Law could boost Lake Michigan beach algae

[Spiel]

Law could boost Lake Michigan beach algae

 

 

February 15, 2009

Gitte Laasby / Post-Tribune

 

 

More algae could make its way onto Lake Michigan shorelines if a bill introduced in the Indiana Senate becomes law, environmentalists say.

"We have concerns in Lake Michigan about the amounts of phosphorus and nutrients because they can cause algal blooms, create problems and you get a lot of algae washing up on beaches like we've seen in Wisconsin and Michigan. Scientists believe it's, in part, tied to large amounts of nutrients," said Lyman Welch, water program manager with the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

 

Welch is concerned the problem could worsen if the Legislature passes a bill by Sen. Beverly Gard.

 

Under the federal Clean Water Act, facilities that want to dump more pollution into Lake Michigan are required to go through what's called an anti-degradation analysis to demonstrate that the increase is necessary to accommodate important social and economic benefits. Otherwise, the facility can't get a permit.

 

But Senate Bill 419 attempts to undermine that law by exempting nitrogen and phosphorus from the analysis, Welch said. "This bill would exempt several different pollutants and facilities and companies from having to go through this analysis," he said.

 

Nutrients like phosphorus have impaired many Indiana rivers, lakes and streams, including the Grand Calumet River at the Indiana Harbor Canal, Cady Marsh Ditch, Stony Run and Bull Run in Lake County; and Upper Fish Lake in LaPorte County.

 

The bill could also undermine attempts to improve impaired waters so they can eventually be used for swimming and fishing.

 

Albert Ettinger, senior attorney with the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said the bill would prevent the Indiana Department of Environmental Management from calculating the total amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards. The calculation helps IDEM determine permit limits and ultimately ensure that impaired waters improve.

 

Ettinger said if the General Assembly forces IDEM not to enforce federal law, EPA would have to take back IDEM's delegated authority to issue permits.

 

"The whole point of a delegated program is that IDEM?will do what's required by federal law," Ettinger said. "This is certainly a bill that, if enacted, would result in U.S. EPA writing permits for Indiana."

 

Welch pointed out that the bill would also disrupt ongoing meetings between businesses, government officials and environmentalists to flesh out Indiana's version of the federal law. That process has been ongoing since an independent review in 2007 concluded Indiana's unclear law contributed to the controversy over BP's wastewater permit.

 

Welch sent a letter to Gard to point out the Alliance's concerns. Gard was not available for comment, but spokeswoman Erin Reece said Gard is working on an amendment to the bill, which she expects to introduce this week.