Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/2010/02/page/2/)
Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus continues to pull the best quotes out of the carp debate. Last week it was a retired steelworker pondering if bin Laden was behind the invasion. This week it’s Michigan Congressman Vern Ehlers who apparently isn’t easing quietly into retirement:
“As soon as I can manage to drop a 150 pound carp on the rostrum of the Supreme Court then maybe we can get some action.”
The almost $100 billion slated to provide clean drinking water and to rebuild and develop the nation’s roads, bridges and rails is expected to be one of the federal stimulus’ biggest job creators. And it’s an area that has clear environmental ramifications. For instance, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced a $25 million grant for 3.4 miles of light rail to connect 12 locations from downtown Detroit to its New Center commercial district. So how stimulated are the Great Lakes states? It depends on how you look at it.
The ice is back, and it’s filling the newsites and blogosphere with echoes of the 1980s. Happily it has nothing to do with a certain rapper. No, the St. Clair River is once again stoppered by a miles-long ice jam. The last time the river was this backed up was 1984. That ice jam was 20 miles long and blocked the passage for 24 days. It was recently eyed as one of the causes for Lake Huron’s falling water levels. The new ice jam is considerably shorter (a measly 9 miles) and the ice cutters are already racing to the rescue. Still, ice jams can damage a river bed in a relatively short period of time. The river water forced under the ice cover is moving fast. Remember when you were a kid playing with the garden hose and you covered half the opening with your thumb and then chased your siblings around with the super-powered water spout? Yeah. It’s something like that. Only instead of terrorizing children, the water is scraping the river bottom clean of sediment and generally messing things up.
A new federal law allows firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges, including concealed guns and makes state law applicable within the park or refuge.
In Michigan, that means a person with a concealed weapons permit can have a hidden gun; an openly displayed firearm is also legal. The change doesn’t apply to national forests, which already follow state laws.
The windowless room where our reporters work is nicknamed the Echo Chamber. It’s a catchy phrase that is wrong on a couple counts. Reporters here better not be mere echoes. They should bring context and fairness and accuracy and diversity and complexity and their own innate brains and knowledge to what they produce. There is a difference between stenography and journalism.
Michigan officials are surveying the Lower Peninsula for wolves. The agency confirmed two observations last year.
Other wildlife experts say wolves have been in the Lower Peninsula for 20 years, and that more may be moving south.
Some lawmakers want Michigan to be able to issue bonds to help homeowners pay for energy efficiency measures such as renewable energy systems, storm windows, automated energy controls and new heating and air conditioning units. The proposal is designed to create jobs and stimulate the economy.
Articles following the carp drama ran in many major newspapers nationwide this week and have found some play overseas as well. But the most consistent and up-to-date coverage is provided by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Dan Egan and John Flesher of the Associated Press. Carp watchers should keep an eye on the “Ongoing Coverage” section of the Journal-Sentinel’s Great Lakes, Great Peril special report. Flesher’s most recent report on the financial implications of closing the locks can be found in today’s Los Angeles Times. And don’t miss Great Lakes Echo’s attempt to resolve competing estimates of the value of the fishery at risk. Michigan Now reporter Chris McCarus may have got the carp quote of the week from a retired steelworker speculating that the invasion may have been launched by the Taliban:
“Did you ever think it was a bin Laden plan?
Which Great Lakes fishery do the Asian carp threaten? The $7 billion one or the $4.5 billion one? Does that include the commercial fishery? What about Canada?
A couple natural resource economists help us settle up.
I have been groomed to be an “organic food snob.”
I munched on whole grain bread with organic peanut butter and jelly, organic apples and grapes as a 5-year old in the cafeteria. I had organic carrot cake for every birthday until I was 16 and trips to the local farmers market in my family were made more frequently than trips to any major supermarket. So, today I guess that it is understandable that I feel very comfortable spending a significant part of my income buying groceries with the organic label on it. I am not ashamed to admit that I have driven across Lansing, Mich. for an hour looking for organic bananas and raspberries, which are not always available at the conventional grocery store here.