Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/tag/tomhenry/page/2/)
Tom Henry writes an occasional Great Lakes Watch column for Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Echo commentaries are solely the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Great Lakes Echo or of Michigan State University.
While another algae-filled summer appears to face Lake Erie, an international panel has made curbing the region’s nutrient runoff a binational priority. The problem threatens public health and the economy. Can it prompt action?
Despite data gaps, the U.S. and Canada are heading down the home stretch with their first major update in 25 years to the The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich silenced many of his critics on July 15 when he vetoed legislation fellow Republican Party conservatives engineered that would have gutted the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. Kasich is now in position to preserve even more Great Lakes water.
The University of Toledo reports twice as much potentially deadly microcystis – the most prevalent form of toxic algae – in western Lake Erie as there was this time last year.
Ohio gov’s veto avoids lawsuits from U.S. states and scorn from Canadians. Let’s hope Ohio lawmakers don’t override it with misplaced job creation zeal.
The utility deserves credit for modernizing a mammoth coal-fired power plant, one of the nation’s largest. But the project is a reminder that pollution control upgrades are expensive and slow.
As scary as it is to think of an impaired bus driver shuttling your kids, wouldn’t you also want to know if someone might have been stoned while operating a nuclear power plant?
The federal government apparently doesn’t want you to know.
One way to keep an arm’s length from the vapid Earth Day sales pitches, TV ads and junk mail circulating this month is to remember that the Great Lakes not only had a role in the creation of that event – but a role in the entire modern environmental era.
Commentary: Canada levies major fines on carp importers. But the glacial pace of U.S. action on carp control is like convincing federal authorities to build stronger levees before Hurricane Katrina hit. And if hearings instead of action really are required, how about holding one in the region with most at stake?
President Obama’s effort to jumpstart long-overdue cleanup projects could be in trouble. Insiders wonder if the new Congress will set the budgetary needle closer to zero. But it will take more than money for the lakes to reach their potential.