P
The
Since 1972
Pipeline to Defiance See Sports-Second Section
RESS May 4, 2015
FREE
Serving More Than h 33 33,000 000 H Homes & B Businesses i iin 4 C Counties ti
Great Lakes storyteller See page 13
M
Ennio-mania
Ennio Emmanuel, an educational singer, recently performed for Spanish Club students and teachers at Clay High School. Students from Genoa, Perrysburg and Whitmer were also in attendance. At left, Perrysburg teachers and students took to the stage. At right, Jaycee Wamer, Clay, joins Ennio in song. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)
Groups want Lake Erie called “impaired” watershed By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com Saying the Lake Erie water crisis last August is a wake-up call, a coalition of environmental, agricultural and other organizations in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare the lake’s western basin an impaired watershed. Despite the passage last month of Ohio Senate Bill 1 – a bipartisan measure prohibiting the application of fertilizer and manure on frozen and saturated ground within the basin – the organizations contend in a letter to Gina McCarthy, EPA administrator, “no meaningful measures have yet been taken to reduce the levels of algae-feeding phosphorus” in Lake Erie. Consequently, there will “almost certainly” be another crisis this year. A section of the Clean Water Act requires lists of impaired waters to be compiled, defining “impaired” as waters for which regulations and other required controls aren’t stringent enough to meet water quality standards set by states. The act re-
Common People, Uncommon Challenges 50 stories of inspiration
quires states establish prioritized rankings for waters on the lists and calculate the amount of a pollutant a body of water can receive and still meet quality standards. The organizations are asking the EPA to pay more attention to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations that typically house hundreds or thousands of livestock. “There are many sources of nutrients fueling the harmful algal blooms,” the letter says. “However, agriculture is the major contributor of excess phosphorus in the western Lake Erie basin. For that reason, we also request EPA to focus on one relatively new, and largely unregulated, agricultural nutrient pollution threat we believe requires your urgent attention – concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).” Because the CAFO industry has expanded in the three states in the past 20 years – and apply large amounts of manure to farm fields that drain into the basin – a “regional approach is imperative because of the cumulative impact CAFO waste is having on the western Lake Erie basin, “ the letter says. The organizations, in particular, are asking the EPA to:
• Require valid nutrient management plans for all farms receiving manure from CAFOs. • Establish numeric nutrient water quality standards for the three states. • Ban the practice of hauling manure into the western Lake Erie watershed from other watersheds. “This is not just an Ohio problem, because a large amount of livestock waste is produced and spread in the Michigan and Indiana portions of this watershed too,” said Pam Taylor, of Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan. “While different steps are being taken to address nutrient loadings in Lake Erie, this is a necessary and important step towards uniformity and accountability within the entire Western Lake Erie basin.” Vickie Askins, of the Ohio Environmental Stewardship Alliance, has been a vocal critic of the lack of regulation covering manure from CAFOs. “Ohio submitted a nutrient reductions strategy report to U.S. EPA which established that effective manure management is critical to see water quality improvements and measurable reductions in nutrient loadings,” she said. “However, recent
Continued on page 2
Q
uote
of The Week
The importance of winning this battle goes beyond the economic value of America’s ash trees... John Szozda See page 12
Read about the heroes living in the homes next to you. In these 50 short stories, Press columnist John Szozda tells the stories of common people who have met uncommon challenges with vision, courage, passion and determination. These men and women include the Genoa grandmother who helped
by John Szozda
legislative efforts in Ohio have exempted CAFOs from new restrictions and have also failed to close existing loopholes in state laws for CAFOs.” Organizations signing the letter include the Indiana CAFO Watch, Food & Water Watch, Ohio Farmers Union, Sierra Club chapters from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, Buckeye Forest Council, Center for Food Safety, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project and others.
solve her daughter’s murder, the Polish-American boy who survived gruesome medical experiments during WWII and the woman, once a victim of fear, who fought back against crime and founded CrimeStoppers. The
For your copy of John Szozda’s book, send $15 to The Press, Box 169-J Millbury, OH 43447 or call 419-836-2221.
PRESS
Metro Suburban Maumee Bay