the Lake and other U.S. waters.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition sent a letter signed by 81 member groups opposing the provision, which would strip states like New York of all EPA funding for enacting laws that are more protective than ineffective national standards. For states like Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, that amounts to losing tens of millions of dollars annually—not to mention losing ground in the effort to protect clean drinking water, prevent sewage contamination and clean up toxic pollution.

The letter states:

“State leadership has been, and will continue to be, a critical driver advancing the development of stronger standards and timelines, culminating in federal ballast water regulations that are both protective of state waters and unified across the nation. States are creating an urgency in which cutting-edge technologies are developed, verified and implemented for use. Today, we are at a crossroads in efforts to prevent aquatic invasive species introductions to our nation’s waters. As aquatic invasive species are very rarely eradicated, and extremely difficult to control, the cost incurred by more invasive species to taxpayers will be a growing burden the nation will carry forever.”

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is working to oppose the anti-Great Lakes provision—and the House Interior and EPA spending bill as a whole. The nation’s public officials can do better—and need to do better to protect the Great Lakes, one of the wonders of the world that more than 30 million people depend on for drinking water.