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You are here: Home / Racing to the bottom of the lake

Racing to the bottom of the lake

by Kay|  July 2, 201110:03 pm| 49 Comments

This post is in: All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Assholes, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, Our Failed Political Establishment

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I’m at Lake Michigan. I saw the sign pictured when I visited a public beach today. I’m at that beach maybe every three months, and it’s the first I’ve seen the sign.

This is Great Lakes Restoration:

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. This action plan covers fiscal years 2010 through 2014 and addresses five urgent focus areas:

Cleaning up toxics and areas of concern;
Combating invasive species;
Promoting nearshore health by protecting watersheds from polluted run-off;
Restoring wetlands and other habitats; and
Working with partners on outreach.

I was really glad to see the sign, because I was reading about Ohio conservatives and their plans for Lake Erie last week, and got sick to my stomach.

First, some background. This is the 2008 interstate compact on the Great Lakes:

A decade in-the-making, a historic pact is now in place to safeguard the health of the world’s largest surface freshwater resource for generations to come. President Bush signed the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact into law in October 2008, days after it won approval in the U.S. House of Representatives and a month after passing the U.S. Senate.Now begins the implementation phase for the eight-state water management pact, a first-of-its kind model for a consensus-based, basin-wide approach to decisions about how much and how far away Great Lakes water can be used.

Unfortunately, the compact left implementation up to the individual Great Lakes states, leaving a gaping hole that the grifters, clowns and thieves in the GOP in (first) Indiana and (last week) Ohio rushed in to fill:

It’s a pact that either balances Ohio’s environment and economy or sacrifices Lake Erie in the name of big business profits. Regardless, Ohio’s attempt to write between the lines of the international Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Compact is flowing at a flood’s pace toward Gov. John Kasich’s desk.With a single Columbus Democrat joining Republicans in support, the House voted 60-37 to approve a bill allowing heavy manufacturers, mining operations, power plants, and other businesses to draw up to 5 million gallons of water a day directly from Lake Erie before facing regulation.

Any regulatory compliance is voluntary. Yeah. That’ll work.

“We can do both,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lynn Wachtmann (R., Napoleon), owner of a water-bottling company that draws from the watershed . “We can protect the environment, and we can also make sure that jobs are protected, that economic growth is protected, and that’s what [this bill] does,” he said.

The bill implements the regulatory side of the Great Lakes compact that was crafted to unite the region in protecting the freshwater source from poaching by thirsty states and nations. The compact was approved in 2008 by eight states, two Canadian provinces, and Congress. But the compact left it up to the states to develop standards for “reasonable use” of Great Lakes water. Ohio’s proposed thresholds exceed those of all other states. Only Indiana has thresholds for Lake Michigan and its watershed that rival Ohio’s. Michigan has set its limit at 2 million for direct lake withdrawals.

So media favorite Moderate Mitch Daniels went racing to the absolute bottom on environmental protections for Lake Michigan, and the dupes and clowns in the Ohio legislature followed him and did the same for Lake Erie.

“We don’t want to be the state with the highest taxes,” said Rep. Terry Boose (R., Norwalk). “We don’t want to be the state with the lowest thresholds of whether you can use water out of the lake”.

He’s lying, of course. It’s difficult to tell because he’s incapable of forming a coherent sentence, but with the Governor’s signature on this law Ohio will be the state with the highest thresholds of “whether you can use water out of the lake”.

Here’s wild-eyed Leftist environmentalist and former GOP governor Bob Taft:

Former Gov. Bob Taft today joined Democrats and environmentalists in opposing a plan by his fellow Republicans to allow large amounts of water to be drained from Lake Erie without a permit. In his first appearance before a legislative committee since leaving office in 2007, Taft told an Ohio Senate committee that provisions of legislation being considered “directly conflict” with the Great Lakes Compact signed during his administration. He said House Bill 231 would “weaken the protections to the waters of the Great Lakes” and “invite litigation against the state of Ohio.”

The GOP ignored Taft and the scientists, and the bill is now speeding to Governor Kasich’s desk. It is absolutely terrifying that the survival of Lake Erie is wholly dependent on a former Fox News personality who has absolutely no interest in governing, conservation, water use, or anything else having to do with the state of Ohio. We can all just hope former Governor Taft is right, and the conservative brain trust in the legislature have somehow managed to write law that violates the treaty they promised to honor just two years ago.

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49Comments

  1. 1.

    PeakVT

    July 2, 2011 at 10:17 pm

    Maybe Mother Nature will attack Kasich and Daniels, too. The only way assholes like that ever learn is to have something affect them personally. And even then, it’s an iffy proposition.

  2. 2.

    jl

    July 2, 2011 at 10:17 pm

    I will look for insightful opinion pieces explaining how it is all for the best, and if looked at the right way, is really an environmental boon.

    Like, let’s try this: when bodies of water in the area start burning again, industry can dump its trash into the rivers and lakes and burn it very cheaply, which is recycling!

  3. 3.

    Valdivia

    July 2, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    Thanks for blogging about this. I love love Lake Michigan. Went there on a romantic getaway many years ago and still have very fond memories of it and the natural beauty of the lake and the little community where we stayed.

    Gawd these people make me sick. They will not be happy til they’re done raping all of mother earth for corporate profit right? Oh yeah and the invisible hand of the market will take care of those voluntary regulations. shoot me now.

  4. 4.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 2, 2011 at 10:30 pm

    Just a nit, but they released shad fry. Shad is the fish, shad fry are little fish, shad roe is the egg mass in the female shad, which is a seasonal delicacy for many people.

  5. 5.

    Dennis SGMM

    July 2, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    Well if all you have left is fresh water then our Galtian overlords will take that. They’re probably working on patenting air and charging us royalties for breathing.

  6. 6.

    PeakVT

    July 2, 2011 at 10:42 pm

    OTOH this is probably the biggest single environmental threat to the Great Lakes.

  7. 7.

    Triassic Sands

    July 2, 2011 at 10:54 pm

    Protections?

    We don’t need no steenking protections — because we can always trust American corporations to do what’s best for the environment. They haven’t failed us yet, have they?

  8. 8.

    Linda Featheringill

    July 2, 2011 at 11:19 pm

    With a single Columbus Democrat joining Republicans in support, the House voted 60-37 to approve a bill allowing heavy manufacturers, mining operations, power plants, and other businesses to draw up to 5 million gallons of water a day directly from Lake Erie before facing regulation.

    Is there anything they aren’t trying to destroy?

  9. 9.

    Dennis SGMM

    July 2, 2011 at 11:32 pm

    @Linda Featheringill

    If there’s no regulation how the hell will anyone know how much water they’re taking out. “Trust us; we’re only taking 4,999,999 gallons a day.”

    Every one of the pols who voted for this abomination should be forced to swim laps in the Salton Sea.

  10. 10.

    burnspbesq

    July 2, 2011 at 11:32 pm

    Republicans, and their useful idiots the libertarians, don’t believe in public goods. In the entire catalog of idiot beliefs that they hold, this may be the most dangerous of all.

  11. 11.

    Yutsano

    July 2, 2011 at 11:41 pm

    Republicans, and their useful idiots the libertarians, don’t believe in public goods

    This, unfortunately. I’m sure they find particularly offensive the concept behind the Boston Commons, even though that place was the fomenting ground for many of the ideas of the American Revolution.

  12. 12.

    Southern Beale

    July 2, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    I survived my day with the in-laws; two of them will be coming down to stay with us tomorrow night, fortunately, it’s two of the cool people … BUT I’m coming down sick, got that funky throat thing happening. Ijust had about 3 glasses of Jack Daniel’s to kill the funk so PARDON THE DRUNK BLOGGING ….

    Hello. So how was your Saturday?

  13. 13.

    Southern Beale

    July 2, 2011 at 11:50 pm

    If there’s no regulation how the hell will anyone know how much water they’re taking out.

    The free hand of the market, silly! See, when the lake runs dry and no one has anything to drink, people will die and then in about 100 years when the lake replenishes, * * poof! * * magic!

  14. 14.

    jl

    July 2, 2011 at 11:54 pm

    @15 Southern Beale

    I started the holiday outdoor picnic eating: Burgers, hotdog, BBQ chicken and corn on the cob, potato salad and some kind of chocolate glop cake.

    Can you get more July 4 picnic than that?

    Well, I guess you can, on Monday, with fireworks. But will need some more RR before that one.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 3, 2011 at 12:02 am

    Republicans, and their useful idiots the libertarians, don’t believe in public goods. In the entire catalog of idiot beliefs that they hold, this may be the most dangerous of all.

    It may be their epitaph, but there will be few around to carve it on their tombstones, if they are even entombed. The survivors will be too busy on survival, at least at first, to worry about such niceties.

    The future of humanity depends on learning this lesson here, and never allowing such attitudes to survive the forthcoming collapse.

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    July 3, 2011 at 12:03 am

    Interesting op ed in the WaPost today (yes, really), by a prof from University of Montreal, Francois Furstenburg.

    Re the lessons from the Gilded Age and its aftermath.

    What History Teaches Us About the Welfare State
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-history-teaches-us-about-the-welfare-state/2011/07/01/AGGfhFuH_story.html

    Today, new fortunes have been accumulated that rival those of the Gilded Age. Some of that wealth, possessed by people like Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch or Peter G. Peterson, has been used to promote cuts to social spending. Before these opponents and their allies in Congress move forward with the dismantling of the welfare state, however, they might think harder about the reasons such policies were put in place.

    The Gilded Age plutocrats who first acceded to a social welfare system and state regulations did not do so from the goodness of their hearts. They did so because the alternatives seemed so much more terrifying.

  17. 17.

    The Dangerman

    July 3, 2011 at 12:09 am

    Is there anything they aren’t trying to destroy?

    There are two questions for them:

    1) Will it make a profit?

    2) Will it piss off liberals?

    If yes to either one, watch out; if yes to both, WATCH OUT.

  18. 18.

    BGinCHI

    July 3, 2011 at 12:15 am

    Environmental terrorists.

    Hey God, more smiting please. What the fuck are you doing up there?

    Get off your ass.

  19. 19.

    Nellcote

    July 3, 2011 at 12:26 am

    Ruptured Exxon pipeline dumps oil into Yellowstone River:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/us/03oilspill.html?_r=1

  20. 20.

    karen marie

    July 3, 2011 at 12:28 am

    Hey, kids, God put those Great Lakes there for us to use, so what’s the big deal?

    If we use it all up in the next five years, well, that’s just God’s Will, isn’t it?

    People die because there’s no more potable water? God’s Will again. If God doesn’t save you, it’s because you weren’t clapping hard enough.

  21. 21.

    Mr Furious

    July 3, 2011 at 12:40 am

    Hey, I’m on Lake Michigan for the weekend too. Beautiful Empire, MI to be precise. Today was just about perfect here. How anyone could willingly sacrifice such a treasure for quick buck boggles the mind.

    Then again, I just finished reading Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short” today, so Galtian greed is fresh in my mind.

  22. 22.

    Dennis SGMM

    July 3, 2011 at 12:40 am

    On this Fourth of July weekend is there anything more American than taking something from someone just because you can? From Jamestown to the settling of the Ohio Valley to the Black Hills and the invention of Manifest Destiny, the American Way has been to keep the Sabbath and everything else you can grab.

    These people are patriots.

  23. 23.

    PeakVT

    July 3, 2011 at 12:40 am

    Problems in bigger puddles, too.

    ETA: Also, too, the UK has some water problems.

  24. 24.

    Stillwater

    July 3, 2011 at 12:45 am

    Republicans, and their useful idiots the libertarians, don’t believe in public goods. In the entire catalog of idiot beliefs that they hold, this may be the most dangerous of all.

    Ayn Rand has taught them well that the most demeaning, disrespectful, insulting thing you can do for another person is to actually care about or help them. Once all the fresh water is poisoned or drained, Randy-rugged-individuals who survived the devastation will rule the earth. As it should be.

  25. 25.

    burnspbesq

    July 3, 2011 at 12:58 am

    @ Karen Marie:

    “God put those Great Lakes there for us to use, so what’s the big deal?”

    God calls us to be responsible stewards of His Creation. That’s the big deal.

  26. 26.

    Dennis SGMM

    July 3, 2011 at 1:09 am

    @burnbesq

    Back in the Sixties I had a poster that read, “Humanity, this is God. I found someone who will take better care of the place. You have twenty four hours to leave.”

  27. 27.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2011 at 1:09 am

    @burnspbesq:

    Please to recalibrate snarkometer.

  28. 28.

    burnspbesq

    July 3, 2011 at 1:12 am

    @Steeplejack:

    Snarkometer is working fine, thanks. Point needed to be made.

  29. 29.

    burnspbesq

    July 3, 2011 at 1:23 am

    OT, but worth noting: the SG has filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of the motion for a stay of execution in Leal v. Texas.

    http://opiniojuris.org/2011/07/02/solicitor-general-files-brief-supporting-stay-of-execution-in-vccr-case/

  30. 30.

    Non-Existent Patricia

    July 3, 2011 at 2:01 am

    Do any municipalities draw their drinking water from the Great Lakes?

  31. 31.

    MikeJ

    July 3, 2011 at 2:11 am

    Chicago and Cleveland both do. I’d guess many more too.

  32. 32.

    Sharl

    July 3, 2011 at 2:26 am

    Hmmm, my comments are being eaten.

  33. 33.

    Kyle

    July 3, 2011 at 2:32 am

    “God put those Great Lakes there for us to use, so what’s the big deal?”

    Why bother with conservation?
    “I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns” – James Watt, Reagan’s Secretary of the Interior

  34. 34.

    Linnaeus

    July 3, 2011 at 2:46 am

    Do any municipalities draw their drinking water from the Great Lakes?

    Detroit draws its water mainly from the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, both of which are part of the Great Lakes “system” and also some water from Lake Huron.

  35. 35.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    July 3, 2011 at 3:03 am

    i for one welcome the opportunity to walk or drive into southern ontario without the time consuming trip through buffalo.

  36. 36.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    July 3, 2011 at 3:03 am

    i for one welcome the opportunity to walk or drive into southern ontario without the time consuming trip through buffalo.

  37. 37.

    mythago

    July 3, 2011 at 3:32 am

    I foresee every Republican in Michigan running away from this at top speed.

    “Ohio is trying to steal water out of the Great Lakes to sell it”? They’ll be lucky if a lawsuit is the worst thing that gets dropped on them, frankly.

  38. 38.

    Calouste

    July 3, 2011 at 4:37 am

    @mythago:

    What do you mean the Republicans in Michigan will run away from this? The only thing they will do is make sure that they steal more.

  39. 39.

    lankyloo

    July 3, 2011 at 8:30 am

    A lot of people draw on the Great Lakes for their water, including Detroit as was mentioned, but also Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toledo, Toronto, etc.

    One of the good things about the Great Lakes is that they are shared both internationally and with other states. What makes this good is when some place like Ohio decides something like this, Canada or the other states can push for treaty or compact enforcement, or otherwise put pressure on the offending state. A couple of years ago Indiana quietly allowed the big BP refinery on the south coast of Lake Michigan to greatly increase the amount of chemical waste it could dump in the lake. After it was found out that this had passed, Chicagoans individually and the state of Illinois were able to prevent this from happening. If you live in Michigan, Ontario, Pennsylvania, or New York, try to get your state or province involved, or various environmental groups involved with the Great Lakes. It just might have an impact, and that way you don’t have to deal with the a**holes in Ohio (there’s a reason why it is a four letter word).

  40. 40.

    Dennis SGMM

    July 3, 2011 at 9:24 am

    @lankyloo

    What makes this good is when some place like Ohio decides something like this, Canada or the other states can push for treaty or compact enforcement, or otherwise put pressure on the offending state.

    Or cash-strapped lakes states could simply decide to join the race to give away water under the guise of job creation a la Ohio. I live on the West Coast so I have no idea what the environmental sensitivities of lakes states voters are but, I do know that voters are often stupid. I’d guess that most of them figure that there is so much water in the Great Lakes that nothing we do could harms them. As for long-term consequences, the lack of hair-on-fire concern over climate change provides a good example of American voters’ general environmental awareness.

  41. 41.

    russell

    July 3, 2011 at 10:13 am

    Republicans, and their useful idiots the libertarians, don’t believe in public goods.

    Bingo.

    I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns

    And when the Lord returns, he will say “WTF have you done to my planet?”

    Republicans, as a political movement, are interested in (a) turning the world into money, and (b) putting that money into their own pockets and the pockets of their friends.

    They are the party of Midas.

  42. 42.

    artem1s

    July 3, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    I’d guess that most of them figure that there is so much water in the Great Lakes that nothing we do could harms them.

    yea, this was pretty much the attitude prior to the infamous ‘burning river’ episode. After, Cleveland and Cuyahoga county lead the clean up charge that helped lead to the EPA and other wetlands conservation efforts.

    The compact severely limited the amount of water corporations can draw WITHIN the watershed and completely prohibits new outtake from OUTSIDE the watershed. There are municipalities within 25-50 miles of the lake that cannot take water out of the lake; literally houses on one side of the street that cannot hook into the same water system as houses on the other side of the street.

    Since the implementation the water thieves tried mightily to work around the prohibitions during the Taft administration. I’m sure they figured that administration would be sympathetic. Erie’s water level has been relatively high for more than a decade now. All we need is a couple of light seasons of rain and snow and the lake level will start to drop just from the current outtake.

    Erie is the shallowest lake. This means that changes show up more quickly than in all the other lakes, both good and bad. If the increased outtake happens the affects will probably show up in just a year or two even with the unnaturally wet springs we have been having.

    It seems pretty stupid for them to be pushing this particular point because the affects are only going to rile up opposition. My real concern is that they decide to try and work around the drilling prohibition. The affects of a major spill or leaky pipelines will be a lot harder to fix than cutting off industry from drawing water out of the lake.

  43. 43.

    Interrobang

    July 3, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    My hometown gets its water from Lake Huron — London, ON. Legislation like this really pisses me off — there are people in two countries whose drinking water and environment depend on the Great Lakes watershed, and yet, assholes like these Ohio and Indiana people can pass laws that affect literally millions of people on both sides of an international border, and they don’t even bother to consult the rest of us. When do the rest of us on the Great Lakes watershed get a say in votes on what happens to that watershed? Nobody (American OR Canadian) should be allowed to do anything with large environmental impact in the GLW without at least getting feedback from both sides of the border. Grr…

  44. 44.

    kay

    July 3, 2011 at 6:05 pm

    Interrobang – July 3, 2011 | 5:48 pm · Link

    I’ll bet it pisses you off. Understandable. I would have written more about the Canadian issues, but I don’t know them. I followed the original compact quite closely (my husband is interested in water quality) but we didn’t hear much about Canada.

    I know it’s probably cold comfort, but my (inexpert) political opinion is that this is (or will be) damaging to conservatives, in Ohio and elsewhere. I think people here absolutely love these lakes, in a way that is not tied to their economic value. One of these idiots made an unfortunate statement. He said “water is money”. That may be how conservatives think of the Great Lakes, as a pure commodity ripe for exploitation, but IMO that isn’t a majority view. I think it’s much,much deeper than that. It’s a relationship. I think it’s a great, great issue for liberals and Democrats. We’ll win that argument.

    Anyhow, if any environmental lefties want to get something going, I would sign on, or whatever. I think opposition to this is a political winner. The GOP are knee-jerk defensive and lying constantly about bill. They’re not confident.

  45. 45.

    kay

    July 3, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    Kay, this is OT, but I was wondering a couple threads down why your state rep who got caught drunk with a hooker in Indiana couldn’t get what he wanted/needed in Ohio.

    I don’t think she’s a hooker. I think she’s a stripper. They prefer to be called “dancers” by the way, which is what they call each other. I represent some of them. Mine all live in Ohio and work over the border in Indiana. That may be because I live close to the border of the two states, though, and I’m only practicing in Ohio, so naturally I wouldn’t be much use to an Indiana-resident dancer.
    I know a ridiculous amount about dancers and strip clubs, for someone who has never entered one as a patron.
    I have whole elaborate theories on this industry, developed over years :)
    The trooper cam was funny, because the dancer said she had known the rep “for a while” and the rep said she was “someone he met”. Both things could be strictly true, but his implication was clear, as was hers.

  46. 46.

    kay

    July 3, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    Interrobang – July 3, 2011 | 5:48 pm · Link

    It passed the OH Senate, so it just has to go to Mr. Fox News for his rubber stamp. HOWEVER. Don’t despair. OH Republicans are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. When they passed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, they drafted it so poorly that it invalidated a section of the domestic violence statute. Whoops!

    Anyway, if this is like that, and there’s litigation, and discussion (they rushed this through in the summer for a reason) there will be a chance for the public to weigh in. What’s interesting about Erie is that the moronic libertarians have been trying to restrict public access to “water line” lakefront on their private property. That means the proles can’t walk on the beach, even in the freaking water. I find it bitterly amusing that their GOP reps were quietly working to give away the goddammned LAKE while libertarians were litigating about people walking on “their” beach. No lake, no beach, libertarians.
    Aint’ federalism grand? State “right” to destroy a giant international fresh water resource. “Yeah! Stick it to the liberals! Liberty!”

  47. 47.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    July 3, 2011 at 11:13 pm

    Mr Furious @24

    Dude, I was in Empire this weekend, too! My cousin got married up there yesterday! I’d never been there before- it;s a beautiful little village. Took the scenic route back to GR. M-22 is friggin’ gorgeous.

  48. 48.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    July 3, 2011 at 11:20 pm

    kay @49

    What’s interesting about Erie is that the moronic libertarians have been trying to restrict public access to “water line” lakefront on their private property.

    The libertarians have been trying to do that in Michigan for years. Problem for the glibs is that even the nutty Tea Party base of the GOP here happen to habituate campgrounds and trailer parks in the summers and like to take hikes down the beach beyond the confines of the public beaches.

  49. 49.

    MarkJ

    July 5, 2011 at 10:45 am

    Kay, you are right about the attitude toward the Great Lakes, at least in Michigan. It’s a third rail there – even conservatives know it’s political death to do something that would harm the Lakes in this day and age. I grew up in Grand Rapids, which is over toward Lake Michigan in the area that constitutes the heartland of conservative politics in Michigan (not the city itself but the surrounding area). You’d be hard pressed to find anyone on the West side of the State, conservative or liberal, who is not extremely touchy about anything that might harm the Lakes. It’s only a 40 minute or shorter drive to the Lake Michigan beaches from GR and the other larger cities on the West side of the State so people visit the Lake regularly, and really are not OK with the thought of losing that resource.

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