Bottle Laws Expand to Water

Most states don’t have bottle deposit laws. Some of those states that do have the laws are expanding them to include deposits on bottled water and other beverages. Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Most states don’t have bottle deposit laws. Some of those states that do have the laws are expanding them to include deposits on bottled water and other beverages. Lester Graham reports:


When Ed Solomon drives up in his delivery truck, he’s not just taking
in cases of soda and other beverages:


“Most every stop we go to as we deliver products, we take the empties
out, and the crates also. But, WHOOO! Yes. Sometimes there’ll be a
lot of empties at various stops.”


Solomon delivers Faygo beverages in Michigan. That state has the
nation’s highest deposit on bottles and cans: ten cents each. And
whether it’s Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Budweiser or Miller, if distributors
drop off product, they have to pick up the empties that people bring
back for the deposit refund.


Of the ten states that have bottle deposit laws, some are adding the deposit requirement to new beverages such as bottled water.
Forty other states have no deposit law at all.


Johnny Georges operates the convenience store Stadium Party Shop in
Ann Arbor, where Ed Solomon is dropping off new product and picking up
the empties. If the law in Michigan is expanded, it would mean Georges
and his employees would have to take in a lot more kinds of empty
bottles and cans.


“I think it’s going to take a little space in my opinion because there
are so many waters out there, so many juices, so many other brands.
So, it’s going to take a little space. Hopefully we’re going to
organize it as usual. And… we’ll see.”


Not everyone is that receptive to the idea. Beverage distributors and
major grocery chains are lobbying hard against expanding the deposit
law. Distributors don’t want to hassle with picking up the empties.
Major grocery chains say they don’t like the mess of people bringing
empties into the stores. They don’t like losing floor space to make
room for bottle and can collection areas. The bigger stores also have
to invest in bar code scanners to automatically count and sort the huge
volume of empties being returned.


A lot of small stores like Johnny George’s don’t have the fancy
equipment. Here, Georges just set aside a neatly organized area where
it collects and sorts the bottles and cans. He says he knows that an
expanded bottle deposit law would mean a little more hassle, but he
doesn’t mind:


“I like the new law. I hope they pass it. That takes a lot of trash
out of the street. And it’s good for the environment in the meantime.”


And Georges isn’t the only one who thinks it would be good for the environment.
Polls show a large majority of people support the idea.


James Clift is with the environmental group Michigan Environmental
Council. He says it’s time to expand the law to other containers.
When the bottle law was written 30 years ago, beer and soda pop cans
and bottles were the biggest concerns.


“But since then, bottled water, tea, other beverages, energy drinks,
we’ve got a whole new set of drinks on the market. And they’re a
larger and larger segment of the market to the point they may become
the majority of the market in the next five to ten years.”


Clift says his state needs to catch up to the changing market, but the
majority of the states don’t require a deposit on cans and bottles at
all. And Clift argues, you can tell when you’re traveling in one of
those states:


“You know, because you see all the trash along the roadways, you see
trash cans filled with bottles and cans and it just seems so unnatural
for someone who grew up in Michigan, you know, to throw away a bottle
or a can. Luckily, we’ve been programmed to know that that has value
and has other uses.”


So people there bag or box up their empties, take them to the store, the
stores can sort them and guys like Ed Solomon can take them back to be
recycled:


“It’s hectic, yes, it really is, you know, to deal with these empties.
Yeah, but, that’s the law I guess.”


And if the can and bottle deposit law is expanded to, and other drinks, as it has been some states, more distributors
and grocers in Michigan will find the job a little more hectic… while
40 other states do little to nothing to reduce the number of cans and
bottles headed for the landfill.


For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.

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Return of the Toxic Algae

A new report says the Great Lakes are being threatened by toxic algae growth. The blue-green algae is reappearing despite efforts in the 1970’s to combat the problem. The GLRC’s Laleah Fernandez reports:

Transcript

A new report says the Great Lakes are being threatened by toxic algae
growth. The blue-green algae is reappearing despite efforts in the
1970’s to combat the problem. The GLRC’s Laleah Fernandez reports:


Environmental groups say phosphorus pollution is causing the growth of
blue-green algae, which can kill fish and plants in the lakes. Phosphorus gets in the lakes
when lawn or farm fertilizers run off into waterways and because dishwashing detergent
still contains phosphates.


Hugh McDiarmid is with the Michigan Environmental Council, which released
the report. He says invasive species, such as zebra mussels, also promote
the growth of the toxic algae:


“They filter the water and make it clearer, which would seem on the surface
to be a good thing, but allows sunlight to reach deeper into the water
column and allows algae, therefore, to grow much deeper in the water than it
had before the mussels arrived.”


McDiarmid says shallow lakes such as Lakes Erie and St. Clair are especially
vulnerable because the algae on the bottom of the lakes is closer to sunlight.


For the GLRC, I’m Laleah Fernandez.

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Ten Threats: Green Lawns, Dead Lakes

  • A blue-green algae bloom. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

The experts who identified the Ten Threats to the Great Lakes for us
say nonpoint source pollution is one of the worst threats. That’s
pollution that doesn’t come out of a pipe but instead is washed from
streets and farm fields… and lawns. Americans use at least three million of tons
of fertilizer on their lawns every year. But the same compounds that make for a lush,
green lawn can make a stinky, slimy mess when they get washed into lakes and rivers.
Sarah Hulett looks at efforts to limit the amount of lawn chemicals that make their way
into the waterways:

Transcript

In our series, Ten Threats to the Great Lakes, we’ve been looking
at environmental problems affecting the health of the lakes. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham is guiding us through the
issues one-by-one:


The experts who identified the Ten Threats to the Great Lakes for us
say nonpoint source pollution is one of the worst threats. That’s
pollution that doesn’t come out of a pipe but instead is washed from
streets and farm fields… and lawns. Americans use at least three million of tons
of fertilizer on their lawns every year. But the same compounds that make for a lush,
green lawn can make a stinky, slimy mess when they get washed into lakes and rivers.
Sarah Hulett looks at efforts to limit the amount of lawn chemicals that make their way
into the waterways:


When newspaper headlines decried the death of Lake Erie in the 1970’s, Americans got
familiar with a new enemy of the environment. Scientists named phosphorus the major
culprit in the lake’s decline. And the reaction went a long way toward cleaning up the
lake: billions of dollars went into upgrades for wastewater treatment plants to reduce
phosphorus from sewage. And phosphate detergents have been mostly phased out of use.


But now that regulators have gotten a handle on the phosphorus coming from the most
obvious sources, they’re left with a much more difficult task: reducing phosphorus from
countless smaller sources that together add up to a lot of pollution.


One of those sources is lawn fertilizer. And Glenn Short says it’s easy to see what
happens when that fertilizer gets washed into the lake where he lives.


(sound of ducks quacking and waves)


“You have this, like, green slime floating all over the top of the lake water. Just pops up
everywhere and it can fill the entire lake surface – especially in the calmer bays. It can be
just miserable for swimming and things like that.”


Short sits on the board of the Lake Sherwood Association, in southeast Michigan. His
neighbors asked him to lobby the township to pass a ban on phosphorus fertilizer to
reduce the algae that takes over the lake in the summers. But he says at first, he was
reluctant to do it.


“I’m like any other homeowner. I don’t want government telling me what to do with my
own property. If I want a really nice lawn, I felt that I should be able to have one.”


But he started doing some research. And he found that enough phosphorus will
eventually kill a lake.


“Over a period of time, you get more and more organic material growing, you kill it off,
you just start filling up your lake. And eventually you have no lake anymore. You just
have a wetland. Well, I like my lake. I mean, I live on a lake. I like to use my lake.”


So Short drafted an ordinance to ban fertilizers containing phosphorus, and his township
board passed it. Several other local governments in the region have also enacted limits or
outright bans. And the state of Minnesota has statewide limits on phosphorus fertilizers.


It’s an approach the landscape industry calls unnecessary.


Gary Eichen is with Mike’s Tree Surgeons in southeast Michigan. It’s a company that’s
signed onto an initiative aimed at environmentally responsible lawn care.


(sound of spreader)


The company uses zero-phosphorus fertilizer on almost all the lawns it treats. Back at the
office, Eichen says the problem isn’t the chemicals – it’s that most homeowners don’t
know how to use them.


“They purchase from a source that is not educated in what the products are. He goes
home and starts going through this giant label on the back, and most of it might as well
be Egyptian hieroglyphics. He has no idea. So he ends up over-applying or incorrectly
applying.”


Eichen says there would be far fewer problems with runoff if homeowners left fertilizing
to the professionals. And he says it’s tough for the experts to stay in business when
there’s a patchwork of local ordinances to regulate chemicals like phosphorus.


But that’s exactly what the Environmental Protection Agency is asking communities to
do. Brad Garmon of the Michigan Environmental Council says that kind of bottom-up
regulation presents some challenges.


“It’s very difficult to see what’s working and what’s not, and to chart success. And I
know that a lot of the state programs are re-evaluating right now to see if the approach
they’ve been using over the last five or ten years has been working.”


It’ll take at least another five to ten years for Glenn Short to see the results of his
community’s phosphorus ban. The lake he lives on is part of a river system that
eventually dumps into Lake Erie. But he says just like that Great Lake, it’ll be worth the
wait and the effort to see his small lake bounce back to health.


For the GLRC, I’m Sarah Hulett.

Related Links

Ginseng Thieves Strike the Midwest

  • Wild ginseng is protected in the Great Lakes states, but poachers illegally dig up the herb because of high prices.

Conservation officers are starting to notice a demand for a threatened native plant. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Kaomi Goetz reports on how wild ginseng might be smuggled out of the nation:

Transcript

Conservation officers are starting to notice a demand for a threatened native plant. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Kaomi Goetz reports on how wild ginseng might be smuggled out of
the nation:


While other states have been hit by ginseng smugglers, this is something new in Michigan,
something they’ve never paid much attention to… until now.


Sergeant Ron Kimmerley and Officer Andy Bauer of the State Department of Natural Resources
are deep into the woods.


They’re scouting around Warren Dunes State Park next to Lake Michigan.


They spot what they’re looking for.


What they’ve found are wild ginseng plants, a threatened species that’s protected under Michigan
law.


What they’re also looking for are homemade flags marking the site and signs of digging.


Officer Bauer says they first noticed the flags last summer.


“There were felt flags stuck into the ground, and the rangers had seen those and thought it was
from an orienteering class. Later, we saw the flags were laid down and there were holes where
things had been harvested.”


Until then, Bauer says ginseng poaching had gone largely unnoticed.


More than 30 arrests were made last year and the scenario was often the same: A group would
act as a family of picnickers while one or two people slipped away to dig up ginseng.


Bauer says it was clear that most knew they were breaking the law.


“Some had plastic bags. Others, it was concealed much like narcotics would be, concealed under
their clothes. One woman, we found in the woman’s purse where the bottom was removed, and
there were at least 20 roots.”


Another similarity in the cases was that all those caught were of Asian descent.


Though separate instances, many of them had similar Chicago street addresses.


One man even came from Korea. He came on a 10-day tourist visa, apparently just to harvest
ginseng.


The officers suspect most of the wild ginseng was being taken back to Chicago to sell there or for
export to Asia.


Paul Hsu raises ginseng legally in Wisconsin. He agrees with the conservation officers that the
ginseng is being smuggled to Chicago or out of the country.


“They could have dug it and consumed there. But I don’t think that’s their intention. They dig it,
take it back to Chicago, sell it. They know the value of it.”


Hsu says ginseng roots have been valued in Asian culture for almost 3,000 years for its medicinal
properties.


“The Chinese believe it’s a cure-all…in the old-time, we don’t have antibiotics. It’s more like a
shot-gun approach. Can relieve stress, give you more stamina. To enhance the function of your
body, immune system…whatever.


Wild ginseng is considered more potent than cultivated ginseng, the kind Hsu grows.


And it’s lucrative. A pound a wild ginseng can fetch upwards of $350.


The fines in most Midwest states are fairly high. The penalties in Michigan range up to $5,000
for a first offense and could include jail time.


The poachers are aware of this and usually carry wads of cash. Officers say they suspect it’s
considered the price of doing business.


They’re taking the risk because ginseng is becoming increasingly scarce in Asia.
Environmentalists say that’s what’s behind the high demand and illegal harvesting of American
wild ginseng.


“It’s where there’s greater concentrations that have not yet been harvested.”


Dave Dempsey is a policy advisor at the Michigan Environmental Council.


“It’s more economical for harvesters to exploit here in Michigan and around the Great Lakes.”


Poaching has been going on in southern states for many years because of legendary stock around
the Appalachians.


More recently, poachers are targeting the Midwest because of rich soil. And ginseng has become
so rare everywhere else.


At Warren Dunes State Park, Sergeant Ron Kimmerley is organizing group patrols to try to catch
poachers.


There’s even plans to place plain-clothes officers as picnickers.


But he admits, it might not be enough.


“We’ve got a lot of poachers here, but what’s happening where we can’t be?”


So far, no one has been caught in Michigan this year. But Sergeant Kimmerley says the ginseng
harvest season is just beginning.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Kaomi Goetz.

Related Links

GINSENG THIEVES STRIKE THE MIDWEST (Short Version)

  • Wild ginseng is protected in the Great Lakes states, but poachers illegally dig up the herb because of high prices.

Wild ginseng has been poached in North America for years. American ginseng is considered among Asian herbalists to be among the world’s most potent. But a dwindling supply in the more common hunting areas and a global, increased demand for herbal medicine is putting many states in the region at new risk for poaching. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Kaomi Goetz reports from Michigan:

Transcript

Wild ginseng has been poached in North America for years. American ginseng is considered
among Asian herbalists to be among the world’s most potent. But a dwindling supply in the more
common hunting areas and a global, increased demand for herbal medicine is putting many states
in the Great Lakes region at new risk for poaching. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Kaomi
Goetz reports from Michigan:


Wild ginseng is protected by some states as a threatened native species.


No one knows just how much ginseng is growing wild in the Great Lakes region. Yet incidents
last summer have law enforcement officers on the alert.


More than 30 people were caught trying to smuggle ginseng out of a Michigan state park next to
Lake Michigan.


Fines can go into the thousands of dollars with even possible jail time.


Even so, Sergeant Ron Kimmerley of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says his
state is largely defenseless.


“There’s only about 200 officers, maybe a little less than that, in the whole state of Michigan. It’s
just not enough. I mean, some counties don’t even have an officer.”


This year, conservation officers are planning other tactics to catch poachers, such as using plain-
clothes officers. Other states such as Indiana and Illinois have also been targets for ginseng
poaching in recent years.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Kaomi Goetz.

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Enviro Groups Concerned About Blackout Aftermath

Some environmentalists are concerned that the blackout that affected the Northeast and part of Canada might be used as an excuse to build more power plants. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Some environmentalists are concerned that the blackout that affected the Northeast
and part of
Canada might be used as an excuse to build more power plants. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


Experts don’t yet know all the factors that led to the power blackout. But
environmentalists
worry that private interests will take advantage of the situation and call for more
large nuclear and
coal-burning power plants. David Gard is with the Michigan Environmental Council.


“Clearly we know, experts have already said even though we don’t know the exact
cause of the
problem, we know for sure that it’s not an issue of not enough generation. We have
plenty of
power plants; we have plenty of supply. This is primarily a problem with
transmission and
getting energy that’s already been made to the end customer.”


Environmentalists say fixing the transmission bottle-necks, building a more diverse
system with
wind and solar power generation and real conservation measures such as more
efficient air
conditioners are better solutions than building big generating plants that pollute.


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

‘ODOR PATROL’ SNIFFS OUT POLLUTION

The world’s largest automaker is doing something it’s never done before. General Motors is recruiting people who live near its assembly plants to help the company find ways to pollute less. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports, some environmentalists say GM’s efforts are missing the point:

Transcript

The world’s largest automaker is doing something it’s never done before. General Motors is
recruiting people who live near its assembly plants to help the company find ways to pollute less.
But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports, some environmentalists say GM’s
efforts are missing the point.


The city of Lansing, Michigan is the car Capital of North America, producing nearly a
half-a-million Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Chevrolets and Cadillacs every year. Later this year,
General Motors adds another car to its Lansing lineup – a brand-new Chevy roadster. But it
almost didn’t happen.


Environmentalists threatened legal action to block production because they weren’t satisfied with
the factory’s air pollution controls.


Steve Tomaszewski is General Motors’ Lansing environmental manager.


“People were concerned, everyone was concerned. There was a breakdown of communications,
on all parties.”


The disagreement was over air pollution from one of GM’s plants. Those emissions were due to
nearly double under a new state air quality permit.


Some Lansing residents and two state environmental groups threatened to appeal that new permit
if GM didn’t agree to use better pollution controls. The two sides made their cases in the local
papers and eventually struck a deal.


Again, GM’s Steve Tomaszewski.


“We’ve come a long way, a long way, from where we started in the process. You know, we sit
down and we know more about people’s families other than just concentrating, on you know, the
industrial odor issues, which is great.”


General Motors agreed to join a new Air Quality Task Force. It’s made up of GM engineers,
environmental officials and people who live near the plants. GM also brought in an odor expert to
train the group to sniff out emissions from the plants’ paint shops. This “odor patrol” then files
reports to a new Web site.


Marci Alling is part of the group.


“They kind of calibrated our noses, that’s about the best way to describe it to kind of get us all
where we are more or less reporting the same levels of odor.”


Alling and her husband have lived near GM factories for 10 years. Often, whether they spend
time in their backyard depends on which way the wind blows. In certain weather conditions,
typically on hot, sticky days, a paint-like smell from the plants drifts through their neighborhood.
They’ve wondered whether the odors are making them sick.


State officials say the odors might be annoying, but recent studies found people who live near the
plants are not at a greater risk of cancer or other illnesses.


GM’s Steve Tomaszewski says the odor patrol will help the automaker better monitor emissions.


“We know we can’t be completely odor free. We strive to do our best. But this information, what
we’ll do is be able to go back and it’s more real time. You’re able to link it to the day and the time,
and we’re able to go back into the process to see what’s happening.”


But environmental groups say General Motors should be doing more to reduce pollution in the
first place, instead of tracking emissions after they become a problem.


James Clift of the Michigan Environmental Council says technology is available to make the
painting process cleaner. But he claims GM isn’t using it.


“If what you need is pollution control equipment and it’s not there, the odors may continue. We
might know better what they are, but if the permit doesn’t require them, it doesn’t matter. Now,
the department always has the ability to bring what they call an odor violation against General
Motors. In my mind, they’ve received lots of complaints over the years, but the DEQ has never
acted and actually issued a violation on odors.”


But the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says it has issued odor violations against
General Motors. GM was ordered to raise its smokestacks in Lansing a couple of years ago
because of a violation. And GM says it recently spent 4-million-dollars on new painting
technology that greatly cuts down on pollution.


Now, General Motors is counting on its neighbors and their noses to help the company improve
air quality near its factories. GM says the project could lead to better pollution controls at plants
throughout the country, including more than 40 in the Great Lakes region.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Erin Toner.

Attacks Change Nature of Enviro Debate

Before the terrorist attacks on the U.S., environmental groups were often critical of the Bush Administration’s policies. But since September 11th, most of the environmental organizations have erased all traces of criticism of the White House. Some politicians, though, see opportunities to push through energy policies in the name of national security – policies that could damage the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Before the terrorist attacks on the U.S., environmental groups were often critical of the Bush Administration’s policies. But, since September 11th, most of the environmental organizations have erased all traces of criticism of the White House. Some politicians, though, see opportunities to push through energy policies in the name of national security, policies that could damage the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports.


If you’d visited the Sierra Club Internet web site before September eleventh, or that of the Natural Resources Defense Council, or any of a dozen or more major environmental groups’ sites, you likely would have seen sometimes harsh criticism of the Bush Administration’s energy policies, environmental policies, and a host of other complaints the groups had against the White House. Some environmental groups were also running TV ads attacking the Bush Administration’s policies. But, after the terrorist attacks, the ads were pulled and many of the environmental groups removed those criticisms from their web sites in the name of national unity.


Joe Davis is editor of a tip sheet compiled for environmental journalists. He’s watched as most environmental groups have stifled their criticism since the attacks.


“I think everybody’s waiting just to see, you know, what’s going to happen in the next few days and weeks. And, of course, environmental groups are, for the most part, as patriotic as everybody else and people do understand that national unity is important.”


Some journalists have questioned whether the environmental groups are backing down from their positions or merely lying low for a little while. The environmental groups aren’t saying much. But behind the scenes, there’s concern that environmental protection will get trampled in the name of national security.


Meanwhile, some politicians have seen opportunities in the wake of the tragedy. Immediately after the attacks, the Alaska congressional delegation began pushing harder for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The members said such drilling would reduce America’s dependence on oil from the Middle East. They were admonished, though, for being opportunists in the wake of tragedy. The Alaska politicians quickly backed off and took the fight for drilling behind the scenes.


Outside of Washington, it’s a different story. Some state politicians have become even more vocal in their support of oil and gas exploration. Just before the terrorist attacks, Michigan’s Natural Resources Commission lifted a moratorium on drilling for oil and natural gas under the Great Lakes. The Michigan Legislature could still step in to block any such drilling. But some of the lawmakers say because of the terrorist attacks, Michigan should drill. Dale Shugars is a Republican State Senator who supports drilling under the lakes.

_____________
“With the sustained war that we’re going to be going into, I think it’s very important from a national security point of view that the country be more independent for oil and gas.”


Environmentalists in Michigan are appalled that Senator Shugars and some of their colleagues are taking that tact. James Clift is the policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council. He says the reserves under the lakes are so miniscule they’ll have next to no effect on the nation’s energy security and using the terrorist attacks to justify drilling under the Great Lakes is wrong.


“We do not believe that the unfortunate incident of the terrorist attack has changed anything as far as energy policy in the United States. The same conditions that applied before apply afterwards. And, even more so, I believe, is the importance for energy conservation. The United States only has four percent of the world’s reserves of oil and gas. Using those reserves up faster isn’t going to make the United States any more secure.”


But Senator Shugars thinks it is naïve to believe using less fuel will be enough. He says now that we’re at war with terrorists, it’s important to drill for fuel for the military and needs at home.


“It’s a fact that we’re going to be having a war against terrorism for a long time and I think that if one is going to look at a national energy policy, it has to include increasing supply and definitely – definitely has to be environmentally sensitive.”


Senator Shugars and others using the terrorist attacks to justify the energy and environmental policies that they want might be walking a tight rope. History shows Americans tend to frown on opportunism during times of national crisis. Environmental journalist Joe Davis says if politicians and energy industry leaders do use that approach, it could backfire. Especially since environmental groups are being quiet for the sake of a united patriotic front.


“Any party who tries to make short-term advantage out of a national crisis like this, I think, is very quickly going to be perceived as being exactly what it is: opportunistic. I don’t think the environmentalists will lay low forever and I don’t think they’re alone in questioning these things.”


But for now, most of the environmentalists are not saying much – at least publicly – about their opposition to the government’s energy and environmental policies. At least not until the nation begins to get past the shock of the terrorist attacks on the U.S.


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