EPA: 2008 will be a year for algae action - Michigan, Great Lakes Environmental & Conservation Issues - MLive.comEPA: 2008 will be a year for algae action
by Jeff Kart | The Bay City Times
Friday February 01, 2008, 1:46 PM
Saginaw Bay residents are tired.
Tired of beach muck. Tired of studies. Tired of invasive phragmite plants and zebra mussels, and ongoing discharges of partially treated sewage. And some think too much attention is being paid to dioxins in the watershed, to the detriment of more pressing issues.
''Everybody's getting sick and tired of hearing promises,'' said Bob McKie, a Huron County resident.
''The bay's being used as a septic field.''
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials say progress takes time, and scientists will get a better handle on how to manage the muck after studies this year to map phosphorus inputs to the bay and examine existing levels of the nutrient.
Last year, with prompting from the EPA, ''hot spots'' of dioxins in the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers were cleaned up by Dow Chemical Co. for the first time in more than a quarter century, said Ralph Dollhopf, associate director for the Superfund Division of EPA's Regional Office in Chicago. The work cost the company more than $20 million, Dollhopf said.
The same kind of methodical, scientific examination needs to be done to characterize and deal with muck and other problems in the bay, he said. And hopefully, it won't take 25 years.
EPA officials held a community meeting on Thursday at Saginaw Valley State University. There was standing room only, as close to 200 people packed a room at Curtiss Hall for a two-hour meeting that ran 30 minutes over.
The meeting was to discuss the state of the bay ecosystem - the most polluted in the Great Lakes, based on its listing under the EPA's Area of Concern program - and EPA's involvement in a cleanup of Dow dioxins.
Jamie Schardt, with the EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office in Chicago, said phosphorus levels, from products like lawn fertilizers, actually have dropped in Lake Huron in the last six to seven years, largely due to zebra mussels, which are filtering out the nutrient.
So it's ''shocking'' to see such a great increase in algae washing up along the bay shoreline, he said.
The mess likely is due in part to the concentration of zebra mussels in near-shore areas, he said. They filter the water, allowing more sunlight to penetrate and algae to grow in new places. Their feces also act as a concentrated fertilizer.
''These problems are big,'' Schardt said. ''They're huge problems, but at least the next steps seem pretty clear.
''I think 2008 is going to be a very important year for Saginaw Bay.''
By the fall, the EPA should have the results of a phragmite control study being done in Bay County's Hampton Township, along with results of sediment samples taken from the bay in 2007 to further characterize dioxin levels, Schardt said.
A $100,000 phosphorus study, to map inputs to the bay, also should be well under way, along with a $4 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study of bay nutrient levels.
''We definitely don't know enough,'' Schardt said of how pervasive the muck is and how it can be managed.
''The work over the summer will expand upon what we know.''
Gary Gulezian, director of the EPA's Great Lakes office, said the NOAA study is designed to be complete in one year, so the results can be applied quickly. Schardt said Bay County's decision to restrict the application of lawn fertilizers beginning in 2009 is a good first step.
But some audience members are weary of more delays.
''Many of these problems seem like the problems I read about in the 1980s as a high school kid,'' said Laura Ogar, a Bay County environmental director and Bay City resident.
''I'm just curious. I would like to see a little bit more action.''
Gulezian said the EPA was taken by surprise when the algae started coming back in the bay about five years ago.
Gulezian said a new set of phosphorus restrictions may be needed for the lakes, such as eliminating the nutrient in dish-washing detergents. The source of the muck problems could be old phosphorus, too, cycled up from sediments by the mussels.
Bayfield Ontario
Saturday, February 2, 2008
EPA: Zebra mussels may increase beach muck - Michigan, Great Lakes Environmental & Conservation Issues - MLive.com
EPA: Zebra mussels may increase beach muck - Michigan, Great Lakes Environmental & Conservation Issues - MLive.comEPA: Zebra mussels may increase beach muck
by Justin Engel | The Saginaw News
Friday February 01, 2008, 7:42 AM
Environmental Protection Agency officials updated a mid-Michigan crowd on plans to explore nutrient levels in the Saginaw Bay.
About 100 people attended the Saginaw Valley State University-hosted forum that included a recap of dioxin dredging in the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers in 2007.
Much of the meeting focused on zebra mussels and other invasive species that are changing the makeup of Lake Huron and its connecting waterways.
James Schardt, a scientist with the EPA's Chicago office, said the emergence of zebra mussels has "created a real nutrient problem" in Lake Huron.
"They're really sucking up nutrients," Schardt said, "and making the water clearer."
The translucency is allowing sunlight to reach depths of the water previously left in the dark, he said. That's resulted in more algae that some refer to as "muck" to form along shorelines.
Scientists aren't as clear how much of a problem that has created for the Saginaw Bay.
Schardt said EPA and state Department of Environmental Quality officials plan to collaborate on a study this summer to examine the algae levels on the bay.
Gary Gulezian, another EPA scientist, said the Great Lakes and its connecting waterways are "changing in a way we haven't seen before" because of the invasive species.
"Scientists are questioning what they used to believe," he said.
The meeting came less than a month after the EPA cut off cleanup talks with Dow Chemical Co. over decades-old dioxin contamination in the Tittabawassee River system.
Officials didn't add much to that discussion Thursday other than to say they couldn't disclose the reasons for the abandoned negotiations because of a confidentiality agreement.
The meeting also included a recap of the completed clean-up efforts of four dioxin "hot spots" dredged in 2007, including a contaminated spot in the Saginaw River near Wickes Park in Saginaw.
Meanwhile, officials with the DEQ are preparing for the next quarterly dioxin meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at the Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw Township.
The meeting will include updates on Tittabawassee River studies and plans for 2008.
Dow, which typically co-hosts the meetings, will not participate.
Officials with the Midland chemical complex cited a lack of new information since a November meeting as the reason for the absence.
by Justin Engel | The Saginaw News
Friday February 01, 2008, 7:42 AM
Environmental Protection Agency officials updated a mid-Michigan crowd on plans to explore nutrient levels in the Saginaw Bay.
About 100 people attended the Saginaw Valley State University-hosted forum that included a recap of dioxin dredging in the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers in 2007.
Much of the meeting focused on zebra mussels and other invasive species that are changing the makeup of Lake Huron and its connecting waterways.
James Schardt, a scientist with the EPA's Chicago office, said the emergence of zebra mussels has "created a real nutrient problem" in Lake Huron.
"They're really sucking up nutrients," Schardt said, "and making the water clearer."
The translucency is allowing sunlight to reach depths of the water previously left in the dark, he said. That's resulted in more algae that some refer to as "muck" to form along shorelines.
Scientists aren't as clear how much of a problem that has created for the Saginaw Bay.
Schardt said EPA and state Department of Environmental Quality officials plan to collaborate on a study this summer to examine the algae levels on the bay.
Gary Gulezian, another EPA scientist, said the Great Lakes and its connecting waterways are "changing in a way we haven't seen before" because of the invasive species.
"Scientists are questioning what they used to believe," he said.
The meeting came less than a month after the EPA cut off cleanup talks with Dow Chemical Co. over decades-old dioxin contamination in the Tittabawassee River system.
Officials didn't add much to that discussion Thursday other than to say they couldn't disclose the reasons for the abandoned negotiations because of a confidentiality agreement.
The meeting also included a recap of the completed clean-up efforts of four dioxin "hot spots" dredged in 2007, including a contaminated spot in the Saginaw River near Wickes Park in Saginaw.
Meanwhile, officials with the DEQ are preparing for the next quarterly dioxin meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at the Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw Township.
The meeting will include updates on Tittabawassee River studies and plans for 2008.
Dow, which typically co-hosts the meetings, will not participate.
Officials with the Midland chemical complex cited a lack of new information since a November meeting as the reason for the absence.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Half steps not good enough for lakes
Half steps not good enough for lakes
Half steps not good enough for lakes
January 28, 2008
Swishing out ballast tanks with salt water is a helpful measure in the fight against foreign species invading the Great Lakes. But it won't deter every menace, and Michigan must keep pressing for more extensive solutions.
The St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. announced this month that no ship can enter without a saltwater rinse of its tanks at least 200 miles out into the ocean. The rule is aimed at ships that enter without ballast water but often have puddles of sludge from previous trips lodged in the nooks of the otherwise "empty" tanks. That sludge can contain a potent load of troublesome eggs, larvae and plants just waiting to be revived in freshwater.
A University of Michigan study has shown that saltwater rinses can cut back appreciably on the number of organisms that survive. Ships that contain ballast water already must follow a protocol for exchanging their ballast water at sea before they reach the seaway.
The salt water cuts down considerably on the number of freshwater organisms that survive the trip, and it is freshwater species that pose the danger here. Zebra mussels, initially released here, have now spread as far as California.
As welcome as the Seaway's new rule is, it also poses a danger that Congress will take it as an excuse to slack off on ordering complete water treatment. Shippers may use it to evade the threat of a lawsuit from the National Wildlife Federation, which continues in discussions on the subject.
Another recent study shows some hull-clinging organisms may survive an oceanic voyage, suggesting even ballast water treatment may not suffice. But that is surely a lesser problem. In the fight to get ships to stop dumping foreign species here, Congress has to get beyond every half-measure and distraction.
Half steps not good enough for lakes
January 28, 2008
Swishing out ballast tanks with salt water is a helpful measure in the fight against foreign species invading the Great Lakes. But it won't deter every menace, and Michigan must keep pressing for more extensive solutions.
The St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. announced this month that no ship can enter without a saltwater rinse of its tanks at least 200 miles out into the ocean. The rule is aimed at ships that enter without ballast water but often have puddles of sludge from previous trips lodged in the nooks of the otherwise "empty" tanks. That sludge can contain a potent load of troublesome eggs, larvae and plants just waiting to be revived in freshwater.
A University of Michigan study has shown that saltwater rinses can cut back appreciably on the number of organisms that survive. Ships that contain ballast water already must follow a protocol for exchanging their ballast water at sea before they reach the seaway.
The salt water cuts down considerably on the number of freshwater organisms that survive the trip, and it is freshwater species that pose the danger here. Zebra mussels, initially released here, have now spread as far as California.
As welcome as the Seaway's new rule is, it also poses a danger that Congress will take it as an excuse to slack off on ordering complete water treatment. Shippers may use it to evade the threat of a lawsuit from the National Wildlife Federation, which continues in discussions on the subject.
Another recent study shows some hull-clinging organisms may survive an oceanic voyage, suggesting even ballast water treatment may not suffice. But that is surely a lesser problem. In the fight to get ships to stop dumping foreign species here, Congress has to get beyond every half-measure and distraction.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Great Lakes' Lower Water Levels Propel a Cascade of Hardships - washingtonpost.com
Great Lakes' Lower Water Levels Propel a Cascade of Hardships - washingtonpost.com
Great Lakes' Lower Water Levels Propel a Cascade of Hardships
Lake Michigan off Chicago is far less icy than in years past, one of several reasons for dropping water levels in the Great Lakes. (By Kari Lydersen -- The Washington Post)
By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 27, 2008; Page A04
CHICAGO -- A decade ago, Chicago winters meant monumental ice hillocks and caves forming along the lakeshore, skirted by interlocking ice sheets like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Today, it is rare to see more than a thin frozen shelf or a few small ice floes sloshing in Lake Michigan below the city's skyline.
Decreased ice cover on the Great Lakes, probably caused by increasing air and water temperatures and high winds, is a major culprit in lowering water levels, which have hurt the shipping industry, forced lakeside power plants to extend their cooling pipes, frustrated recreational boaters, dried up wetlands and left coastal landowners with docks extending over yards of unsightly muck.
In September, Lake Superior broke its 81-year-old low-water record by 1.6 inches, and last month it was a foot below its seasonal average. It appeared that Lake Michigan and Lake Huron would log record lows for January until storms helped levels stay above the marks set in the 1960s.
The low water has forced freighters that haul iron ore, steel, limestone and other raw materials to lighten their loads and change their routes to avoid running aground in shallow harbors and waterways.
"They literally do load these ships by the inch," said Stuart H. Theis, executive director of the U.S. Great Lakes Shipping Association. "To the lowest common denominator, the shallowest point along the way."
In the past two years, freighters have hit bottom or had to turn around in numerous locations, including Muskegon Harbor and the Saginaw River in Michigan and Rochester, N.Y.
The Lake Carriers' Association, which represents "captive" ships that travel only within the Great Lakes, has called for increased dredging at numerous "choke points" in response to low water levels. LCA spokesman Glen Nekvasil said vessels were running an average of 15 percent below capacity last season. Depending on the size of the ship, every inch of lost draft -- the depth to which a ship descends -- means 50 to 270 tons less cargo.
"And we're not talking inches, we're talking feet," Nekvasil said. "It's not just affecting the steamships; it's the steelworkers who depend on that iron ore, the workers at the limestone quarries. We move the raw materials that keep everyone else going."
Environmentalists are concerned that the drying of wetlands along the shores will have serious effects on commercial and recreational fishing.
"We firmly believe the changes we're seeing are impacting fisheries, possibly in a dramatic way," said Jeff Skelding of the National Wildlife Federation. "Disruption of habitat will impede fish species from being able to reproduce."
Marc Gaden, spokesman of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, said the changes may be conducive to some species and harmful to others. The same can be said for people.
Great Lakes' Lower Water Levels Propel a Cascade of Hardships
Lake Michigan off Chicago is far less icy than in years past, one of several reasons for dropping water levels in the Great Lakes. (By Kari Lydersen -- The Washington Post)
By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 27, 2008; Page A04
CHICAGO -- A decade ago, Chicago winters meant monumental ice hillocks and caves forming along the lakeshore, skirted by interlocking ice sheets like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Today, it is rare to see more than a thin frozen shelf or a few small ice floes sloshing in Lake Michigan below the city's skyline.
Decreased ice cover on the Great Lakes, probably caused by increasing air and water temperatures and high winds, is a major culprit in lowering water levels, which have hurt the shipping industry, forced lakeside power plants to extend their cooling pipes, frustrated recreational boaters, dried up wetlands and left coastal landowners with docks extending over yards of unsightly muck.
In September, Lake Superior broke its 81-year-old low-water record by 1.6 inches, and last month it was a foot below its seasonal average. It appeared that Lake Michigan and Lake Huron would log record lows for January until storms helped levels stay above the marks set in the 1960s.
The low water has forced freighters that haul iron ore, steel, limestone and other raw materials to lighten their loads and change their routes to avoid running aground in shallow harbors and waterways.
"They literally do load these ships by the inch," said Stuart H. Theis, executive director of the U.S. Great Lakes Shipping Association. "To the lowest common denominator, the shallowest point along the way."
In the past two years, freighters have hit bottom or had to turn around in numerous locations, including Muskegon Harbor and the Saginaw River in Michigan and Rochester, N.Y.
The Lake Carriers' Association, which represents "captive" ships that travel only within the Great Lakes, has called for increased dredging at numerous "choke points" in response to low water levels. LCA spokesman Glen Nekvasil said vessels were running an average of 15 percent below capacity last season. Depending on the size of the ship, every inch of lost draft -- the depth to which a ship descends -- means 50 to 270 tons less cargo.
"And we're not talking inches, we're talking feet," Nekvasil said. "It's not just affecting the steamships; it's the steelworkers who depend on that iron ore, the workers at the limestone quarries. We move the raw materials that keep everyone else going."
Environmentalists are concerned that the drying of wetlands along the shores will have serious effects on commercial and recreational fishing.
"We firmly believe the changes we're seeing are impacting fisheries, possibly in a dramatic way," said Jeff Skelding of the National Wildlife Federation. "Disruption of habitat will impede fish species from being able to reproduce."
Marc Gaden, spokesman of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, said the changes may be conducive to some species and harmful to others. The same can be said for people.
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