Great Lakes U.S. Policy Committee Unveils Cleanup Strategy

MUSKEGON, Michigan, April 3, 2002 (ENS) - All 31 polluted harbors on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes will be cleaned up by 2025 under a new strategy announced today by the Great Lakes U.S. Policy Committee. The proposal, Great Lakes Strategy 2002 - A Plan for the New Millennium, was announced by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman during a visit to Muskegon.

"The Great Lakes are American treasures - home to residents from eight states and home away from home for vacationers and visitors from across the country," Whitman said. "The Great Lakes Strategy, and the aggressive goals it sets, will provide a framework for specific actions to protect and restore the lakes over the next several years."

The Great Lakes Strategy addresses the most serious problems in the lakes such as contaminated sediments, invasive species, loss of habitat and fish that are unsafe to eat. It establishes several ambitious goals, including reducing concentrations of polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs) in lake trout and walleye by 25 percent in five years.

The plan would have 90 percent of Great Lakes beaches clean enough to be open 95 percent of the season by the end of the decade.

"We're raising the bar because our Great Lakes deserve nothing less," said Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Russell Harding. "Reaching these bold goals demands unwavering resolve on the part of all stakeholders. I am confident that the past decade's successes will inspire us to take our commitment to the next level. The Great Lakes are truly a global treasure and the parties represented here today will exercise their stewardship with vigor and passion."

The strategy was created by the U.S. Policy Committee, a partnership of senior environmental officials from federal, state and tribal agencies. In addition to the U.S. EPA, the committee has representatives from the eight Great Lakes states, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, U.S. Forest Service, Great Lakes Fishery Commission and more than 30 tribal governments.

The Great Lakes are the largest body of fresh water in the world, supplying drinking water to more than 30 million people. There are more than 600 beaches on the U.S. shores.

" infringe on the rights of the lake trout and walleye[?]"

Yes it does. Let them make their own food choices. ;)

"All 31 polluted harbors on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes will be cleaned up..."

Cleaned up? Really? Someone has invented a PCB eating bacteria or some kind of chemical that forces PCB's to recombine to something safe? No? Then its not being cleaned up. The plan that the feds have been pushing here is to dig down to the sediment layer where the old stuff resides and stir it all up again in an attempt to dredge "most of it" up. Then truck this garbage, dripping and glopping, up and down the highways looking for somewhere else to dump it and then contaminate that place.

"contaminated sediments,"

have sediment layers over them and dont need to be stirred up,

"invasive species"

heres a hoot. Would those be the ones that the government introduced and continues to add at taxpayer expense, the ones who swam here on their own or the illegal immigrants of Eastern European ballast? When the removal of a non-indigenous threatens the livelihood of a community, who wins the coin toss? How do they plan on getting rid of the invasive visitors? foreign predators? traps? some kind of poisoning boondoggle? telling burbot that there is a bounty on the heads of alewife? Where do burbot collect their bounty and what do they carry it in?

"loss of habitat"

Are we going to wait for the habitat to naturally redevelop? Are we going to confiscate someones shore property because it makes a good hatchery or shut down plants that interfere with school migrations? Is this just more taxpayer dollars proving once again that we have no real idea what a particular wild animal actually needs and wants?

"and fish that are unsafe to eat"

Back to the pcb's..Then make those who have been attempting to surreptitiously dump in the present pay and leave the old stuff buried.

"It establishes several ambitious goals, including reducing concentrations of polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs) in lake trout and walleye by 25 percent in five years."

...and the fed will soon be ambitiously reducing the amount of fat in your diet by 25% too but neither one of these things fall under the authority of the federal government.

"The plan would have 90 percent of Great Lakes beaches clean enough to be open 95 percent of the season by the end of the decade."

The plan would have 90 percent of the funds dumped into Chicago, Detroit, and similar cities where 95 percent of the funding will be misspent by the end of the decade.

"The Great Lakes are truly a global treasure..."

Really? Exactly how much of the tab are the people of Zimbabwe picking up?

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