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| Copyright 2006 Mary E. McKinney Schmidt |
| Fresh Water-Healthy Lives |
| Engaging Everyone in Preventing a Great Lakes Crisis |
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November 13, 2006 Guest Column Is it safe building sandcastles? Every Thursday evening we gather on the neighborhood deck to watch the setting sun spray shades of pink and orange across the evening skies. The waters of Lake Michigan stretch below our feet, sparkling as they touch the soft white sands of western Michigan. When we began this ritual 16 months ago, we were neighbors, joined together by roads. But as we listened to the quiet lapping of the waves against the sand and watched the sun set below the horizon, we shared our stories of children, grandchildren, jobs and loss of loved ones. Over time, we became a community. Over time, we became far more protective of the waters and beaches that drew us together. Perhaps that is why last spring we paid attention as the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the harbor entrance to Lake Macatawa. They stretched a long pipe from the channel across a mile of Lake Michigan waters to our shoreline. For several weeks the pipe spewed water, sand and other sediments on to the sandy beach. “What do you think is in the stuff they are dredging?” someone asked. Just several weeks earlier we had spent the evening discussing the number of dead fish floating on the surface of Lake Macatawa. City, state and federal officials insisted the cause of the kill was unusually warm water temperatures. “The locals,” those who have lived in the area since childhood, were skeptical. “Do you think it is safe for our grandchildren to play in the sand this summer?” someone else asked. I decided to find out. What I learned was cause for concern. The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for keeping the channel open and “nourishing” the beaches on either side of the harbor mouth. The state is responsible for determining if the dredged sand should be tested and how frequently. Outer harbors, like the Holland channel entrance, are tested every ten years in Michigan unless they are considered a contamination project. And because the Holland channel samplings in 1998 and 1999 indicated clean sand, it falls into the ten year sampling cycle. No, I am told by the Corps of Engineers, the sand was not tested before dredging. It was last tested in 1999. While I am not a scientist, it seems a lot can happen in a decade. Other Great Lakes states require more frequent sampling. Wisconsin, for example, requires sampling prior to any beach nourishment with dredged sand. They also require monthly monitoring of water quality as the sand is pumped on to the beach. I don’t want to waste taxpayer money. However, until the Great Lakes restoration efforts are made a priority and there has been demonstrable progress, I also don’t want to jeopardize the health of my summer visitors. Michigan’s elected officials need to be told that until our Great Lakes waters are cleaner, we need to adopt more frequent sampling of dredged sand placed on our beaches. The Thursday “Deck Night” community wants our children and grandchildren to build sandcastles. It is part of the magic of Michigan summers. |
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- The Holland Sentinel
December 11, 2006
Guest Column
A Spiritual Responsibility to Lakes
It is early December and I can hear the winter fury in the waves crashing against the shore. Despite the icy winds and wet stinging snowflakes, I grab my warmest
jacket and head to Lake Michigan.
I feel like a child on Christmas Eve as I listen to the thundering roar of the waves. My heart races with excitement as I clamor down the path, through the trees and
on to the beach. Large rolling waves crash against the sand, spewing white, frothy water into the grey world of winter. I stand there, mesmerized.
Surely this is heaven on earth.
I realize there are business reasons to clean up the Great Lakes—roughly $55 billion/year in tourism alone. And certainly the health of 42 million people who drink
the fresh water of the Great Lakes should be a driving force. But there is something else motivating me to get involved, to do everything I can to prevent the further
deterioration of the Great Lakes ecosystem.
I call it spiritual responsibility. The Lakes feed my soul and nourish my spirit. I owe it to the Creator who gave us this incredible masterpiece, to restore and protect
these waters.
My friends ask me if I get discouraged. There are so many issues facing the Great Lakes. “At times,” I admit candidly.
But there is cause for hope. Earlier this year Democrats and Republicans actually put aside political bickering, crafting bipartisan legislation to clean-up the Great
Lakes. Unfortunately, the legislation is stalled in both the U.S. House and Senate. There is no funding.
But there could be…Michigan and the other Midwest states are considered swing states in the 2008 Presidential election. That means we will be inundated with
visits from all the Presidential hopefuls. No candidates should visit our region without knowing our political support requires their assistance in funding the clean-
up of the Great Lakes!
We have a two year window of opportunity. There are millions of people, like me, who care deeply about the Great Lakes but don’t have a lot of time, money or
political experience. None of us want to leave our children and grandchildren with polluted waters in which they cannot swim, fish they cannot eat, or drinking water
contaminated with raw sewage. But what can we do?
Fortunately, 90 environmental, civic and business organizations joined forces with the Wege Foundation to answer that question. Rather than working
independently across the region, the organizations pooled their vast knowledge and experiences to create the “Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives” campaign.
Scheduled to be launched in January, the program is designed to educate, energize and engage citizens in the prioritization of the Great Lakes legislation.
The group, which calls itself the “Healing Our Waters Coalition”, is also working closely with the Brookings Institution. They plan to publish a report in the spring
which will outline the financial return to the nation on the investment needed to clean-up the Great Lakes. The report is designed to spark discussions between
Midwest business, civic and political leaders and the Presidential hopefuls.
So when I start to feel overwhelmed, I’m reminded I am not alone in this journey to restore and protect theses waters.
In the meantime, I tear out every column I write and send it to my elected officials with a little note asking for their help. It’s a start. You can do the same. The more
they hear the Great Lakes need to be made a priority, the greater the chance it will happen.
A friend once told me, “You are responsible for your efforts on this earth, not necessarily the results.”
Fingers curled up in mittens and jacket collar pulled tightly against my neck, I whisper to the Lakes, “I will do my best.” I pray the spiritual power of the waters will
encourage others to do the same.
- Sunsets on Lake Michigan
- The Holland Sentinel
January 8, 2007
Guest Column
We Are Those Guys
He was a spindly fellow, shoulders stooped over a tall, lanky frame. Grey hair sprayed out from beneath his cap and
a pair of wire-rim glasses rode halfway down his nose. He stood at the end of the Grand Haven pier as the evening
skies began to turn a light shade of pink. Slowly, methodically, he cast his fishing pole out over the Grand River as
its brown, murky waters merged with Lake Michigan.
“Are you from around here?” I asked politely.
“No,” he responded. “I’m from the capitol city…you know, the city that dumps its sewage into this river.”
My Irish face must have wrinkled with surprise for he quickly added, “But it’s not my fault. It’s the politicians.”
I’ve thought about his statement over the last several months. It is easier to point the finger and say “it’s those guys”
than to get involved and accept responsibility for the sewage that flows into the Great Lakes. While it happens rarely
in Holland, combined sewage overflows are a common occurrence after heavy rains throughout the Great Lakes
region. There were 2,740 days of beach closings and advisories across the 815 Great Lakes beaches in 2005!
It’s bad enough that the capitol city of Michigan dumped over 1 billion gallons of sewage into the Grand River in
2005. But I was even more disappointed to read Grand Rapids is considering abandoning their commitment to
eliminate combined sewage overflows. They have spent over $200M on the project, needing another $100M to
finish the job.
There is no question replacing antiquated sewage systems is costly. That is why a large portion of the Great Lakes
restoration bills pending in the U.S. House and Senate provides creative financing for municipalities in the
economically depressed Great Lakes states.
But nothing will happen if we, the citizens of this region, don’t get involved, don’t make the Great Lakes a priority. It is
easy to say nothing, to leave it to the politicians. We’re busy. Besides, we tell ourselves, it’s “their job.”
That is why raw sewage continues to muddy 20% of the world’s fresh water.
I recommend contacting Mayor Al McGeehan. If citizens across the eight Great Lakes states contact their mayors
and ask that sewage dumping be stopped, perhaps it will become a priority for organizations like the Michigan
Association of Mayors and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. These organizations have strong
political clout when they speak with one voice. With their help, perhaps U.S. Senator Carl Levin and Representative
Vernon Ehlers could get the Great Lakes restoration bills passed in 2007.
Second, I’d contact Representative Peter Hoekstra. He has stayed in the shadows of Congressman Ehlers when it
comes to the Great Lakes. But there is no question he has tremendous respect and power in the U.S. House of
Representatives. We need his help to get bill #HR 5100 passed.
Third, I’d make sure the Governor and our local state representatives know eliminating sewage overflows is a
priority. I was angry as I watched my state representative, Fulton Sheen, defer all questions regarding the Great
Lakes to Senator Patty Birkholz at a recent League of Women Voters breakfast. That’s unacceptable. Every elected
official at every level needs to recognize the Great Lakes are Michigan’s greatest differentiating asset. They need to
understand the issues and make finding solutions one of their top priorities. If writing letters is not your strength,
send a copy of this column with a note saying you agree.
Lastly, I’d write letters to the editor to all the local papers, encouraging Grand Rapids to stay the course.
When our founding fathers created this country, they based it on a government that would be “of the people, by the
people and for the people.” That means the politicians work for us. We are their employers. That means we are
“those guys.” We need to insist our tax dollars be used to keep raw sewage out of the Great Lakes.
February 12, 2007 Guest Column Beware the Asian Carp It took a bit of detective work but eventually I found them…a group of 8 fishermen who get together every morning for coffee…even in the dead of winter. Ranging in age from 70 to 92, most have been fishing Lakes Macatawa and Michigan since early childhood. I approached them cautiously, recognizing they were experts, men who had fished these waters long before the sea lamprey, zebra mussels, gobies and other species invaded the Great Lakes. “Well, it’s not all doom and gloom,” Jerry (Whitey) VanWieren said slowly when I asked about the invasive species. “Nature has a way of adapting over time—and so do fishermen.” The exception, they agreed, is the Asian carp. First introduced in Arkansas by biologists exploring ways to control weeds and clean polluted waters, the Asian carp were considered less harmful to the environment than chemicals. Catfish farmers used them to tackle algae growth in the 1970’s. Unfortunately, the carp escaped into the Mississippi River basin during heavy floods in the 1990’s. “These fish proliferate fast and are massive bottom feeders,” Roger Van Den Berg explained to me. “They could decimate fishing in the Great Lakes.” One species, the bighead carp, can grow as long as four feet and weigh up to 100 pounds, consuming 40-60% of their body weight per day in plankton. They carry up to 5 million eggs, 1,000 times more eggs than the Great Lakes Chinook salmon. As a result, today 95% of the fish in the Illinois River, the connecting waterway between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan, are Asian carp. Most of the Holland fishermen had seen pictures of the silver carp species leaping into the air at the sound of a motor. While there have been no deaths, injuries to boaters, fishermen and people on jet skis include broken noses, black eyes, missing teeth and large welts. These fish must not reach Lake Michigan, the fishermen told me emphatically. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created a temporary electronic barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal designed to prevent the carp from entering Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, funding to create and operate a permanent structure was buried in the proposed $4.1 billion 2006 Water Resources Development Act. The monies were not approved and funding for the temporary barrier runs out this spring. Meanwhile, the carp are reportedly within 20 miles of Lake Michigan. To me, this seems like a no-brainer. For a price tag of $9 million we could keep the majority of Asian carp out of Lake Michigan. New legislation addressing the Asian Carp crisis was introduced in both the House and Senate several weeks ago. Representative Pete Hoekstra is a co-sponsor of the House bill (HR553). Since $9 million seems like nothing compared to the potential devastation to the Great Lakes, I asked Hoekstra why the necessary legislation and funding couldn’t be approved immediately. “Unfortunately, one of first things I learned when I left the business environment and entered government is there is no such thing as a ‘no-brainer,” Hoekstra explained. “However, this Asian carp bill is as close to a no- brainer as anything I have seen. I’m hopeful we can get it passed quickly.” What could derail it? The Asian carp legislation is focused, addressing an impending crisis with a relatively inexpensive price tag. That means it should gain momentum. When that happens, other members of Congress may attempt to “tack on” projects from their own districts, adding to the complexity and cost of the legislation. That could, potentially, delay or kill the bill. “It’s called Christmas tree legislation,” Hoekstra explained. “Things just get tacked on.” Looking at the calendar, Christmas is many months away. Fishing season, however, is just around the corner. So are the Asian carp. Let’s hope Hoekstra can convince his counterparts this truly is a “no-brainer.” Let’s hope they make the decision before it is too late. |
Lake Michigan
summer storms
summer storms
Contact your US Congressional Representative and ask for their immediate support of the Great Lakes Asian Carp Barrier Bill, HR553. The U.S. Senate has introduced similar legislation. Ask your US Senator to support the Asian carp legislation introduced by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL). |