For years, many environmentalists have wanted to stop ocean-going ship traffic on the Great Lakes. That’s because vessels traveling from the ocean to the Lakes sometimes carry invasive species. But opponents call the industry a vital part of the economy. A new study paid for by the Joyce Foundation questions how vital that industry really is. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Shawn Allee reports:
Transcript
For years, many environmentalists have wanted to stop ocean-going ship
traffic on the Great Lakes. That’s because vessels traveling from the
ocean to the Lakes sometimes carry invasive species, but opponents call
the industry a vital part of the economy. A new study paid for by the
Joyce Foundation questions how vital that industry really is. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Shawn Allee reports:
The study tackled this question:
How much would it hurt the economy if we end ocean shipping on the
Great Lakes?
The report suggests transportation prices would rise about fifty-five
million dollars per year.
Co-author James Roach says ending ocean ship traffic will cost money,
but keeping it could cost more.
“One has to look at that in terms of, for example, the costs of invasives.
You know, and if that’s 3, 4, or 5 hundred million dollars a year, then
policy makers are gonna have to take that into consideration.”
Independent transportation experts who’ve read the study question some
of its methodology.
For example, it assumes prices for alternatives, such as rail, would
remain constant, but some experts say it’s possible those costs would rise,
making the transition away from ocean shipping more expensive.
For the GLRC, I’m Shawn Allee.
“Host Tag: In the interest of full disclosure, the Joyce Foundation also
provides funding to the GLRC.”
Some worry that the carp barrier could pose a safety hazard to watercraft. (Photo by Louis Rock)
Two federal agencies say they’ve worked out safety problems that might’ve caused delays at a new electric barrier designed to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
Two federal agencies say they’ve worked out safety problems that might’ve caused delays at a new electric barrier designed to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
There’s already one underwater barrier at a canal south of Chicago and a second set of electrical cables is being installed. The shipping industry has been worried about the barriers causing safety problems like electrical arcing between vessels. The Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard have been working with the private firms and have come up with recommendations to reduce the risk of danger. The suggestions include no mooring, passing, or stopping near the barriers and using wire rope to prevent barges from separating. Coast Guard commander David Fish says the plan should work.
“We think we have something. You get enough people… working on a project… get enough people all wanting the same solution and engineering-wise, we’re able to find a solution.”
But Fish says there are no firm guarantees the second carp barrier will be ready this spring, before the first barrier wears out.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.
A proposed bill requiring ocean-going foreign vessels to dump their ballast water before they enter the Great Lakes is receiving strong criticism from shipping groups. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
A proposed bill requiring ocean-going foreign vessels to dump their ballast water before they
enter the Great Lakes is receiving strong criticism from shipping groups. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Helen Brohl of the Great Lakes Shipping Association agrees that the introduction of invasive
species into the lakes from ballast water is a problem. Zebra mussels alone have caused about a
billion dollars in damage since they got into the Great Lakes from foreign vessels in the
1980s. But Brohl says a bill proposed by a Michigan Congresswoman is too radical. She says
requiring ships to dump virtually all their ballast water before entering the Great Lakes would put
an end to international shipping in the area.
“When you have no cargo on a ship you have to use ballast water to even out the vessel in rough
weather. It’s a very dangerous thing not to have ballast water on board.
Brohl says a better approach is to require ships to use stringent ballast water management. That
includes regular flushing and keeping sediment out of the water.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tracy Samilton.
Two research vessels may be plying the shores of Lake Michigan next year using a unique form of biodiesel fuel. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton has more:
Transcript
Two research vessels may be playing the shores of Lake Michigan next year using a unique form
of biodiesel fuel. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
The Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University has two research and
educational outreach vessels. Engineer Robert Udell would like to see the boats running on some form of
biodiesel fuel by next season. The idea he favors the most is gathering up all the used fryer oil
that campus eateries use for making french fries, then processing it to fuel the boats. Udell says
there’s only one side effect he’s aware of.
“You quite often get a french fry exhaust odor. I’ve been close to engines running on diesel
from fryer oil and it’s really not that noticeable.”
Udell says the fuel could also be shipped in from Chicago, but he prefers having a small
processing plant on campus. He says it could make the fuel more cheaply, and provide hands-on
learning opportunities for chemistry and engineering students.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tracy Samilton.
The bow of the Grecian, a shipwreck in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Dr. Robert Ballard’s team launches a sonar scanner.
Underwater explorer Dr. Robert Ballard became a celebrity for finding the Titanic in mid 1980’s. But that ship is just one of his many underwater discoveries. He and his team of researchers travel from one far flung location to another, exploring and searching for lost shipwrecks, ancient coastlines, and unknown deep sea trenches. However, recently his team was at work in Lake Huron. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:
Transcript
Underwater explorer Dr. Robert Ballard became a celebrity for
finding the Titanic in mid 1980’s. But that ship is just one of his
many underwater discoveries. He and his team of
researchers travel from one far flung location to another,
exploring and searching for lost shipwrecks, ancient
coastlines, and unknown deep sea trenches. However,
recently his team was at work in Lake Huron. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:
On this fall day, the water’s calm, the sky blue, and the air warm. But Lake Huron isn’t always
this way. The Great Lakes’ legendary storms have left the bottom of Lake Huron’s Thunder Bay
littered with shipwrecks.
(Ship’s horn blast)
(engine noise, water drips and waves throughout piece)
Dr. Bob Ballard and his team from the Institute for Exploration have a research vessel hovering
above one of the shipwrecks in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary near Alpena,
Michigan.
“I’ve become convinced and what brings me here to Thunder Bay is that the deep sea is probably
the largest museum in the world. There is more history in the deep sea than in all the museums of
the world combined.”
Ballard says the Great Lakes are home to thousands of shipwrecks that trace the evolution of
maritime trade in America, from Native American canoes to modern barges.
“What is really nice about the Great Lakes is because it is fresh water we don’t have wood borers
like we have in salt water. The ships I’ve found, the Titanic, for example, its deck was eaten and
the grand staircase was eaten but here in Great Lakes, because it’s fresh water, you have the best
preserved ships on the planet.”
This is the second year that Ballard and his team have come to the Thunder Bay National Marine
Sanctuary. The sanctuary was created two years ago to preserve the bay’s shipwrecks. According
to historical records, an estimated 116 ships sank here, but only about 40 have been found. And
that’s why Dr. Ballard and his team are here, searching for undiscovered shipwrecks and taking an
up-close look at the ones we already know about.
(ambient sound of man yelling, “Watch the A-Frame.”)
They’re exploring the sanctuary, using underwater robots that are equipped with high definition
video cameras and sonar systems. Dwight Coleman is the Chief Scientist on the expedition.
Earlier in the day they sent two of these robots, Argus and Little Hercules, down into the water
below the research boat.
“So all the data that’s coming up from the vehicles while it’s working on the shipwreck, all the
video data and other information, such as the altitude and the heading and the depth, is all coming
in through these cables and into this control room, and from here we can sit and operate the
vehicles.”
At the moment, Little Hercules’ cameras are focused on a wreck called the E.B. Allen. It’s a
schooner that hauled grain. It sank to the bottom of Thunder Bay after a collision with a ship
called “Newsboy” in 1871. Patrick Labadie is a Maritime Historian who is on board taking a look
at the images of the E.B. Allen.
“It’s a really good glimpse of the accident that took the ship down. The masts are down, the
rigging is all confused and laying on the deck. There is a neat circular hole in the side of the ship
where the other vessel struck it. You can see the evidence of a whole sequence of events:
a collision, the ship’s rigging coming down, sinking, striking the bottom and damaging its bow as
it struck. It’s really fascinating.”
In addition to gathering information, pictures, and video from known wrecks like the E.B. Allen,
Ballard’s team is making some new discoveries here. And Dwight Coleman says they’ve found
two new wrecks in Thunder Bay, including a three-masted schooner from the 1800’s.
“I think the best thing for me is really the exploration, is finding the unknown, and to look into
places that have never been looked at before. And we did that yesterday with this new schooner
ship.”
It’s this excitement of discovery that inspired Dr. Bob Ballard to become an underwater explorer.
Now he’s hoping to give the general public a little taste of what he does and let them explore
underwater sanctuaries without getting cold or wet.
“Well, Thunder Bay is one of 13 marine sanctuaries and if you look around right now, we are the
only people out here. Isn’t that odd? If you go to Yellowstone you’d see thousands of people. So
what we want to do is bring thousands of people here but most people won’t be sophisticated
divers, and go down 100, 200, 300 feet. So a very, very small club of people can actually reach the
shipwrecks, the cultural resources here. And what we’re trying to do is to change that, and we’ve
been in here for two years, surveying the sanctuary, finding all of the ships that are here and then
trying to pick one or two of them and wire them up.”
The idea is to allow people in the sanctuary’s visitor center to go on their own remote controlled
underwater exploration using a system of underwater cameras and robots like Little Hercules. But
even before such a system is in place, the videos and pictures they’re taking will open up the
sanctuary for the general public. For the first time, the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
visitor’s center will have high quality pictures and videos to show people what the wrecks in
Thunder Bay actually look like.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tamar Charney.
Much of the industry in the nation’s mid-section relies on
shipments of raw materials on the Great Lakes. Great Lakes ports in the
U-S and Canada handle more than 200-million tons of material annually.
The Lakes are also a source of water and recreation for nearly a third
of
the nation’s population. But, during the last two years, water levels
have
been falling at a record breaking pace. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The new director of the Saint Lawrence Seaway says he’ll push
Congress for money to overhaul the locks and lengthen the shipping
season. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike Simonson has more:
