Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 9, Number 3 • May-June 2001
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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by Craig Minowa, EAGLE Coordinator
State Water Programs are Suffering
Due to a lack of funding, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is experiencing extreme difficulties keeping up with its workload, according to a recent staff survey. “Minnesota is doing dismally compared to the rest of the nation,’’ stated Lisa Thorvig, MPCA deputy commissioner. “Only 10 states have a worse backlog than Minnesota does, and it’s a very bad situation in our water program.’’
While state environmental agencies are struggling with scarce funding, shooting ranges across Minnesota are enjoying a boost in government funding. Grants totaling nearly $1 million will be awarded to shooting ranges from the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources this year alone. Chuck Niska, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said, “Our goal with these improvements is to help provide more shooting range opportunity to the general public.” Environmentalists and concerned citizens question the prioritization of state funding allocation.
Watershed Based Powerline Protest
Protestors coordinated by the activist group Save Our Lands (SOUL) let their opinions be heard in Duluth at a May 8th Minnesota Power (now named “Allette”) shareholders’ meeting. Protestors handed out leaflets where the meeting was held. According to SOUL the rally was in support of “alternative energies and against the dinosaur technology of the proposed 250-mile-long Duluth to Weston 345 kv bulk transfer transmission line.” The proposed line would cut through vast tracks of the southern Lake Superior Watershed.
Lake Levels at Record Low
Lake Superior’s water levels are the lowest they’ve been in 75 years. According to the Army Corps of Engineers and a recent Save Lake Superior Association release, a quick recovery is out of the question. John Love of the Army Corps of Engineers said, “It has taken three years to get to this point, and it would take three years of solid snowfall winters with moderate summer temperatures and regular spring rains to bring the lake back to normal.”
Another Estuary Threatened
Plans are still underway to build a golf course and hotel lodge on Lake Superior’s Spirit Mountain that contains diverse wetlands, one of the last thriving trout creeks in the area, and the largest plot of old growth forest of its kind in Minnesota. Opponents of the development fear it will serve as a sort of gateway for further development along the Saint Louis River corridor (Lake Superior’s largest tributary). Although a wide variety of environmental authorities, including the Minnesota DNR have opposed this project, permitting applications are scheduled to begin within weeks.
Figures Don’t Add Up
According to the Duluth Chamber of Commerce, building a golf course on Spirit Mountain makes economic sense. They say the golf course and lodge would yield “approximately $40 million to $45 million per year of additional economic impact.’’ Glenn Maxham, with Save Lake Superior Association and the Sierra Club, points out that these numbers simply do not add up! According to Maxham (and basic math), to bring in 45 million new dollars annually, the proposed golf course and lodge would have to take in $123,287 per day for every single day of the year, even during the five or six months of the year when the golf course would be closed—a logistic improbability.
Though this monetary figure has been used on a regular basis to justify the destruction of this ecological treasure for a golf course, now that the numbers are clearly incorrect, no one wants to take credit for coming up with them in the first place. Chamber of Commerce CEO David Ross claims the figures came from Duluth Economic Development Authority (DEDA). Tom Cotruvo of city planning and Mike Conlan of DEDA claim they have never heard of those figures. “In its zeal to convince us that the golf course and hotel are going to heap great financial rewards on our city, it (the Chamber of Commerce) must justify its claims with facts, not wishful thinking,” said Maxham.
A year ago the Duluth City Council voted to kill a proposal to build a new boat harbor at McQuade Road. They decided it would be an impractical thing to do based on numerous facts, including: the seven current Lake Superior boat launch sites are only operating at 10%, so there is no need for another one; the site has no natural harbor features and currently contains one of the last unobstructed views of Lake Superior in that area; the land was a gift from Chester Congdon, and the terms of the gift forbid development on the site; and the Knife River Harbor site is only 10 minutes away.
Despite all of this, Senators Sam Solon and Doug Jensen brought the harbor proposal back from the dead with a bill that would essentially allow the State of Minnesota to override Duluth’s decision and build the harbor anyway.
At a recent Duluth City Council meeting the chambers were packed with citizens, some of whom were carrying signs opposing a State take-over of this local site. The Council voted again, and sent a powerful message to the State Legislature choosing to protect this shoreland 7-1 (last year they voted 6-3).