MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) — A group representing U.S. governors and Canadian premiers in the Great Lakes region has agreed to cooperate on promoting trade and maritime commerce.
The Council of Great Lakes Governors adopted a series of resolutions Saturday on Mackinac Island during its first summit meeting since 2005. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he hopes the governors will begin meeting more regularly to make sure their plans lead to action.
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One resolution says that regulatory hurdles, aging infrastructure and low water levels are preventing the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River from meeting their potential as commercial corridors. It establishes a task force with members from the eight states and two Canadian provinces in the region to make improvements.
It also urges both federal governments to fund the lakes as a single system.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Dozens of pollutants ranging from chemicals in everyday household products to airborne residue from car exhaust end up in Milwaukee area waterways, a new study has found.
Generally the pollutants were found at low levels in streams, rivers and in the Milwaukee harbor. But in some cases, the U.S. Geological Survey found the pollutants are at high enough levels to harm fish and other aquatic life.
“I don’t want this spun that streams are full of toxic chemicals that people should be scared of,” said Austin Baldwin, a hydrologist with the federal agency. “But they are definitely widespread.”
The study found the Kinnickinnic River to be especially vulnerable.
Cheryl Nenn of Milwaukee Riverkeeper, which conducts its own water quality testing in the Milwaukee River basin, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/11ufpFR) that she is alarmed by the findings, in part because so little is known about the effect the chemicals is having in the waterways.
“It’s frustrating because often these chemicals are being approved (by federal regulators) and being put into insecticides and pharmaceuticals without a true sense of their biological impacts,” Nenn said.
The study, released this past week, examined water samples in streams and rivers, sediments and the harbor from 2006 to 2009. The study’s approach contrasted with the way water quality is normally measured, when testers look at other measures, such as the amount of suspended solids, bacteria and oxygen.
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DESOTO, Wis. (AP) — A southwestern Wisconsin park is offering only limited camping this weekend due to minor flooding.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says Blackhawk Park near DeSoto has extremely wet conditions.
In addition, the Corps will close sites 40 to 73 of the West Loop Camping Area this Monday through Thursday to do maintenance work.
The Corps says with the flooding and this closure, the number of campsites at Blackhawk Park will be limited. Campers should contact park staff before planning a camping trip.
The Corps plans to reopen the West Loop for next weekend and other sites as river levels recede and conditions improve.
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MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said Saturday that separating the Great Lakes and Mississippi River systems is the “ultimate solution” to prevent voracious Asian carp from overrunning the lakes, a potential step toward resolving a longstanding regional feud.
During a meeting with governors of several neighboring states, Quinn said it would be a massive and costly undertaking to rework the Chicago canal project that linked the two giant watersheds a century ago. He defended Illinois’ efforts to block the advance of silver and bighead carp toward the lakes by hiring commercial fishermen and operating an electric barrier, but acknowledged more needs to be done.
“Ultimately, I think we have to separate the basins,” Quinn said. “I really feel that is the ultimate solution.”
His comment during a Council of Great Lakes Governors panel discussion on this Lake Huron resort island drew applause from government officials, environmental advocates and others in attendance. “I hope you’re clapping when Congress comes to invest the money,” Quinn said. “It has to be a national project.”
But Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican whose state has sided with Illinois in opposing separation, told reporters his position had not changed. It would “cost thousands of Hoosier jobs and cause additional harm to many Hoosiers to manufacture and grow our products,” Pence said. “It’s important that we deal with this issue but it’s also important that we deal with it in a way preserves the logistical advantages and opportunity to move commerce through our region.”
Asian carp were imported in the 1970s to cleanse Deep South aquaculture and sewage treatment ponds. Some escaped during floods and have migrated northward in the Mississippi River and its tributaries. They have advanced to within 55 miles of Lake Michigan in the Illinois River, which connects with a shipping canal and other waters that reach Lake Michigan.
The Great Lakes region has been sharply divided over how to deal with the threat. Michigan went to court in an unsuccessful effort to force closure of Chicago-area shipping locks, then joined four other states — Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania — in a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Chicago’s water district, claiming their refusal to physically separate the watersheds was creating a public nuisance. A federal judge tossed out the case in December.
