Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 8, Number 5 • September-October 2000
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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The Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s proposed 401 Water Quality Certification and Wetland Water Quality Standard rules are now being considered by a Wetlands Subcommittee of the General Assembly’s Environmental Quality Services Council. The Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Vi Simpson (D, Bloomington), is dominated by advisory members from agriculture, industry, and utility interests. Sandra Wilmore of Save the Dunes Conservation Fund and George Smolka of the Sierra Club’s Duneland Chapter are among the members (5:21) from the environmental community. The last meetings have covered the wetland water quality standards and mitigation. Considering what we started up against, we are relatively pleased with the proceedings thus far. The next topic, to be addressed at the October 19 meeting, is the economic impacts and benefits of wetlands. We are well aware of the economic benefits of wetlands and the costs associated with their destruction. These things are not easily quantified, however, and we have been unsuccessful in obtaining hard figures to present to the Subcommittee. If you are aware of any potential reliable source for this type of information, please call Sandra Wilmore at (219) 879-3564 or email: sand@savedunes.org. Thank you!
The final meeting will cover the Subcommittee’s recommendations regarding the rules, to be presented to the Water Pollution Control Board for a final determination.
This November 18 and 19, Save the Dunes Conservation Fund is hosting the Indiana Clear Water Revival at the Indiana Dunes Environmental Learning Center. There will be several presentations on the status of issues such as Combined Sewer Overflows and Total Maximum Daily Loads, but our primary goal is to address the feasibility of stepping up to a state-wide network for clean water in Indiana. There has been substantial interest in such an effort since the horrific fish kill on White River in December of 1999 (see May-June newsletter). We intend to build on this momentum and hope to identify next steps and significant role players at the Clear Water Revival meeting. We are working with many others, including the Sierra Club, Friends of White River, the Hoosier Environmental Council, and the Grand Cal Task Force. For further information, contact Sandra Wilmore at (219) 879-3564 or email: sand@savedunes.org.
Save the Dunes Conservation Fund has joined with four other groups (the Cedar Creek Wildlife Project, Citizens Action Coalition, Hoosier Environmental Council, and Izaak Walton League of America,) in filing a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue the Environmental Protection Agency. The target of the action is Senate Enrolled Act 431, signed by Governor Frank O’Bannon in March. The law allows the state to temporarily suspend water quality standards when cities with combined storm and sanitary sewer systems have to send untreated water into local streams after heavy rains. It also would allow additional discharges to Lake Michigan and other designated Outstanding State Resource Waters if the overall water quality in the watershed was estimated to improve, or if an additional fee for water quality improvements were paid. There has not yet been an official response to the Notice, filed in mid-September. We are hopeful that our efforts will prompt the EPA to acknowledge that SEA 431 will revise Indiana water quality standards without prior EPA approval, and thus violates the Clean Water Act.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved changes to an aggressive clean up plan for the Conrail Superfund Site. The site consists of an Elkhart rail yard and adjacent neighborhoods and is contaminated with carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethylene. The contaminants, first discovered 14 years ago, have leaked from the rail yard into the ground water and are present in some areas at several hundred times the level allowed by EPA safety standards. The new plan excludes an original strategy for digging up pollution sources up to 100 feet below ground at the rail yard. Instead, Conrail has been ordered to contain pollution at the site, which they argued stands the best chance of eventually eradicating pollution from the neighborhoods. Conrail will save an estimated $10.4 million because of the new plan. In exchange, they are investigating pollution sources at the Osceola Drag Strip and will eliminate or contain any sources found. The Citizens League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN) is satisfied with the new plan so long as it is put into action soon. If attempts are made to modify the new plan, they will fight for improvements.
Save the Dunes Conservation Fund
444 Barker Road
Michigan City, IN 46360
PH: (219) 879-3564
FX: (219) 879-3793
email: sand@savedunes.org