OTHER VIEW: Clean up, protect the Great Lakes

Editorials

March 9, 2010

Anonymous The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Tue Mar 09, 2010, 09:29 PM EST

The Great Lakes finally are in line for real restoration work — beyond the hold-the-line effort that has been showing signs of slowing or actually reversing course.

Last Sunday Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced a five-year, $2.2 billion plan that would begin to fulfill one of President Barack Obama’s campaign promises. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan aims to accelerate the cleanup of stubborn lake pollution; combat invasive species; protect watersheds and reduce toxic runoff; restore wetlands and other native species habitat; and develop new partnerships and accountability measures to ensure the future well-being of this unique natural resource.

Congress has approved the first, $475 million installment, to be spent on projects overseen by more than a dozen federal agencies, and including grants to non-government groups. A study by the Brookings Institution two years ago estimated that a federal initiative like this one could generate $50 billion worth of new jobs, development and increased property values.

While the cleanup of the Oswego River, Central New York’s gateway to Lake Ontario, is a success story, there remain 30 toxic “areas of concern” more than 20 years after they were identified. The EPA credits a strong partnership between local government and citizen activists with Oswego’s pollution control effort — while acknowledging other cleanups could cost more and cross numerous jurisdictions.

Species invade the Great Lakes at the alarming rate of one every eight months — with more than 180 invaders already established. Invasive plants degrade habitat for native plants and animals. Animal invaders threaten food supplies or prey on native fish like bass, muskellunge, northern pike, lake herring, whitefish and trout.

The parasitic sea lamprey arrived in the 1920s, the zebra mussel in the 1980s, the fishhook waterflea in the 1990s. Now the Asian carp, a voracious predator, has migrated up the Mississippi and threatens to cross into Lake Michigan.

Prior efforts have controlled the lamprey. In 2008, a coordinated response to a simulated sighting of a Snakehead fish showed considerable promise. The EPA vows to expand on such success — and join with Canada to ward off the Asian carp. The action plan’s goal: “zero tolerance” toward all invasive species.

The plan aims to assess for the first time the 530,000 acres of coastal wetlands to help protect and restore animal habitat and improve water quality. Its focus, however, goes beyond assessment. “For the most part, we know the problems facing the Great Lakes,” the plan states. Needed now is “on-the-ground and in-the-water” action.

Supported by state partners on the U.S. side and Canada, this ambitious federal undertaking can only enhance the quality of life in Central and Northern New York. As water becomes an ever-scarcer resource, an ecologically sound Great Lakes Basin is more than worth this investment; it is sure to strengthen the region’s economy.

— The Post-Standard of Syracuse

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