Congress to Require Reviews of Corps Projects?

Congress is taking steps to double-check massive projects planned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:

Transcript

Congress is taking steps to double-check massive projects planned by
the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
has more:


Major legislation to fund the Army Corps of Engineers is making its way
through
Congress. A House committee has added a provision that would require
an independent
review of the Corp’s big projects. Erick Eckl is with the
environmental
group, American Rivers. His organization applauds the amendment…


“The independent peer review provision that is now moving through
Congress would
help ensure that members of Congress have more reliable and more
accurate information
available to them about these projects before they vote to give them
the green light and
the greenbacks to be built.”


The Corps of Engineers has been criticized after a whistle-blower
revealed that the Corps
inflated the economic benefits of some of its projects in order to
improve the odds of
getting funding from Congress.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Related Links

Legal Wrangling Over River Levels Continues

The fight between environmental and business interests on the Missouri River has created legal wrangling in two federal courts. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tom Weber reports:

Transcript

The fight between environmental and business interests on the Missouri
River
has created legal wrangling in two federal courts. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s
Tom Weber reports:


The controversy started when a federal judge in Washington recently
ordered
the U.S. Corps of Engineers to lower water levels on the Missouri
river.
That move would protect endangered birds and fish that risked losing
their
nests with the higher water levels.


The Corps told the judge, though, it intended to ignore that ruling
because of a
previous ruling in a Nebraska court. That ruling said water levels
should
be high enough to keep barge traffic moving on the lower Missouri.


The Washington judge scolded the Corps for refusing her order and ruled
the
agency in contempt. The Corps in turn asked the Nebraska judge to
modify
her ruling to allow it to avoid heavy fines for being in contempt.


But Wednesday… the Nebraska judge refused. The Corps is appealing
her
ruling.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tom Weber.

Market-Based Approach for Water Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency is looking at a market-based attempt to reduce water pollution. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jenny Lawton explains:

Transcript

The Environmental Protection Agency is looking at a market-based
attempt to reduce water
pollution. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jenny Lawton explains:


The EPA says a market-based approach to reducing water pollution would
save the government
billions of dollars in enforcement measures and result in cleaner
rivers and lakes.


It would work like this… companies that clean up wastewater beyond
the EPA standards would
get credits. Then those companies could sell their credits to
companies that cannot meet EPA
standards.


Some environmentalists worry that system will legitimize polluters, so
long as they can pay the
price.


But the EPA’s Tracy Mehan calls the trade a means to an end…


“And the end is the attainment of water quality standards. That is part
of the landscape under
the Clean Water Act already, or the watershed, if you will. In other
words, our policy does not
allow any trading that would exceed those water quality standards.”


But targeting water pollution is complicated. It can come from farm
fields or pesticides from your
neighbor’s lawn.


They’ll have to figure out how to measure that before a water pollution
credit market can be
established.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jenny Lawton.

Group Calls for Nuke Plant Phaseout

A group that promotes green energy says the electricity crisis across North America is going to get worse. And the group says refurbishing old nuclear plants is not the answer. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports:

Transcript

A group that promotes green energy says the electricity crisis across
North America is
going to get worse. And the group says refurbishing old nuclear plants
is not the answer.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports:


Ralph Torrie is one of the authors of a new report by the environmental
group, The
Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout. He wants to reduce reliance on nuclear
power. Torrie
says more than half of the working reactors will need serious repairs
in the next decade.
And new sources of energy will have to be found to bridge the gap until
the repairs are
completed.


“Premature aging and poor performance of the reactors is making the
problem that we’re
facing much more urgent than if the plants were operating the way they
were supposed to
be.”


Torrie says the reconstruction money would be better spent in
developing more efficient
energy programs and finding more renewable sources of energy.


Officials for the nuclear industry say reactors are like cars… and
need to be refurbished to
keep them running smoothly.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Karpenchuk.

Duck Populations Recover From Drought

Waterfowl hunters in the Great Lakes region will likely have better luck this year. The duck populations spending the summer in Canada are up. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:

Transcript

Waterfowl hunters in the Great Lakes region will likely have better
luck this year. The duck
populations spending the summer in Canada are up. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester
Graham has more:


The duck populations suffered as many of the prairie potholes and small
ponds in much of
Canada’s prairies dried during the past few years. But things this
year are different. Henry
Murkin is chief biologist with Ducks Unlimited – Canada.


“What’s happened is water’s come back to the breeding grounds and the
ducks have come back
as well.”


Murkin says many waterfowl have recovered from the cyclical dry spell.


“Most species are up and they’re either at or very near to their
long-term averages.”


The mallard duck count was up 30 percent over last year. Other
waterfowl are also doing better.
Murkin says the wet-dry conditions are part of the ducks’ natural
cycles. He says he’s more
worried about habitat loss for the waterfowl in both the U.S. and
Canada.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Related Links

Transportation Costs Strain Family Budgets

A new study puts nine Great Lakes cities near the top of the list of cities where transportation costs strain household budgets. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Rice reports:

Transcript

A new study puts nine Great Lakes cities near the top of the list of
cities
where transportation costs strain household budgets. The Great Lakes
Radio
Consortium’s Bill Rice reports:


The study by the Surface Transportation Policy Project in Washington
shows
transportation is the second highest household expense across the
nation,
led only by housing.


Michelle Ernst, who authored the study, says Americans spend an average
of
about 19 cents per dollar on transportation. She says cities that rank
high
tend to have less-than-optimal public transit.


“What we found is that investing in good public transportation
service tends to lower private costs, family costs for transportation.
And so
what we call for in the study is providing people with more
transportation choices.”


And not just public transit, Ernst says, but safe bicycle paths and
sidewalks as well.


Cleveland is among the top five cities where families’ transportation
costs are
exceptionally high. The list includes eight other cities in the Great
Lakes region.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Rice.

Related Links

Alpaca Farming Becoming Next Livestock Trend

  • Sienna Sue, an alpaca on A.L. Paca Farms. Photo by Doug Caldwell.

There’s an up-and-coming livestock trend in the region. Alpacas are common in the high plains of Peru, Chile and Bolivia, where people have used their fleece for clothes and their dung as fuel for centuries. They haven’t even been in the U.S. 20 years, but their low environmental impact, cold weather tolerance and high-priced fleece make them an increasingly popular choice for farmers. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Skye Rohde reports:

Transcript

There’s an up-and-coming livestock trend in the Great Lakes region.
Alpacas are
common in the high plains of Peru, Chile and Bolivia, where people have
used their
fleece for clothes and their dung as fuel for centuries. They haven’t
even been in the U.S.
20 years, but their low environmental impact, cold weather tolerance
and high-priced
fleece make them an increasingly popular choice for farmers. The Great
Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Skye Rohde reports:


(ambient sound of barn)


Alpacas stand about five feet from head-to-toe. Fluffier and smaller
than their llama
cousins, they have long thin necks, big eyes and four bottom teeth.
Pack animals with
their own pecking orders, they communicate by humming.


(sound of alpacas humming)


Bob and Ellen Chamberlain have eight animals at River Bend Alpacas,
their farm in
Croghan, New York. They’ve done a lot of research into alpacas, but
it’s a side business
for them right now. He teaches physics at the local school and she
substitute teaches, in
addition to raising three kids.


Ellen Chamberlain coos at Jambalaya, one of the three original alpacas,
who took a year
to warm up to her.


“Just gorgeous…”


She scratches Cyrus’ neck as he leans into her shoulder. She kisses
Valentine, whose cria
– or baby alpaca – should be born any day.


“People say they have bad breath, but I don’t think so.”


Skye Rohde, to Bob Chamberlain: “Do you agree?”


Bob Chamberlain, laughing, “Bad breath.”


Ellen Chamberlain: “Oh, Cyrus, you’ve got a bug bite on your eye
though.”


Breeders and owners love alpacas’ curiosity and easygoing
personalities. They say it
doesn’t cost much more to care for an alpaca than a dog. An acre of
land can easily
support seven to 10 of them, and alpacas’ hooves are padded, so they
don’t dig up the
ground as much as other livestock.


Marilyn Otteson is a veterinarian who treats alpacas in Auburn, New
York.


“They’re easy to take care of. They don’t require a lot of special
things in the way of
feed, for instance. And right now, this time of year, a lot of them
are out on pasture.
They get supplemented with a small amount of grain. They’re also very
neat animals. As
a group, they usually choose one or two spots in the barn or outside to
use as their dung
pile, they call it. You worm them periodically. You trim their nails
and watch their
teeth, and that’s about it.”


There are around 45,000 alpacas in the U.S. right now. Ohio has more
alpaca farms than
any other state, and there are more than 800 farms in the Great Lakes
region.


Right now, alpaca owners make most of their money selling animals to
other owners and
breeders. A pregnant female sells for around $15,000. A stud male
goes for between $15
and $30,000.


Alpacas are shorn every spring. Their fleece – said to be warmer than
wool and as soft as
cashmere – sells for 3 to 5 dollars per ounce. Some owners sell it to
the Alpaca Fiber
Cooperative of North America. Others spin it into yarn themselves to
knit hats and
gloves.


Skeptics say alpaca farming is still a bit of a risky proposition
because it’s so new. They
worry that fleece prices may fall if production exceeds demand. They
say with three
million alpacas worldwide, the U.S. can’t compete with South American
countries in a
limited market.


Duncan Hilchey, of Cornell University’s Department of Rural Sociology,
says potential
buyers must keep tabs on the market for alternative livestock products
before jumping
into the business.


“It’s possible to get those prices. But in a very narrow market, you
know, if it’s a niche,
suddenly you get a lot of people producing the product and the value
goes down –
dramatically – and it’s not profitable at all.”


This isn’t the first time exotic livestock have become popular, but in
the past they’ve
fizzled. Hilchey says the ostrich and emu fads failed because owners
didn’t promote the
animals’ meat, feathers and oil enough to shift from a breeders’ market
to a viable
commercial market.


Alpaca owners say the industry is still growing, since alpacas have
only been in the U.S.
since 1984. They like the relaxing lifestyle and collaboration that
come with raising
alpacas.


But Ellen Chamberlain says the learning curve has been sort of steep.


“It was just a real learning experience for me. Because I had had dogs
and cats and that
sort of thing, but never any major kind of livestock before, and
certainly had never filled
a syringe, let alone given a shot to anybody. Maybe my dad once with
his insulin, but
besides that… so that was all really new.”


And the Chamberlains say they’ve had a little “bad luck” – although
they’ve been hoping
for females, five of the six crias born to their alpacas have been
males. They say they
don’t want more than 20 animals – the most their pastures can hold.
Only now are they
ready to sell their alpacas.


Sorting fleeces in her barn, Ellen Chamberlain says even with the risk,
she’s excited about
raising alpacas.


“I think everybody knows that the future success of this whole thing is
in learning and
growing and that. And the more people you get involved in it with, and
work together,
the stronger it’s going to be.”


The next big challenge for the Chamberlains might be shearing the
alpacas themselves
next spring, something Ellen has a little experience doing. But first
they’ll focus on
taking care of their three new crias.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Skye Rohde.

Related Links

Farm Eases Transition for Refugees

People who come to the United States to escape persecution in their home country often face two major adjustments: Life in a new country, and life—for the first time—in a major city. A farm in Illinois takes part in a program designed to ease that transition. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman reports:

Transcript

People who come to the United States to escape persecution in their
home country
often face two major adjustments: Life in a new country, and life—for
the first
time—in a major city. A farm in Illinois takes part in a program
designed to ease
that transition. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman
reports:


The demons of torture were threatening to rob Thaddee Essomba of his
life.
Essomba was a political activist in the West African nation of
Cameroon.
Someone evidently didn’t share Essomba’s views, and they wanted to make
him
pay.


Essomba fled Cameroon, leaving behind his home, his family, and
everything he
knew. He didn’t stop running until he arrived in Chicago.


Chicago was unlike anything Essomba had ever seen. Skyscrapers,
apartment
complexes and elevated trains were all new to him. Miles and miles of
concrete
and asphalt surrounded him. Adjusting to life in the city was almost
as difficult as
adjusting to life in a new country. All this, while trying to recover
from the
physical and psychological scars of torture.


Then, Thaddee Essomba discovered the farm.


(sound of farm fades in)


“For me to come here is really to go back to the source. Because when
you live in
the city, you know you get a little bit, you like to be in touch with
the nature. And
really I was missing that.”


(sound of goats)


The farm is called Angelic Organics. For the past decade it’s been
hosting visitors
from the Marjorie Kovler Center for Survivors of Torture in Chicago.
The Center
helps people fleeing persecution to recover and re-settle in the United
States.
People come to the center from all over the world. Many of them are
from rural
areas and aren’t used to living in a city.


Tom Spaulding is a former volunteer at the Kovler Center. He now works
at
Angelic Organics Farm. He says a visit to the farm can be a key stop
on the road
to recovery for torture victims.


“They’re living now in Chicago in a huge metropolitan area, and they’re
from rural
backgrounds, and some of them are farmers. And to be on a farm that’s
somewhat
like what they were used to back home—because it’s a small farm, it’s
diversified
vegetables and livestock. And so it’s, maybe it’s just because it
touches a lot of
things from peoples’…what was familiar from back home. And maybe that
in a
sense helps.”


For many of the people here, it’s a familiar setting. John Fallah
fled a civil war in
Liberia two years ago. He had to leave his family behind when he
escaped.
While he says he enjoys life in Chicago because he doesn’t feel
threatened
anymore, Fallah says the farm reminds him of home…


“I’m very much impressed of what I am seeing on this farm. There is no
difference from how we do the farming in Africa and here.”


(sound of chickens, goats)


This was Fallah’s first visit to the farm. Some of the Kovler Center’s
clients have
made the 80-mile trip from Chicago many times. Thaddee Essomba says
the farm
has become an important part of his life.


“When I came here you know I feel myself very relaxed. I enjoy myself,
you
know, my soul was really in touch with the nature, and I feel very
happy you
know and why sometime every year I try to come back to be, to feel that
sensation.”


For Essomba and the other survivors of torture, that sensation can be
an important
part of the healing process.


Essomba has even found a way to give back to the community surrounding
the
farm. He’s been teaching area kids about life in his native country.
It’s a land far
away, a place the kids have probably even never heard of. But as
Essomba has
learned, the nation of Cameroon has some very important things in
common with
the rural Midwest.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris Lehman.

Related Links

INSECTICIDES TO CURB WEST NILE BEST CHOICE? (Short Version)

  • The Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus mosquito - one of the mosquitoes responsible for the transmission of West Nile virus. (Photo courtesy of the USGS.)

With the return of West Nile virus season, communities around the Great Lakes region are debating the health risks of spraying pesticides to kill adult mosquitoes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Schaefer reports:

Transcript

With the return of West Nile virus season, communities around the Great Lakes region
are debating the health risks of spraying pesticides to kill adult mosquitoes. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Schaefer reports:


Last year more than 170 people in Great Lakes states died after contracting West Nile
virus. Many health districts, citing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, are
spraying pesticides in the hope of reducing the number of infected mosquitoes. But many
residents are worried about the health risks of pesticide sprays. CDC director Dr. Julie
Gerberding says there’s not enough scientific evidence to show that spraying reduces
human West Nile cases.


“The evidence that adulticide pesticides will reduce mosquitoes in a given geographic
area is pretty strong. The question is whether
or not that results in a reduction in disease transmission to people.”


Dr. Gerberding says her agency considers spraying a last resort. She says a better way to
reduce West Nile infection is to use more benign chemicals that kill mosquito larvae
before they hatch.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Schaefer.

Related Links

Factory Farms Running Out of Land for Manure

Earlier this year, the EPA tightened regulations on pollution from large-scale livestock operations. Farmers will be limited on the amount of manure they’re allowed to spread on fields. A new study by the USDA says, under the new regulations, these farmers will need more land on which to spread the manure. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has more:

Transcript

Earlier this year, the EPA tightened regulations on pollution from
large-scale livestock operations. Farmers will be limited on the amount of
manure they’re allowed to spread on fields. A new study by the USDA
says, under the new regulations, these farmers will need more land on which
to spread the manure. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has
more:


Researchers say most of the big livestock farms will need more land under
the new regulations. The study found that operations in some parts of the
country will have trouble finding that land.


Marc Ribaudo is an agricultural economist with the USDA’s Economic Research
Service. He says it’s possible that these large-scale farms will look to
the Midwest as a potential place to relocate:


“I would think that for those companies or those operations where manure
management is suddenly an important cost, that they would give greater
consideration to the Midwest or areas where there’s more land available for
spreading manure.”


He cautions that manure management is just one factor in the overall cost of
running these farms. But that finding available land to spread manure on is
becoming increasingly important.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.

Related Links