Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 13, Number 2 • Early Spring 2005
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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Key elected officials from around the Lake Michigan basin are “just saying no” to a recent proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would allow the discharge of untreated municipal sewage into the open waters of the Great Lakes.
U.S. EPA’s proposed new dumping policy would allow treatment plants to bypass the cleansing procedures that make sewage effluent safer for discharge into public waterways. Facilities would be able to divert sewage around secondary treatment measures and blend the sewage with treated water prior to discharge, resulting in the dumping of waste.
Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn joined the Lake Michigan Federation in denouncing the policy at a February press conference on the Chicago shoreline. Quinn attacked U.S. EPA's "Blending Sewage Policy" for violating the nation's most important water quality law: the Clean Water Act. "This Orwellian name is an attempt to mask the toxic reality of the proposal, which threatens water quality and human health,” he said. Prompted by a recent report pointing to human sewage as a source of beach contamination in Door County, U.S. Representative Mark Green has also requested that U.S. EPA abandon the proposal. In January, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley urged the federal government to fund improvements of municipal sewage infrastructure that eliminate the need to discharge raw sewage rather than pursue a misguided policy.
While the policy purports to be for use only in times of severe storms when municipal sewers become overloaded, it could in fact be implemented any time it rains. Under current law, treatment plants are allowed to divert sewage, but only under limited circumstances. In effect, the new policy makes dumping the rule, rather than the exception.
The Federation, which is seeking bi-partisan opposition to the measure, has been working against the policy in the nation’s capital. “This policy is unenforceable, a pollution permit writer’s worst nightmare, and a dream come true for recalcitrant municipalities,” said Federation board president Dale Bryson at a January briefing of some 60 congressional staff members.
The EPA justifies the proposed policy, arguing it will provide relief to treatment plants during heavy storms while still requiring compliance with water quality standards. However, current standards don't necessarily protect against the discharge of untreated municipal sewage into charge of viruses, parasites and pathogens from treatment plants. The proposed policy also relieves treatment plants from upgrading their facilities and making necessary repairs.
For more information, contact Cameron Davis at 312-939-0838 x2 or cdavis@lakemichigan.org
Officials of Chicago Wilderness (CW) – a tri-state coalition of over 170 organizations and agencies - have long recognized the value of Lake Michigan to its institutional plans. Aside from its prominence as a natural feature, the lake ties together the metro regions of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. As such, CW has had an interest in complementing its 1999 Biodiversity Recovery Plan with a similar road map for Lake Michigan coastal recovery.
Informed by years of state, municipal and grassroots work to restore and protect habitats along the southern Lake Michigan shoreline, CW has taken a major step towards adopting plans for Great Lakes restoration along the urbanized and natural coasts of southeastWisconsin, Illinois, and northwest Indiana. In April, CW is hosting a members meeting to discuss the draft Lake Michigan Action Plan currently circulating within the coalition. After members have identified critical gaps and needs for the plan, public meetings aimed at municipalities and community members will continue through 2005, eventually culminating in official adoption of the Action Plan by CW.
The timing could not be better for the region. CW’s adoption of action steps for restoring Lake Michigan provides a natural connection between the well-organized greater Chicago conservation community and the ongoing Great Lakes Regional Collaborative charged with creating a strategy for Great Lakes restoration. In Illinois, the CW coalition will be able to inform the development of the state’s new coastal management plan under the federal Coastal Management Program. Mirroring the impact of CW’s work on terrestrial habitats in the Chicago region, this new commitment to the Great Lakes will provide a forum for partners in restoration to better coordinate coastal projects throughout the southern Lake Michigan basin.
For more information, contact Joel Brammeier at 312-939-0838x4 or jbrammeier@lakemichigan.org.
Lake Michigan Advisor |