Month: April 2003

Researchers Forecast Region’s Warmer Future

  • The Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin - Researchers say global warming may mean earlier ice breakup and spring runoff, more intense flooding, and lower summer water levels. They say this could spell trouble for wetlands and the species that depend on them. (Photo by Ryan Hagerty, USFWS)

Warmer weather might sound like a welcome reprieve to a lot of people spending early spring in the Midwest. But a team of researchers is warning that in years to come, warming trends in the Great Lakes region could be bad news for business, and for people’s health. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports:

Transcript

Warmer weather might sound like a welcome reprieve to a lot of people spending early spring in the
Midwest. But a team of researchers is warning that in years to come, warming trends in the Great
Lakes region could be bad news for business, and for people’s health. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports:


Climate change is not a phenomenon that’s unique to the Great Lakes
region. But University of Michigan biologist George Kling says there’s
good reason to look to the Midwestern U.S. for early clues about global warming
elsewhere.


“The middle part of North America, including the Great Lakes region, warms, or has warmed in the
past, at a slightly higher rate than the globe overall. Because we’re right in the center of a continent,
and there’s less buffering impact from the oceans. So coastal areas tend to warm a little bit less, at
a slower rate, continental areas warm at a little bit faster rate.”


Kling and other researchers from the Union of Concerned Scientists, and
the Ecological Society of America, spent the last two years looking at
some of the changes that can already be seen in the region: shorter winters,
higher temperatures, and less ice on the Great Lakes during the winter
months. And Kling warns that extrapolating these trends out over the coming
decades paints an ugly picture:


“These climate changes that we project in our new report will magnify
existing health and environmental problems, and may stress our economy.”


Asthma that’s aggravated every time a heat wave hits, increased competition
for groundwater as dry weather saps wells, and financial losses in communities that once relied on
winter tourism are all distinct possibilities. And the report warns that more visible changes to the
landscape might also
be on the way.


Donald Zak teaches ecology at the University of Michigan. He says during
past periods of warming, trees actually moved north to survive. But Zak
says that kind of tree migration may no longer be possible.


“Ten thousand years ago, when species migrated across the region, there
were very few barriers to migration that we have now placed in the landscape –
like large areas of agriculture, large areas of urban development. Those
will become barriers to migration that didn’t exist following the close of the
last ice age.”


Theories about causes of the warmer weather are well known: heat-trapping
gasses – mostly carbon monoxide – are spewed from coal-fired power plants
and gasoline engines. And continued deforestation and urban sprawl help
ensure mother nature never catches up with processing it all. But the researchers who worked on
the project say solutions are available to slow the effects of global warming. The report makes the
case for raising fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. David Friedman with
the Union of Concerned Scientists says right now, there are more than 30 models of cars on the
market that get more than 30 miles per gallon. The problem, Friedman says, is that those are
mostly compact cars that don’t meet the needs of people who are shopping for pickups, minivans,
and SUVs. Friedman says for those customers, there’s no way for them to use their
wallets to show their desire for more fuel-efficient vehicles.


“When your choice is between 17 and 18 miles per gallon, that’s not a
choice. You’re probably going to choose the vehicle based on the color
and the cup holders, not the fuel economy, when the difference is only one
mile per gallon.”


Some critics say the incremental changes that would result from raising
fuel economy standards would have almost no impact on global warming.
But researchers on the Great Lakes study say resistance from policy makers
and corporate leaders doesn’t have to hamper efforts to slow the effects
of climate change. They say even choices at the household level – like
carpooling and conserving energy can help lessen the damage.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Sarah Hulett.

Study Reveals Coots Can Count

A new study in the journal Nature reveals that some birds can count. Researchers have found that they’re able to identify and tally their eggs in order to improve their reproductive success. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett explains:

Transcript

A new study in the journal Nature reveals that some birds can count. Researchers have found that
they’re able to identify and tally their eggs in order to improve their reproductive success. The
Great Lakes Consortium’s Sarah Hulett explains:


Bruce Lyon is a biologist at the University of California Santa Cruz. He made the discovery while
doing research on the reproductive behavior of American Coots. Coots are dark gray, duck-like
waterbirds that live in the northern U-S and southern Canada. They’re parasitic birds. That means
they lay some of their eggs in other coots’ nests – tricking the host birds into incubating eggs that
aren’t theirs.


But Lyon found that some females are able to recognize the foreign eggs by counting and ignoring
the imposters. Lyon says taking care of other birds’ eggs means a slimmer chance of their own
chicks surviving.


“There’s not enough food to go around, and if you end up raising somebody else’s chick, it
probably means you’ve lost one of your own.”


Lyon says a female coot will protect her babies by identifying eggs that aren’t her own, and burying
them or pushing them to the edge of the nest.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Sarah Hulett.

Whoopers Make Spring Migration

A test flock of whooping cranes is winging its way north from Florida to Wisconsin this month. That makes wildlife officials who are trying to restore the flock very happy. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

A test flock of whooping cranes is winging its way north from Florida to Wisconsin this month.
That makes wildlife officials who are trying to restore the flock very happy. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:


The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership is setting up the only migrating flock of whoopers in
the Eastern U.S. Almost two dozen birds are taking part and wildlife officials hope to teach
flying skills to another 20 crane chicks this summer.


Beth Goodman is whooping crane coordinator at the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources. She says the numbers show the experiment is on track.


“It underscores we set a goal that seems reasonable, and our goal is establishing 25 breeder pairs
and 125 migrating birds in the eastern migratory flock by the year 2020.”


The whooper was at its greatest danger of extinction sixty years ago when there were only 15
birds counted in the wild. The new flock already has exceeded that number. Goodman says one
of the tougher tasks this year will be raising enough private money to keep the project going
strong.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee.

Study: Common Products Damaging Food Chain?

The anti-bacterial soap and the toothpaste you use might be damaging the base of the food chain in your local streams. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

The anti-bacterial soap and the toothpaste you use might be damaging the base of the food chain
in your local streams. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


Chemicals from personal care products, including things such as certain soaps, deodorants, hair
dyes and contraceptives appear to be reducing the number of kinds of algae in streams. Algae is
the base of the food chain for aquatic life. In a report in the journal Nature, University of Kansas
researcher Val Smith and a student exposed algae to the chemicals at levels typically found after
they’ve been through the wastewater plant. The diluted chemicals from the personal care
products killed some kinds of algae in the lab experiment.


“So, that means that these anti-microbials, even though they’re designed to do other things for us,
seem to have a negative effect on something we like which, of course, is algae in streams.”


The next step is to see if the lab findings can be confirmed in the field.


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

Interview: Red-Winged Blackbirds Heralds of Spring

  • A male Red-winged Blackbird (Photo courtesy of the USFWS)

Many people in the Great Lakes region are told to watch for the robin as a sign that Spring has come. But that bird may not be the best indicator, even after this especially cold winter. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jim Blum decided to venture out beyond his backyard to find a better sign:

Transcript

Many people in the (Midwest/Great Lakes region) are told to watch for the Robin as a sign that
Spring has come. But that bird may not be the best indicator, even after this especially cold
winter. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jim Blum decided to venture out beyond his
backyard to find a better sign:


Blum: You might think of a robin or a bluebird as harbingers of spring but that may not be
correct. I’m Jim Blum with naturalist Dan Best, we’re at the edge of a marsh on a soggy
afternoon.


Best: Well Jim, it’s true that the greater numbers of bluebirds and robins arrive back in these
parts in March, but bluebirds and robins – they’re frequent enough in winter to ruin their
reputations as the heralds of spring.


Blum: Well, I’m thinking you have another bird in mind.


Best: Well, yeah, I was thinking of the blackbirds actually. The grackles and red-winged
blackbirds. They usually hit town in February.


Blum: I’ve always associated red-winged black birds with cattails. Aren’t they birds of the
wetlands?


Best: Well, yes. Marshes are their traditional habitat and remain their preferred habitat. They
weave a basket-like nest among the stems of the cattails, the rushes or other tall plants at the
waters edge. And while marshes are their favorite still, they’ve branched out.


Blum: You mean they’re starting to use other habitats?


Best: Why yes, as you know Jim, in a trend that unfortunately continues today marshes and other
shallow water wetlands – as they have been for decades – have been drained or filled for
agriculture and building.


Blum: Which would explain why so many of our rare and endangered plants and animals are
wetland species.


Best: Yes, indeed. However, as many forms of wetland wildlife have declined with the loss of
their habitat, red wing black birds, apparently more adaptable, have made a successful transition
into upland habitats, such as meadows and grassy interstate margins, hay fields, clover, alfalfa
fields.


Blum: Well there’s no wonder why there’s so many of them. I can recall those huge flocks that
we saw in the fall strung out across the sky almost like a plume of smoke.


(sound of huge flocks of birds)


Best: Yeah, and every night for several weeks they gather by the hundreds to roost in trees near
somebody’s house.


(red-wing blackbird song)


Blum: Well, red-wing blackbirds at almost any time of the year are pretty noisy birds. Their
song, if you can call it that, certainly doesn’t rival the cardinal or any other songbird for that
matter.


Best: No, you’re right about that, Jim. Can’t argue that point.


Blum: What does the bird look like? Can you describe it?


Best: Well, as the name implies they’re overall black. The males, they have a yellowish wing
bar and they also have a red shoulder patch or epaulet that they display while they are
establishing their territory or engaging in courtship.


Blum: What about the females?


Best: Well, they’re different looking. They actually look like big sparrows. That is, they’re
kind of a dark brown and very streaky.


Blum: Describe this display that the male is putting on.


Best: Well, they find a prominent perch and then from here they fan out their wings and tail
feathers and let out a real boisterous kon-kor-eeeee.


Blum: So this is to establish territory and they’ll keep doing this even before the females have
arrived?


(walking in grass)


Best: That’s right. They’re staking their claim but once the once the girls arrive well then this
display really kicks into high gear.


Blum: What’s the best way to see the antics of the red wing?


Best: Well, since these birds are pretty common, chances are you’re not going to have to go too
far from home. A little patch of cattails or reeds alongside the road. I mean, invariably they’ll be
perched on a wire or on a tree nearby will be a male red-wing displaying.


Blum: While other birds get more poetic respect, I have a sense you feel this bird is special.


Best: Well, yeah, as spring proceeds we’ll see more musical songsters come our way, but
doggone it, you know, when I hear that quirky song of the red-winged blackbird in late winter
when there is still snow on the ground, to me, that’s one of the first sure signs of spring.


Blum: That’s naturalist Dan Best. I’m Jim Blum for the Great Lakes Radio Consortium. Let’s
check out that cattail stand, do you think we’re going to get one?


Best: Oh, I’ll betcha there’ll be one there.


(sound of walking in marsh, fades out)

Government’s West Nile Plan Criticized

Government leaders are looking at new ways to combat the West Nile virus. A new plan is coming in response to warnings that this year, the West Nile virus will strike harder and earlier than last year, and also that people in the Great Lakes region will have to be prepared to make some lifestyle changes. Some environmentalists and local public health authorities say the plan is too little, too late. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports, some victims of the virus are angry that not enough has been done until now:

Transcript

Government leaders are looking at new ways to combat the West Nile virus. A new plan is
coming in response to warnings that this year the West Nile virus will strike harder and earlier
than last year, and also that people in the Great Lakes region will have to be prepared to make
some lifestyle changes. Some environmentalists, and local public health authorities say the plan
is too little, too late. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports, some
victims of the virus are angry that not enough has been done until now:


(sounds of indoor golf)


About twenty golfers are using this indoor golf driving range to get their game in shape just
weeks before they’ll be able to enjoy playing outdoors.


But along with the nicer golf weather will come this year’s first assault by mosquito populations,
some of which are sure to carry the West Nile virus.


Like the general public most of these golfers have a mixed reaction to the dangers posed by West
Nile.


(montage of golfers)


It was only two years ago that the West Nile Virus had been found in a few dead crows in North
America. Now it’s spread across much of the continent and it’s blamed directly for killing dozens
of people and infecting hundreds of others.


Last fall, Ontario’s medical officer of health, Colin D’Cunha, gave this statement when questioned
about the spread of West Nile.


“I don’t view this as cause for alarm. And I have to remind people that the serious signs and
symptoms are seen in less than one percent of people who come down with West Nile virus
infection. And to put it in context remember that the flu kills about nineteen hundred Canadians
each year.”


Victims says it was that kind of comment from a health official that caused them not to be overly
worried.


Vern Thomson became infected with the virus during his daughter’s wedding rehearsal in the
backyard of his Mississaugua home, just west of Toronto.


His wife Huguette says within days he was paralyzed and almost died. She says there wasn’t
enough warning about what West Nile could do.


“We knew there were a couple of crows that had died and I mean we knew that West Nile virus
was coming. But unfortunately we trusted our elected officials to inform us how near it was. I
mean, just because a couple of crows had died. Of course we didn’t pay that much attention to it.”


Her husband still has not fully recovered from the virus.


Tropical disease experts also raised alarms about the dangers of West Nile. Some say the Ontario
government played down the threat last year and kept crucial information out of the public
domain.


According to official Ontario government data, there were 374 West Nile cases in the province
last year. But some experts say that number was at least one thousand.


Recently Ontario announced a seven-point plan to fight the spread of West Nile virus. It includes
more surveillance, a public education campaign, mosquito controls, and more money for research.


But when the province’s health minister, Tony Clement, and the chief medical officer, Colin
D’Cunha, attended the news conference to unveil the plan, they ran into an angry Huguette
Thompson.


“I want to tell you I was in the hospital sitting next to my husband that was dying of West Nile
virus and I was so appalled by your comments doctor.”


“Well Ma’am, I want to assure you that Dr. D’Cunha…”


“I am telling you exactly that people did not take this seriously because of your comments.”


“Ma’am I want to assure you that whenever we were approached, our actions and our commentary
were to take this seriously, there is no question.”


“You’re too late with your plan.”


But health minister Tony Clement insists there was no attempt to downplay the seriousness of the
virus.


“We made it clear that everyone who does not protect themselves is taking a risk, and it is our
intention this year, as we look ahead, now that we have more information, now that we have the
experience of last year, to move ahead with our seven-point plan, and to make sure that Ontarians
are as protected as anyone else in North America.”


But complaints also came from local medical officers, who say they’re disappointed with the
amount of money the province has put into the plan.


Environmentalists are also disappointed.


Katrina Miller is with the Toronto Environmental Alliance.


“I think that the response to this point has been this kind of immediate, hurry-up crisis
management response instead of a long term plan to deal with a disease that we know is here to
stay. We need permanent measures of control, not toxic measures of control that we have to keep
applying. If we used a larvacide, if we use adulticides, we have to keep putting them out there,
and we don’t know how effective they’re going to be.”


Tropical disease experts are now warning people to brace for this year’s onslaught of West Nile
virus. They say it will come earlier and hit harder this spring.


They say birds dying of the virus in April or early May will greatly increase the risk of it
spreading across the continent, infecting tens of thousands of people.


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

Internal Report Suggests Risks of Teflon Chemical

An internal report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows that a chemical used in the making of Teflon products at DuPont plants might be harmful to girls and women of childbearing age. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports the study runs contrary to what the company has been telling people who drink the water and breathe the air near one of its plants:

Transcript

An internal report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows that a chemical used in
the making of Teflon products at DuPont plants might be harmful to girls and women of
childbearing age. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Natalie Walston reports, the study runs
contrary to what the company has been telling people who drink the water and breathe the air
near one of its plants:


The draft of the EPA study wasn’t meant to be released to the public, but was obtained anyway
by a group that monitors federal environmental policy. It was then taken and studied by the
Washington D.C. based Environmental Working Group. That group’s scientists say the findings
are alarming. They say it shows lab rat pups exposed to the chemical C8 commonly died days
after being born. Also, the exposed rats had lower weight body organs, including smaller
“master gland” or pituitary glands, which scientists say can be a precursor to developing cancer.
Jane Houlihan, Vice President of Research at the Environmental Working Group, says the
problems found in rats translate to problems such as birth defects and possibly cancer for people
who breathe in the C8.


“Um, the EPA’s risk-assessment was pretty astounding in that they found that people’s exposures
to C8 are much much closer to the levels that harm animals than what the EPA would normally
like to see. It was a big surprise that the human population is widely contaminated with C8 and
that those exposures, particularly for women and young girls, is in a range that sets off all kinds
of alarm bells relative to the levels that are known to harm lab animals.”


The concern is that C8 builds up in the blood and it doesn’t break down in the body or in the
environment very easily. It’s primarily an airborne chemical that’s closely related to chemicals
once used to make Scotchguard fabric protector. The 3M Company, which makes Scotchguard,
stopped manufacturing C8 three years ago, but DuPont makes it at a plant in North Carolina.
DuPont still uses the chemical at its West Virginia plant to make Teflon-coated products. The
Ohio EPA is concerned that testing done by DuPont shows levels have been at least three times as
high as the company’s standards. But, the EPA has no standards of its own in place. DuPont has
put in pollution control devices to cut down on C8. But the Environmental Working Group’s
Houlihan says it’s highly likely the air and water are still laden with C8 because the chemical is so
persistent.


“C8’s not like any other environmental pollutant. When we banned PCBs and DDT a quarter of a
century ago, we’ve seen levels of those chemicals decline in the environment because they break
down. C8 is really different.”


That’s just what people who live near DuPont’s Washington Works plant near Parkersburg, West
Virginia are afraid of. The village of Little Hocking, which is across the Ohio River from the
plant is a cluster of small houses, a general store and a tiny post office.


(sounds of her answering phone)


That’s where Judy Pashun works as Postmaster.


“When I found out about the Little Hocking Water Company, I quit drinking the water here at
work, so I bring water here to drink.”


Pashun is referring to the Little Hocking Water Authority, which supplies water to some 12,000
people in the southern Ohio area, all of whom are involved in a class action lawsuit against
DuPont. DuPont has said in the past and keeps on saying that levels of C8 are in the water, but
aren’t at levels high enough to cause concern. The water company’s general manager, Bob
Griffin, begs to differ. He says high concentrations of C8 ride over to southern Ohio on the
prevailing wind and settle in the company’s well fields.


“People that live in the community could have twice as much C8 in their blood than somebody
that works at DuPont. I mean, there’s people that work at DuPont that said they’ve got so many
parts per million in their blood. Now when we talk about what’s in the water is parts per billion,
but people that work there actually have parts per million.”


DuPont, on the other hand, disagrees with Griffin and the Environmental Working Group’s
interpretation of the internal EPA study. Its toxicologists argue that C8 has no known adverse
affects to human health. Robert Rikard is a company scientist. Rikard, in an interview conducted
before the EPA’s study was leaked to the media, said the public’s concern about and the media
attention to C8 is unfounded.


“There is a lot known about this compound. We’ve had over 50 years of experience, and we’ve
closely monitored it for many, many years. And, all of the data would indicate there is no known
human health effects and no known environmental effects with this compound.”


And, DuPont says the report findings were prematurely leaked to the media. A company news
release reminds the media that the document was, quote, an internal and deliberative draft and,
therefore, not subject to the Freedom of Information act, which requires that documents be made
public.


Still, this problem has raised a wider question about the use of Teflon and other products, because
it’s not just a problem confined to people living near DuPont plants. The Environmental Working
Group says the EPA needs to move quickly to ban the chemical C8 and similar families of
chemicals because traces of the chemicals have been found on produce such as apples and green
beans in grocery stores throughout the country.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Natalie Walston.

Ice-Breakers Finish Up Duty

  • The Coast Guard cutter Sundew was built in 1944 in Duluth as a "buoy tender." In 1979, the Coast Guard had the ship's hull reinforced and beefed up its engine so the ship could double as an icebreaker. Photo by Chris Julin.

Cargo ships are moving on the Great Lakes, but Coast Guard icebreakers are still on duty on the north side of the Lakes. The Coast Guard’s massive icebreaker, the “Mackinaw,” smashed ice from its home in Michigan all the way across Lake Superior to Duluth. And the Coast Guard cutter “Sundew” has been chipping away at the ice in Duluth for weeks. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Julin has this report:

Transcript

Cargo ships are moving on the Great Lakes, but Coast Guard icebreakers are still on duty on the
north side of the Lakes. The Coast Guard’s massive icebreaker, the “Mackinaw,” smashed ice
from its home in Michigan all the way across Lake Superior to Duluth. And the Coast Guard
cutter “Sundew” has been chipping away at the ice in Duluth for weeks. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Chris Julin has this report:


There’s a whiff of spring in the air in lots of places, but parts of Lake Superior are still covered
with ice. Cargo ships are leaving their berths where they spent the winter. But when the first
ships got ready to go, the ice on the Duluth Harbor was still two feet thick. That’s thick enough to
keep a ship locked in place.


The Coast Guard cutter Sundew carved a path through the ice so ships could leave.


(sound of chop, splash)


As the Sundew churns away, slabs of ice tip on edge under the bow. Each slab looks like the
floor of a single-car garage turned on edge. The Sundew will cut a swath several miles long, and
then come back along the same path. With each pass, the shipping lane gets a little bit wider.


Bev Havlik is the commanding officer on the Sundew.


“We’re taking out just little shaved bits of it at a time to make the ice chunks smaller. It’s like
sawing a log, just shaving off a bit of it at a time.”


“The Sundew wasn’t built as an icebreaker. It’s usual duty is tending buoys. The ship places, and
maintains about 200 navigational buoys on Lake Superior. But a couple decades ago, the Sundew
got some extra steel added to its hull, and a new, bigger engine. Since then, it’s done double duty
as an icebreaker.”


Commander Bev Havlik says the Sundew slices through thin ice like a butter knife. But in
thicker ice, like this stuff, the hull actually rides up on top of the ice and pushes down through it.
That’s why there are three mini-van-sized chunks of concrete on the ship’s deck. Each one weighs
12,000 pounds.
“It helps us bite into it with the bow, instead of riding up too high.” It keeps the weight down
forward more.”


A little bit like putting sandbags in the back of your pickup in the wintertime?


“It’s a similar sort of principle, right. It gives you the bite you need.”


Icebreaking is serious business. It gets ship traffic moving weeks before the ice melts. But
beyond that, Bev Havlik says it’s really fun.


“This is awesome. It’s the only job that I’d ever had where they pay us to come out and break
something.”


The Sundew is 180 feet long. That’s about the length of 10 canoes lined up end to end. It has
about 50 crew members. One of the junior crew members is usually at the wheel. The real
“driver” is an officer who’s standing 20 feet away, out on the deck through an open door. The
officer adjusts the ship’s speed, and calls out a steady stream of steering commands to the
“helmsman” — that’s the guy at the wheel.


(sound of Helsman)


“Right five-degrees rudder … steady as she goes, aye.”


Ensign Jason Frank is about to take his turn driving the Sundew. He wears a big rabbit fur hat
when he’s out on the deck driving the ship.


“We actually have face masks and goggles for when it really gets cold. It gets so cold out here
sometimes it feels like your eyes are going to freeze out, or something.”


(natural sound)


Jason Frank is halfway through his two-year stint on the Sundew. Then he’ll be stationed
somewhere else, and the Sundew will be removed from service. The ship was built in Duluth in
1944, and it’s retiring next year. Jason Frank wanted to work on the Sundew because aren’t many
ships like this still in service. On newer vessels, the officer driving the ship stands inside. And
here’s something right out of the movies – the Sundew has a big, brass steering wheel.


“Whereas with the new ships, most the new ships have just a little joystick. It’s very similar to
like a joystick you’d have maybe when you’re playing a computer game or something. All you
have to do is turn that joystick and the computer tells the rudder what to do. We’re actually
maneuvering the throttles, we’re actually driving. With the new ship, basically it has an
autopilot.”


The ice is melting in the Duluth Harbor, but it still clumps together on windy days and makes
trouble for ships. The Coast Guard cutter Sundew will stay on ice-breaking duty until the
weather warms up, and a good southwest wind pushes the rest of the ice out of the harbor into
Lake Superior.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chris Julin.


(sound fade)