A proposal under consideration by the Bush Administration to ship nuclear waste across one of the Great Lakes is getting a cool response north of the border. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports, Canadian officials say they know nothing of the plan:
Transcript
A proposal under consideration by the Bush Administration to ship nuclear waste across one of the Great Lakes, is getting a cool response north of the border. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports — Canadian officials say they know nothing of the plan:
According
to reports from Washington, the U.S. wants to ship thousands of tons of radioactive waste by barge across Lake Michigan. Since Lake Michigan lies entirely within U.S. territory, Washington is not forced to tell Ottawa about the planned shipments. But since the shipments would cross one of the Great Lakes, there are concerns. One Canadian politician in Windsor, Ontario, says there are plans for thousands of shipments and that could result in dozens of accidents to a region that supplies drinking water to 30 million people on both sides of the border.
Many politicians and environmentalists in the U.S.
and Canada say the plan is too dangerous. And the International Joint
Commission, an agency run jointly by the U.S. and Canadian governments to
oversee the Great Lakes, says Lake Michigan is part of a single ecosystem
common to both countries. If Congress approves the plan this summer, the
first barge loaded with nuclear waste will cast off in 2010.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Karpenchuk.
Hydrogen powered fuel cells hold great promise for the environment because heat and water vapor are their only by-products. The problem is that you need hydrogen, and that isn’t readily available yet. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Greg Dahlmann reports – engineers at General Motors say they’ve found a solution:
Transcript
Hydrogen
powered fuel cells hold great promise for the environment because heat and water vapor are their only by-products. The problem is that you need hydrogen, and that isn’t readily available yet. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Greg Dahlmann reports…. engineers at General Motors say they’ve found a solution:
The hydrogen economy is still off in the distance, so the engineers at GM turned to what they say is the next best thing — gasoline. The automaker recently revealed an S-10 electric pick-up with what the company is calling the first-ever driveable gasoline powered fuel cell. Matt Fronk is the chief engineer with GM fuel cell systems.
“Gasoline is a really good option because the infrastructure is already out there… and then also from our perspective, the technology can also be used with natural gas.”
The key to using gasoline in a fuel cell is a
piece of equipment called a reformer. It processes the gas into its
constituent parts of hydrogen and carbon. The hydrogen goes to the fuel
cell and the carbon is mixed with air to form CO2. While not as clean as a
hydrogen fuel cell, Fronk says the system would qualify as an ultra-low
emissions vehicle, and be about 40% more fuel efficient than a comparable
internal combustion engine. GM hopes to have the technology in production
by 2010.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Greg Dahlmann.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has suspended some 150 controversial water projects. The move comes in the wake of several reports indicating that the Corps’ justifications for projects are over-stated. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has suspended some 150 controversial water projects. The move comes in the wake of several reports indicating the Corps’ justifications for projects are over-stated. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Environmental groups have long accused the Corps
of Engineers of cooking the books to make water control projects seem to
be a good deal for taxpayers. In the year 2000, a Corps insider became a
whistle-blower, saying he was told to change his findings when they didn’t
justify enlarging locks and dams on the Mississippi. Since then, the
National Academy of Sciences confirmed the whistle-blower’s statements.
Newspaper reports have revealed the same pattern on projects from Oregon
to Delaware. Now the Corps says it will pause 150 projects that have been
authorized, but not yet under construction. It will make new economic
assessments on many of them and reevaluate others. Critics of the Corps
are cautious. They say Congress needs to intervene to ensure that the
Corps -quote- “gets over its addiction for wasting money.” The Corps says
some projects will only receive a quick check and then proceed, while
others might need more analysis.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
If you think diesel fumes aggravate your allergies, new research indicates you might be right. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
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If you think diesel fumes aggravate your allergies, you might be right. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Research at the University of Cincinnati indicates
there’s a link between the tiny particles in diesel fumes and increased
cases of allergies. A report in the journal Nature covered researcher Fred
Finkelman’s announcement that diesel soot triggers reactions in the body
that convert normal immune responses into allergic responses. The result
can be anything from a runny nose to the contraction of airway muscles,
which could aggravate asthma. There’s no proof that diesel triggers
allergies, but Finkelman and his team have found discovered that the
body’s mechanics make it possible. They feel diesel fumes are probably one
of many contributors to the rising incidence of allergies in
industrialized countries.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Some famous whooping cranes are back in the Midwest after spending the winter in Florida. The cranes are part of an experiment aimed at increasing the number of whooping cranes, which is an endangered species. Wildlife experts say they’re happy with how the project is going, but several changes in the whooping crane recovery plan are in store. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach explains:
Transcript
Some famous whooping cranes are back in the Midwest after spending the winter in Florida. The cranes are part of an experiment aimed at increasing the number of whooping cranes, which is an endangered species. Wildlife experts say they’re happy with how the project is going, but several changes in the whooping crane recovery plan are in store. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Scientists from both the public and private sectors are trying to create the first migrating flock of whooping cranes in the eastern U.S. in more than a century.
Last year researchers got eight young birds to follow ultra-light aircraft. The planes led the endangered whoopers on their first migration this past fall, from Wisconsin to wintering grounds in Florida. Scientists say they were pleased when five of the cranes flew back on their own this spring to the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Necedah manager Larry Wargowsky says the return flight was just one way the eastern cranes have shown they behave like other wild whoopers.
“They would raise up to altitudes
of five to six thousand using the thermal currents …then glide down to lower elevation, then basically climb back up and glide.”
But the apparent initial success of the project isn’t leaving wildlife biologists sitting on their tail feathers. Scientists will monitor the yearling birds as they fly on and off the protected Wisconsin refuge this summer. Jim Harris of the International Crane Foundation says the whoopers are exploring nearby farm fields to eat waste corn. Happily, Harris says, the birds are also trying out local wetlands.
“Last year, we gave them a fair amount of exposure to water, but we want to increase and encourage that attraction to water especially for roosting.”
Harris says the more the cranes stay away from dry brushy areas, the less susceptible they are to predators like gray wolves and coyotes. Because the young cranes are too immature to breed, the scientists are also preparing for another batch of crane chicks to be brought in from a wildlife center in Maryland. The whooping crane recovery team expects about 20 chicks to come in — double last year’s number, so the team is already preparing additional training space at the Wisconsin refuge. Jim Harris says the new chicks need to train with costumed humans and ultralight aircraft, just like the first group did, and he hopes the yearling cranes don’t interfere.
“Among other things, the older birds might be aggressive toward the younger ones. They certainly would be a distraction. We’re trying to teach the young birds to follow right behind the ultralight and if larger birds were there jostling for position or trying to be near the aircraft that could disrupt things.”
Harris says he also hopes the flight training will start earlier this summer than it did last year, so to finish before the early fall winds in Wisconsin become too strong. Last October, during the southerly migration, one bird was found dead near a power line after the crane got loose during a windstorm. Beth Goodman, of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, says scientists do not want a repeat of that.
“Well, we have made changes to the travel pen the birds stay in at night, so if there is another windstorm we don’t anticipate the pen will blow apart.”
Goodman and others are also looking ahead to next winter in Florida. The researchers are planning some changes to help improve water roosting sites. The cranes stayed on higher and drier ground this past winter and that enabled Florida bobcats to kill two of the birds.
So far, the whooping crane recovery project has
cost almost two-milllion dollars, but scientists say the intensive attempt
to bring back an endangered species is well worth it.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.
New technology is helping scientists find drinking water that may reduce potential shortages in the Midwest. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Charlie Schlenker has more:
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New technology is helping scientists find drinking water that may reduce potential shortages in the Midwest. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Charlie Schlenker reports:
(in with sound of hydraulic lift)
It’s an unseasonably warm afternoon near the banks of the little Kickapoo Creek south of Bloomington, Illinois, but rather than basking in lazy-day-sunshine, workers are using a hydraulic piston to slam a hundred-pound metal post into a titanium plate on the ground.
(sound of plate slamming)
Before the pounding began, workers for the Illinois State Geological Survey strung a nearly 500-foot chain of ultra-sensitive microphone pickups on either side of the mechanism. Geophysicist Andre Pugin says they use a seismograph hooked to those microphones to record images of the sound echoing off bedrock and sediment left by glaciers long ago.
“You can see we can find the old channels, filled again here more recent sediments, and you see here very well the bedrock surface which is very flat and continuous and with this technique you have a very high resolution and very good resolution underground.”
Those old channels are underground stream beds that running water scoured into the bedrock more than a half a million years ago — long since filled and covered by glacial refuse, but even with the refuse choking the streambeds, there is still room for water to collect and flow, in what are natural storage areas for fresh water, called aquifers. All this lies under the fertile soil created by thousands of years of prairie growth.
State geologist Bill Shilts says the survey is using this unusual technology to map sections of the Mahomet Aquifer running under central Illinois.
“The Ohio River actually cut through the middle of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and was shoved south by the glaciers probably over five hundred thousand years ago. Underneath our feet are the gravels that were deposited in that river valley and that basically is the Mahomet Aquifer.”
The Mahomet Aquifer runs from the Illinois River east through Indiana and Ohio all the way into West Virginia where it’s called the Tays Aquifer.
Another geophysicist, Tim Larsen, says they can record a mile and a half a day of underground contours. He says this adoption of oil industry exploration technology is a huge improvement over earlier versions.
“It’s not as fun as shooting dynamite, but it goes a whole lot quicker because with dynamite you had to drill a hole down about five feet into the ground — put the dynamite in — and stand away from it.”
On this day, a nearby farmer is using a chisel plough on his field and there are four excavators in the distance preparing ground for a new sewage treatment plant. Larsen says that’s causing interference.
“This seismograph system is set up so that if you re walking along the line that will interfere with it. If you have a cat walking along the line, that will interfere with it and cancel out our signal. The signal we’re looking for is very small and very, very sensitive.”
Scientists hope that if managed carefully, the underground river could be a primary source of water for many cities in the states through which it runs. State geologist Bill Shilts says about 30 or 40% of Illinois residents already use groundwater supplies for their drinking water, and the rest are mostly concentrated in Chicago and are using Lake Michigan.
“But by international treaty and law we are only allowed to take a certain amount out of Lake Michigan, which we are at the limit already, so any expansion in the Chicago area is going to require ground water and there is already considerable concern about that now.”
Experts predict water consumption in the Great Lakes states could rise nearly 1.3 billion gallons per day by the year 2015, and while that is less than 2% of overall use, Shilts says there isn’t all that much to spare right now.
“And it’s not just the quantity of the groundwater, it’s also the quality. Water issues will be probably worldwide major issues over the next fifty years but particularly in these areas of high population density.”
(out with sound of hydraulic lift and hammer)
Shilts says using the seismograph and sledgehammer
approach at the present rate it would take 400 years to map all of
Illinois, but Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, along with the U.S.
Geological Survey are hoping to attract up to $20 million a year in
federal funding to chart high priority areas around big cities and in
transportation corridors to complete the work more quickly.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Charlie Schlenker.
The Garfield Farm Museum on the fringe of Chicago suburban growth is not only preserving the area's agricultural heritage, but also some of its natural heritage. The morning sun silhouettes the farm behind the Mill Creek Prairie. Photo by Lester Graham.
Besides preserving antiquated domestic breeds of farm animals, such as these Black Java chickens, the Garfield Farm Museum is also working to restore natural prairies and wetlands. It's becoming a haven for wildlife as subdivisions and other development rapidly surround the property. Photo by Lester Graham.
Along the fringes of urban growth farm museums are sprouting here and there. They’re trying to preserve a bit of the rapidly changing terrain (as fields become subdivisions), but one of these farm museums recognizes that the land wasn’t always farmland. Before it was plowed there was another earlier, vibrant landscape. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Along the fringes of urban growth, farm museums are sprouting here and there. They’re trying to preserve a bit of the rapidly changing terrain, as fields become subdivisions. But, one of these farm museums recognizes that the land wasn’t always farmland. Before it was plowed, there was another earlier, vibrant landscape. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
(sound of farm animals)
With his wood-buttoned wool pants and vest, and wearing squared-toed hand-made boots, Kirk Bunke looks every bit the 1840’s farmer. He’s feeding and watering the chickens and livestock in the old barns and barnyards at the Garfield Farm Museum. These animals are as much of a different era as Bunke’s clothes. The Black Java chickens, Narragansett Turkeys, and milking Devon cattle are rare domestic breeds from an earlier day; some dating back to the 18th century.
But there are features at this museum farm that date back even earlier, thousands of years earlier.
(sound of walking through prairie grass)
Bunke is walking me through Mill Creek Prairie in the far west suburbs of Chicago. By late summer, the tall prairie grasses will tower overhead, six and seven feet tall and the roots go even farther down into the soil. Bunke says the Garfield Farm thought it was important to preserve some of that original prairie.
“We wanted to be able to show the public what Illinois looked like when families like the Garfields moved here in the 1830’s and 40’s. Without an understanding of the prairie grasses that made the soils as rich as they are, it’s hard for people to understand why a family would want to move eight children all the way from Vermont here to northern Illinois just for the opportunity to farm.”
Bunke says these prairie plants conditioned the soil, a natural resource that farmers have been banking on ever since the first plow turned over the dirt.
“It’s a combination of their deep root systems being able to move nutrients up from deeper portions of the soil and the dying bio-masses that the taller plants, as they begin to decay, they help to add nutrients back into the surface soils and creates a richer loam.”
(sound of birds on prairie)
As farmers discovered just how bountiful the rich prairie soil was, it was exploited as almost no other resource has been. The corn that replaced the prairie plants at first benefited from the nutrients left behind. For the first several plantings, according to credible accounts, the corn plants grew to eleven and twelve feet high. As the benefits of the prairie plants faded, the corn didn’t grow as high. In 100 years the tall grass prairies, which had stood for millennia, almost completely disappeared, replaced by crops. Today, it takes a lot of fertilizer and other chemical inputs to get results anything close to those crops that first benefited from what the prairie did naturally.
Jerome Johnson is the Executive Director of Garfield Farm. He says few people even remember the tall grass prairies. He says it’s come to the point that to most people prairie simply means flat land. Johnson says that’s why it’s important that part of the farmstead includes some of the natural landscape.
“And the incredible thing with this site, aside from the original buildings and furnishings and documents and all that survived, we even have 20 acres of prairie that was never plowed. So, that is just unheard of. You’d have to walk over 40-thousand acres of Illinois to find 20 acres of unplowed prairie. That’s how rare it is.”
In a subdivision not too far from Garfield Farm, Jack Schouba is pleased with the farm’s prairie restoration. Schouba is an environmentalist who’s fought to preserve other prairie remnants. He says Garfield Farm was progressive when it decided to go beyond preserving the agricultural history of the area, and also preserve some of the natural history.
“Well, to me the most important is just the… kind of the moral obligation. I don’t think we have the right to destroy everything. But, aside from that, I think just for people to get an idea of what a prairie is and what Illinois was really like and how it got to be the way it is today. And then Garfield, of course, deals with the early days of farming around here so it’s just a natural connection between the original landscape and how these early farmers dealt with it.”
(sound of birds on prairie mixed with frogs in wetland)
Garfield Farm Museum has also preserved some of the wetlands — giving voice to frogs who haven’t been heard here in any great numbers for more than 120 years. And Kirk Bunke says other wildlife has been drawn to the farm since the restoration of the natural areas began.
“Probably the single biggest impact on bird habitat has been the restoration of wetlands. Just yesterday we had two Sandhill cranes here on the farm. We see an awful lot of waterfowl, blue herons, occasional green heron. Last summer, someone spotted an arctic tern. So, it’s been just amazing bird watching.”
Garfield Farm is raising money to acquire adjacent
land, to increase its natural areas and farmland and create something of a
buffer. The farm is besieged by urban sprawl. Construction can be seen in
every direction around the farm. It will end up a small green spot on the
map, but not completely isolated. Its preservation of natural areas is
part of a green corridor. The township and some nearby subdivision
neighbors have also put aside tracts of land to keep just a little bit of
the natural areas for wildlife and for future generations to see where
there were once farms, and before them… prairie.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
