Wednesday, November 23, 2011
GLRI Quality Technical Conference
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Mystery Trash Washups On West Michigan Beaches Solved
The finding comes more than six months after the Alliance for the Great Lakes filed a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the information, seeking answers on behalf of the many Alliance volunteers who responded to the incidents and helped the Coast Guard in its initial investigation. In total, the Coast Guard located 266 pages of documents from its investigation and shared the bulk of them with the Alliance.
The records show MMSD released an estimated 686 million gallons of combined sewer overflow June 7-9, 2008 and an estimated 1.9 billion gallons July 22-25, 2010. Flooding summer rains struck the region both times, overwhelming the plant and prompting major releases into Lake Michigan. In the days that followed, tons of "mystery trash"-- including food wrappers, bottle caps, plastic bits, syringes and woody debris -- was found on beaches along some 50 miles of the west Michigan coastline. Alliance Adopt-a-Beach volunteers and shoreline property owners were among the first responders, clearing beaches and reporting to the Coast Guard any mailing addresses, bar codes and other identifiable markings they found -- information that ultimately helped the Coast Guard pinpoint the source.
The FOIA documents say plastic materials found on the beaches likely originated from a recycling center; the source of the medical waste has not yet been explained. Alliance Water Quality Program Manager Lyman Welch, who filed the FOIA request said, "Solving sewage overflows in the Great Lakes is complex work that requires innovation, funding and regulation. These findings are troubling, particularly because the problems aren't unique to any one city or lake." For example, the same flooding rains that forced the Milwaukee sewage discharge in July 2010 also hit Chicago, overwhelming the sewage treatment plant there and prompting the release of 6.5 billion gallons of sewage-laced stormwater into Lake Michigan. The probe reported no waste from the Chicago discharge among the west Michigan debris, however.
New Website For Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee
Monday, November 21, 2011
Comments Wanted On IJC Assessments Report By Year's End
The draft report uses seven measures of biological integrity, six measures of chemical integrity, and one measure of physical integrity, to assess changes in the Great Lakes basin ecosystem. It draws on the best indicators of ecosystem trends available from government agencies and the academic research community. The draft report, Assessment of Progress Made Towards Restoring and Maintaining Great Lakes Water Quality Since 1987, is available online. The Commission plans to publish a report in 2012 based on comments received and subsequent research. The Commission will accept written comments on the draft report via the comment form on the Biennial Meeting web page or by email or regular mail at until December 31, 2011.
Access an announcement from IJC (click here). Access the complete 173-page report (click here). Access a comment form or other commenting instructions (click here). Access the IJC website for more information and background (click here).
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
House Approves Controversial Coast Guard & Maritime Bill
Representative LoBiondo said, "The Coast Guard does an outstanding job for our nation. However, in the current budget environment, it is important for Congress to review the Service's authorities to find ways to improve operations while reducing costs. H.R. 2838 does that in a manner that will not impact the Service's critical missions." According to a release from the Committee, H.R.2838 includes provisions that will give the Coast Guard and its personnel greater parity with the Department of Defense (DoD). Parity among the uniformed services has been a top priority of the Committee for some time and this bill makes significant progress towards aligning the Coast Guard's authorities with those granted to DoD. The bill contains a title intended to reform and improve Coast Guard administration. It also includes several provisions to improve the safety and efficiency of the maritime transportation system, as well as to protect and grow maritime related jobs.
Also included in the legislation are provisions that set a nationwide standard for the treatment of ballast water that remedies the current patchwork of varying and inconsistent ballast water regulations across states. Currently the Coast Guard and the U.S. EPA have developed separate regulations under two different Federal laws to govern the discharge of ballast water. The Committee said, "The EPA's ballast water program under the Clean Water Act is especially burdensome, as it allows each individual state to add state requirements on top of the federal regulations. Twenty-nine states and tribes have done just that. As a result, small businesses are forced to comply with differing and often conflicting ballast water standards for each of these 29 states and tribal areas."
Representative LoBiondo said, "Under current law, both the Coast Guard and EPA regulate ballast water, while every state and tribe is allowed to add their own requirements to those regulations. As a result, ships engaged in interstate and international commerce must comply with two federal standards, as well as 29 differing state and tribal ballast water standards, many of which are contradictory and technologically unachievable. The current system is simply impossible. It threatens our international maritime trade. It is driving industry away from coastwise trade. It is undermining our attempts to revitalize the U.S. flagged fleet. It is destroying jobs and it is hurting our economy. This legislation eliminates this ridiculous regulatory regime and establishes a single, uniform national standard that is based on the most effective technology currently available. The EPA must update the standard on a regular basis or at the request of a state."
The Committee release indicated that H.R. 2838 is "a common sense solution to the problem, immediately putting in place a standard for ballast water treatment that is both achievable and effective." This approach is endorsed by the EPA, the Coast Guard, the National Academy of Sciences, the EPA's Science Advisory Board, the U.S. flagged industry, maritime labor, manufacturers, farmers, energy producers and the nation's largest and most strategic international trading partners.
Representative Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, who assisted in crafting Title VII portion of the legislation issued a statement saying, "I applaud the passage of H.R.2838, a fiscally responsible reauthorization of the U.S. Coast Guard that will protect maritime industry jobs threatened by the current burdensome ballast water treatment regulations, improve the safety and efficiency of the maritime transportation system, and promote the flow of maritime commerce. Promoting maritime commerce is especially important to us here locally as the Port of Cleveland handles an average of 13.1 million tons of cargo per year and provides 11,000 Ohio jobs. We must protect our local interstate and foreign commerce industry from unnecessary, burdensome and sometimes impossible to attain requirements that inhibit the flow of maritime commerce. This legislation will immediately put in place a uniform, achievable nationwide standard for vessel ballast water treatment, resolving the current patchwork of varying and inconsistent ballast water regulations across states. This approach is endorsed by the EPA, the Coast Guard, the National Academy of Sciences, the EPA's Science Advisory Board, maritime labor, manufacturers, farmers, energy producers and our largest and most strategic international trading partners."
The bill also includes a highly controversial provision that would allow the S.S. Badger, the Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI carferry, operated by the Lake Michigan Carferry Company, to continue the practice of dumping coal as in Lake Michigan -- an exemption that was scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. In a series of articles, the Chicago Tribune has drawn attention to the S.S. Badger, the only coalfired ferry still operating in the United States. As the ship travels from its home port of Ludington, to Manitowoc, it dumps 509 tons of coal ash into Lake Michigan each year -- a quantity greater than the total waste dumped annually by the 125 other largest ships operating on the Great Lakes. The coal ash contains arsenic, lead, and mercury, all of which can cause cancer when consumed in drinking water, cause serious damage to fish populations, and poison fish that are part of our food supply.
Under an agreement negotiated between the owners of the S.S. Badger and the U.S. EPA, the current EPA vessel general permit gives the Badger a December 2012 deadline to retrofit the ferry with a new boiler that would prevent further coal ash dumping. In an attempt to circumvent these standards the owners of the Badger have attempted to secure both the designation of the S.S. Badger as a National Historic Landmark and legislative language that would exempt "vessels of historic significance" from EPA regulation of discharge.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has led an effort to end the coal ash practice. On November 9, following a meeting with the EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, he wrote to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee to oppose efforts to protect the S.S. Badger from having to comply with EPA standards. Durbin wrote in his letter to Salazar, "Lake Michigan is the primary source of drinking water for more than ten million people and a key component of the $7 billion Great Lakes fishing industry. We cannot let Historic Landmark Status be used to evade the federal regulations we rely on to protect public health and the environment. . . This is more than a car ferry with a venerable tradition. This is a vessel that generates and dumps four tons of coal ash laced with mercury and arsenic into Lake Michigan every day. Lake Michigan cannot take any more toxic dumping, no matter how historic or quaint the source may be."
Study Shows Generally Low Ecological Impacts Of Wind Energy
Monday, November 14, 2011
SAB Review Of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Great Lakes Regional Body & Compact Council Meetings
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Report Highlights Need For Cost-Based Water Pricing
The Initiative focused on three primary issues: 1) how energy costs factor into water bills; 2) whether the cost of providing water to consumers is fully transparent; and 3) if an efficiency-oriented revenue structure would change water use in the Great Lakes basin. Jeffrey Ripp of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, a technical adviser to the project said, "Water has historically been undervalued in the Great Lakes region because of its abundance. However, the cost of delivering safe and reliable water continues to increase and many have concerns about the long-term sustainability of Great Lakes water. The results of this project will help communities price water in a way that reflects its value to the region's economy and environment."
A survey and economic analysis by Michigan State University (MSU) of the largest municipal water systems in the Great Lakes states found that utility expenses have climbed some 25 percent on average, mainly due to the rise in costs for infrastructure and operations. To make up for the costs, water rates are generally going up, and many public water systems are providing information about conservation to their customers and even introducing special, efficiency-oriented rates. These rates are designed to encourage the customer to use their water more wisely. Typically, the price of water increases as the customer consumes more water. Dr. Janice Beecher of MSU, who led the survey, noted that "even in this water-abundant region, there is a growing recognition that cost-based water pricing plays a central role in prudent resource management and long-term sustainability." Cost-based water pricing means setting a price per unit of water to cover the costs of providing the water (e.g., pumping, treating and delivering the water to the customer).
The Initiative engaged utility managers and local officials in a series of four workshops to discuss the impacts of water rates using the Initiative's Water Pricing Primer on the basic principles of different water rates and how they can be used to achieve various water management goals. Also discussed were the political, institutional and economic barriers to using price to achieve water conservation goals. Such barriers include lack of political will; resistance to change; lack of consumer education on why rates need to increase; media unwillingness to research all the facts; and opposing agendas between management and elected officials. A team of experts assembled for the Initiative used results from the water system survey and the workshops to make 17 recommendations for advancing water pricing to achieve both economic viability for the utility and environmental sustainability of the water resource.
Access a release from GLC (click here). Access the full project report (click here).
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Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Bluff Collapses Into Lake Michigan At We Energies' WI Plant
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Impacts Of Power Plants On Great Lakes Water Resources
Dr. Vincent Tidwell, principle member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories and a technical adviser to the project said, "Although most water used for power generation in the basin comes directly from the Great Lakes, about one-quarter uses water from groundwater or a Great Lakes tributary. That's not insignificant." The report synthesizes several background reports examining technical and policy aspects of power and water in the Great Lakes basin. The technical analysis examines how changes in the type of power generation could affect sensitive watersheds in the future. That analysis is complemented by a review of relevant water and energy policies that identifies gaps and opportunities for improvements.
According to a release from GLC, new metrics developed as part of the project revealed that approximately one-quarter of all of the watersheds in the Great Lakes basin may be ecologically vulnerable to water withdrawals under certain "low-flow" conditions conditions that are likely to be more frequent in the future as the impacts of climate change become more severe. Additionally, more than half (57 percent) of the 102 watersheds studied were found to be at moderate to high risk of degrading ecological health due to additional thermal impacts, and 36 percent have water quality that is moderately to highly impaired according to U.S. EPA and state reports. All told, one-fifth of the Great Lakes basin's sub-watersheds rank high for two or more of these risk factors.
Professor Mark Bain of Cornell University, another project partner, said, "Because of the Great Lakes Energy-Water Nexus project, we now know which areas in the basin are most susceptible to ecological impairment from new water uses, including power production." Using a model developed by Sandia National Laboratories, five future power scenarios were analyzed for the period 2007 to 2035: 1) Business as usual, including use of open-loop cooling where water used for cooling is returned to the river, lake or aquifer from which it was withdrawn; 2) no new open-loop cooling; 3) open-loop cooling totally prohibited; 4) a renewable energy portfolio with 50 percent wind, 25 percent biofuel and 25 percent natural gas; and 5) that same portfolio with carbon capture and sequestration.
For all five scenarios, water withdrawals would decrease, but by far the largest decreases (87 percent) would occur where there is no open-loop cooling at all. In every case except the open-loop cooling prohibited, thermoelectric water withdrawals would continue to be the basin's predominant water use through 2035. In contrast, consumptive water use would increase under all five scenarios with the largest increase in consumptive use (24 percent) occurring under the carbon capture and sequestration scenario, in part due to increased water required for this process.
The lowest increase in consumptive use (7.6 percent) would occur under the renewable energy portfolio, reflecting the considerably lower water use associated with natural gas combined cycle technologies as well as wind power generation, which uses no water. Under all scenarios, consumptive uses from the thermoelectric power sector would be lower when compared to industrial and municipal water use sectors. Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission said, "The GLEW project takes us one step further in our understanding of how our energy choices today could impact our water resources in the future."