Fall 2007
| Newsletter |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Status of our legal efforts
By Le Lind, President
SLSA continues to be involved in legal actions to prevent the transfer of the vhs fish
virus into the waters of Lake Superior and also to reduce the level of airborne asbestos
fibers in the North Shore air in the vicinity of the Northshore Mining Company in Silver
Bay, MN.
Thanks to the generous contributions and dues from our members SLSA attorneys are
progressing toward the filing of a complaint in federal court against the USCG and
USDA/APHIS for not preventing the transportation of aquatic invasive species such as
vhs virus from infected waters into Lake Superior.
The agencies should be issuing and enforcing regulations to prevent violation of the
Nonindigenious Invasive Species Act. SLSA along with the Izaak Walton League will
continue to seek this enforcement as long as our limited resources permit. In the fibers
case, SLSA and Sierra Club have filed a complaint in federal court against NMC for
failing to meet the "Control City" fiber limit in its permit.
Ambient fiber levels at Silver Bay and Beaver Bay monitors show fiber levels that are
often 4-10 times greater than fiber levels found in St. Paul. To protect the public health,
fiber levels near the Northshore facilities are not to be any greater than fiber levels
found in St. Paul
. Unfortunately the court granted NMC's motion to stay our case pending NMC's effort to
eliminate the fiber limit that was established in the landmark 1975 decision in the
Reserve Mining Case.
We opposed the stay, arguing that protection of human health should prevail over
NMC's legal maneuverings, that NMC never appealed the fiber limit in its permit within
the established time period, and that numerous legal cases state that citizen suits should
not be delayed while the polluter tries to change the standard it is accused of violating.
The hearing on NMC's motion to eliminate the
Control City fiber limit is scheduled for late November in St. Paul.
183 Invasive species—and counting!
This figure on non-native species now in the Great Lakes is tentative and is probably
higher according to the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News.
What is being done to keep that number from skyrocketing? Not nearly enough, but
there may be some progress on the horizon.
This month the long awaited test by the Great Ship Initiative will be held in Superior to
see how well a product called SeaKleen kills the invasive critters in ships' ballast water.
The price tag for the facility is $850,000 which will employ current technologies for
destroying life in the ballast; deoxygenation, ultraviolet light, filtration and other
techniques.
The testing operations are being managed by the Univ. of Wisconsin-Superior and the
Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth.
SLSA, while supportive of the project, would like to be assured that filtering screens on
ships are fine enough to stop the release of even the very smallest life forms that could
harm the Lake Superior ecosystem.
Check out this website
www.stopvhsfishvirus.com
Making Isle Royale virus-free!
The National Park Service wants to keep VHS from infecting the waters in and around
the nearly-pristine jewel a few miles off Northeastern Minnesota.
The jurisdiction of the Park Service extends four and a half miles around the island in all
directions (we learned for the first time.) Superintendent Phyllis Green noted that there's
an overlapping of two commercial shipping lanes from the Soo Locks to Thunder Bay,
Ontario—areas in which infected ballast water could be dumped.
Not only do the very cold waters around the island not discourage survival of the fish-
killing virus, it actually prefers frigid temperatures.
Professor David Hand of Michigan Technological University's Civil and Environmental
Engineering department said the virus becomes less active in water 59 degrees or
warmer.
New Impaired Waters list...grim reading!
The "patient" may look well but the diagnosis proves to be otherwise. Though not
spoken in this manner, the MPCA staff cautioned at the outset of the Impaired Waters
conference we attended to be prepared for more bad news on our rivers and lakes. In its
2008 draft, all ten of the
states' river basins were included. Here we'll look only at the Lake Superior Basin while
assuring you that the picture is no rosier in the other nine.
Under the demands of the Federal Clean Water Act, the MPCA examines what is called
the total maximum daily load—TMDL. "which is pollutant-specific, defining the maximum
amount of each pollutant that can be released and assimilated in the receiving water
from point and non-point sources, thereby allowing the receiving water to meet water
quality standards."
Simply interpreted, it means, sadly, that polluters could, theoretically, continue to put
their toxics in these streams and lakes until the water quality standard is met.
The MPCA issued this statement, "In the Lake Superior Basin there are fifteen rivers and
creeks that are impaired for one of more of the following pollutants: Mercury, pH,
turbidity, high temperature, impaired biota ( fish and/or invertebrates), DDT, Dieldren,
Dioxin, taxophene and low dissolved oxygen. Altogether there are 123 individual
TMDL reports needed in this basin."
The sixty page draft report is quite technical but if you want to know more you can
contact the list coordinator via e-mail. Howard.markus@pca.state.mn.us. or you could
request a copy by writing to: Dr. Howard Markus, TMDL list coordinator, Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency, 520 Lafayette Road North, St. Paul, MN. 55155-4196
http://proteus.pca.state.mn.us/water/tmdl/index.html
Sharing the blame
The source of the troubling E.coli bacteria that again closed beaches this past summer
continues to be under study by Sea Grant of Minnesota. Initially it was thought the waste
came exclusively from birds, pets and humans. New studies appear to support beach
sand as a natural incubator which may or may not be harmless.
No need to dodge Coast Guard bullets on Lake Superior!
After hearing from an outraged public, the Coast Guard has dropped plans for the firing
of live ammunition over these waters while training.
It was the loud outcry from untold numbers of civilians that our safety would actually be in
jeopardy, not enhanced by firearm practice.
To its credit, the USCG looked for another way to give its personnel the necessary
training and practice and appears ready to employ modern electronics instead of bullets.
It's called the Multiple Integrated Laser En¬gagement System with the acronym of MILES.
The laser is attached to real guns but instead of spewing out shells, it emits an eye-safe
beam. The gunner aims at a detection pad on a "target" ship. The beam sets off a red or
green light when it strikes the receptor.
This is not a new concept in that other branches of the military, including the Army, have
been using it for years.
The system is in the evaluation phase at the moment and other alternatives are under
consideration. Except in emergency situations demanding live ammunition, it's unlikely
Coast Guard training bullets will ever penetrate the air over the Great Lakes.
Warmer Water Coming!
We're told that Lake Superior water has been warming a lot more rapidly than the air in
recent years. Scientists at
Duluth's downtown waterfront.
the University of Minnesota-Duluth have studied the water temps at 31 locations on the
lake for the past twenty-seven years. The readings were all taken at sites within 500
kilometers of the center of the lake and they found the summertime increase had risen
about 1.5C.
At the same time, the instruments attached to three buoys revealed a jump of 2.5C in the
summertime surface water.
They believe the higher temps can be attributed, in part, to the shrinking ice cover seen
in recent years.
Geophysicist Jay Austin described the temperature rise as a "remarkable rate." The
other major factor causing the increase, the researchers conclude, is the rise in
summertime air temperatures.
Shippers feel the pinch of low water!
The bane of the commercial shipping business is having vessels run aground while
moving in and out of ports. To reduce the odds of that happening, the ships are taking
on less cargo and thus float higher. Less cargo, of course, means less income for this
industry. The Lake Carriers Association cited an example of what's happening due to the
lack of an adequate depth and slowness in dredging.
The Association noted that one vessel with a cargo capacity of 71,000 tons of ore had to
settle for less than sixty tons.
Shipping tonnages of dry bulk cargo (ore, coal, grain, etc.) dropped by 28 percent in
March of this year.
The most impacted were companies loading taconite pellets and coal at Lake Superior
ports. There's no apparent end in sight to reverse this problem.
52 pages of frustration in translating technical data from government agencies!
As I write, a half-inch stack of papers in front of me is from the MN Department of Health ,
Drinking Water Protection department. No doubt the two pound bundle holds valuable
information on the results of extensive testing of the state's drinking water. Extracting
and interpreting the findings relevant to drinking water safety couldn't possibly be done
in time for this issue of the newsletter. Typical among the hundreds of test readings is
this: Men's restroom sink—Spirit Mountain Chalet. (Duluth) —-Chloroform-type B— 6.80
ug/L.
Perhaps this particular test, picked at random, proves to be no big deal. We hope to get
many answers to many questions from MHD's Compliance Officer for the Winter edition.
Congatulations, Arnold!
We are very proud to report that past SLSA president Arnold Overby (more than a
quarter century in that leadership position) is the recipient of the 2007 Great Lakes
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Announcement of the honor was made during the third annual Great Lakes Restoration
Conference in Chicago last month.
Overby is among the founders of The Save Lake Superior Association and became a
leading voice in the hard-fought but successful battle to force Reserve Mining to quit
dumping its taconite tailings into Lake Superior. Today, Arnold downplays the risks he
faced and the pressures brought to bear as he continued to teach high school in Silver
Bay, the location of the Reserve Mining plant.
The coalition also noted his service on the St. Louis River Remedial Action Program, the
Lake Superior Bi-National Forum, the Lake Superior Coastal Council, Citizens Advisory
Council, North Shore Management Board and the North Shore Watershed Watch.
PolyMet falls behind schedule.
Our members who attended a lengthy meeting hosted by the Minnesota Pollution
Agency on Oct. 5, welcomed the news that the company wanting to be the first to begin
sulfide mining has not yet submitted its application for a permit to mine in Minnesota. The
MPCA had expected to receive this document in October.
The DNR is likewise behind its intended schedule due to "uncertainties with technical
issues." It appears that one of hangups involves assurances to the state agencies that
acid leachate from stored ore will be kept from draining into our streams and lakes. This
issue is also the principal concern of SLSA, fearing that the acid could eventually feed
into Lake Superior.
We learned that the Boise Fort and Fond du Lac tribal bands have been accepted by
the state as "cooperating agencies." and will offer expertise on the Treaty of 1854.
This is significant because the proposed mining property is within the acreage ceded by
the signers of the treaty.
(Mineral rights were given up except for the surface land depth "as deep as a plow can
scrape.") While there were some complaints that the MPCA and DNR were being overly
cautious in not releasing data the audience of environmentalists would like to review, the
atmosphere remained friendly.
We expressed our appreciation for the effort the state made in providing top personnel
from its St. Paul headquarters to meet with us. The US Forest Service was also
represented to respond to questions on a pending land swap.
We were promised to be updated on the status of the Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) and related developments.
Back off, Bill Richardson...
eyeing the water of the Great Lakes, the New Mexico Democratic presidential candidate
recently stated, "States like Wisconsin are awash in water." So be it!
Long term benefits of metal mining questioned.
Though some may call it heresy to suggest that long term environmental damage from
mining may negate the economic advantages in northern Minnesota, The Sierra Club
and Minnesota
Center for Environmental Advocacy launched a study to examine the impact of new
mining projects.
An economics and research professor, Thomas Power of the University of Montana,
produced a 37 page report. It conceded that several thousand new jobs will result from
new mining but also pointed out the surge in employment in this industry will not nearly
make up for the 11,000 jobs lost in the past quarter-century in the taconite industry.
Power's statistics show that personal income of Minnesotans resulting from the state's
metal mining operations in 2005 amounted to only two-tenths of one percent. In 1979
that figure was 1.2 percent. Read the full report: (7 mb's)
http://www.mncenter.org/minnesota_center_for_envi/files/Miningreport10-4.pdf
Lakes Compact moves on.
Following Minnesota's lead, the state of Illinois has now joined in the legal action to
prohibit new applications for water diversion. All eight Great Lake states must concur
before ratification by the U.S. Congress.
Your SLSA Board Members
LeRoger Lind (Pres.), Nancy Paisley, Glenn Maxham, (VP) Will Munger, Jr., Deb Ortman, Alice Pierce
(Treas), Arnold Overby, Karen Ritchie, Todd Ronning, Doris Sampson (Sec.) Mary Joe Keefe (T.Cities
Rep) Alison Contos-Member emeritus
SLSA membership still only $5.00 per person per year, Your renewal date appears on your mailing
label.)
By Le Lind, President
SLSA continues to be involved in legal actions to prevent the transfer of the vhs fish
virus into the waters of Lake Superior and also to reduce the level of airborne asbestos
fibers in the North Shore air in the vicinity of the Northshore Mining Company in Silver
Bay, MN.
Thanks to the generous contributions and dues from our members SLSA attorneys are
progressing toward the filing of a complaint in federal court against the USCG and
USDA/APHIS for not preventing the transportation of aquatic invasive species such as
vhs virus from infected waters into Lake Superior.
The agencies should be issuing and enforcing regulations to prevent violation of the
Nonindigenious Invasive Species Act. SLSA along with the Izaak Walton League will
continue to seek this enforcement as long as our limited resources permit. In the fibers
case, SLSA and Sierra Club have filed a complaint in federal court against NMC for
failing to meet the "Control City" fiber limit in its permit.
Ambient fiber levels at Silver Bay and Beaver Bay monitors show fiber levels that are
often 4-10 times greater than fiber levels found in St. Paul. To protect the public health,
fiber levels near the Northshore facilities are not to be any greater than fiber levels
found in St. Paul
. Unfortunately the court granted NMC's motion to stay our case pending NMC's effort to
eliminate the fiber limit that was established in the landmark 1975 decision in the
Reserve Mining Case.
We opposed the stay, arguing that protection of human health should prevail over
NMC's legal maneuverings, that NMC never appealed the fiber limit in its permit within
the established time period, and that numerous legal cases state that citizen suits should
not be delayed while the polluter tries to change the standard it is accused of violating.
The hearing on NMC's motion to eliminate the
Control City fiber limit is scheduled for late November in St. Paul.
183 Invasive species—and counting!
This figure on non-native species now in the Great Lakes is tentative and is probably
higher according to the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News.
What is being done to keep that number from skyrocketing? Not nearly enough, but
there may be some progress on the horizon.
This month the long awaited test by the Great Ship Initiative will be held in Superior to
see how well a product called SeaKleen kills the invasive critters in ships' ballast water.
The price tag for the facility is $850,000 which will employ current technologies for
destroying life in the ballast; deoxygenation, ultraviolet light, filtration and other
techniques.
The testing operations are being managed by the Univ. of Wisconsin-Superior and the
Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth.
SLSA, while supportive of the project, would like to be assured that filtering screens on
ships are fine enough to stop the release of even the very smallest life forms that could
harm the Lake Superior ecosystem.
Check out this website
www.stopvhsfishvirus.com
Making Isle Royale virus-free!
The National Park Service wants to keep VHS from infecting the waters in and around
the nearly-pristine jewel a few miles off Northeastern Minnesota.
The jurisdiction of the Park Service extends four and a half miles around the island in all
directions (we learned for the first time.) Superintendent Phyllis Green noted that there's
an overlapping of two commercial shipping lanes from the Soo Locks to Thunder Bay,
Ontario—areas in which infected ballast water could be dumped.
Not only do the very cold waters around the island not discourage survival of the fish-
killing virus, it actually prefers frigid temperatures.
Professor David Hand of Michigan Technological University's Civil and Environmental
Engineering department said the virus becomes less active in water 59 degrees or
warmer.
New Impaired Waters list...grim reading!
The "patient" may look well but the diagnosis proves to be otherwise. Though not
spoken in this manner, the MPCA staff cautioned at the outset of the Impaired Waters
conference we attended to be prepared for more bad news on our rivers and lakes. In its
2008 draft, all ten of the
states' river basins were included. Here we'll look only at the Lake Superior Basin while
assuring you that the picture is no rosier in the other nine.
Under the demands of the Federal Clean Water Act, the MPCA examines what is called
the total maximum daily load—TMDL. "which is pollutant-specific, defining the maximum
amount of each pollutant that can be released and assimilated in the receiving water
from point and non-point sources, thereby allowing the receiving water to meet water
quality standards."
Simply interpreted, it means, sadly, that polluters could, theoretically, continue to put
their toxics in these streams and lakes until the water quality standard is met.
The MPCA issued this statement, "In the Lake Superior Basin there are fifteen rivers and
creeks that are impaired for one of more of the following pollutants: Mercury, pH,
turbidity, high temperature, impaired biota ( fish and/or invertebrates), DDT, Dieldren,
Dioxin, taxophene and low dissolved oxygen. Altogether there are 123 individual
TMDL reports needed in this basin."
The sixty page draft report is quite technical but if you want to know more you can
contact the list coordinator via e-mail. Howard.markus@pca.state.mn.us. or you could
request a copy by writing to: Dr. Howard Markus, TMDL list coordinator, Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency, 520 Lafayette Road North, St. Paul, MN. 55155-4196
http://proteus.pca.state.mn.us/water/tmdl/index.html
Sharing the blame
The source of the troubling E.coli bacteria that again closed beaches this past summer
continues to be under study by Sea Grant of Minnesota. Initially it was thought the waste
came exclusively from birds, pets and humans. New studies appear to support beach
sand as a natural incubator which may or may not be harmless.
No need to dodge Coast Guard bullets on Lake Superior!
After hearing from an outraged public, the Coast Guard has dropped plans for the firing
of live ammunition over these waters while training.
It was the loud outcry from untold numbers of civilians that our safety would actually be in
jeopardy, not enhanced by firearm practice.
To its credit, the USCG looked for another way to give its personnel the necessary
training and practice and appears ready to employ modern electronics instead of bullets.
It's called the Multiple Integrated Laser En¬gagement System with the acronym of MILES.
The laser is attached to real guns but instead of spewing out shells, it emits an eye-safe
beam. The gunner aims at a detection pad on a "target" ship. The beam sets off a red or
green light when it strikes the receptor.
This is not a new concept in that other branches of the military, including the Army, have
been using it for years.
The system is in the evaluation phase at the moment and other alternatives are under
consideration. Except in emergency situations demanding live ammunition, it's unlikely
Coast Guard training bullets will ever penetrate the air over the Great Lakes.
Warmer Water Coming!
We're told that Lake Superior water has been warming a lot more rapidly than the air in
recent years. Scientists at
Duluth's downtown waterfront.
the University of Minnesota-Duluth have studied the water temps at 31 locations on the
lake for the past twenty-seven years. The readings were all taken at sites within 500
kilometers of the center of the lake and they found the summertime increase had risen
about 1.5C.
At the same time, the instruments attached to three buoys revealed a jump of 2.5C in the
summertime surface water.
They believe the higher temps can be attributed, in part, to the shrinking ice cover seen
in recent years.
Geophysicist Jay Austin described the temperature rise as a "remarkable rate." The
other major factor causing the increase, the researchers conclude, is the rise in
summertime air temperatures.
Shippers feel the pinch of low water!
The bane of the commercial shipping business is having vessels run aground while
moving in and out of ports. To reduce the odds of that happening, the ships are taking
on less cargo and thus float higher. Less cargo, of course, means less income for this
industry. The Lake Carriers Association cited an example of what's happening due to the
lack of an adequate depth and slowness in dredging.
The Association noted that one vessel with a cargo capacity of 71,000 tons of ore had to
settle for less than sixty tons.
Shipping tonnages of dry bulk cargo (ore, coal, grain, etc.) dropped by 28 percent in
March of this year.
The most impacted were companies loading taconite pellets and coal at Lake Superior
ports. There's no apparent end in sight to reverse this problem.
52 pages of frustration in translating technical data from government agencies!
As I write, a half-inch stack of papers in front of me is from the MN Department of Health ,
Drinking Water Protection department. No doubt the two pound bundle holds valuable
information on the results of extensive testing of the state's drinking water. Extracting
and interpreting the findings relevant to drinking water safety couldn't possibly be done
in time for this issue of the newsletter. Typical among the hundreds of test readings is
this: Men's restroom sink—Spirit Mountain Chalet. (Duluth) —-Chloroform-type B— 6.80
ug/L.
Perhaps this particular test, picked at random, proves to be no big deal. We hope to get
many answers to many questions from MHD's Compliance Officer for the Winter edition.
Congatulations, Arnold!
We are very proud to report that past SLSA president Arnold Overby (more than a
quarter century in that leadership position) is the recipient of the 2007 Great Lakes
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Announcement of the honor was made during the third annual Great Lakes Restoration
Conference in Chicago last month.
Overby is among the founders of The Save Lake Superior Association and became a
leading voice in the hard-fought but successful battle to force Reserve Mining to quit
dumping its taconite tailings into Lake Superior. Today, Arnold downplays the risks he
faced and the pressures brought to bear as he continued to teach high school in Silver
Bay, the location of the Reserve Mining plant.
The coalition also noted his service on the St. Louis River Remedial Action Program, the
Lake Superior Bi-National Forum, the Lake Superior Coastal Council, Citizens Advisory
Council, North Shore Management Board and the North Shore Watershed Watch.
PolyMet falls behind schedule.
Our members who attended a lengthy meeting hosted by the Minnesota Pollution
Agency on Oct. 5, welcomed the news that the company wanting to be the first to begin
sulfide mining has not yet submitted its application for a permit to mine in Minnesota. The
MPCA had expected to receive this document in October.
The DNR is likewise behind its intended schedule due to "uncertainties with technical
issues." It appears that one of hangups involves assurances to the state agencies that
acid leachate from stored ore will be kept from draining into our streams and lakes. This
issue is also the principal concern of SLSA, fearing that the acid could eventually feed
into Lake Superior.
We learned that the Boise Fort and Fond du Lac tribal bands have been accepted by
the state as "cooperating agencies." and will offer expertise on the Treaty of 1854.
This is significant because the proposed mining property is within the acreage ceded by
the signers of the treaty.
(Mineral rights were given up except for the surface land depth "as deep as a plow can
scrape.") While there were some complaints that the MPCA and DNR were being overly
cautious in not releasing data the audience of environmentalists would like to review, the
atmosphere remained friendly.
We expressed our appreciation for the effort the state made in providing top personnel
from its St. Paul headquarters to meet with us. The US Forest Service was also
represented to respond to questions on a pending land swap.
We were promised to be updated on the status of the Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) and related developments.
Back off, Bill Richardson...
eyeing the water of the Great Lakes, the New Mexico Democratic presidential candidate
recently stated, "States like Wisconsin are awash in water." So be it!
Long term benefits of metal mining questioned.
Though some may call it heresy to suggest that long term environmental damage from
mining may negate the economic advantages in northern Minnesota, The Sierra Club
and Minnesota
Center for Environmental Advocacy launched a study to examine the impact of new
mining projects.
An economics and research professor, Thomas Power of the University of Montana,
produced a 37 page report. It conceded that several thousand new jobs will result from
new mining but also pointed out the surge in employment in this industry will not nearly
make up for the 11,000 jobs lost in the past quarter-century in the taconite industry.
Power's statistics show that personal income of Minnesotans resulting from the state's
metal mining operations in 2005 amounted to only two-tenths of one percent. In 1979
that figure was 1.2 percent. Read the full report: (7 mb's)
http://www.mncenter.org/minnesota_center_for_envi/files/Miningreport10-4.pdf
Lakes Compact moves on.
Following Minnesota's lead, the state of Illinois has now joined in the legal action to
prohibit new applications for water diversion. All eight Great Lake states must concur
before ratification by the U.S. Congress.
Your SLSA Board Members
LeRoger Lind (Pres.), Nancy Paisley, Glenn Maxham, (VP) Will Munger, Jr., Deb Ortman, Alice Pierce
(Treas), Arnold Overby, Karen Ritchie, Todd Ronning, Doris Sampson (Sec.) Mary Joe Keefe (T.Cities
Rep) Alison Contos-Member emeritus
SLSA membership still only $5.00 per person per year, Your renewal date appears on your mailing
label.)
