Author: Bill Cohen

Satellite Imaging Tracks Algae Blooms

For years, NASA satellites and computer models have helped scientists measure algae levels in oceans. Now, a new study is showing which models will work in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen has more:

Transcript

For years, NASA satellites and computer models have helped scientists
measure algae levels in oceans. Now, a new study is showing which models
will work in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill
Cohen has more:


Researchers at Ohio State University have compared actual algae levels in
Lake Erie with images gathered by satellite… and they’ve concluded several are 99%
accurate.


Carolyn Merry is an engineering professor and the lead researcher. She says
finding the most accurate way to measure algae growth can help improve the
health of everyone who relies on the Great Lakes for drinking water. She
says one type of algae – Microcystis – needs to be kept out of the water
supply.


“It’s toxic to humans. And along Lake Erie, they have water intake areas. And you want
to make sure you’re not going to take any of that Microcystis into your water inlet
valves.”


It used to be that the dangerous algae mushroomed only once every ten years,
but for the past nine summers, there’s been an annual outbreak of Microcystis
on Lake Erie. Scientists believe fertilizer run-off makes the outbreaks
worse. Professor Merry says the new research should help cities along all
of the Great Lakes avoid the algae when it builds up.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.

Related Links

Ijc Asks States for Asian Carp Barrier Money

  • The Army Corps of Engineers' new barrier will be similar in design to the demonstration project in place now. (Diagram courtesy of USACE)

Officials from a joint U.S./Canada Commission that monitors the health of the Great Lakes is asking states and provinces in the region for help. The International Joint Commission wants the governments to chip in money to make sure that Asian carp don’t invade the Great Lakes and decimate the fishing industry. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:

Transcript

Officials from a joint U.S./Canada Commission that monitors the health
of the Great Lakes is asking states and provinces in the region for
help. The International Joint Commission wants the governments to chip
in money to make sure that Asian carp don’t invade the Great Lakes and
decimate the fishing industry. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill
Cohen reports:


A temporary experimental electronic barrier in the Chicago Ship and
Sanitary Canal is the only thing keeping Asian Carp from swimming into
Lake Michigan. That’s why the federal government and Illinois have
allocated 6.7 million dollars to build a new permanent fence.


But now, the builders say they need an extra 1.8 million dollars to complete
the work. That’s why the International Joint Commission is asking all the
states and provinces that have a stake in the dilemma to come up with
that cash. John Nevin is a policy advisor for the IJC. He says if the
older barrier fails or the new one doesn’t work right, the carp will
wreak havoc with the Great Lakes:


“What they do is they swim along with mouths wide open and they filter
feed. They eat all the plankton and all the little stuff that little fish eat,
so they would potentially rob all the other fish in the lake of their food.”


Ohio’s Governor Bob Taft heads the Council of Great Lakes Governors.
He’s seeking input from other governors so he can issue a response soon
to the plea for money.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.

Related Links

Landowners and State Argue Over Lake Boundaries

A land war is brewing between environmentalists and landowners along Lake Erie… and the latest battleground is the Ohio Legislature. Environmental activists are warning – if lawmakers side with the landowners, it could cause a domino effect, prompting other Great Lakes states to pass laws keeping nature-lovers off the shore. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:

Transcript

A land war is brewing between environmentalists and landowners along Lake Erie… and the
latest battleground is the Ohio Legislature. Environmental activists are warning – if lawmakers
side with the landowners, it could cause a domino effect, prompting other Great Lakes states to pass laws keeping nature-lovers off the shore. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen
reports:


Ohioans who own land along the 260-mile Erie shore are angry because the state has been charging them lease payments for land their deeds show they already own and pay taxes on. That’s the strip between the lake’s high water mark and low water mark. The Ohio House of Representatives has okayed a ban on the lease payments to make it clear the residents’ deeds prevail.


But environmental activists such as Jack Shaner say that would rob beachcombers and birdwatchers of a 200-year-old right to walk the shoreline.


“This sets a bad precedent for the Great Lakes states. It also could cause a nationwide ripple effect.
We’re talking about public trust lands which are not only along Lake Erie but along any common waterway or public land. If this gets a toe hold in Ohio, this could sweep the nation. We’ve got to nip it in the bud right here in Ohio.”


It’s not law yet in Ohio. State Senators are now looking at this bill.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.

Related Links

Industrial Egg Farm Ordered to Close

One of the largest egg farms in the nation is being ordered to shut down. The reason… a decade of complaints, including nine contempt citations for environmental violations. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:

Transcript

One of the largest egg farms in the nation is being ordered to shut down. The reason… a
decade of complaints, including nine contempt citations for environmental violations.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:


The Buckeye Egg Farm churns out more than two and a half billion eggs a year… but
Ohio agricultural officials have ordered the factory farm to close. Neighbors of the farm
continue to complain about swarms of flies and bad smells… and environmentalists
continue to complain about manure being dumped into streams. In the words of Ohio’s
agriculture director….it’s “intolerable.”


Environmental activists such as Jack Shaner are glad about the shutdown order.


“We’re happy the state of Ohio has wised up to the fact that just like violent crime, when
it comes to environmental crime, some repeat violators just can’t be rehabilitated.”


Buckeye Egg warns of job losses injuring the economy…..and it promises an appeal of
the shutdown order. Company officials say a better approach is to sell the farm to new
owners.


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

Region Battles Emerald Ash Borer

An insect called the Emerald Ash Borer has already destroyed thousands of ash trees in Ontario and Michigan…and in February, it was discovered invading the northwest corner of Ohio. Agriculture officials there are trying to contain the bug before it spreads to still more states. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:

Transcript

An insect called the Emerald Ash Borer has already destroyed thousands of ash trees in Ontario
and Michigan…and in February, it was discovered invading the northwest corner of Ohio.
Agriculture officials there are trying to contain the bug before it spreads to still more states.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:


At stake across the Great Lakes region: millions of dollars of wood that’s used for furniture,
cabinets, flooring, and baseball bats. That’s why Ohio agriculture officials have quarantined an
area around Toledo, banning residents from transporting ash wood out of the area. They’ve also
sprayed pesticide on nearby un-infected trees and taken even more drastic action among the 4,000
trees the beetles had already struck.


David Shlike works for the Ohio Agriculture Department.


“At ground zero, out a quarter of a mile, we cut everything, took it down. And had to chip it. We
hauled these chips to Michigan, and they were incinerated. It’s just a devastating pest and that
pest is going to be hatching out here anytime now between the 1st of May and the 15th of May,
and we were trying to take away its food source.”


It will be a few more months before it’s clear whether or not Ohio’s action has stopped the bugs’
advance.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.

Region Tops List for Toxic Chemcials

Two Great Lakes states and one Canadian province are near the top of the list when it comes to the production of toxic chemicals. That’s the finding of the latest study from an international agency set up under NAFTA. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:

Transcript

Two Great Lakes States and one Canadian province are near the top of the list when it comes to
the production of toxic chemicals. That’s the finding of the latest study from an international
agency set up under NAFTA. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:


If you want to find the largest producers of dangerous chemicals in all of North America, look no
further than the Great Lakes Region. Officials from the Commission for Environmental
Cooperation say coal-fired power plants, steel mills, and waste treatment facilities put the region
high on the list.


Victor Shantora is director of the agency:


“The ranking is Texas number 1, Ohio number 2, the province of Ontario is number 3, and
Pennsylvania is number 4. They represent over about 25% of total releases in North America.”


Among the toxic chemicals cited are hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and mercury. But the report
isn’t all bad news. It indicates while some of the toxic chemicals wind up as pollution in the air,
water, and soil, a growing amount of it is simply being transported for proper disposal in
landfills or for recycling.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.

Feds Take Utility Company to Court

The U.S. Justice Department is suing several utility companies in the Midwest and South. The charge is that they didn’t install state of the art pollution controls when they renovated their power plants, a violation of the federal Clean Air Act. The first case is being heard in a federal courtroom in Columbus, Ohio. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:

Transcript

The U.S. Justice Department is suing several utility companies in the Midwest and South. The
charge is that they didn’t install state of the art pollution controls when they renovated their power
plants, a violation of the federal Clean Air Act. The first case is being heard in a federal
courtroom in Columbus, Ohio. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:


About a decade ago, First Energy corporation fixed up a power plant built in 1959 in
Steubenville, Ohio, but it didn’t put in the latest high-tech scrubbers. The company insisted it was
just routine maintenance, so the requirement for top of the line pollution controls didn’t apply.
The justice department disagreed and sued, and states in the Northeast are cheering. They say
soot and smog from the Great Lakes region travel hundreds of miles to New England.
Environmental activists like Jack Shaner say maybe the pollution travels, maybe it doesn’t, but
either way, a crackdown is needed.


“Study after study have shown it’s the folks that live in the shadow of these power plants within a
hundred miles or so that bear the brunt of it. That’s why it’s particularly important for Ohio and
for the Midwest to clean up these power plants. If it helps New England, God bless ’em, but we
gotta start in our own backyard here first.”


President Bush is reportedly pushing for changes, so that state of the art pollution controls
couldn’t be required so often.


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

States Stock Up for Nuclear Emergencies

Four Great Lakes states are stocking up on special cancer-prevention pills that are supposed to protect people who live near nuclear power plants, in case there’s a major leak of radiation. Ohio is the latest. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen has the story:

Transcript

Four Great Lakes states are stocking up on special cancer-prevention
pills that are supposed to protect people who live near nuclear power
plants, in case there’s a major leak of radiation. Ohio is the latest.
Bill Cohen has the story:


The pills contain potassium iodide and the federal government has
agreed to pay for them. The idea is, if people swallow this harmless
iodine just before they’re exposed to radioactivity, their thyroid
glands won’t absorb much dangerous radioactive iodine. That way, the
chances of getting thyroid cancer go down.


Ohio has just packaged 600,000 pills for evacuation centers near
the three nuclear power plants that serve the state. Next year, pills
will be available to residents to pick up directly, so they can keep
them in their medicine cabinet at home or their desk drawer at work.


Still, health officials stress in an emergency, evacuation – not
the pills – should be the top priority. Jay Carey speaks for the state
health department.


“If they’re ordered to evacuate, they should leave first. Don’t even turn
around and go back – ‘Oh, I left my pills in the medicine cabinet, I’ll
go get ’em.’ If you’re told to evacuate, evacuate!”


New York and Pennsylvania are also stocking up on the pills the feds
are paying for. Illinois is buying its own supply.


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

Farming in Age of Global Warming

For years, scientists have been studying what will happen to our environment in the age of global warming. A recently released report draws some conclusions about what may happen in the farm fields. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:

Transcript

For years, scientists have been studying what will happen to
our environment in the age of global warming. A recently
released report draws some conclusions about what may
happen in the farm fields. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Bill Cohen reports:


More carbon dioxide in the air will bring larger crop yields, says
plant ecologist Peter Curtis of Ohio State University. He and other
OSU scientists have just finished reviewing 159 studies from the past
20 years on global warming. Their conclusion – by the end of this
century, some plants will produce more grain.


“Corn, for example, about 5%, wheat we’re lookin’ at about 15%, barley
a little bit more – maybe 18%, soybeans at around 20%, and then rice
all the way up around 40%.”


More food, says Curtis, but it might be less nutritious. That’s the
downside his study is predicting if global warming continues – the
crops will contain less nitrogen and that may mean less protein for the
humans, cows, and pigs that eat it.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen in Columbus.

Algae Mops Up Heavy Metals

The Great Lakes suffer from all kinds of pollution, but among the most dangerous pollutants from industrial waste are mercury, cadmium, and zinc. Researchers at Ohio State University are perfecting a way to clean up those heavy metals…. using algae. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen explains:

Transcript

The Great Lakes suffer from all kinds of pollution, but among the most dangerous pollutants from industrial waste are mercury, cadmium, and zinc. Researchers at Ohio State University are perfecting a way to clean up those heavy metals – using algae. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen explains:

Picture using algae as a sponge. The one-cell
plants attach themselves to the polluting metals…you pull them out of the
water…squeeze out the metals in an acid solution….and re-use the algae
sponge 30 times. Researcher Richard Sayre has genetically altered the
algae to sop up more pollution than ever:


“We’ve improved their ability to sequester and bind these heavy metals by a factor of five.”


Sayre stresses – the algae itself won’t be put
into the lakes free-floating …and it won’t even be living.


“The metal-binding capacity is about three times greater when they’re dead than when they’re alive.”


The next step for Sayre…convincing a few cities to let him put this algae into pollution control equipment so he can prove to them it’s a cheap and effective way to stop industrial waste before it gets into waterways.


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