United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60604
EPA-160-R-97-005
December 1997
&EPA United States
Great Lakes Program
Report On The Great Lakes
Water Quality Agreement
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UNITED STATES GREAT LAKES PROGRAM
REPORT ON THE GREAT LAKES
WATER QUALITY AGREEMENT
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office
December 1997
Questions Regarding this Report Should be Directed to:
Mark Elster, Program Analyst
USEPA-GLNPO
77 West Jackson Boulevard (G-17J)
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Telephone: (312) 886-3857; Fax: (312)353-2018
e-mail: elster.mark@epamail.epa.gov
This document is also available on the Internet at:
www. epa.gov/glnpo/
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank his staff counterparts at the numerous Federal, State, Tribal, and non-
governmental organizations who contributed information towards this Report. The author also thanks
his office colleagues for their valuable aid. Specifically, special thanks goes out to the following
persons for their assistance: Darlene Punches, Computer Specialist for desktop publishing/graphic
support, layout and design; CynthiaD. Bowman, Computer Assistant, for desktop publishing and graph-
ics; and Pranas Pranckevicius, Internet Manager, for printing advice and for the online posting of this
Report.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 1: The U.S. Great Lakes Region 1
Figure 2: DDT inLake MichiganLake Trout 2
Figure 3: Atmospheric Loadings of Lead to the GreatLakes 2
Figure 4: BaldEagle Territories intheU.S 3
Figure 5: Reproductive Success of GreatLakes Osprey 3
Figure 6: PCBs inLake MichiganLake Trout 12
Figure 7: Reductions inReleases and Transfers of TRI Chemicals 16
Figure 8: Reductions inReleases and Transfers of 33/50 Chemicals 16
Figure 9: Mercury inLake Erie Smelt 19
Figure 10: Pesticide Usage in the Great Lakes Basin 23
Figure 11: Herbicide Use in the GreatLakes Basin 23
Figure 12: Fertilizer Use in the Great Lakes Basin 31
Figure 13: Phosphorus Loads to Lake Erie 31
Figure 14: Conservation Tillage in the Great Lakes Basin 32
Figure 15: No-Till in the Great Lakes Basin 32
Figure 16: U.S. and Canadian Eco-Regions 38
Figure 17: Protected Lands in the Chicago Wilderness Region 39
Figure 18: EasternLake Ontario Megasite 41
Figure 19: Nearshore Biodiversity Investment Areas 43
Figure 20: Effects of Zebra Mussels on Phytoplankton in Lake Erie 44
Figure 21: Areas of Concern in the GreatLakes Basin 54
Table 1: Niagara River Toxics Management Plan Priority Pollutants 10
Table 2: Farmland Conversion in the Great Lakes Basin: 1981-1992 14
INTRODUCTION 1
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DURING THE LAST BIENNIUM 4
New P'articulate Matter and Ozone Standards 4
Signing of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Reduction Strategy 4
Protecting our Children — Our Most Vital Resource 5
State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference and the State of the Great Lakes Report 6
Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study/Enhanced Monitoring Program 6
Implementing the Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance 7
Uniform Fish Consumption Advisory 7
Lake Trout Natural Reproduction in Lake Superior 8
Update on Waste Incinerator Rules 8
Other Toxic Emission Reduction Activities 8
Waukegan Harbor Fish Consumption Signs Come Down 9
Manistique River and Harbor Area of Concern (AOC) Superfund Site Remediation 9
Second Great Waters Report to Congress 9
Niagara River Toxics Management Plan Targets 10
Automotive Pollution Prevention Project Reductions 11
Beach Closings 11
ONGOING AND EMERGING ISSUES 12
Fish and Wildlife Consumption Advisories Still In Place 12
Toxaphene Levels in Lake Superior 12
Endocrine Disruptors 13
Malformed Amphibians 14
Addressing Urban Sprawl 14
Climate Change Impacts 15
i
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Page
PUTTING THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO WORK 15
TOXIC CONTAMINANTS 15
Pollution Prevention 15
Focus on Mercury 18
Federal Actions 18
State Actions 20
Industry Actions 21
Focus on PCBs 22
Focus on Pesticides 22
Federal Actions 24
Industry Actions 25
ADDRESSING ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION 25
Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN) 25
Great Lakes Emissions Inventory 26
REMEDIATING CONTAMINATED SEDIMENTS 26
MULTILATERAL INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 29
NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION 30
EXCESSIVE NUTRIENT LOADINGS 31
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION AND COMPLIANCE 33
PROTECTING THE HEALTH OF BASIN RESIDENTS 35
Improved Protection for Drinking Water and Ground Water 36
HABITAT PROTECTION AND ENHANCEMENT 37
EXOTIC SPECIES 43
FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMUNITIES 47
PUBLIC ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION 49
GREAT LAKES GEOGRAPHIC INITIATIVES 51
PROGRESS UNDER THE LAKEWIDE MANAGEMENT PLANS 51
Lake Superior 52
Lake Michigan 53
Lake Erie 53
Lake Ontario 53
Lake Huron 53
PROGRESS ON REMEDIAL ACTION PLANS 53
Spotlight on the Fox River/Green Bay, Wisconsin Area of Concern 55
Spotlight on the Southeast Michigan Initiative (SEMI) 55
Spotlight on the Southwestern Coast of Lake Michigan 56
INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS 56
Sustainable Development 57
TRIBAL ACTIVITIES 60
NEW APPROACHES TO OLD PROBLEMS 60
Brownfields Redevelopment 60
EnvironmentalJustice 61
Sustainable Development 62
CONCLUSION 62
REPORT GLOSSARY 64
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Report on United States Progress
INTRODUCTION
This is the fifth Biennial Progress Report to the International Joint Commission
(IJC) and the citizens of the Great Lakes Basin on actions takenby the United States
(U.S.) to protect and restore the Great Lakes ecosystem. This report reviews some
principal challenges facing the ecosystem; outlines approaches taken by Basin
stakeholders to address these challenges; highlights some historic and recent actions
by Federal, State, and Tribal agencies, as well as their non-governmental partners,
to implement these approaches; and outlines future activities on behalf of the Great
Lakes.
The U.S. Great Lahes Region
Figure 1: The U.S. Great Lakes Region
This report is being issued at a propitious time as we celebrated, during the last
biennium, the 25th anniversaries of the signing of the Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement (the Agreement), the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA, or the Agency), and the signing of the Clean Water Act. As we pause
to reflect on the last two years of progress under the Agreement, we should
recognize that what is being achieved today is built upon, and a direct result of, the
last 25 years of binational cooperation on the Great Lakes. Indeed, we have
achieved many significant environmental victories as we work to restore the
ecosystem. A few prime examples include the following:
Since 1971, over $8 billion worth of wastewater infrastructure improvements have
been put in place throughout the Great Lakes Basin to upgrade sewage treatment
plants in order to address excessive phosphorus and low dissolved oxygen levels in
the lakes. This has been augmented by bans on high phosphate household
detergents, and farm practices to reduce agricultural runoff. Partly as a result of
these activities, Lake Erie returned from the "dead" to become a prized sportfishing
location.
The United States and Canada signed
the Great Lakes Water Quality Agree-
ment on April 15, 1972.
Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Since a stretch of the Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969 due to oil and debris
present, water quality has improved dramatically, largely due to the passage of the
1972 Clean Water Act, requiring investments by public and private dischargers for
treatment of their effluent. Because of these actions, many fish communities have
returned to their natural abundance.
As a result of a combination of pollution prevention and site restoration, the release
of toxic substances into the environment has been greatly reduced. Subsequently,
levels of toxic contaminants have dropped dramatically in fish and wildlife,
improving the health of many species.
DDT in Lake Michigan Lake Troi
1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990
Year
Figure 2: DDT in Lake Michigan Lake Trout
EPA's actions to get lead out of gasoline has dramatically decreased its levels in the
environment. Lead is a toxic metal that presents environmental and human health
risks, including brain and kidney damage, especially to children.
Atm
-2>
.£
1
OS
> ph e r
to th
1988
ic Loadings of Lead
e G reat Lakes
1992 1994
Year
Figure 3: Atmospheric Loadings of Lead to the Great Lakes
Pfotect and Restore tte Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Twenty-five years after the U.S. canceled the pesticide DDT, many fish-eating bird
species have experienced remarkable recoveries. The ban has been characterized as
one of history's great environmental success stories. Bald eagles, peregrine falcons,
osprey, and double-crested cormorants, viewed as "DDT victims," have all
experienced increases in breeding populations in the Great Lakes Basin. Other
shorebirds have also experienced dramatic population rises.
Bald Eagle Territories in U.S.
1
^^^^^^^
u i i i i i i i i
1963 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
Year
Figure 4: Bald Eagle Territories in U.S.
Reproductive Success of
Great Lakes Osprey
Wisconsin Michigan Ontario
II 1960-1974 • 1975-1991
New York
The bald eagle, our proud national
symbol, has made a strong recov-
ery in the Great Lakes
Figure 5: Reproductive Success of Great Lakes Osprey
Pfotect and Restore The Great'LakesEcosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Over one million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), one of the
compounds largely responsible for fish consumption advisories in the Great Lakes,
were removed from the bottom sediments of Waukegan Harbor, Illinois. This mass
represented one of the largest single sources of PCBs to the Great Lakes.
Since 1958, the binational Great Lakes Fishery Commission has achieved a dramatic
reduction in the numbers of sea lamprey, a non-native predator which had decimated
populations of prized fish such as lake trout and lake whitefish.
These few examples do not do full justice to the variety of the major environmental
achievements of the last 25 years. Nor does this document provide an exhaustive
summary of all the important and impressive work undertaken by the community of
Great Lakes stakeholders during the last biennium; rather, it offers representative
The non-native sea lamprey has had a actions being implemented to restore and protect the Basin. And indeed, it is
**&$<*»* m?act °n the Great Lakes heartening to see the scope and breadth of activities being implemented. The
progress being achieved points to the existence of a strong Great Lakes stakeholder
community, supported by dedicated government and private sector professionals,
who are forging ahead with Great Lakes restoration and protection activities.
Innovative partnerships, projects, and research are the norms in the Great Lakes. We
are working smarter and more efficiently to deliver on the promises made under the
Agreement via the Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP), Remedial Action Plan
(RAP), and other Agreement programs. New challenges and opportunities will
continue to present themselves to the U.S. Great Lakes Program as it continues to
make steady progress in improving the Great Lakes ecosystem for all of its
inhabitants. With these thoughts in mind, EPA is proud to present this report to the
IJC on behalf of the U.S. Great Lakes Program.
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DURING THE LAST BIENNIUM
Avariety of significant events have occurred during the last two years. Most of these
environmental "victories" have been made possible through the collaborative efforts
of a variety of Great Lakes stakeholders at the Federal, State, Tribal, local and non-
governmental levels.
New Particulate Matter and Ozone Standards
In July 1997, EPA published final standards for paniculate matter and ozone
(otherwise known as soot and smog), a major step forward in protecting the public
from the health hazards of air pollution. These updated standards, the product of
many years of intensive scientific review, move us toward fulfilling the Clean Air
Act's goal of ensuring Americans that their air is safe to breathe. The new standards
will provide new health protection to 125 million Americans, including 35 million
children. EPA will issue guidance and rules designed to give States, local
governments, and businesses the flexibility to meet these protective public health
standards in a cost-effective manner.
Signing of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Reduction Strategy
The Agreement calls for the "virtual elimination" of discharges of persistent toxic
substances into the Great Lakes Basin. In keeping with this commitment, Prime
Protect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem 4
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Report on United States Progress
Minister Chretien of Canada and President Clinton of the U.S. committed in
February 1995 to the development of a coordinated strategy to virtually eliminate
persistent toxic substances, particularly those which bioaccumulate, from the Great
Lakes Basin. The Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy (the Strategy), signed on
April 7,1997 by EPA Administrator Carol Browner and then Canadian Minister of
the Environment Sergio Marchi, fulfills that commitment. The Strategy sets
reduction targets for the following persistent toxic substances: aldrin/dieldrin,
benzo(a)pyrene, chlordane, DDT, hexachlorobenzene, alkyl-lead, mercury, mirex,
octachlorostyrene, PCBs, dioxins/furans, and toxaphene. These substances have
been associated with potential widespread long-term, adverse effects on wildlife
and human health.
The Strategy sets ambitious reduction targets or "challenges" within a ten-year
time frame forthese substances, suchas a 50 percent reduction target for the release
of mercury and a 75 percent reduction target for the total releases of dioxins/furans
for sources resulting from human activity. The Strategy concentrates on the long-
range transport of these substances through the atmosphere, recognizing that the
Great Lakes receives inputs of persistent toxic substances from both within and
outside the Basin.
The Strategy presents a vision of a new, creative approach to environmental
protection, inviting voluntary pollution prevention measures, while building upon
existing regulatory programs. From the beginning, EPA and Environment Canada
have involved State, Provincial, Tribal, industrial, environmental and other
interested stakeholders, recognizing that the governments alone cannot achieve the
goal of virtual elimination ~ all parts of society must contribute to ensure success.
Protecting our Children ~ Our Most Vital Resource
In September 1996, EPA issued a report entitled Environmental Health Threats to
Children which highlighted the potential health threats faced by children from
toxic contaminants in the environment. It argued for a comprehensive approach to
providing children with stronger health protection and it set forth a new national
agenda to protect children from those risks more comprehensively than before.
Under its National Agenda to Protect Children's Health from Environmental
Threats, EPA's policy will be to ensure that all standards that the Agency sets are
protective enough to address the potentially higher risks faced by children, and that
the most significant current standards are re-evaluated as new scientific knowledge
emerges. Under this new policy, the Agency will select, with public input and
environmental peer review, five of its most significant public health and
environmental standards to reissue on an expedited basis.
Protecting our children was made a national priority when President Clinton issued
an April 1997 Executive Order requiring each Federal agency to identify and assess
environmental health and safety risks that may disproportionately affect children
and to ensure that their policies, programs, activities, and standards address any
disproportionate risks. In support of this effort, the first Federal research centers
dedicated to the protection of the health of children from environmental threats are
being created. Research will be conducted on the possible environmental causes of
children's illnesses and disorders, especially respiratory diseases; the impact of
common environmental contaminants, such as lead or mercury, on intellectual
The U.S. is focusing on environmental
health threats to children
Protect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
development; and the influence on initial growth and development of exposure to
certain environmental agents before or after birth.
In May 1997, EPA Administrator Browner expanded this Children's Agenda
internationally by persuading environmental leaders of the world's leading
industrialized nations to increase their commitment to protecting children from
environmental risks when developing national regulations and international treaties;
to work jointly to harmonize risk assessment procedures and protocols to address
environmental risk to children; to develop mechanisms to share information on lead
hazards in products designed for children; and to support an Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development initiative to develop more complete
guidelines for testing potentially endocrine disrupting chemicals, with a particular
emphasis on screening those that could specifically affect children.
At the State level, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM),
for example, has announced a new program to identify toxic hotspots that put
children at risk in their communities from exposure to lead, mercury, nitrates, ozone,
and E. coli.
State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference and the State of the Great
Lakes Report
The State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC) is one of the principal
means forthe U.S. and Canada to report on the health of the Basin and its inhabitants.
SOLEC '96 addressed the nearshore areas of the Great Lakes, the most biologically
productive and the most heavily impacted part of the system. In September 1997, the
Parties published the State of the Great Lakes —1997 (SOGL Report) as a summary
of the state of the Great Lakes at the end of 1996. It also contains updates to
information presented at SOLEC '94. The first two SOLECs reviewed the state of
various components of the Great Lakes ecosystem through the use of indicators and
a subjective assessment of conditions. These indicators were developed through the
best judgement of the scientists involved.
The SOGL Report serves as the most up to date and comprehensive collection of
Great Lakes indicators to date and also as a jumping off point for SOLEC '98, whose
theme is the establishment of a consistent, easily understood suite of indicators that
will objectively represent the status of majorecosy stem components across the Great
Lakes Basin. SOLEC will use these indicators to report on progress every two years
and to assess progress toward achieving the purpose of the Agreement. The
indicators will also establish a benchmark against which Great Lakes ecosystem
assessment, monitoring, and management efforts can be measured. The acceptance
and use of a core set of indicators can drive data collection activities throughout the
Basin and ultimately lead to better decision-making for its protection and
restoration. It is important to note that the LaMPs are focusing on ecosystem
objectives and lake-specific indicators which are serving these purposes at the
individual lake basin level.
Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study/Enhanced Monitoring Program
The Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study/Enhanced Monitoring Program is the
largest multi-media toxic contaminant monitoring and modeling project ever
undertaken. It is designed to answer questions that will help environmental
The SOLEC conferences and papers
have presented the leading scientific
opinions on the state of the Great
Lakes
Protect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
6
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Report on United States Progress
The R/V Lake Guardian is supporting
the Lake Michigan Mass Balance and
other monitoring activities
managers make well informed, scientifically based decisions on reducing toxic
pollutants in Lake Michigan. The mass balance model will determine what effects
reduction in pollutant loads will have on the lake and, in particular, on contaminant
levels in fish tissue. The model's findings will help target future Lake Michigan
LaMP toxic load reduction efforts at the Federal, State, Tribal, and local levels.
Numerous State and Federal agencies and universities are participating in this EPA-
sponsored effort. The chemicals being monitored are PCB congeners, trans-
nonachlor, atrazine, and total mercury. Over 30,000 samples from the lake,
tributaries, atmospheric deposition, biota, and sediments were collected during
1994 and 1995 and close to 1,000,000 analytical measurements are being reported
to EPA where they will be quality assured by 1998 and made available via the Great
Lakes Environmental Database. All methods used in collecting and analyzing
samples have been made available in a "Methods Compendium". Data sets will
soon be made available to the public, starting with atrazine. These data are feeding
the current development of mathematical models to assist in making LaMP
management decisions to reduce toxic pollutant concentrations. The first integrated
model runs will be completed in 1999.
Implementing the Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance
The Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance aims for consistency in water quality
standards and permitting procedures across the Great Lakes system. It was initially
developed by the eight Great Lakes States, EPA, and other Federal agencies in
consultation with citizens, local governments, and industries. It targets especially
the long-lasting pollutants that accumulate in the Great Lakes food web. In
addition, the Guidance helps establish consistent goals for state water quality
management plans, which are critical to the success of the international multi-media
efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes ecosystem. Once the Guidance is
implemented, EPA estimates that an annual reduction of almost one million pounds
of contaminants entering the lakes is expected. Implementation of the Guidance
will protect human health, expand commercial and recreational fishing, and
improve the safety of recreational activities in the Great Lakes. To date, the States
of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin have completed the adoption process of
the Guidance. The remaining States are on schedule to complete the adoption
process by the end of 1997.
Uniform Fish Consumption Advisory
In 1993, the eight Great Lakes States developed a protocol for development of a
uniform fish consumption advisory. This provided a new scientific approach for
determining the amount offish that can be ingested without significant health risks.
The higher rates of local fish consumption and effects upon the developing child
were considered as well as potential cancer effects and impacts upon the immune
system. The ultimate goal was to have consistent fish consumption advisories
among States, which helps the public better understand the risks associated with
consumption of contaminated sportfish. The Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (ATSDR) assisted EPA in encouraging a uniform fish advisory by
providing recent preliminary findings from its Great Lakes Human Health Effects
Research Program on increased body burden levels in at-risk populations, and
observed neurobehavioral deficits from consumption of contaminated Great Lakes
Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Lake Trout are once again naturally
reproducing in Lake Superior — an
environmental success story
fish. The protocol has undergone two independent scientific reviews. Currently,
seven of the Great Lakes States apply the protocol or one which is equivalent.
Lake Trout Natural Reproduction in Lake Superior
Native lake trout in Lake Superior were severely depleted by the 1950s in part due
to overharvesting and sea lamprey predation. Restoration efforts since the 1950s of
the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), including researchers now with the U. S.
Geological Survey (USGS), in concert with other Federal, Provincial, State and
Tribal agencies, and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), have resulted in
a 1996 declaration of victory in restoring lake trout in Lake Superior. Lake Superior
lake trout populations have become self-sustaining in offshore areas and,
accordingly, stocking of Federally reared lake trout has been discontinued in areas
of the lake extending from the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin eastward to Grand
Marais, Michigan. Some inshore stocks have also recovered. In Canadian waters,
lake trout populations have improved in several areas such that stocking has been
reduced to about a third of stocking levels in the 1980s. This major success is
attributed to the combined management effects of reduced harvest, effective sea
lamprey control, and a successful stocking program.
Update on Waste Incinerator Rules
In September 1997, EPA issued rules to protect public health by significantly
reducing the harmful air pollution that comes from medical waste incinerators, a
major source of mercury and dioxin air emissions. When fully implemented,
emissions will be reduced by 94 percent for mercury and 95 percent for dioxin. In
addition, several other major air pollutants, some of which are suspected of causing
cancer or other serious health effects, will be reduced by 75 to 98 percent. In a
related activity, EPA and several of the Great Lakes States are engaged in a project
to reduce sources of mercury in medical waste through targeted education and
outreach activities and through direct mercury reduction assessments in hospitals.
These activities will enhance the medical community's understanding of the
dangers of mercury in the environment, particularly for certain high-risk
populations.
In 1995 EPA issued separate air pollution standards for municipal waste combustors
that will reduce dioxin from these sources by 99 percent and mercury by 90 percent;
New and pending regulations will additionally, in 1998, the Agency intends to develop final rules for hazardous waste
help decrease emissions from waste incinerators, which are expected to significantly reducing dioxin and mercury
incinerators
emissions.
Other Toxic Emission Reduction Activities
EPA is also using its authorities underthe Clean Air Act to reduce emissions of toxic
air pollutants from many other sources. Maximum Achievable Control Technology
(MACT) standards have been and are continuing to be developed to reduce
emissions of 188 hazardous air pollutants from a diverse list of source types ranging
from steel mills to synthetic chemical manufacturing to dry cleaners. Included on
the list of pollutants are mercury, dioxins, PCBs, hexachlorobenzene, and other
Great Lakes pollutants of concern. Other activities are focused on urban areas,
electric utility steam generating units, and sources of mercury.
Protect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
8
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Report on United States Progress
Waukegan Harbor Fish Consumption Signs Come Down
Signs warning anglers not to eat any fish caught at any time in Waukegan's North
Harbor were removed on February 20, 1997, putting fish taken from the harbor in
the same consumption categories applied to all Lake Michigan fish. Removal of the
signs marks the end of nearly two decades of restrictions imposed after PCB
contamination of the harbor was identified in 1981. The decision to remove the
warning signs and withdraw warnings targeted specifically at fish taken from the
North Harbor reflects continuing improvements at the site following the removal of
approximately one million pounds of PCBs from bottom sediments in 1992.
Following the removal, three years of annual fish sampling showed no violations of
action levels for PCBs in alewife, coho salmon, chinook salmon, rainbow trout, and
yellow perch. A lakewide fish advisory still remains in effect, but since sampling
has shown no appreciable difference in PCB concentrations in fish taken from the
harbor and those from the open lake, the local advisory is no longer needed.
Manistique River and Harbor Area of Concern (AOC) Superfund Site
Remediation
A Superfund removal action at the Manistique River/Harbor AOC site is ongoing,
and will remove at least 122,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments by
1998. This is a removal actioninpart, because an estimated 100 pounds of PCBs are
being washed into Lake Michigan annually, and possibly more due to storm events.
The removal action involves dredging, separation of the more highly contaminated
sediments, and their proper disposal. After early disagreements with EPA's initial
dredging proposal, the community supported the proposal and have continued to
support EPA activities. Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) contributed over
$6.4 million to the site work as part of a mixed funding settlement with the Agency.
To date, almost 60,000 cubic yards of river and harbor sediments have been
removed. Turbidity measurements in the water column in close proximity to the
dredged areas indicate that the dredging is not causing the resuspension of the
contaminated sediments and that there are no localized impacts on water quality due
to the dredging project. This project has demonstrated EPA's commitment to
consider community preferences as well as the ability of the Agency to conduct
environmental dredging projects in a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive
manner. These lessons can be applied to many other contaminated sediment
projects on the Great Lakes.
Second Great Waters Report to Congress
Under section 112(m) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended in 1990, Congress
authorized EPA to undertake the Great Waters Program to evaluate the atmospheric
deposition of hazardous air pollutants (including mercury and PCBs) to the Great
Lakes and other waters. The Program's Second Report to Congress (June 1997)
found that levels of toxic pollutants are declining slightly or leveling off but remain
a significant concern. It also reported that, at this time, no specific revisions to
requirements, standards, and limitations pursuant to the CAA or other relevant
federal statutes have been identified as necessary to assure protection of human
health and the environment in response to EPA's assessments of deposition of
hazardous air pollutants. In the future, as EPA evaluates progress of ongoing efforts
and considers new information as it becomes available, new approaches may be
pursued. In addition, the Report introduced a special inventory of emissions and list
9 Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
The flaw of the four upper Great
Lakes tumbles over Niagara Falls
on its -way to Lake Ontario
of sources prepared under Section 112(c)(6). This inventory data shows that recent
emissions of PCBs and hexachlorobenzene are extremely low, and all sources have
been regulated. Emissions of mercury and dioxins show declines since 1990, due to
activities by industry and municipalities. Additional rules and actions on
incineration sources are expected to reduce mercury to less than half of 1990
emissions by 2005, and dioxins will also be down, from approximately 12.5 pounds
(in toxic equivalency factors) in 1990 to under 4 pounds by 2005. Emissions of
alkylated lead from onroad vehicles has stopped after the phaseout of leaded
gasoline for onroad motor vehicles was completed in December 1995. EPA is
actively developing ways to better integrate air and water programs to address air
deposition to the Great Water bodies.
Niagara River Toxics Management Plan Targets
EPA and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
(NYSDEC) have identified 26 hazardous waste sites on the Niagara River
responsible for over 99 percent of the estimated input of 18 toxic chemicals from all
such sites on the U.S. side of the river, and put them all on remediation schedules.
Remediation of these sites is intended to virtually eliminate the migration of toxic
pollutants into the river. All remedial construction has been completed at seven
sites, with remedial construction underway at eleven more. For many of the sites,
significant remedial controls are already operating, providing substantial load
reductions. The remaining sites are under design or study. EPA estimates that
remediations to date have reduced the potential inputs into the river by at least 25
percent. EPA also estimates that remedial activities to be completed in 1997 will
reduce the potential inputs into the river by 80 percent. Revised remediation
schedules call for all sites to be completed by 2001. EPA and NYSDEC are working
to refine reduction estimates which may show even higher reductions to date.
Niagara River Toxics Management Plan
Priority Pollutants
Benz(a)anthracene
Benzo(a)pyrene
Benzo(b)fluoranthene
Benzo(k)fluoranthene
Chlordane
Chrysene
Dieldrin
Hexachlorobenzene
Mercury
Mirex
Octachlorostyrene
PCBs
DDTs
Dioxins
Tetrachloroethylene
Arsenic
Lead
Toxaphene
Table 1: Niagara River Toxics Management Plan Priority Pollutants
In addition, upwards of ten sediment remediation projects in the Niagara River
Basin have been completed between 1990 and 1996, accounting for the removal of
well over 160,000 cubicyards of sediments contaminated by avariety of hazardous
substances, including PCBs and heavy metals. An additional five projects, either
planned or underway, will remove approximately 113,000 additional cubic yards of
contaminated sediments.
Protect and Restore ne Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Automotive Pollution Prevention Project Reductions
The third progress report for the U.S. Automotive Pollution Prevention Project,
highlighting the progress made by America's car companies in reducing the use,
generation and release of persistent toxic substances and other materials of concern,
was releases in June 1997. The Auto Project began in September 1991 as a Great
Lakes regional effort and expanded to include pollution prevention and resource
conservation activities at assembly and component manufacturing facilities
nationwide. Combined pollution prevention achievements include: a 9.2 percent
reduction in project targeted substances on a U. S. vehicle produced since the Project
began in 1991. Two foundries recycling zinc galvanized sheet metal accounted for
over 50 percent of the total targeted substances released in 1995. Excluding these,
the Auto Project achieved, a 60.8 percent reduction in EPA 33/50 Program
substances and a 53.2 percent reduction in EPA Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
reportable releases since the 1988 base year, and a 54.5 percent reduction overall
since 1991.
The U.S. Automotive Pollution Pre-
vention Project, piloted in the
Great Lakes, has been expanded to
facilities nationwide
Beach Closings
In 1997, EPA announced a new national program to reduce the potential public health
risk of getting infectious diseases from swimming or playing in contaminated beach
water. Through the Beaches Environmental Assessment, Closure and Health
(BEACH) Program, EPA will work with State, Tribal and local governments to
ensure effective beach monitoring and advisory programs are in place, that
bacteriological criteria in water quality standards programs are protective, to improve
detection methods and create predictive models, and to keep the public informed.
EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) has been conducting annual
surveys of beach closings for the 582 recognized beaches along the U.S. coast of the
Great Lakes. This information in now available in a document entitled A Summary
of U.S. Great Lakes Beach Closings 1981-1994. The report finds that for the
reporting years, on average, approximately 20 percent of the beaches experienced a
period of closure. In addition, there are AOCs in eleven of the nineteen counties
having beaches considered poor or deteriorating. The primary causes for these
closures are overflows of combined stormwaterand sewage systems with insufficient
capacity to retain heavy rains for processing through sewage treatment plants. The
information contained in this report is helping county health departments concentrate
their monitoring efforts and remedial activities on those beaches which experience
periodic closings.
In Northwest Indiana, the Inter-Agency Technical Task Force on E. coli (Task
Force), consisting of technical experts from local, State, and Federal agencies, is
seeking a comprehensive approach that addresses beach closings. As data is
collected and analyzed, the Task Force will develop an implementation strategy that
can address causes and solutions to periodic conform bacterial contamination of
Indiana's beaches on Lake Michigan. The strategy will include consistent methods
of data collection, the development of a real-time forecasting system, identification
of the sources and fate of the bacteria, and a systematic program of remediation.
Despite aggressive actions to pro-
tect human health, beach closings
still affect some Great Lakes
beaches.
11
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ONGOING AND EMERGING ISSUES
Fish and Wildlife Consumption Advisories Still In Place
The Great Lakes food web remains contaminated by a variety of bioaccumulative
toxic substances, causing unacceptable levels of these contaminants in some fish
and wildlife. Levels are lower than in the early 1970s, but still justify the issuance
of public health advisories regarding fish and wildlife consumption. Advisories
especially apply to vulnerable consumers, such as children, women who anticipate
bearing children, and frequent consumers, such as sport fishermen and Native
Americans. EPA's 1996 summary of State-issued fish advisories showed an
increase of 26 percent over 1995, largely as a result of better monitoring and
reporting by States. As in prior years, 100 percent of the Great Lakes waters
continue to be under advisory, most of which are due to mercury, PCBs, and dioxins.
Fish tissue sampling indicate that PCB levels in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan lake
trout are generally declining. In Lake Ontario, PCB levels in salmon and trout are
slowly declining, resulting in some less restrictive advisories. Contaminant levels
remain low in most Lake Erie fish. For Lake Superior, toxaphene is the basis for a
number of advisories issued by the Province of Ontario and the State of Michigan.
THEQWHEPOTWITQFKUTH
, -.was Atwir um ran -
MICH N m i*y
Not all Great Lakes fish are safe
to consume; further toxic reduc-
tion efforts will help improve this
situation
PCBs in Lake Michigan Lake Trou
1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 199
Figure 6: PCBs in Lake Michigan Lake Trout
Toxaphene Levels in Lake Superior
Toxaphene was a trade name for a pesticide once heavily used in the south on cotton
crops and which was also used in the Great Lakes watershed. Because of its
volatility and persistence, it has been recognized as pervasive in Arctic wildlife,
owing to atmospheric transport. Since the pesticide was canceled in 1982, levels
have fallen across the Great Lakes except in Lake Superior, which has the highest
levels known anywhere. The State of Michigan and the Province of Ontario issue a
number of consumption advisories for Lake Superior fish species because of
toxaphene. The distribution of toxaphene in Duluth Harbor bottom sediments
suggest a local source there in recent years.
Protect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
12
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Report on United States Progress
EPA, Environment Canada, and State environmental agencies are working to
achieve a better understanding of the persistence of toxaphene in Lake Superior.
EP A's Office of Research and Development has awarded a grant to obtain sediment
cores and measure the air/water exchange of toxaphene to the Great Lakes, so as to
better determine the historical trend and atmospheric contribution. EPA is also
collecting sediment cores from a number of tributaries to screen for local sources
and is supporting a study of toxaphene in small inland lakes near Superior for
comparison. Explanations for the persistence of toxaphene in Superior include the
lake's relative coldness, atmospheric transport from the south, and local pesticide
use. Ongoing studies should yield scientific data to test these hypotheses during the
next two years.
Endocrine Disrupters
EPA is reviewing information indicating the possibility of adverse impacts on
human health and the environment associated with exposure to endocrine
disrupters. At the present time, however, there is little agreement on the extent of
the problem. Based on the current state of the science, the Agency considers
endocrine disruption to be a mechanism of action potentially leading to other
outcomes (for example, carcinogenic, reproductive or developmental effects),
routinely considered in reaching regulatory decisions. EPA thinks that
identification of environmental agents that cause adverse effects as a result of
endocrine disruption, as well as enhancement of our understanding of how these
agents exert their effects, will improve the EPA's ability to reduce or prevent risks,
particularly to children and vulnerable ecosystems. These considerations become
increasingly important as we expand our risk assessment activities to incorporate a
wider range of susceptible populations, multiple pathways of exposure, and
mixtures of chemical substances. Further research and testing are needed to address
existing gaps in knowledge concerning the consequences of endocrine disruption.
Such knowledge will reduce uncertainties in the assessment of hazard, exposure,
and risk.
The Agency formed the Endocrine Disrupter Screening and Testing Advisory
Committee (EDSTAC) to advise EPA on the screening and testing of pesticides and
chemicals for their potential to disrupt the endocrine system. EDSTAC is
comprised of representatives from a cross-section of public and private
organizations, such as ATSDR. The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) and the
amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), both of which were passed
in the summer of 1996, require the Agency to develop a screening and testing
strategy for endocrine disrupters by August 1998, implement screening and testing
by August 1999, and report progress to Congress by August 2000. All EDSTAC
meetings are open to the public and are being held in various locations around the
country to encourage public access and involvement.
In February 1997, Illinois became the first State to develop an Endocrine Disrupter
Strategy under which Illinois EPA (IEPA) is beginning to assemble and analyze key
information from existing data in order to identify those chemicals which may
interfere with hormones, their sources, and their quantities. A preliminary list has
been developed with chemicals identified as either known, probable or suspect
endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The Strategy has built-in flexibility to allow it to
evolve and adapt to new research and discoveries.
13 Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Scientists are unclear as to -why
some amphibians are exhibiting
malformations
Agricultural lands and other open
spaces are being converted to urban
Malformed Amphibians
Reports of malformed amphibians are increasing throughout North America since
they were first observed in Minnesota in the summer of 1995. There are confirmed
reports of amphibian malformation in at least 23 States and four Canadian Provinces
encompassing 12 different species of amphibians. Observed malformations include
missing limbs, extra limbs, under-developed limbs, and missing eyes as well as
internal abnormalities in bone, muscle and organ development. Reproductive
effects have not been studied, but the nature of the malformations suggest possible
impacts. Population effects are also uncertain, but field observations suggest that the
malformations may result in significant mortality. Global reductions and local
extinctions of amphibian populations support the inference of possible population-
level effects. Possible reasons for these effects include: biological stressors suchas
parasites; xenobiotic chemicals; and ultraviolet (UV) light. There is rising public
and scientific concern that these anomalies are related to one or more environmental
factors and that they may portend a heightened risk to humans. While there are no
scientific data supporting such a link, neither are there convincing data to lay this
concern to rest. Several State and Federal agencies and universities are working
together to gather data needed to help identify the causes of these malformations.
Addressing Urban Sprawl
One of the Basin's most significant cross-cutting issues is the continuing growth of
major metropolitan areas and the sprawl of residential areas and other development.
This trend is having social, environmental, and economic impacts, many of which
may threaten the long-term sustainability of the Basin's ecosystem. Urban sprawl
contributes to polluted runoff by replacing green open spaces and farmland with
paved surfaces and requiring the building of additional roads and commuter
highways; it contributes to air pollution by boosting commuter distances and vehicle
miles traveled per person; and it results in the loss of viable habitat for animals and
plants. Between 1981 and 1992, for example, Basin farmland decreased by 9.6
percent. Areas of greatest decrease tend to be either in close proximity to major
urban areas or towards fringe areas where farmland makes up less than 40 percent of
the total land area.
FARMLAND CONVERSION IN THE GREAT LAKES BASIN
(1982-92-U.S./1981-91-Canada)
State/
Province
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Minnesota
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Ontario
TOTAL
Land In Farms
(Acres) 1992
114,059
2,661,712
10,008,170
812,278
5,315,884
6,177,796
468,965
5,929,887
11,238,115
42,746,866
Land in Farms
(Acres) 1992
141,617
2,848,900
10,942,172
929,765
6,379,903
6,507,959
559,383
6,602,153
12,363,916
47,276,768
Percent
Change
-19.45
-6.57
-7.8
-12.63
-16.67
-5.99
-16.16
-10.18
-9.1
-9.57
Table 2: Farmland Conversion in the Great Lakes Basin: 1981-1992
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Climate Change Impacts
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes
Environmental Research Laboratory (NOAA/GLERL) is providing the U.S.
leadership for the U. S ./Canada Binational Great Lakes --St. Lawrence Basin Climate
Change and Variability Project to assess the physical, biological, hydrological, and
socio-economic impacts of climate change and variability in the Great Lakes Basin.
The Project is built around the themes of water use and management, land use and
management, and ecosystem health and human health. Cross-cutting research topics
include climate and physical systems, socio-economic impacts, adaptation,
communication and education, and system integration. GLERL is also developing
water resources models that couple the Great Lakes hydrologic cycle and
atmospheric circulation, and simulate moisture storage and runoff from the 121
watersheds draining into the Great Lakes. A major achievement was the
implementation of an Advanced Hydrologic Forecast System that produces probable
water supply and lake level outlooks based on multiple 1 to 9 month climate
projections from the National Weather Service.
PUTTING THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO WORK
Environmental protection and natural resource agencies are working together in
pursuit of the common goals of reducing the levels of toxic contaminants in the
environment, protecting and restoring vital habitats, and protecting the health of the
ecosystem's living resources. These goals drive the majority of actions highlighted
in this report.
TOXIC CONTAMINANTS
Reducing the levels of toxic contamination in the Great Lakes environment and in its
inhabitants is one of the major goals of the Great Lakes Program. Tools available to
address this issue range from traditional "end-of-pipe" treatment technologies to
innovative pollution prevention projects and unique partnerships amongst a variety
of stakeholders.
Pollution Prevention
The Great Lakes is acting as a proving ground for innovative pollution prevention
efforts. Prevention is the preferred means to avert the generation of harmful
substances and thereby to reduce their release to the environment; it heads off
ecological damage and saves resources otherwise needed to treat or clean up
contaminants. EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a database which provides
information to the public about releases, waste management, and waste transfers of
toxic chemicals from certain manufacturing facilities into the environment and
provides one method of measuring the effectiveness of pollution prevention efforts.
The 1993 program data (released in 1995) illustrated that all of the Great Lakes Basin
States and Counties had shown a decrease in releases of targeted chemicals between
1988 and 1993.
15 Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Some notable pollution prevention successes follow.
Reductions in Releases and
Transfers of TRI Chemicals
I15
Between 1988 and 1990
Between 1990 and 1995
Figure 7: Reductions in Releases and Transfers of TRI Chemicals
EPA's 33/50 Program was a nationwide voluntary effort aimed at reducing the
releases and transfers of 17 targeted chemicals (including PCBs, mercury, lead, and
other heavy metals and organics) tracked under TRI, with a goal of a 50 percent
reduction of these chemicals by the end of 1995. The program successfully achieved
this goal on a nationwide basis, exhibiting a 55.6 percent decrease from the 1988
base year, which is equivalent to a reduction of over 664 million pounds of the
targeted chemicals. In three areas of the Great Lakes Basin, (Southeast Chicago,
Northwest Indiana, and Southeast Michigan), an average reduction of 62 percent
was achieved.
Reductions in Releases and
Transfers of 33/50 Chemicals
*s40~
a
"ai
tt
_e
o
|
1988- 90
1990- 95
Time Period
Figure 8: Reduction in Releases and Transfers of 33/50 Chemicals
Ptotect and Restore Jlie Great Lakes Ecosystem
16
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Report on United States Progress
Waste Water Treatment Plants are
reducing mercury discharges via
voluntary pollution prevention pro-
grams
For the last several years, EPA has incorporated pollution prevention training at
pretreatment workshops for Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs), to enable
them to meet their water quality goals. Recent efforts include participating in the
development of the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District's March 1997 manual
entitled Blueprint for Mercury Elimination: Guidancefor Wastewater Treatment
Plants, as well as its distribution to POTWs throughout the region. Using methods
outlined in the manual, the District's mercury discharge had decreased by over 90
percent by February 1996. Improvements in the sorting of refuse-derived fuel
burned at the facility's sludge incinerator have also brought about almost a 70
percent reduction in the amount of mercury emitted.
The Pulp and Paper Pollution Prevention Project, a voluntary partnership launched
in 1996 between the industry and the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality (MDEQ), is committed to go beyond efforts that already have resulted in
dramatic reductions in waste generation. Fifteen mills, which account for about 75
percent of the total pulp and paper production in Michigan, showed that while
production increased by 33 percent between 1987 and 1995, hazardous waste
generation was reduced by 54 percent, air emissions were reduced by 21 percent, and
water discharges were down 38 percent. During 1997, the mills have agreed to
implement industry-wide pollution reduction goals to be achieved through pollution
prevention efforts. For the first year of this project, mills are committing to reduce
carbon monoxide by 1,900 tons, biochemical oxygen demand discharges by 50 tons,
and hazardous waste generation by 9 tons.
The Council of Great Lakes Governors, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the
Printing Industries of America spearheaded an effort to identify pollution prevention
opportunities for the lithographic printing industry in the Great Lakes Basin. The
Great Printers Project brought together representatives of government, industry,
technical assistance programs, labor, and environmental groups to focus on the
common goals of environmental protection and economic strength. The States of
Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin are currently conducting projects to
implement project recommendations.
The goal of the Great Lakes Alternative Cleaning Education Program was to
demonstrate the commercial viability of a water-based cleaning technique as an
alternative to traditional dry cleaning that relies on chlorinated solvents. This was
accomplished through the operation of a wet cleaning demonstration shop, which
was used to actively promote an industry-wide shift in cleaning techniques.
Routine oil and hazardous chemical discharges from both commercial and
recreational vessels in the Great Lakes are now at very low levels, and are having a
minimal impact on Great Lakes resources. Marine use and transport of oil and
chemicals is very tightly controlled by comprehensive and closely comparable U.S.
and Canadian regimes in the Great Lakes. Oil spills had declined 61 percent over the
period 1990-1994 while over the same period, chemical spills had been almost
totally eliminated, decreasing from over 28,500 gallons in 1990 to just 91 gallons in
1994. During 1995 -1996,no majorchemical or oil spills originated from vessels or
marine facilities in the Great Lakes (a "major" spill is any spill of more than 10,000
gallons or a chemical spill which presents a substantial threat to public health). Also,
in cooperation with State, Provincial, and other Federal authorities (especially
Environment Canada and EPA), the two Coast Guards have developed a highly
refined, well-exercised, joint response system.
Major oil and chemical spills have
dramatically decreased, making
cleanups like the one pictured here
a rarity
17
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Reissuance of a permit for the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant is a major step in
controlling water pollution in southeastern Michigan. The wastewater discharge
permit contains new provisions for minimizing toxic pollutants and controlling
industrial discharges into Detroit's sewage collection system. The permit also
contains new schedules for the reduction of combined sewer overflows to the Rouge
River. The Plant has the largest municipal wastewater discharge in Michigan,
containing treated sewage and industrial wastewater from about half of the sewered
population in the State. This is also one of the largest discharges of treated municipal
wastewater in the Great Lakes system, as well as in the United States, and it has
significant potential to affect the Detroit River and Lake Erie if not properly
controlled.
Focus on Mercury
Mercury contamination is a potential threat to wildlife and human health. It is a
potent neurotoxin that can produce irreversible brain damage, resulting in the loss of
higher cognitive and motor functions, if ingested at high enough levels. The fetal
nervous system is particularly vulnerable. Mercury contamination of aquatic
ecosystems has become a problem of national and international concern; currently,
consumption advisories for human health have been issued in at least 38 states.
Major reductions have been made in domestic mercury use from 1980 to 1995, with
approximately an 82 percent decline due to bans in paint and pesticides, phaseouts
in batteries (total phaseout from most types of batteries passed by Congress in May
1996), and reductions in industrial uses. Domestic demand declined from 720 tons
in 1990 to 483 tons in 1994, a 33 percent reduction.
Continued effective control of mercury emissions may require a mix of strategies
including pollution prevention, materials separation, and conventional regulatory
approaches. Pollution prevention would be suitable for those processes or industries
where a mercury substitute is demonstrated and available. Material separation is an
appropriate approach for processes where mercury-containing products are
disposed of by incineration, or where mercury can be reduced in the fuel prior to
combustion (e.g., medical waste incineration). Conventional regulatory approaches
may be applicable when mercury is emitted to the environment as a result of trace
contamination in fossil fuel or other essential feedstock in an industrial process (e.g.,
smelting). Other non-traditional market-based approaches may also prove feasible.
Federal Actions
EPA has a variety of efforts underway to reduce mercury emissions from industrial
sources. Specific actions being taken under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990
(CAAA) to achieve this include the following:
EPA is studying the impacts of mercury air pollution and will issue a report assessing
the impact of air emissions of mercury from a variety of sources. This assessment
will include judgments as to the potential hazard to humans and wildlife of
methylmercury exposure which is largely via the consumption of contaminated fish.
Protect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem 18
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Report on United States Progress
Mercury in Lake Erie Smelt
Figure 9: Mercury in Lake Erie Smelt
EPA is studying the hazards to public health reasonably anticipated to occur as a
result of emissions by electric utility steam generating units of pollutants listed under
Section 112(b), including mercury. The Utility Study is also required to offer
regulatory determination with respect to utility boilers.
EPA is evaluating the impacts of hazardous air emissions, including mercury, for the
following source categories: commercial/ industrial boilers, chlor-alkali plants
using the mercury cell process, and portland cement kilns.
In 1994, EPA acted on a recommendation from the Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency (MPCA) and asked the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to suspend sales of
mercury, pending consideration of environmental consequences. Sales were
suspended, and the DLA is conducting an environmental assessment. The Federal
government holds about eleven million pounds of surplus mercury which it had been
selling at auction. EPA is beginning to explore options for the long-term disposition
for the mercury, and is developing an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on
options for stabilizing unwanted mercury, and for treating mercury-containing
wastes.
EPA is facilitating the development of a mercury thermostat takeback and recycling
program for the upper midwest, which could gradually be expanded to other parts of
the country.
EPA, the USGS, the four Lake Michigan States, and a number of universities are
participating in a multi-agency effort to determine mercury loads to Lake Michigan
from tributary streams. This project is part of a larger effort to produce a mercury
mass balance for Lake Michigan.
The USGS Wisconsin District Office has a state-of-the-art mercury research
laboratory that helps facilitate cooperative projects across the nation dealing with
mercury in the environment. Mercury studies require specific sampling methods and
gear, as well as low-level analytical methods that the mercury lab supplies to the
19
Pfotect and Restore The Great'LakesEcosystem
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Report on United States Progress
cooperating parties. In addition, members of the Mercury Studies Program often
provide expert consultation with potential project cooperators, including aiding in
the drafting of proposals for study. To date, the lab is involved in studies from
Alaska to Florida, and from east to the west coasts. Mercury Studies Program
leaders are currently drafting work plans to initiate a national-scale effort to
examine mercury contamination across a wide variety of ecosystems that receive
mercury loads from a variety of sources.
State Actions
The eight Great Lakes States are implementing numerous innovative programs to
reduce mercury. The following examples help illustrate this.
The MDEQ continues to place an emphasis on mercury identification, reduction,
and pollution prevention programs. The Michigan Mercury Pollution Prevention
(M2P2) Task Force report was completed and released in April 1996 and
demonstrates what can be achieved by voluntary partnerships with the primary goal
of prevention of mercury pollution. The M2P2 Task Force focused on a variety of
sectors, including the general public, health care, dental, electrical manufacturers
and users, chemical manufacturers and users, and the automobile sector. The utility
sector was also identified as a top priority source category to identify opportunities
to achieve mercury reductions.
MDEQ developed and widely distributed a "Merc Concern" brochure and other
mercury pollution prevention materials for education and outreach to the general
public and administered a grant to the Genesee County Environmental Health
Department to conduct an education, outreach, and collection program for mercury-
containing wastes in the Saginaw Bay watershed. An estimated 200 pounds of
mercury was collected for proper management and disposal.
As part of a statewide emphasis on mercury pollution, the MPCA is developing a
comprehensive mercury reduction initiative. A stakeholder advisory council has
been formed to provide input to the agency concerning mercury reduction
alternatives and the criteria that the agency should use to evaluate the alternatives.
A "cap-and-trade" alternative is of special interest to participants. Since other States
are interested in this program, an "ad hoc" committee of States (including
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Maine and others) has met periodically to
exchange information.
In 1995 and 1996, the State of Minnesota met with a Minnesota mercury relay
manufacturer regarding a collection program for mercury relays. The manufacturer
was interested in product stewardship. These discussions led to a State law passed
in 1997 that prohibits disposal of mercury relays in the solid waste stream and
requires a collection program administered by relay manufacturers. Also, the
Minnesota Technical Assistance Program studied the use of mercury dairy
manometers in Wabasha County in 1995 which laid the groundwork for a 1997 law
prohibiting mercury dairy manometers from being sold, installed, or repaired and
requires them to be removed from service. State funding has allowed the Minnesota
Department of Agriculture to offer a $100 bounty for each manometer that is
recycled. This covers the replacement cost of a basic non-mercury manometer. In
addition, the Minnesota law covering the disposal of mercury bearing products was
Protect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem 20
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Report on United States Progress
modified in 1995 to require removal of mercury switches from junked vehicles
before they are crushed.
Core samples taken from Minnesota lakes shows that the amount of mercury
entering into lakes in the northeastern and central portions of the State has declined
substantially, indicating that the State's mercury reduction efforts are paying
dividends. Regional emissions appear to have declined, with accumulation rates 25
percent lower today than in the 1960s and 1970s. However, no improvement was
noted in lakes in western Minnesota and Alaska, suggesting that world background
levels of mercury are stable.
The State of Wisconsin piloted a mercury reduction effort with the Milwaukee
Metropolitan Sewage District, continued the implementation of a toxic
contaminants reduction/pollution prevention effort in concert with the Milwaukee' s
Pollution Prevention Partnership, and is undertaking municipal mercury reduction
efforts in Green Bay, Superior, and Madison.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has undertaken a
project to gain pledges from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractors,
suppliers, and wholesalers to ensure recycling of mercury thermostats, and to
encourage the use of mercury-free thermostats.
Industry Actions
In 1996, the U.S. chlor-alkali sector voluntarily committed to reducing its emissions
and use of mercury by 50 percent during the next decade. Emissions are thought to
be relatively high on a per facility basis in the U.S. In Europe, where there are many
more facilities, this sector is considered a dominant source of anthropogenic
mercury emissions. The commitment by the U.S. chlor-alkali firms is one of the
most significant pollution prevention projects underway in the U.S.
The momentum of pollution prevention initiatives within the Detroit Water and
Sewerage Department (DWSD) has greatly increased. The impetus of the
development and implementation of DWSD's PCB/Mercury Minimization
Program began with a negotiated National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
permit provision which required DWSD to develop a minimization program to
control PCB and mercury. As part of the effort to reduce/eliminate mercury
loadings to the DWSD sewerage collection system, five categories of sources have
been targeted for waste minimization efforts: dental offices, hospitals, industrial
laundry facilities, laboratories, and households. In January 1995, the DWSD
convened a Task Force on Mercury Minimization from Dental Facilities which
implemented a highly successful statewide bulk dental mercury collection of over
1,300 pounds of surplus mercury.
The Big Three automakers are actively pursuing ways to voluntarily remove
mercury from the automobile production process. As a first step, they are phasing
out mercury switches from convenience lighting (accounting for approximately 87
percent of mercury used in autos) and are drafting a switch removal procedure for
use at the end-of-life for a vehicle.
21 Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Focus on PCBs
Great Lakes utility companies have
voluntarily accelerated the phasing
out of PCBs from their equipment
PCBs, although banned or tightly restricted in almost all industrial and commercial
uses because of their persistence and high toxicity, remain a major cause of
contamination in the Great Lakes. All five of the lakes, as well as numerous inland
lakes, have fish consumption advisories as a result of PCB contamination. A number
of activities are addressing the removal of PCBs from the environment.
EPA has asked Great Lakes utility companies to accelerate their voluntary
phasedown of electric equipment which contain PCBs to prevent the possibility of
accidental spills. In response, twelve major utility companies reported that they are
continuing to remove PCB equipment from service and that they have only about
600 PCB transformers and 40,000 PCB capacitors currently in use within EPA
Region 5 States. In addition, recycling of over 12 million pounds of metal from PCB
transformers, capacitors, and related components in 1996 saved over 66,500 cubic
yards of landfill capacity that would have otherwise been used for the disposal of
these PCB-contaminated materials.
In 1997, EPA Region 5 took the first step toward an innovative, public-private
partnership when it funded, in part, the feasibility study phase of a PCB Used Oil
Clean Sweep project proposed by a national not-for-profit trade association, the
National Oil Recyclers Association (NORA). The project consists of the
identification of potential PCB generators through a computer database;
development and mailing of an information package; telephone follow-up; and
analysis of findings. Region 5 will coordinate with EPA Headquarters on regulatory
barriers to participation in a clean sweep program and the identification of
incentives. Region 5 staff will be addressing NORA's annual conference in
November 1997 and will solicit industry input. PCBs are a used oil recycling
industry problem of national magnitude. If this project moves forward, Region 5
will serve as the pilot for a national program.
Since the implementation of the PCB Notification and Manifesting Rule in 1990, the
amount of PCBs received at storage and disposal facilities have been tracked. From
1990 to 1994, over 7.5 billion pounds of PCBs were disposed of nationally from all
sources, lessening the likelihood of further PCB contamination to the environment.
Sediments contaminated with PCBs are being removed from Great Lakes rivers and
embayments. Many of these cleanups are highlighted in a later section entitled
"Remediating Contaminated Sediments".
Focus on Pesticides
The Great Lakes Program has implemented a multi-faceted approach to address
pesticides and the attendant potential for ground water contamination in the Great
Lakes Basin. In Great Lakes Basin counties, the overall use of pesticides has
decreased by almost ten million pounds from 1994 to 1995. Annual pesticide usage
now stands at 57 million pounds. There is increasing concerns not only because of
toxic contamination from these substance, but also because of their potentially
endocrine disrupting properties.
Protect and Restore ne Great Lakes Ecosystem
22
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Report on United States Progress
Pesticide Usage in the Great Lakes Basin
Mass of Active Ingredients (kg) per County Area (ha)
I Less than 0.25 kg/ha
0.25 to 1 kg/ha
Over 1 kg/ha
Excluded
Figure 10: Pesticide Usage in the Great Lakes Basin
From 1993 to 1996, the voluntary collection Clean Sweeps Program has collected
nearly 100,000pounds of waste pesticides in the Great Lakes Basin. This number
will increase as remaining Clean Sweeps reports are completed by various Great
Lakes States. In such collections, 20 to 60 percent of the substances collected are
suspended and canceled pesticides, some found on lists of contaminants offish tissue
and sediments. Basinwide amounts of several pesticides collected during this period
include:
Herbicide Use in the Great Lakes Basin
1991/92 Area Receiving as a Proportion of Total Cropland
I I Less than 40%
I I 41 to 60%
• Over 61%
I I Suppressed or No Data
Figure 11: Herbicide Use in the Great Lakes Basin
23
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2,343 pounds of aldrin 1,214 pounds of chlordane
22,019 pounds of DDT/DDE 1,054 pounds of dieldrin
995 pounds of heptachlor 4,432 pounds of lindane
1,435 pounds of mercurials 3,149 pounds of toxaphene
8,735 pounds of 2,4,5-T and Silvex (canceled because ofdioxin
contamination)
A Great Lakes Basin Pesticide Report is being drafted by EPA and will be made
available in 1998.
To help better understand pesticide use and a variety of other agricultural issues in
the Great Lakes Basin, the Great Lakes Protection Fund funded a project entitled
"An Agricultural Profile of the Great Lakes Basin: Characteristics and Trends in
Production, Land Use and Environmental Impact." A comprehensive report and a
complementary agri-environmental database were presented at the Great Lakes
Agricultural Summit in April 1996. The information generated by this project will
support the development of an agenda for Great Lakes agricultural research, human
health research, and policy needs for consideration by the Great Lakes Protection
Fund and other interested parties such as ATSDR.
In a related manner, under the auspices of the North American Agreement on
Environmental Cooperation, Mexico has agreed to an 80 percent reduction in DDT
over the next five years, at which time they will assess whether further reductions are
necessary. This assessment will take into account the availability of alternatives, and
the prevalence of malaria at that time. If warranted, further reductions will be
achieved over the subsequent five years. Mexico has also agreed to cancel the
registration for chlordane in 1998.
Federal Actions
The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 established a new standard of safety for
pesticide residues in food. EPA must conclude with "reasonable certainty" that "no
harm" will come to infants and children or other sensitive individuals exposed to
pesticides. All pesticide exposure ~ from food, drinking water, and home and
garden use - must be considered in determining allowable levels of pesticides in
food. EPA has met an important deadline in the new law by issuing a schedule
showing how the Agency will reassess the more than 9,700 existing "tolerances" ~
or maximum pesticide residue limits for foods ~ by August 2006, considering the
pesticides that appear to post the greatest risk first. Protection of infants and children
is a high priority. Of the approximately 1,800 organophosphate tolerances receiving
priority review, over 300 are for residues on crops that are among the top 20 foods
consumed by children.
As a key component of EPA's 1991 Pesticides and Ground Water Strategy, EPA is
proposing to restrict the use of certain pesticides through the development and use of
State Management Plans (SMPs). This approach provides States with the flexibility
to protect ground water by utilizing knowledge of local hydrogeology, soils,
agronomic practices, climate, pesticide use, and land use trends to develop state-
specific management plans. In the proposed rule, EPA is proposing to restrict the
legal sale and use of five pesticides that have been identified as either "probable" or
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"possible" human carcinogens: alachlor, atrazine, cyanazine, metolachlor, and
simazine. Because of their potential to contaminate ground water, EPA has
determined that these pesticides may cause unreasonable adverse effects on the
environment in the absence of effective management measures provided by a SMP.
EPA is currently working with the States to develop generic SMPs prior to the
passing of the rule.
The USGS currently has two National Water Quality-Assessment (NAWQA)
Program studies underway in the Great Lakes area ~ the Western Lake Michigan
Drainages and the Lake Erie - Lake St. Clair Basin. Both of these NAWQA program
efforts are coordinated closely with the Lake Michigan and Erie LaMPs. The long-
term goals of the NAWQA Program are to describe the status and trends in the
quality of a large representative part of the nation's surface and ground water
resources and to identify the natural and human factors that affect their quality. In
particular, the USGS is measuring the concentrations in surface and ground waters
of pesticides used in agricultural and urban areas to determine their distribution and
frequency of occurrence. The presence and distribution of nutrients (nitrogen and
phosphorus) also are being studied to determine if the major sources of these are
agricultural practices, discharges from sewage treatment plants, or combined sewer
overflows. The NAWQA program will produce water quality information that will
be useful to policymakers and water managers at the local, State, and national levels
of government.
Industry Actions
The manufacturer of the pesticides chlordane and heptachlor (Tier 1 and Tier 2
substances respectively under the Binational Toxics Reduction Strategy),
announced that it will halt production of these two pesticides that were voluntarily
canceled in the U.S. in 1988 but which are still sold overseas. After the remaining
stocks are depleted, the company will retain control of the technology and will not
allow the pesticides to be manufactured by another company.
ADDRESSING ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION
Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN)
During the 1980s, studies in the Great Lakes showed that atmospheric deposition
may be a major pathway of some toxic contaminants to the Great Lakes. As a result
of this and other findings, the U.S. and Canada established the Integrated
Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN), a joint monitoring network designed to
assess the magnitude and trends of atmospheric deposition of target chemicals
(PAHs, PCBs, DDE, DDT, lindane, lead, mercury, and more recently, toxaphene) to
the Great Lakes, and to determine emission sources whenever possible. The first
binational report on IADN data, published in December 1994, indicated that there is
little spatial variability in many of the critical chemical species across the Basin,
although the influence of urban areas is clearly substantial, especially in heavily
developed areas such as the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan. IADN will
undergo a technical review in late 1997 to evaluate whether the network has met its
mandates. Comments from this review will be incorporated into an Implementation
Plan to be signed by the U. S. and Canada for continuation of the IADN program.
25 Protect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Great Lakes Emissions Inventory
In response to the 1986 Great Lakes Governors' Toxic Substances Control
Agreement's specified provisions to address atmospheric deposition, and in support
of Annex 15 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Great Lakes States
and the Province of Ontario, in cooperation with EPA and the Great Lakes
Commission, are working together to create the Great Lakes Regional Air Toxics
Emissions Inventory, and the Regional Air Pollutant Inventory Development
System (RAPIDS), a computerized inventory which will house the emissions data.
RAPIDS has been developed to identify the sources that are the largest contributors
to the total emissions in a given geographic area. Using RAPIDS, State air
regulatory agencies are building statewide air toxic contaminant inventories for
point, area, and mobile sources for 49 air pollutants of potential concern to the Great
Lakes, including mercury, PCBs, and dioxin. These inventories will help guide the
States in future regulatory efforts. The first regional inventory for point sources of
air emissions is scheduled for completion in 1997. Emissions data from mobile
sources will be developed in 1997-1998. Data from RAPIDS will also be made
available to meet the modeling needs of Great Lakes air quality researchers.
The dredging and safe disposal of
contaminated sediments is a major
step towards restoring the health of
the Basin
REMEDIATING CONTAMINATED SEDIMENTS
The cleanup of contaminated sediments is another essential element of addressing
toxic contamination in the Basin. EPA and its Federal and State partners have a
program for remediating these sites, using a wide range of regulatory approaches and
an increasing emphasis on partnerships.
A Great Lakes Dredging Team was established in 1996 to provide a mechanism for
the coordination and decision-making among local, State, Tribal, and Federal
agencies responsible for maintaining and regulating dredging-related activities on
the Great Lakes. The objectives of the Great Lakes Dredging Team are to: 1)
contribute to the national goal of assuring that the dredging of U.S. harbors and
channels is conducted in a timely and cost-effective manner while meeting
environmental protection, restoration, and enhancement goals; 2) facilitate the
resolution of dredging issues common to the Great Lakes region among participating
agencies; 3) promote implementation of the relevant portions of the
recommendations of the interagency report on the dredging process; and 4) facilitate
effective communications and decision- making among Federal and State agencies
represented on the Dredging Team and between the Team and key stakeholders in
the dredging process.
During the last two years, several significant contaminated sediment remediation
activities were undertaken, some of which are highlighted below.
Under the terms of a Clean Water Act consent decree, a northwest Indiana steel
company adjacent to the Indiana Harbor conducted a dredging project of its water
intake flume in 1996. Approximately 120,000 cubic yards of oil and grease-
contaminated sediments were removed. Over 30,000 gallons of petroleum product
was separated from the sediment, and all dredged materials were properly managed
and disposed.
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In 1997, EPA completed the cleanup of oil and PCB-contaminated sludge from the
Gary Lagoons site in Gary, Indiana. The two unlined lagoons were situated in sandy
soil, surrounded by marshes and wetlands. After draining water from the lagoons,
9,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil and 8,700 tons of contaminated sediments
were removed. With the cooperation of FWS, the Indiana Department of Natural
Resources (IDNR), and IDEM, a ten acre area at the site was seeded with native
plants.
At the Ford Outfalls Site in the River Raisin, Michigan AOC, the removal of 28,000
cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments was completed over the summer of
1997. These sediments contained the highest concentrations of PCBs in the Great
Lakes, with concentrations measuring as high as approximately 42,000 parts per
million.
At the Evans Product Ditch in Plymouth, Michigan, located on Newburgh Lake in
the Rouge River AOC, PCB-contaminated sediments were totally remediated in
May 1997. Approximately 9,500 tons of sediments and soil were removed. This
action will now allow for the remediation of PCBs in Newburgh Lake to commence,
leading to an eventual elimination offish consumption advisories.
At Monguagon Creek, Michigan, a tributary to the Trenton Channel (within the
Detroit River AOC), the dredging of approximately 20,000 cubic yards of sediments
heavily contaminated with PCBs, lead, zinc, and phenolic compounds was
completed in July 1997.
At the Ruck Pond Impoundment in Cedar Creek, Wisconsin (a tributary to the
Milwaukee River AOC and the major source of PCBs to the river), a State-led project
under Wisconsin's Voluntary Cleanup Program led to the removal of approximately
5,900 cubic yards of contaminated sediments.
At the Willow Run Industrial Park in Ypsilanti, Michigan, a sludge lagoon, an outfall
ditch, several ponds, and a stream below the sludge lagoon are being stabilized and
excavated. Approximately 60,000 pounds of PCBs out of a total of approximately
100,000 pounds of PCBs have been removed to date. In addition, 133,000 cubic
yards of sludge and sediments out of a total of 330,000 cubic yards have been
removed thus far.
Many more sediment remediation actions are planned for the near future, including
the following:
In accordance with an August 1991 Memorandum of Understanding, EPA and the
Army Corps of Engineers (COE) are cooperating agencies on the Indiana Harbor
Ship Canal dredging and sediment disposal project. The Federal Navigation
Channel has not been dredged since 1972, and an estimated 150,000 cubic yards of
sediments are washed from it into Lake Michigan each year. The project calls for
dredging 4.6 million cubic yards of contaminated sediments out of the harbor and
ship canal over a 30 year period, and construction of a confined disposal facility
(CDF). The draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was released in the fall of
1995. It recommended the CDF site be located at a former oil refinery site adjacent
to the Canal. The CDF construction at that location could include RCRA closure of
the site, thus resolving two environmental problems. The final EIS is expected to be
released in 1998, and dredging to begin two to three years later.
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U.S. Steel will fund the dredging of a five mile stretch of the Grand Calumet River,
which will remove approximately 700,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments,
beginning in 1998.
On July 1,1997, a facility on the Menominee River was ordered by EPA to remove
a total of 10,000 cubic yards of arsenic-contaminated sediments found in four areas
of the river. The facility has seven months from this date to remove the sediments.
The removal of between 50,000 and 150,000 cubic yards of sediments contaminated
with DDT, PBB and HBB is planned for Michigan's Pine River.
By the end of 1998, the removal of approximately 50,000 cubic yards of heavy
metal-contaminated soil and waste from the Cannelton Tannery site is planned, thus
eliminating source materials to the St. Marys River AOC.
In the Saginaw River, Michigan AOC, an expected Natural Resources Damage
Assessment (NRDA) settlement will fund the removal of 291,000 cubic yards of
PCB-contaminated sediments, beginning in 1998, along with land acquisition for
habitat enhancement and restoration.
The remediation of an unnamed tributary to the Ottawa River (in the Maumee River
AOC), spurred on by a unique Federal/State/private partnership, will eventually
remove 10,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) completed plan approval
and authorized the implementation of a project by Murphy Oil to restore the upper
Newton Creek ecosystem, comprised of the Newton Creek Impoundment, Newton
Creek, and Hog Island Inlet. The project will include a $200,000 contribution by
Murphy Oil in support of WDNR's sediment remediation effort in the Hog Island
Inlet. Approximately 4,100 cubic yards of contaminated sediments from the
impoundment and 100 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the first reach of
Newton Creek will be removed. This material will be combined with cement and
disposed of onMurphy Oil's property. This work began in August 1997 and will be
completed in November 1997.
During the 1996 and 1997 field seasons, through the use of the EPA's R/V
Mudpuppy, a sediment assessment vessel, GLNPO staff assisted States and Tribes in
determining the nature and extent of sediment contamination at: Waukegan Harbor,
Illinois; Indiana Harbor, Indiana; White Lake, River Raisin, Saginaw River, Trenton
Channel, Pine River, St. Marys River, Grand River, Clinton River, and the Detroit
River in Michigan; the Menominee River, Michigan/Wisconsin; the St. Louis River
in Minnesota; and the Maumee and Black Rivers in Ohio.
GLNPO has released a report entitled Moving Mud — Remediating Great Lakes
Contaminated Sediments, A Report on th e Sediment Assessment and Remediation
Program in the Great Lakes Basin. This report highlights sediment projects,
including assessments, feasibility studies, remedial designs, and remediations,
funded during FY1993 to 1996. These projects continue the work of the Assessment
and Remediation of Contaminated Sediments (ARCS) Program. The report also
provides recommendations for future efforts to remediate contaminated sediments
in the Great Lakes Basin. The document can be accessed via the Internet at:
The R/V Mudpuppy conducts
sediments assessments through-
out the Great Lakes
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http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/sediment/movemud/
New York State and EPA Region 2 are creating an electronic database of
contaminated sediments in the New York Great Lakes Basin. The database is being
used to prioritize areas of contaminated sediments for remediation. A sediment
assessment is underway for the Erie Canal in the vicinity of Lockport, New York by
the New York State Canal Corporation. Erie Canal sediments are thought to be a
source of dioxins to the Eighteenmile Creek AOC.
Ohio EPA is working to complete a sediment and fish tissue database of all the
information the State has for the Lake Erie watershed. Over the last two years, Ohio
has also conducted a sediment assessment program to try to develop background
concentrations of the various chemicals in the Lake Erie Basin as related to
unimpacted areas, eco-regions, and sites where biological data exists.
In 1993 and 1994, the R/V Mudpuppy conducted sediment assessments at eight
hotspotsinthe St. Louis River AOC. In addition, a two year Regional Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment Program Surveying, Sampling, and Testing project
(1995 to 1996) was being conducted as a collaborative effort between EPA, MPCA,
and the Natural Resources Research Institute. A statistically-based sampling plan
has been used to identify areas having acceptable and subminimal quality with
respect to surficial sediment contamination, sediment toxicity, and benthic
community structure. Statistical analyses are being used to associate sediment
contaminants with observed ecological effects. This project will establish a baseline
for status and trend monitoring and will attempt to determine the sampling intensity
required to survey a complex Great Lakes AOC. A report on the sampling results
will be finalized in Winter 1997. The four years of data collected will greatly
improve the understanding of sediment contamination in the Harbor, leading to
better decisions about remediation.
II
MULTILATERAL INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
The U.S. and Canada are cooperating in the following multilateral international and
global efforts to address toxic contaminants.
The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation and its Secretariat,
the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), were established to address
transboundary and regional environmental concerns in North America. The CEC
plans to develop cooperative long-term air quality monitoring, modeling, and
assessment programs in North America through the promotion, collection, and
exchange of data and through the development and application of appropriate
models between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The CEC has facilitated the
development of regional action plans for the phaseout or management of PCBs,
DDT, chlordane, and mercury, pursuant to a resolution on the Sound Management of
Chemicals adopted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in October 1995.
Protocols on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals are being Various U.N. activities are address-
developed as part of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ing transboundary environmental
Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. The POPs protocol will issues
Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are
•working together to address toxic
chemicals
29
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potentially be concluded within a year. The heavy metals protocol, which is
currently expected to cover lead, mercury, and cadmium, is anticipated to be
completed in 1998. Both protocols will consider a variety of response action
obligations, such as banning some pesticides, use restrictions, or requiring best
available technology for emissions control.
Member governments of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
decided at the 19th Session of the UNEP Governing Council to begin formal
negotiation of a global treaty onPOPs. Negotiations are to begin in 1998, taking into
account the conclusions and recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group on
POPs of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety, and are to be concluded
in the year 2000. POPs targeted for initial action are PCBs, dioxins/furans, aldrin,
dieldrin, DDT, endrin, chlordane, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, and
heptachlor. The UNEP Governing Council has directed the formation of an
International Negotiating Committee and the formation of an expert group to
develop science-based criteria and a procedure for identifying additional POPs as
candidates for future international action.
NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION
Most point sources of toxic loadings to the Great Lakes Basin are well understood
and controlled. The biggest remaining water quality problem is polluted runoff (so-
called nonpoint source pollution) that carries pollutants from many diverse sources
into our streams, lakes, and rivers. These pollutants can be pesticides, fertilizer
nutrients, household chemicals, gasoline, and used motor oil. Source areas include
farm fields, urban streets and parking lots, suburban lawns, golf courses,
construction sites, and atmospheric deposition. To help address this issue, EPA's
national water program is making a major transition from a program based on
technology-based controls, to one based on water quality-based controls
implemented on a watershed basis. This shift is known as the Healthy Watershed
Strategy. Technology-based controls, such as secondary treatment of sewage,
effluent limitations guidelines for industrial sources, and management practices for
some nonpoint sources, have dramatically reduced water pollution and laid the
foundation for further progress. The next step is the establishment of Total
Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for toxics entering into water bodies from both
point and nonpoint sources. TMDLs will help manage water quality on a watershed
scale. EPA, working infull partnership with States and Tribes, will work to establish
TMDLs for all listed waters, and will work with these partners to ensure that all load
allocations established by TMDLs are implemented by point and nonpoint sources
alike.
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Fertilizer Use in the Great Lakes Basin
1991/92 Area Receiving as a Proportion of Total Cropland
• Less than 60%
n 61 to 80%
• Over 80%
I I Suppressed or No Data
Figure 12: Fertilizer Use in the Great Lakes Basin
EXCESSIVE NUTRIENT LOADINGS
As reported in the 1995 Biennial Progress Report, all of the U.S./Canadian open
water phosphorus target levels have been achieved through the combined efforts to
improve the performance of sewage treatment plants, reduce levels of phosphorus in
detergents, and the implementation of agricultural Best Management Practices.
Current loads are clearly below the target loads of the 1978 Agreement for Lakes
Superior, Huron and Michigan, and are at or near target limits for Lakes Erie and
Ontario. Lake Erie still is experiencing brief periods of anoxia in some areas in its
central basin. The 1997 State of the Great Lakes Report reviewed nutrient data since
1994 and concluded that no appreciable change has occurred in the nutrient status of
the lakes and that they continue to meet the targets for phosphorus reduction in the
Agreement. This continuing success is due to the implementation of a number of
programs to control soil erosion, sedimentation, and other forms of nonpoint source
control.
Phosphorus Loads to Lake Erie
1988 1990 1992
Total Load — — — , Target Load
Figure 13: Phosphorus Loads to Lake Erie
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Conservation tillage is rapidly becoming the primary cultivation practice in the
Basin, affecting more than 70 percent of the total acreage in many counties, and 48
percent of the acreage basinwide. This has resulted in decreased erosion rates and
chemical losses. Here is but one example.
Conservation Tillage in the Great Lakes Basin
1991/92 Conservation Tillage as a Proportion of Total Cropland
Less than 10%
• Over 40%
I I Suppressed or No Data
Figure 14: Conservation Tillage in the Great Lakes Basin
No-Till in the Great Lakes Basin
1991/92 No-Till as a Proportion of Total Cropland
n Less than 10%
• 11 to 40%
• Over 40%
I I Suppressed or No Data
Figure 15: No-Till in the Great Lakes Basin
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Agricultural runoff is a top priority for the Maumee River AOC, with 75 percent of
the watershed in agricultural use. Every year, 10.3 million tons of soil erodes in the
Basin, carrying more sediment than any other Great Lakes tributary, much of which
settles in the Toledo Harbor shipping channel, which needs to be dredged of 500,000
tons of sediment annually at a cost of $3.4 million. Many agencies are partnering
with local landowners to reduce sediments, nutrients and pesticide runoff. EPA, the
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Soil and Water Conservation
District programs combine financial and technical resources to address runoff
issues. Just one of these programs, NRCS's Western Lake Erie Environmental
Quality Improvement Program, if implemented as proposed, would help meet
phosphorus reduction goals, decrease Toledo Harbor sedimentation by 15 percent,
alleviate the need for the construction of a new CDF, reduce annual dredging costs
by approximately $270,000, limit nitrate in drinking water, restore acres of
wetlands, and improve fish spawning habitat.
Ohio's Coastal Management Program (CMP) was approved in June 1997. The
program allows a more coordinated approach to activities conducted in the coastal
area. It also makes Ohio eligible for additional Federal and State funding to protect
Ohio's Lake Erie coast and control erosion. An additional goal of the CMP is to
improve public access to the lake and to preserve the natural areas along the lake.
Agricultural practices are being
implemented to reduce runoff of
chemicals and soil from farmland
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION AND COMPLIANCE
The commitment to ecosystem protection is buttressed by strong compliance with
and enforcement of environmental laws. State and Federal agencies continue to
develop necessary regulations and take enforcement actions around the Great Lakes
region. Some examples follow:
Significant decreases in point source discharges have been brought about through
the Great Lakes Enforcement Strategy, an important Federal/State partnership to
protect the Great Lakes. Point source discharges of selected pollutants such as PCBs,
PAHs, lead, cadmium, chromium, and mercury have dramatically decreased during
the six years of the Strategy. When violations are found during Strategy activities,
EPA can use Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) and injunctive relief to
correct the problem and to improve the environment. A SEP is a project, not strictly
necessary for compliance, that a violator agrees to undertake as part of a settlement,
to better the environment. Injunctive relief requires the violator to cease the
environmentally injurious behavior. Between FY 1993 and FY 1996, Great Lakes
Basin SEPs have yielded $59 million in environmental protection (pollution
reduction, pollution prevention, etc.) while injunctive relief has yielded $943
million during the same period. These totals include $49 million in injunctive relief
and $28.2 million in SEPs in northwest Indiana and $ 180 million in injunctive relief
at a POTW in southeast Michigan.
EPA's pulp and paper industry "cluster rule" will combine efforts to control both air
and water pollution from the pulp, paper, and paperboard industry. The air standards
aim to reduce toxic emissions by 70 percent from current levels and would also
reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds, which are prime ozone precursors.
The water provisions of the proposal would significantly reduce dioxin discharges.
The rule is anticipated to be finalized by the end of 1997.
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Two oil and natural gas pipeline companies will spend almost $3 million to restore
fish, wildlife, and other natural resources of Fish Creek (from Dekalb County,
Indiana to Williams County, Ohio) injured by the release of more than 30,000
gallons of diesel fuel when an underground pipeline ruptured in September 1993.
Money resulting from the settlement, which included the two companies, the States
of Indiana and Ohio, the FWS, and the Department of Justice, will be devoted to
improving water quality in Fish Creek, returning fish, mussel, and wildlife
populations to pre-spill levels, implementing local educational programs, and
protecting the waterway from future harm. Fish Creek is considered one of the Great
Lakes region's most diverse and ecologically important streams and is the only
known habitat for the endangered white cat's paw pearly mussel.
The Great Lakes Fishery Trust (the Trust) was created in 1996 as part of a settlement
agreement addressing fish losses at the Ludington, Michigan Pumped Storage
Hydroelectric Project. Many millions offish have been killed by the project, which
has been in operation since 1973. The U.S. Department of the Interior, the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), several Indian Tribes, Michigan United
Conservation Clubs, and the National Wildlife Federation reached a negotiated
settlement with the owners in 1994, resolving outstanding issues. Major
components of the settlement include: maintenance of a seasonal net at the project
intake to minimize the number offish killed by the facility; annual compensation
payments by the utility, based on the net's effectiveness, to the Trust; provision of
improved angler access at the utility's properties at several sites and payment for
improvements to public access for pier fishing on Lake Michigan; and transfer of
ownership of 10,800 acres of land in Michigan by the owners to the Trust. The Trust
will use proceeds from the sale of transferred lands and compensation payments to
make grants for projects that benefit the Great Lakes fishery.
The U. S. is pursuing cleanup and restoration of natural resources at sites impacted by
contaminants through Natural Resource Damage Assessments (NRDAs). The
major goals of NRDAs are to eliminate or reduce the impact of persistent
contaminants on natural resources, to restore the services and benefits provided to
the public by natural resources, and to collect monetary damages for injuries to
natural resources. NRDAs are being conducted in Northwest Indiana, Saginaw
River, Michigan, and the Fox River, Wisconsin.
In 1996, a NRD A Pre-Assessment Screen was signed for the Grand Calumet area in
northwest Indiana. The Trustees, which include IDEM, IDNR, FWS, and the
National Park Service (NFS), determined that damage to natural resources occurred
in the area due to releases of hazardous substances and oil, and have to date identified
16 PRPs. The final assessment plan which will serve as the guiding document for all
damage assessment activities was completed in October 1997 with implementation
beginning immediately thereafter.
The pace of Superfund site cleanups in the Great Lakes and throughout the nation has
greatly increased. More Superfund sites have been cleaned up in the past three years
than in all of the prior years of the program combined. In 1996, while visiting
Kalamazoo, Michigan, President Clinton announced the "Kalamazoo Initiative"
whose goal is to have 900 National Priorities List (NPL) sites completely remediated
by the year 2000. Of the approximately 112 sites in EPA Region 5' s part of the Great
Lakes watershed, all cleanup construction has been completed at 55 sites, which
means all long-term response actions are in place. Many of these sites have been
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completely remediated. In New York State at the St. Lawrence River - Massena
AOC, cleanup activities at three industrial sites are in the process of removing tens
of thousands of cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments.
PROTECTING THE HEALTH OF BASIN RESIDENTS
EPA is continuing to compile health information from various studies being
implemented by the Great Lakes Human Health Effects Research Program. This
program, mandated by Congress, addresses the potentially adverse human health
effects from consuming Great Lakes fish on particularly sensitive populations. This
group includes pregnant women, nursing mothers, fetuses and nursing infants,
infants and children, Native Americans, sport anglers, urban poor, and the elderly.
The program is being administered by ATSDR. A Report to Congress was produced
in 1995, which described the re search program, and summarized the literature on this
subject in both the Great Lakes and internationally. The findings from the program,
when finalized, will be issued in a new report which will provide key information
that Great Lakes policymakers need to further protect the health of the citizens of the
Basin.
Recent preliminary findings from ATSDR's Great Lakes Human Health Effects
Research Program support earlier reports of an association between the consumption
of contaminated Great Lakes fish and body burdens of persistent toxic substances
(PTSs). The body burdens of consumers are two to four times higher than those in
the general population. These findings also indicate:
* susceptible populations (Native Americans, sport anglers, the elderly,
pregnant women, and fetuses and nursing infants of mothers who
consumed contaminated Great Lakes fish, continue to be exposed to PTSs
including PCBs, dioxins, chlorinated pesticides, and mercury;
* fish consumption appears to be the major pathway of exposure to PTSs;
* a significant trend of increasing body burden is associated with increased
fish consumption;
* sport fisheaters consumed two to three times more fish than the general
population;
* levels of certain contaminants in Great Lakes fish are above the advisory
limits set by State and Federal governments;
* individuals who consumed Great Lakes sport fish for more than 15 years
have two to four times more pollutants in their blood serum than
nonfisheaters;
* men consumed more fish than women; and
* women consume Great Lakes fish during most of their reproductive years.
A variety of research programs are
working to help protect the health
of Basin residents
35
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ATSDR, Health Canada, and the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services co-
sponsored in May 1997, an International Scientific Conference on the effects of the
Environment on Human Health in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basins.
The sponsors and participants concluded that the weight of evidence based on the
findings of wildlife biologists, toxicologists, and epidemiologists clearly indicates
that at-risk populations continue to be exposed to PTSs. These exposures to PTSs
have the potential to cause adverse human health outcomes, i.e., reproductive,
developmental, neurobehavioral, and immunologic effects. Although the levels of
some of these chemicals have declined, they are still a cause of great concern to the
Great Lakes ecosystem and human health.
Improved Protection for Drinking Water and Ground Water
EPA continues to promote the Partnership for Safe Water, a non-regulatory approach
to reducing the potential risk from Cryptosporidium and other microbial
contaminants in community drinking water supplies. This is a joint effort between
EPA, drinking water associations, and community drinking water suppliers. In
1996, over 79 million people nationwide received their water from a participating
supplier, nearly a threefold increase over the previous year. Outbreaks of
cryptosporidiosis in several municipalities in the Great Lakes Basin due to
contaminated drinking water indicate that infectious diseases can still pose serious
problems. However, the Great Lakes continue to provide an excellent source of
drinking water.
The "Milwaukee Nearshore Study" was initiated between GLERL, the University of
Wisconsin, and the City of Milwaukee from 1994 to 1996 in response to the
Cryptosporidium contamination of Milwaukee's drinking water supply in 1993. The
goals of the study were to evaluate alternatives for improving the quality of the
source water, and to identify and evaluate possible new water intake locations. It was
found that the Spring 1993 contamination was associated with highly turbid,
contaminated river water that discharged into the harbor and periodically flowed
from the harbor as a plume that covered the site of the water intake. In order to
prevent similar contamination events in the future, it was recommend that the present
Texas Avenue Water Intake be relocated by adding a 4,000 foot extension pipeline,
and that the municipal water filtration system be upgraded. The City of Milwaukee
adopted these recommendations in 1996.
Programs under the SDWA of 1996 are providing a new era of cost-effective
protection of drinking water quality, State flexibility, and citizen involvement. The
Act's overall goal is that by the year 2005, 95 percent of the U.S. population served
by public water supply systems will have drinking water that meets all SDWA
standards. Programs under the SDWA offer tools and opportunities to build a
prevention barrier to drinking water contamination. The centerpiece of the SDWA
is the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (D WSRF), a mechanism to assist public
water systems to finance the costs of infrastructure improvement.
State Source Water Assessments (funded by the DWSRF) will similarly identify
those areas that are sources of public drinking water (ground water and surface
water), assess water systems' susceptibility to contamination, and inform the public
of the results. Though not required in the SDWA, EPA is encouraging States to
utilize these assessments to develop protection programs. The SDWA amendments
allow States to transfer funds from the DWSRF to the Waste Water State Revolving
The Great Lakes continue to pro-
vide an excellent source of drink-
ing water
Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
36
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Report on United States Progress
Fund, thus allowing the targeting of these funds for those projects which will provide
the most environmental benefits.
There is also a major shift in focus in the new SDWA for achieving better drinking
water protection through prevention rather than treatment. This builds upon the
existing Wellhead Protection Program (WHPP), which protects ground water
sources of drinking water through identification of well recharge areas, as well as
potential contamination sources, and developing management plans to minimize the
threats. All of the EPA Region 5 States have approved WHPPs and are at various
stages of implementation at the local level. Efforts are being made to educate the
public about protecting their ground water resources and to provide communities
with technical assistance in developing their WHPPs.
During FY 1996, in EPA Region 5, more than 1,100 public water systems returned
to compliance, either through formal enforcement actions or through compliance
assistance means. For example, in cooperation with IDEM, EPA participated in
workshops targeted to 900 violators of nitrate monitoring requirements. To date,
780 systems have voluntarily returned to compliance.
In 1994, five companies, IDEM, and EPA agreed to work on the Grand Calumet
Cooperative Project, a voluntary cleanup of petroleum contaminated ground water
adjacent to the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal. The three companies which found onsite
contamination are engaged in ongoing remediation. In 1997, a similar effort was
initiated with petroleum pipeline owners in the area, with the intent of identifying
leaking and unused pipelines which contribute to ground water contamination.
HABITAT PROTECTION AND ENHANCEMENT
Native Great Lakes ecosystems, including forests, rivers, lakes, wetlands, dunes,
savannas, and prairies, provide habitats upon which a diversity of plant and animal
species depend. Whereas the absolute number of acres undergoing habitat
conversion today is much less than in prior eras, the current percentage rate of loss
of the little natural habitat that remains is quite high and threatens the health and
survival of many Great Lakes species. Under a variety of unique programs and
partnerships at the Federal, State, and local landowner levels, a large number of
wetland and upland habitat creation, protection, restoration, and enhancement
activities are being conducted. The following examples describe a broad range of
actions by a variety of agencies and organizations which are protecting significant
ecosystems and restoring degraded areas. Much of the needed work is being done as
stewardship of the Great Lakes ecosystem orients itself towards the goal of
protecting and restoring ecosystem health. This is important in both environmental
and economic terms. Fishing, hunting, bird-watching and other wildlife-related
recreation continue to be enjoyed by 77 million Americans annually, with wildlife
remaining a remarkable engine for economic growth and job creation, accounting
for approximately $104 billion (1.4 percent of the U.S. economy) in 1996.
37 Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
U.S. and Canadian Eco-Regions
N
Canadian
1 Thunder Bay - Quetico
2 Lake Nipigon
3 Abitibi Plains
4 Lake Timiskaming Lowland
5 Algonquin - Lake Nipissing
6 Frontenac Axis
7 Manltoulin - Lake Slmcoe
8 Lake Erie Lowland
125km
U.S.
9 Erie and Ontario Lake Plain
10 Southern Lower Michigan
11 Northern Lacustrine-Influenced
Lower Michigan
12 Northern Lacustrine-Influenced
Upper Michigan & Wisconsin
13 Southeastern Wisconsin Savanna
14 Northern Continental Michigan,
Wisconsin, & Minnesota
15 Northern Minnesota
16 South Central Great Lakes
17 Southwestern Great Lakes Morainal
Figure 16: U.S. and Canadian Eco-Regions
A variety of provisions contained in the 1996 Farm Bill such as the Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP) and the Wetland Reserve Program have provided
significant acreage of wildlife habitat in recent years. The Swampbuster provision
of the Farm Bill and the wetland protection provisions of the Clean Water Act have
also helped conserve waterfowl habitat. And sportsmen and conservation
organizations such as Ducks Unlimited have conserved and restored millions of
acres of prime habitat. These types of actions have helped duck breeding
populations rise sharply in 1997 with most species currently above the numerical
goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
In addition to rural areas, much important habitat is located in urban and urbanizing
areas. An example is in the greater Chicago region where an innovative approach is
being taken to address the loss of natural habitat and biodiversity. The region covers
the lakebed of glacial Lake Chicago and extends from Chiwaukie Prairie in
southeastern Wisconsin to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. It contains eight
million people together with a surprisingly rich mix of prairies, woodlands, dunes,
beaches, streams and wetlands, 200,000 acres of which is in public ownership and
provides habitat for many rare plants and animals.
Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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Report on United States Progress
Protected Lands in
Chicago Wilderness Region
LEGEND
I | sratepata
I I county preserves and dly parks
I I privately owned naruraareos
B nature preserves and scientific arc
Figure 17: Protected Lands in Chicago Wilderness Region
To save this natural legacy, 36 governmental and non-governmental organizations
have joined to form the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council which in turn has
created "Chicago Wilderness", a program devoted to protecting and restoring the
biodiversity of the region. The Council and the Chicago Wilderness program are
actively working to involve a wide network of people to build support for a locally
based ecosystem approach to restoring the ecological integrity of the region. A
major step is the publication of Ch icago Wilderness: An Atlas of Biodiversity which
seeks to inform the public of the wonders of the region. It is intended to form the base
for a biodiversity recovery plan now in development for the region. The intent is to
assess all of the naturally occurring ecological communities of the region and to
ensure that they are sustained on a permanent basis.
In the southeast Lake Michigan region, the National Park Service (NFS) has been
directed by Congress to study portions of the Lake Calumet area to determine the
feasibility of establishing an urban ecological park. The "Calumet Ecological Park"
39
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Report on United States Progress
feasibility study was initiated in May 1997 and will assess the area's natural and
cultural resources, the physical and cultural relationships between these resources,
and how these resources portray the area's changing landscape.
An area of approximately 15 acres across the street from the Gary, Indiana Airport,
had hazardous wastes (PCBs and petroleum wastes) illegally disposed of on site into
a wetland associated with a relatively large tract of remnant dune and swale habitat.
In 1996, EPA spent $4 million removing 10,250 tons of TSCA level PCB wastes
from the wetlands at this site as part of its Superfund removal program. In addition,
more than 500,000 gallons of contaminated water was removed and treated at the
site. With a tremendous amount of effort on F WS and IDEM' s part, including almost
weekly site visits to assist them, EPA recreated two dune ridges and planted the site
to oak savannah prairie. This property is a restoration show case for how EPA and
natural resource trustees can cooperate on Superfund actions for the benefit of an
area's natural resources.
The Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) takes advantage of its location on the
north shore of Lake Erie to collect a wealth of information about North American
birds and their movements. By the end of 1995, LPBO had banded over 260 species.
The recapture or recovery of songbirds at sites across the continent has added greatly
to our understanding of bird migration and biology. In addition, LPBO is conducting
the Marsh Monitoring Program. In each of the 42 AOCs, volunteers monitor bird
and amphibian populations. Spatial and temporal comparisons of marsh bird and
amphibian populations in AOCs versus other marshes, both on a local and basinwide
scale, provide an indication of the success of habitat rehabilitation activities and an
ongoing measure of the health of the marshes and wildlife communities.
GLNPO's April 1996 report, Mining Ideas, shows that from 1992 through 1995,
GLNPO awarded over $8.5 million in grants for 87 projects to 36 local, Tribal, State,
and Federal agencies and non-governmental organizations which collaborated with
some 240 partners to protect and restore habitats. By funding demonstration
projects, GLNPO helped to increase the quality and extent of native ecosystems of
the Great Lakes Basin and fostered a greater understanding of ecosystem processes
and functions, greater participation by partners in on-the-ground protection and
restoration activities, and a dawning awareness by the public of the special and
valuable nature of Great Lakes systems, communities, and species.
During 1995, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and NYSDEC joined to develop a
management plan for the stretch of beach along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario.
By encouraging people to stay on the beach, TNC and NYSDEC provided
ecologically sensitive access between Sandy Pond and the Lake Ontario beach.
TNC, NYSDEC, and the volunteer Friends of Sandy Pond Beach share management
responsibilities. In July 1996, all parties joined together to dedicate the recent beach/
dune access improvements at Sandy Pond and at Lakeview Wildlife Management
Area, Deer Creek Marsh Wildlife Area, and Southwick Beach State Park, all part of
the 17-mile stretch of Lake Ontario shoreline that is considered the eastern Lake
Ontario "megasite".
Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem 40
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Report on United States Progress
Eastern Lake Ontario Megasite
Figure 18: Eastern Lake Ontario Megasite
The loss of coastal marsh habitat for fish and wildlife in the Great Lakes has occurred
at an alarming rate during the 20th century as a result of both human and natural
causes. Today, there is less than 10 percent remaining of the 300,000-acre "Great
Black Swamp" that bordered western Lake Erie before 1800. A partnership
consisting of the FWS, the Ohio Division of Wildlife, EPA, Ducks Unlimited, and
other private conservation groups, with the support of locally elected members of
Congress, has completed construction associated with the restoration of Metzger
Marsh, which may serve as a model for coastal wetland restoration in other parts of
the Great Lakes. Construction of water level/fish control structures and other
features will protect this 900 acre wetland from storm damage and will allow this
area to once again provide a diverse aquatic plant community and habitat for a
diversity of fish and wildlife species. The Metzger Marsh project is one of ten
flagship projects of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan which was
created to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands from Mexico to Canada.
Double-crested cormorant populations have increased dramatically in the Great
Lakes in the last two decades. Many citizens and interest groups believe the species
is adversely impacting sport fisheries. The FWS helped support a study by the
Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to determine the impacts of
cormorants on a yellow perch fishery in Lake Huron. Preliminary results show that
the cormorants have little overall impact on the perch, which confirms patterns
found in similar studies elsewhere. FWS is monitoring cormorant populations
throughout the Great Lakes to better understand population trends and distribution,
is working with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on a cormorant
informational brochure for the public, and has organized a symposium to be held in
December 1997 on cormorant biology and management in the Midwest.
Saginaw Bay, a major stopover site for three million waterfowl that migrate annually
through the Great Lakes region, is getting a major cleanup. The U.S. Migratory Bird
Conservation Commission approved more than $750,000 for wetlands restoration
Double-crested cormorant popula-
tions have increased dramatically
over the last two decades
41
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Report on United States Progress
on and in 22 counties that drain into Saginaw Bay. That makes more than $3 million
in local, State and private money earmarked for restoration of more than 2,500 acres.
A partnership of the FWS, Ducks Unlimited, and the MDNR will select private
property eligible for wetlands restoration.
The Lake Erie water snake, which occurs only on the islands of western Lake Erie in
Ohio and Canada and on some shorelines of Ohio's Catawba-Marblehead Peninsula,
is currently proposed to be listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered
Species Act. The FWS and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have been
encouraging island residents and visitors in 1996 and 1997 to "live and let live" in
sharing the islands with these water snakes. Efforts have included increasing public
awareness, improved landowners stewardship, and positive media attention. If these
conservation efforts are successful, FWS may not need to list the snake or it may
recover and allow delisting more quickly.
Some 22,600 acres of privately held heavily forested land in northeastern Minnesota
has been acquired by the State for preservation and public enjoyment in what has
been described as a "win-win" situation for all parties involved. Minnesota Power
decided that it no longer needed the shoreline property for hydroelectric purposes
and announced its sale, giving the State and counties first option. The State raised
$4.2 million for about 80 percent of the land and Minnesota Power donated the
remaining 20 percent, valued at $1.1 million. The purchase by the State of this
property along the St. Louis, Cloquet, and Whiteface Rivers means that most of the
150 miles of shoreline along the three rivers, which drain 3,500 square miles of
northeastern Minnesota before emptying into Lake Superior, will remain largely
undeveloped and mostly preserved in a natural state. Minnesota has also completed
restoration of plant and animal habitat at Grassy Point, an estuarine wetland in the St.
Louis River at Duluth.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has a number of
programs for protecting water quality and aquatic habitat in the Great Lakes. During
FY 1995, USFS completed a variety of inventories on stream, lake, and terrestrial
ecological units; completed 150 miles of stream and 1,370 acres of lake habitat
restoration; continued working with State and non-profit organizations on
ecological classification, inventory, and mapping of watersheds and aquatic
environments; began compiling geo-spatial databases for terrestrial ecological units,
streams, and lakes in national forests in the Basin; compiled a geo-spatial database
on human and natural conditions in the Upper Great Lakes; worked with States on
nonpoint water pollution control, as affected by forest management practices; and
continued research and technology transfer on watershed processes, forest health,
landscape ecology, atmospheric deposition, managing riparian resources, and fish
habitat.
The Nature Conservancy is undertaking an eco-regional prioritization effort with the
support of the Mott Foundation and EPA. The goals are to develop clear objectives
and recommendations for conservation of natural communities and vulnerable
species at a regional level, to identify a portfolio of conservation sites within
ecologically defined local areas, and to engage local partners in conservation
planning and activities.
During the 1996 SOLEC, the Land by the Lakes paper identified 20 "biodiversity
investment areas" on the Great Lakes shoreline having clusters of exceptional
Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem 42
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Report on United States Progress
biodiversity value. These areas present opportunities to create large protected areas
that will preserve ecological integrity and, ultimately, help protect the health of the
lakes themselves. For SOLEC 1998, the 20 nearshore terrestrial biodiversity
investment areas will be described more fully. In addition, biodiversity investment
areas for coastal wetland and nearshore aquatic areas will be identified.
Nearshore Biodiversity Investment Areas
Northwestern Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Highlands/
Isle Royale
Chicago Wilderness
Note: areas are not drawn to scale
Western Lake Erie/
Oak Openings
25 0 125km
Figure 19: Nearshore Biodiversity Investment Areas
EXOTIC SPECIES
The Great Lakes sport and commercial fishing industry, valued at almost $4.5 billion
annually, is at risk due to growing numbers of nonindigenous mussels and fish, such
as the zebra and quagga mussels, sea lamprey, ruffe, and round goby. Populations
of native fish, including lake trout, walleye, yellow perch and whitefish are
threatened by the establishment of these exotic species. There is also a concern that
juvenile specimens of freshwater species that are not native to the Great Lakes are
still being found in the Basin, indicating that all sources of introduction have not
been controlled.
Zebra mussels continue to profoundly affect the Great Lakes ecosystem. This
prolific mollusk filters microscopic algae from the water column, diverting nutrients
from open water to lake bottom systems, thus favoring bottom-feeding fish (and
their predators) over those such as alewife and smelt (and their predators) which feed
in the open water. Aquatic rooted plants (macrophytes) and their communities (e.g.
large mouth bass) thrive in water cleared by zebra mussel, while habitat is reduced
for species adapted for turbid waters (e.g. walleye). Zebra mussels, accidentally
The impact of the zebra mussel is
being felt throughout the Great
Lakes Basin
43
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Report on United States Progress
transported by recreational boaters, are now turning up in inland waters in all eight
Great Lakes States. Municipalities and larger industries in the Great Lakes each pay,
on average, $360,000 peryear to control zebra mussels, with documented cumulative
basinwide costs of $120 million from 1989 to 1994.
Effects of Zebra Mussels
Phytoplankton in Lake E
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Figure 20: Effects of Zebra Mussel on Phytoplankton in Lake Erie
The ruffe (top) and the round goby,
recent invaders to the Great Lakes,
are impacting the ecosystem
For the first time in the Great Lakes, quantitative data were collected on bottom
dwelling protozoa and on the effects of zebra mussels on their populations and on
nutrient transport at the sediment-water interface. In regions where zebra mussels
were present, common algivorous species of microbenthos were replaced by
opportunistic omnivorous and bacterivourous species. In general, community
abundances tended to increase at zebra mussel sites, but the diversity within those
communities decreased. This study was undertaken by NOAA's Great Lakes
Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL).
The ruffe, a spiny fish with minimal food value, continues to pose a major threat to
the Great Lakes ecosystem. Native species such as troutperch have trouble
competing with the prolific ruffe. Introduced to Duluth Harbor in the early 1980s, the
ruffe has spread much more gradually than the zebra mussel. In western Lake
Superior the ruffe has become the predominant fish species in bays and estuaries.
Ruffe have now extended its range from Lake Superior to northern Lake Huron and
pose a threat to native species, especially yellow perch.
The latest fish invader, the round goby, was found in the St. Clair River in 1990 and
has already spread to lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior. To date, only Lake
Ontario has not reported any goby sitings, nor have they yet been documented outside
of the Great Lakes Basin. Efforts are underway to prevent their spread to the
Mississippi River system via the I&M Ship Canal in Illinois. A $250,000
congressional add-on will be used to construct an electronic barrier to their passage
through the Canal.
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Sea lamprey predation
Lampricide is applied to spawning
areas to help control sea lamprey
populations
Successful management of the last remaining uncontrolled population of Great Lakes
sea lamprey ~ that of the St. Marys River ~ is within reach of the binational Great
Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) and its agents and cooperators. Control
strategies should reduce sea lamprey populations in Lake Huron and northern Lake
Michigan by at least 85 percent. Such a reduction will allow for the resumption of
lake trout stocking in Lake Huron and for the implementation of other fishery
rehabilitation efforts. Trapping, release of sterile males, and a new bottom
formulation of lampricide for targeting larval hot spots are tools that, applied in an
optimal mix, can effect a significant level of cost-effective, environmentally sensitive
control.
Once established, exotic species cannot be eradicated. Nor is there any practical
means to control their eventual spread throughout the Great Lakes ecosystem and the
continent. Therefore, the primary imperative is to prevent new invasions of the
continent. The primary vector for unintentional intercontinental invasions of aquatic
exotics, or aquatic nuisance species (ANS), is ballast water in ships. Controls on
ballast water present a technically feasible opportunity for protecting the continent
from new invasions. Other vectors, such as intentional fish stocking, aquaculture,
and ornamental plant nurseries also need to be better understood and controlled.
The problem of exotics in ballast water has risen to attention in the United Nations
International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a serious environmental issue and has
now received attention from a number of the maritime nations. The maritime nations
taking the lead are Australia, Canada, and the U.S. The Great Lakes regime
established under the U.S. Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control
Act of 1990 (which took effect in 1993) is as yet the only general, mandatory control
regime which is based on research and guidelines previously developed by Canada
and Australia. Amendments to the 1990 U.S. legislation, in the form of the National
Invasive Species Act of 1996 (NISA), provide for nationwide guidelines which may
be followed later by mandatory controls.
The 1990 legislation also provided for the creation of a national ANS Task Force
including all the responsible Federal agencies (NOAA, FWS, the U.S. Coast Guard
[USCG], EPA, COE, etc.) and a regional ANS Panel supported by the Great Lakes
Commission (GLC), which includes regional representatives of the Federal agencies,
representatives of the Great Lakes States, representatives of commercial and public
non-governmental organizations, and observers from binational and Canadian
agencies. The GLC ANS Panel has played an essential role in coordinating regional
work and setting the agenda for the National ANS Task Force. The GLC ANS Panel
has addressed control of introduced species such as the zebra mussel and the ruffe,
coordination of research on all exotics, development of educational materials and
policy structures, and support for the effort to prevent new invasions.
The existing Great Lakes regime depends on open ocean exchange as the primary
(virtually exclusive) means of controlling new invasions in ballast water, and open
ocean exchange is the only measure currently being recommended in the non-
mandatory guidelines being promulgated by IMO, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and
other nations. However, it is now widely recognized that ballast exchange is not safe
or practical for a significant number of ships without some alteration of tanks or
piping systems. Therefore, it is imperative to develop improvements in the design of
ballast systems allowing for either improved exchange or treatment of the water.
45
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The most recent and authoritative review of potential ballast water control options
conducted by the U.S. National Research Council Marine Board indicated that four
options should be given priority consideration: 1) filtering; 2) nonoxidizingbiocides;
3) heat; and 4) retrofitting or redesign of ballast systems to allow safe and effective
exchange. These approaches are addressed in a "Binational Ballast Water Research
Strategy and Plan" laid out in the 1996-1997 Binational Report on Protection of
Great Lakes Water Quality submitted by Canada's Department of Fisheries and
Oceans, Transport Canada Marine Safety, and the USCG in October 1997. This
report (and the extensive appendices on the subject of exotics in ballast water)
reviews all the current work on the subject, including the $1 million Great Lakes
Ballast DemonstrationProjectonfilteringfundedby the Great Lakes Protection Fund
with the support of the Council of Great Lakes Governors, the studies of chemical
controls conducted by both the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes and Canadian
agencies, and other work being conducted in Canada, the United States, and around
the world. Most importantly, the binational report presents a clearly focused plan,
supported by both the Canadian and U.S. agencies responsible for regulating ballast
water, for conducting the additional work which needs to be done to raise the level of
protection for the Great Lakes watershed and the North American continent in the
near future.
The States of Michigan and Ohio announced the completion and submission of a
Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Species State Management Plan to a National
Task Force in fulfillment of the requirements of NISA. The plans emphasize
prevention as the key for long-term protection of State waters from harmful invaders
such as the zebra mussel, Eurasian ruffe, gobies, and many others.
GLERL's long-term research monitoring program in Lake Michigan was expanded
to examine the impacts of nonindigenous species. A new nearshore monitoring
program was added to the existing Lake Michigan monitoring program in order to
more thoroughly study ecosystem trends in central Lake Michigan. In addition, the
results from a three year study designed to compare the structure and productivity of
the lower food webs across the Great Lakes documented unprecedented changes in
the lower food web of Lakes Ontario and Erie. Nutrient concentrations in the lower
lakes are approaching those in the upper lakes and the biological community appears
to be in transition, as present communities are very different from those previously
documented.
GLERL's nonindigenous species program continued to assess the ecosystem in
Saginaw Bay, and GLERL now has seven consecutive years of ecosystem
measurements from the system, covering the periodbefore, during, and after the peak
invasion of zebra mussels. Data through 1995 reveal that abundances and biomass
have not changed since 1993. This may indicate that the population has stabilized and
assumed an "equilibrium" with the surrounding environment. A particular emphasis
of GLERL's nonindigenous species researchfrom 1995 to 1997 has been examining
the role of the zebra mussel in promoting nuisance blooms of the potentially toxic
blue-green algae Microcystis on Saginaw Bay and the effects of these blooms on the
ecosystem and the mussels themselves. Microcystis blooms have also been recently
experienced in Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. These blooms are associated with taste
and odor problems in drinking water.
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Fish and Wildlife Communities
In comparison with two centuries ago, the populations of many native fish species are
greatly reduced. Their depletion can be attributed to food chain disruptions, habitat
loss and degradation, over-fishing, and exotic species, among other factors. Damage
to once abundant native fish populations has been profound. Non-native alewife and
smelt have replaced lake herring and bloater chub as the predominant forage fish
since the late 1960s and 1970s. Sturgeon survive today in much depleted numbers,
although a significant recovery may be occurring in the upper Niagara River where
for the first time in many decades, several year classes, including young-of-the-year,
have been found. The following variety of important actions are examples of the
many steps being taken to aid in the recovery of Basin populations of native species.
The landmark Joint Strategic Plan for the Management of Great Lakes Fisheries,
the plan under which the Great Lakes fishery is collectively managed as an
ecosystem, was endorsed by those Federal, Tribal, Provincial, and State agencies with
fishery management authority on the Great Lakes. This latest edition of the Plan
expands the commitment that fisheries managers have made to work together to
influence all management activities which affect fish and to create stronger links to
coordinate fishery management objectives with environmental objectives. LaMPs
and RAPs are identified as processes in which fishery management agencies can work
more effectively with their environmental counterparts. The Plan also identifies the
five Lake Committees of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission as the major action
arms for the agencies to achieve their j oint obj ectives for sustaining and enhancing the
fishery.
FWS took a lead role in coordinating a binational, multi-basin, interagency effort to
better understand the current status and trends of lake sturgeon in the Lake Huron,
Lake St. Clair, and the western Lake Erie region. Studies to define seasonal
movement, relative abundance, life history, and habitat selection within this region
are continuing to be conducted by this interagency workgroup. Efforts such as these
to establish baseline information will be critical to efforts to restore the lake sturgeon
at this and other "hot spots" on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes, including Lake
Superior, Green Bay, and the Niagara River.
FWS continued to assess progress in lake trout restoration efforts in Lake Huron. This
included conducting spring and fall assessments at the Six Fathom Bank Refuge,
through a collaborative effort between FWS and the USGS's Great Lakes Science
Center.
Recent data indicates that the structure of Lake Ontario's offshore fish community is
changing in response to improved environmental conditions, and that the direction of
that change is towards a fish community that more closely resembles that which
existed historically. Lake trout are now showing increasing natural reproduction in
Lake Ontario forthe first time in SOyears. As of August 1995, the number of naturally
reproduced lake trout collected during routine New York State fishery survey trawls
was eight times greater than the total number collected by New York State and
Ontario efforts in 1994. Wild lake trout were caught in every area of the lake in 1994,
indicating that successful natural reproduction and survival in the early stages
occurred lakewide from 1993 to 1994. Whitefish and burbot populations, native
species that require habitat similar to that required by lake trout, have made
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The reintroduction of the Atlantic
salmon is being studied in the Lake
Ontario basin
Walleye caught in the western basin
of Lake Erie
significant recoveries. And a recent sighting of a deepwater sculpin indicates that
this formerly "extirpated" native species may be recovering. Once indigenous to
Lake Ontario and its tributaries, the Atlantic salmon disappeared by 1900 due to mill
dams obstructing spawning migrations, and overfishing, as well as deforestation and
pollution. The FWS is participating in the investigation of the feasibility of restoring
Atlantic salmon populations in historic spawning tributaries that flow into Lake
Ontario and in the upper St. Lawrence River.
Studies on the population dynamics of burrowing mayflies conducted by the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), the Biological
Resources Division of the USGS, Heidelberg College, the Ohio State University, and
Perm State University have indicated that the mayfly populations in western Lake
Erie and the Presque Isle Bay AOC are presently experiencing exponential growth.
Based on population models, the mayfly population is predicted to attain full
recovery by the year 2002. Mayflies were virtually eliminated from the western
basin of Lake Erie by 1960, but recolonization began during the 1990s and spread
throughout most of the lake by 1996. The recovery of the mayfly augers well for the
yellow perch population which is expected to grow as the density of mayfly nymphs
continues to rise in western Lake Erie. The re-emergence of the mayfly is seen as a
prime indicator of improved water and sediment quality in Lake Erie.
Lake trout were, historically, the sole coldwater predatory fish species in Lake Erie.
However, human-induced stresses resulted in the decline or disappearance of many
of the highly valued native species, including lake trout. In recent years, large
amounts of resources have been expended to clean up and rehabilitate this
ecosystem. As nutrient loadings, the depletion of dissolved oxygen, contaminant
levels and sea lamprey-induced fish mortalities have declined, the lake's
environmental quality has improved which has contributed to the recovery of several
native fish species, including lake whitefish, burbot, and a worldclass walleye
fishery as well as increased sightings of sturgeon. The stocking of lake trout in the
lake has resulted in the successful production of a broodstock that is now producing
and depositing eggs in the lake, though successful hatching in the lake has not yet
been documented.
For Lake Michigan, the LaMP Program and the Lake Michigan Committee (LMC)
of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission are planning to work in close cooperation.
The LMC has perhaps the best fish community objectives of any of the Great Lakes
which will help the LaMP set ecosystem objectives for Lake Michigan.
In 1997, FWS initiated a three year project to survey all colonial waterbird nesting
sitesintheU.S.portionoftheGreatLakes. This was last done in the late 1980s. The
present survey will allow the FWS to determine changes in the numbers and
distribution of gulls, terns, double-crested cormorants, herons, and egrets. This
information will be useful in developing conservation strategies for these species,
which include declining (terns) as well as super-abundant (gulls and cormorants)
species.
The common tern has declined dramatically in the Great Lakes in recent years.
Primary causes include predation, competition for nest sites from ring-billed gulls,
habitat loss, and human disturbance. FWS funded a project that is reviewing all
available scientific information about their biology and population status in the
Great Lakes. In addition, a field survey of all common tern colonies in the U.S.
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portion of the Great Lakes was conducted in 1997 and a three year study was funded
to determine factors limiting common tern nesting success in Saginaw Bay. FWS
also provided support to MDNR to restore critical habitat for terns at Lime Island,
Michigan, one of the largest colonies in the Great Lakes. These efforts will allow the
FWS to formulate conservation strategies that ensure the future well-being of this
species.
Success continues for one of the oldest interagency, cooperative endangered species
recovery programs in the nation. The recent increase in numbers of the Kirtland's
warbler is a result of extensive habitat management by MDNR, the USFS, and FWS.
These agencies have worked in partnership with a variety of public and private
groups to promote education and support for the Kirtland's warbler recovery
program.
A major North American Waterfowl Management Plan project is underway in
northwestern Indiana. The Southern Lake Michigan Project is unique in that its
purpose is to acquire, protect, and restore natural areas in the southern Lake
Michigan watershed. This project is focusing more on the protection of the globally
significant biodiversity of the Indiana Dunes, such as habitats supporting the
endangered Karner blue butterfly, and rare types of prairies, rather than on
restoration of drained wetlands for waterfowl.
The State of Wisconsin and the Bad River Tribe completed a project to reintroduce
trumpeter swans into Lake Superior's Kakagon Sloughs on the Bad River Indian
Reservation.
PUBLIC ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
EPA and its partners are vigorously pursuing greater public access to relevant Great
Lakes environmental information through the Internet. Active participation in the
Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN) and various agency homepages
contribute to a large set of information about the Great Lakes available to the public.
The Great Lakes GIS Online project builds upon GLIN to provide Internet-based
access to, and online mapping capability for a variety of consistent spatial data layers
covering the Great Lakes Basin. Based on GLIN's formula for building online
partnerships among U.S. and Canadian agencies and organizations, the Great Lakes
GIS Online project will provide a solid foundation for interagency spatial data
sharing and collaboration.
EPA's "Surf Your Watershed" Internet Site (http://www.epa.gov/surf), which
houses the Agency's first comprehensive assessment of U.S. watersheds, allows the
public to locate, use, and share environmental information on a particular watershed
or community. The driving force behind Surf Your Watershed is to get
environmental information into the hands of citizens and groups active in protecting
and managing the environment. Providing the public with this information is an
extremely important step in improving our nation's water quality and protecting the
health of the American public. A particular watershed canbe selected by using maps
or searching by State, Indian Tribe, County, or zip code. A search can also be based
on local stream names, water bodies, or even large-scale ecosystems. At the state or
watershed level, there is information regarding protection efforts, environmental/
public health conditions, fish advisories, drinking water, land use, population,
Superfund sites, and effluent dischargers. The public also will be able retrieve the
Increased public access to environ-
mental information is a hallmark of
the U.S. Great Lakes Program
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overall score for a watershed, reflecting condition and vulnerability, additional
information provided by states, and links to public and volunteer organizations working
to protect and restore water at the regional, State, and watershed level. A map of the
watershed or area can also be requested. An index of watershed indicators is located at:
http://www. epa.gov/surf/iwi
The Great Lakes Computer Center provides a database to support regional information
systems including Great Lakes Envirofacts, which consists of EPA facility information
in an easily accessible format, RAPIDS, and the database of the Lake Michigan Mass
Balance. The public is now able to easily search Great Lakes Envirofacts through the
Internet at:
http://www.epa.gov/enviro
GLNPO, through a grant to the Great Lakes Commission, is developing a publicly-
accessible homepage to provide information for those AOCs which are within the U.S.
or are shared with Canada. This site will provide a uniform format for displaying
information and will allow the Great Lakes States to easily provide updated information
as it becomes available. The site should be up and running by the end of 1997.
EPA continues to distribute large numbers of the popular third edition of The Great
Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book, which was co-authored with
Environment Canada. This excellent resource has been distributed to many of the
Basin's schools and libraries as well as to a variety of other public and private institutions.
The Atlas is also available on the Internet at:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/atlas/intro.html
Cleveland's Great Lakes Science Center, a museum dedicated to educating the public on
science and the Great Lakes in a hands-on, interactive manner, opened in July 1996 to
throngs of school children and others, pushing first year attendance numbers well above
the goal of 650,000. Aided by a $2 million grant from EPA, the museum will use the
hands-on approach to serve one of its primary goals of being an engine for science
education for school-aged children.
EPA has initiated the Sector Facility Indexing Project to make it easier for the public to
evaluate the environmental records of facilities and compare their environmental
performance. Data collected under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Toxic Release Inventory for five industry
sectors (petroleum refining, iron and steel, pulp mills, primary nonferrous metals, and
automobile assembly) relating to past compliance history, facility size, pollutant releases
and toxicity, and surrounding population has been aggregated, and is being prepared for
public release in late 1997. This initiative is the first time that cross-program EPA data
has been compiled in one place in a manner that will allow examination of facility-level
environmental records.
GLERL and the Ohio State University have successfully developed and implemented the
Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System which makes regularly scheduled forecasts of
the physical and related variables, such as surface water temperature, vertical
temperature structure, water surface elevation, and currents for Lake Erie; and wind
fields and wave heights for all the Great Lakes.
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GREAT LAKES GEOGRAPHIC INITIATIVES
One of the mainstays of the Great Lakes Program is its use of geographic initiative to
address environmental impacts at varying scales around the Basin. Examples of these
initiatives range from the basinwide level (the Binational Toxics Reduction Strategy
and the Great Waters Study), to individual lake basin programs (the LaMPs and the
Lake Michigan Mass Balance), to regional ecosystems (the Eastern Lake Ontario
Megasite and the Southeast Michigan Initiative), to local watersheds (the RAP
Program and other various watershed initiatives), and finally, to site-specific projects
(a particular sediment removal or habitat restoration project). This "nested approach"
ensures that environmental impacts are being reviewed by the program working at the
proper scale to address the issues. The following discussion of the LaMP and RAP
programs and other geographic initiatives highlights this approach.
PROGRESS UNDER THE LAKEWIDE MANAGEMENT PLANS
Annex 2 of the Agreement established the LaMP Program to restore and protect the
beneficial uses of Great Lakes waters on an individual lake basin scale. The LaMP
Program emphasizes and puts great value in local public stakeholder involvement. The
Program seeks to empower stakeholders at the local levels to help define and address
environmental problems which are impacting their particular lake basin. The LaMPs
are also helping to increase local capacity so that the public groups have the ability to
be full and active LaMP partners. The U.S. Great Lakes Program is looking to the
LaMPs to be one of the primary vehicles for achieving environmental improvements
at the individual lake basin level. Many of the achievements highlighted in this report
have been implemented through the cooperation of the governmental and non-
governmental agencies working on the LaMPs.
The direct and important involvement of public groups in the LaMPs (and in a variety
of other programs including RAPs) is illustrative of one of the major cornerstones of
the Great Lakes Program ~ the promotion of public stewardship and direct
involvement. Community stakeholders are strongly involved in a variety of planning
processes from the public forums or other forms of public involvement on the LaMPs,
to the Public Advisory Committees (PACs) which are participating in RAP
development. These methods of public involvement are all examples of Community-
Based Environmental Protection (CBEP), an approach which is results oriented, which
has a geographic focus, and which has a practical advantage in that definable
geographic areas have proven to be effective units of work, as measured in
environmental results. Communities are manageable entities for defining
collaborative goals and developing plans and implementation strategies tailored to
specific ecological systems, economic circumstances, and socio-cultural situations.
Stakeholder involvement brings in knowledge and expertise about local conditions and
ensures that those who live with the environmental decisions being made are involved
in the process. This also creates a sense of local ownership of the issues and solutions.
The CBEP process fosters unique programs, can leverage funding, and helps reconnect
government agencies and their employees with the people and places they serve. The
CBEP approach, piloted in the Great Lakes, is now being implemented agency-wide by
EPA.
Public and private agencies working on the LaMPs are developing strategic
management plans to streamline and strengthen the integration and application of
environmental programs and to create strategic monitoring plans to aide in the analysis
51 Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
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and use of environmental data in making decisions regarding the lakes' ecosystems. The
LaMPs are also developing ecosystem objectives and indicators as measures of progress.
LaMPs have established productive working relationships with fish manager counterparts
on the Lake Committees of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Efforts are underway to
reconcile ecosystem, fish community, and environmental objectives, and to select
indicators that are consistent with lakewide assessments conducted by Lake Committees.
In addition to activities already highlighted under specific topics of this report, a variety of
other significant LaMP accomplishments have occurred during the last two years.
Lake Superior
For Lake Superior, the LaMP is part of an agreement, the Binational Program to Restore
and Protect the Lake Superior Basin, between Canada and the U. S. This program has two
major areas of activities: a Zero Discharge Demonstration Program which is devoted to the
goal of zero discharge of nine persistent bioaccumulative toxic substances, and the broader
program, which involves efforts to restore and protect the Lake Superior ecosystem.
Lake Superior The completed Stage 1 LaMP identified 22 critical pollutants that either impaired beneficial
uses or exceeded certain environmental criteria, including the nine pollutants targeted by
the Zero Discharge Demonstration Program. Nonpoint source pollution deposited from the
atmosphere is a proportionately large source of pollution in Lake Superior, and it has been
determined that nonpoint sources have a bigger influence over water quality in the lake than
do point sources.
The draft Stage 2 LaMP which presents load reduction schedules and targets was released
in October 1996. Public comments have been reviewed and summarized and a draft
Responsiveness Summary is currently being reviewed by the governmental agencies.
Chapter 3 of the LaMP, "Reduction Targets for Lake Superior Pollutants", contains
consensus-based recommendations for load reduction targets and was the product of the
Lake SuperiorBinational Forum, the citizen stakeholder group. Revisions to the Binational
Forum's recommendations will be included. The Stage 2 LaMP should be completed by
March 1998. Activities to be utilized in the development of the draft Stage 3 LaMP ~
"Management Strategies for Implementation of the Pollutant Load Reduction" ~ have
already begun.
The draft Ecosystem Principles and Objectives, Targets and Indicators document was
released in October 1996 for public review. This document includes environmental quality
indicators covering six categories. It was developed in coordination with several binational
partners as part of the Binational Program.
As part of the Lake SuperiorBinational Program, the Habitat Committee developed criteria
for the identification of important habitat sites in the Lake Superior Basin. They have
released a map of known sites of important habitats that meet these criteria along with a
summary of the condition of habitats in the Lake Superior Basin. In addition, they have
completed ongoing habitat restoration and protection projects that will, individually and
cumulatively, improve the health of the Lake Superior ecosystem.
Through a grant from EPA, the Binational Forum hosted a workshop on sustainability
within the Lake Superior Basin. The workshop focused on three areas within the Basin
from which case studies were developed and conference participants discussed aspects of
the areas and ways in which communities and the Binational Program partners might work
together to promote sustainability community development.
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Lake Michigan
The Lake Michigan LaMP has identified lakewide critical pollutants and the four Lake
Michigan States have completed their assessments of beneficial use impairments due
to all stressors. Asof August 1997,adocumentwhichwillserveasapreliminary Stage
1 LaMP was being drafted with a targeted release date of December 1997. In the
interim, a number of fact sheets were produced which updated the status of a variety of
environmental issues in the Lake Michigan Basin, such as RAP status, critical
pollutants, and the Lake Michigan Mass Balance. The Lake Michigan Fellows
compact disc and interactive software was produced to put LaMP issues and activities
in context and to prepare audiences for understanding what the goals of the LaMP are.
The Lake Michigan Pubic Forum has secured private funding to support a pollution
prevention project in the primary metals industry to address Lake Michigan LaMP
pollutants. As source reduction in a primary metal industry is quite difficult, the project
may result in the identification of practices to increase off-site transfers or recycling,
and opportunities to decrease releases. The Forum is targeting facilities within the
watershed and may work with trade associations and technical assistance programs
within each State.
Lake Michigan
Lake Erie
A Lake Erie LaMP Status Report is currently being produced with a targeted
completion date of late 1997. This Status Report addresses a variety of issues,
including historic trends of PCB and phosphorus loadings, beneficial use impairment
assessments for each of the three sub-basins, sources and loadings for a limited set of
"fast-track" pollutants, and ongoing programs. The Status Report will be produced in
an "Executive Summary" format. Ecosystem objectives are under development using
models to create possible outcomes which will be publicly reviewed and finalized in
the fall of 1998.
Lake Ontario
The draft Stage I (problem definition) document for Lake Ontario was drafted and sent
out for a two month public review period, which ended on June 30, 1997. During the
public comment period, 10 public meetings were held around the US and Canadian
sides of the Lake Ontario Basin. The document is in the process of being revised based
upon public comment.
Lake Huron
EPA, Environment Canada, the State of Michigan, the Province of Ontario, and other
Federal agencies are looking to develop and implement a LaMP for Lake Huron, based
on the lessons learned in developing LaMPs for the other Great Lakes.
PROGRESS ON REMEDIAL ACTION PLANS
Annex 2 of the Agreement called for the development of Remedial Action Plans
(RAPs) to address the impairment of beneficial uses at forty-three localized "hot spots"
throughout the Great Lakes. Highlights of current and planned activities to implement
these RAPs have been incorporated throughout this report.
Lake Erie
Lake Ontario
Lake Huron
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Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes Basin
Clinton^ Rive
Muskegon Lake
Detroit River
Rouge River
Milwaukee Estuary
Waukegan Harbor
Grand Calumet River
• Canada
• U.S.A.
* Delisted AOC
A Connecting
Channels
Figure 21: Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes Basin
At the Deer Lake-Carp River/Creek, Michigan AOC, mercury levels in fish have
declined substantially and are almost to the point where the fish are safe to eat. The
mercury source has been cut off through the installation of a closed loop system.
Recovery offish populations from what was once a grossly contaminated site is a clear
measure of success.
At the Presque Isle Bay, Pennsylvania AOC, nonpoint source pollution appears to be the
largest contributor of contaminants. The City of Erie entered into a Consent Decree
with PADEP to spend an estimated $90 million to upgrade and double the capacity of
the POTW, construct an overflow retention basin, and eliminate the remaining 42
Combined Sewer Overflows in the City's system. These efforts, along with additional
nonpoint source control measures, should allow for natural recovery of the system.
This option for sediment management has been presented to the RAP Public Advisory
Committee for their consideration. This decision appears to be the most viable, both
environmentally and economically, in areas such as Presque Isle Bay which are
characterized by widespread, low levels of contamination with no known hot spots.
The Black River RAP has concluded that the biggest sources of impact to the river are
from nonpoint sources. Thus, the AOC includes the entire watershed. In an effort to
better coordinate implementation of nonpoint source control efforts, the RAP
developed a five year strategic plan based on improvements needed to ultimately
improve the riparian corridor. One of the efforts underway is a partnership with the
Conservation Fund to implement innovative methods to control nonpoint source runoff
in developing and urban areas. Several grants have been received to support watershed
plan development at a township level, further implement agricultural and construction
Best Management Practices, restore riparian habitat using biotechniques for erosion
control, and increased public awareness of the river and the need to connect with it.
Ohio has also prepared an "Activities and Accomplishments Report" for all 1996 RAP
activities and plans to produce this on an annual basis.
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At the Milwaukee River, Wisconsin AOC, the removal of the North Avenue Dam
restored the lower stretch of the river to a free flowing stream. By returning the river
to its channel, the exposure of the waters to 700,000 square yards of contaminated
sediments was reduced.
Spotlight on the Fox River/Green Bay, Wisconsin Area of Concern
Along a 39 mile portion of the Fox River from Lake Winnebago to Green Bay, and
at the southern portion of Green Bay, industry and agriculture are highly
concentrated, along with the greatest concentration of pulp and paper mills on the
Great Lakes. The contaminants of greatest concern are PCBs, as paper companies
have released 125 tons of this substance to the Fox River, of which about 40 tons
remain, contaminating 11 million cubic yards of river sediments. Consumption
advisories are in effect for a number of fish and wildlife species. A number of actions
are being implemented to remediate the area:
The Fox-Wolf 2000, a locally based watershed association, is working in partnership
with the State of Wisconsin to implement an accelerated management plan to reduce
urban and rural nonpoint sources of pollution to the AOC.
The Fox River Coalition, a public-private partnership dedicated to contaminated
sediment remediation planning and implementation, continues to work to
implement a locally driven sediment cleanup effort.
The State of Wisconsin has negotiated an interim agreement with seven PRPs to fund
the remediation of two contaminated sediment sites on the Fox River.
Fox River/Green Bay, Wisconsin
The FWS, acting on behalf of the Federal natural resource trustees, has undertaken
one of the largest and most complex NRDAs in the U.S. This assessment now forms
the nucleus of ajointtrustee-EPA-State-Tribal effort to understand, remediate, and
restore the lower Fox River, Green Bay, and Lake Michigan, particularly as related
to Fox River PCBs. The assessment is based on the goals and information developed
by, and onbehalf of, the GreenBay RAP and the Lake MichiganLaMP, and will lead
to real reductions of PCB loadings to the Great Lakes, as well as significant
restoration of the Fox River and Green Bay environment.
The State of Wisconsin and the COE have initiated a feasibility study on the
restoration of the Cat Island Chain in lower Green Bay. This project could restore
upland terrestrial habitat and protect the soft shoreline of lower Green Bay from
wave action.
The State completed Phase One of a northern pike habitat restoration project and
initiated a Phase Two project. When implemented, this project will allow for a more
balanced, diverse, sustainable fishery within lower Green Bay.
Spotlight on the Southeast Michigan Initiative (SEMI)
EPA continues to focus on the eight county area in southeast Michigan which
includes five designated AOCs, two of which are binational. In addition to added
emphasis and coordination of the RAP processes for these AOCs, there are many
other projects in the area that the Agency continues to support. One of the primary
Southeast Michigan Initiative
SS
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goals of SEMI is to build capacity at the local level and to empower local stakeholders
to address environmental problems in order to be sustainable beyond Federal
involvement. A major focus is on public and stakeholder involvement whereby local
input drives priorities through the SEMI Environmental Forum. These priority issues
include Brownfields redevelopment, urban sprawl, land use, environmental justice,
people at risk, water quality, contaminated sediments, air quality, and toxic
contaminant reduction.
SEMI has focused Agency resources on several community-based environmental
projects in the area over the past year. These include a major soil sampling effort in the
vicinity of a municipal waste combustor and the implementation of a "Good Neighbor"
project with several General Motors facilities in Pontiac, Michigan. EPA is also
developing a comprehensive strategy on lead outreach, education and abatement for the
urban area.
The SEMI Environmental Indicators Profile will develop a baseline of environmental
indicators against which to measure trends in environmental quality. The database will
be maintained to provide a "State of the Environment" report for the public and
decision-makers.
Lastly, in 1997, SEMI funded nine individual grant projects totaling $350,000 in the
areas of water quality, land use, toxic contaminant reduction, air quality, indoor air,
Brownfields redevelopment, habitat restoration, and pollution prevention.
Spotlight on the Southwestern Coast of Lake Michigan
Urban areas along the southwestern coast of Lake Michigan contain eight million
people and are the historical home of heavy industrial activity. The ecosystem is
recovering from industrial impacts and a new focus on sustainable development is
taking form. To support locally based efforts, EPA is coordinating its efforts and is
offering support through three area teams: the Greater Chicago Team is focusing on the
southeast portion of Chicago including Lake Calumet; the Northwest Indiana Team
includes the Indiana Harbor/Grand Calumet River AOC; and the Lake Michigan Team
is coordinating the LaMP and related activities. All of these efforts relate to
coordinating remaining clean up activities and the emerging sustainable development
of the region. Specific activities range from innovative projects to address slag and
contaminated sediment to habitat restoration demonstrations.
Southwestern Lake Michigan
efforts INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS
Partners to the U.S. Great Lakes Program have long recognized the need to create new
and innovative solutions to the impacts affecting the Basin and that new ideas are
needed among all sectors of society to achieve the goals of the Program. The following
activities present highlights of this approach.
In 1996, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) celebrated ten
years of habitat accomplishments to benefit waterfowl, other migratory bird
populations, and wetlands and related habitats. Within the Great Lakes Basin,
thousands of acres of coastal habitats have been acquired, restored and/or enhanced by
Federal, State, Tribal and private natural resource organizations to benefit wetland
wildlife and to improve water quality. Combined with beneficial climate patterns, these
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habitat gains have allowed most targeted species of waterfowl to meet or exceed
their population level objectives under the NAWMP. Notable NAWMP project
areas include the Lake Erie coastal marshes of Ohio, Lake Michigan coastal
wetlands at GreenBay and southeastern Wisconsin, the Saginaw Bay watershed, and
the St. Louis River watershed in Minnesota.
The Grand Calumet Area Partnership is a voluntary effort among a broad range of
Northwest Indiana stakeholders who share the common goal of cleaning up and
revitalizing the environment of the Grand Calumet River. The Partnership takes a
comprehensive approach to cleanup, embracing sediment remediation, river
corridor planning, Brownfields redevelopment, NRD As, and restoration of impaired
uses in the area. The Partnership includes people from local industry, environmental
groups, State and Federal agencies, and municipalities. The Partnership will balance
the goals and objectives of the participants, provide a forum for coordinated
planning and implementation, and provide a communications network that links
individual efforts.
The Great Lakes Protection Fund, created by the Governors of the Great Lakes States
in 1989, is offering $2 million to fund proposals to demonstrate how non-regulatory,
market-based solutions can work to improve the health of the Great Lakes. The new
program, called the Great Lakes Power Challenge, seeks projects which will help
implement business plans that provide consumers with scientifically sound and
objective ways to use the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem as a criterion in their
selection of electric powerproducts and services. Deregulation of the electric utility
industry will allow many consumers the choice to select 'cleaner and greener'
companies. Projects that aggregate consumer demand for environmentally benign
sources of energy are ones that the Power Challenge will support to demonstrate that
consumer demand can affect environmental protection.
EPA, the COE, the State of Ohio, and a large number of diverse public and private
organizations at the Federal, State and local levels have formed the locally based
Ashtabula River Partnership. The Partnership, an outgrowth of the Ashtabula River
RAP process, is seeking to address and implement an ambitious, comprehensive
1995 and April 1996, respectively.
Through the Strategy and Implementation Plan, EPA illustrates its commitment to
promoting and supporting equitable environmental protection and its intent to
continue its pursuit of environmental justice. To this end, EPA has set a goal of
virtually eliminating disproportionate environmental impacts on low-income and
people of color communities. Efforts toward reaching this goal are exemplified in
the number of cleanup, restoration, community outreach and education, and
Brownfields projects the Agency has undertaken in the Great Lakes Basin urban
environmental justice areas of Greater Chicagoland, Northwest Indiana, Northeast
Ohio, and Southeast Michigan, among others.
Sustainable Development
EPA Region 5 made 'Promoting Sustainable Urban Development and Reuse of
Brownfields' one of its five Regional Environmental Priorities for FY 1998.
Sustainable development seeks to meet the present needs of society without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Agency
staff are in the forefront promoting planned development.
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The Cleveland metro area's Regional Environmental Priorities Project (REPP) was an
exercise in environmental priority setting and local consensus building to set
environmental priorities for the region and to develop coalition approaches and action
strategies for addressing environmental problems. The REPP concluded that many of
their highly ranked problems were directly or indirectly driven by urban sprawl. It was
thus decided that urban sprawl—which was not on the originally compiled working list
of 16 problems — should take priority as the "umbrella issue" to be addressed during
the implementation phase of the project. The REPP was recently recognized by EPA as
one of ten "success story" examples of community-based environmental protection
(CBEP)atwork.
EPA's Northeast Ohio Initiative Team has taken the results of the REPP as a primary
focal point for its CBEP work in that metropolitan area. Other EPA regional teams in
the Great Lakes Basin have also begun to incorporate this issue into their work. The
Southeast Michigan Team is funding a grant that is working to increase one
community's involvement in local land use development and watershed protection
decisions; the Northwest Indiana Team is participating in a local council on sustainable
development; the Lake Michigan Team is assisting the Lake Michigan Public Forum
in promoting better land use planning; the Lake Superior Team is sponsoring a land use
conference promoting better nearshore development practices; and the Lake Erie Team
is currently studying how to incorporate sprawl and sustainable development issues into
its planning process.
The Menominee, Wisconsin Tribal People have long recognized the need for balance
among environment, community, and economy, both in the short term and for future
generations. Menominee culture and traditions teach never to take more resources than
are produced within natural cycles so that all life can be sustained. Cultural and
traditional beliefs are the foundation of the management practices and principles of
today's Menominee Tribal Enterprise operations and their forest-based sustainable
development project, parts of which were funded by EPA's Great Lakes National
Program Office. The concept of sustainability in the management of the forest allows
the Tribe to experience a traditional quality of life from an intact, diverse, productive
and healthy forest ecosystem on the Reservation. In September 1996, Menominee
Tribal Enterprises hosted a conference to showcase the Menominee tradition of
sustainable forestry and to promote safe timber harvest practices.
The Great Lakes Protection Fund, created by the Governors of the Great Lakes States
in 1989, is offering $2 million to fund proposals to demonstrate how non-regulatory,
market-based solutions can work to improve the health of the Great Lakes. The new
program, called the Great Lakes Power Challenge, seeks projects which will help
implement business plans that provide consumers with scientifically sound and
objective ways to use the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem as a criterion in their
selection of electric power products and services. Deregulation of the electric utility
industry will allow many consumers the choice to select 'cleaner and greener'
companies. Projects that aggregate consumer demand for environmentally benign
sources of energy are ones that the Power Challenge will support to demonstrate that
consumer demand can affect environmental protection.
EPA, the COE, the State of Ohio, and a large number of diverse public and private
organizations at the Federal, State and local levels have formed the locally based
Ashtabula River Partnership. The Partnership, an outgrowth of the Ashtabula River
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RAP process, is seeking to address and implement an ambitious, comprehensive
full-scale cleanup of the contaminated sediments in the Ashtabula River and Harbor.
Signatories to the Partnership are strongly committed to investigating the extent of
contaminated sediments, to developing a plan for the dredging and disposal of river
sediments, to identifying resources necessary to carry out the cleanup, and to
generate a timeline of milestones and activities. The sediments are contaminated
with PCBs, other chlorinated organic compounds, and heavy metals which have
limited the amount of dredging and which precludes open water disposal. The
Partnership plans to remove and properly dispose of roughly 1.1 million cubic yards
of contaminated sediments through the innovative use of multiple authorities. The
Partnership is drafting an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), with a draft due to
be released to the public for review early in 1998. The EIS will discuss several
possible remedial dredging alternatives of varying amounts and costs. Whichever
alternative is chosen, the Partnership's goal remains the same ~ the removal of the
largest PCB mass as possible and the restoration of beneficial uses.
A 40-year landmark agreement signed in February 1997 involving eight of
Wisconsin Electric Power Company's 13 hydroelectric projects and 160 river miles
in the Menominee RiverBasin, atributary to Lake Michigan, represents the first time
that potentially conflicting issues have been resolved prior to the start of the hydro
project relicensing process administered by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission. This agreement allows the projects to continue operating profitably on
behalf of its thousands of customers while protecting and enhancing outstanding
environmental and recreational natural resources on nearly 23,000 acres of public
utility-owned land in northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. As non-
Federal hydroelectric projects are normally relicensed individually, this pioneering
agreement has resulted in greatly increased efficiency and time savings for all
signatories, which include the company, FWS, NPS, the States of Wisconsin and
Michigan, the Michigan Hydro Relicensing Coalition, and the River Alliance of
Wisconsin.
FWS continues to actively pursue efforts to restore and protect habitat for Federal
trust species on private lands through its Partners for Wildlife program. The
restoration and enhancement of wetlands and associated upland habitats on private
lands continues to be an important activity as these habitats are valuable for
migratory birds, endangered species, anadromous and native fish, and for the many
functions they provide. In fiscal years 1996 and 1997, over 275 wetland sites
encompassing more than 870 acres were restored or enhanced in upper Great Lakes
counties; an additional 63 upland sites totaling almost 500 acres of upland habitats
were restored or enhanced.
The State of Pennsylvania has put together a five year plan to address habitat needs
of the Presque Isle Bay AOC as they relate to fish species habitat diversity and angler
use. A local fishing group, the S.O.N.S (Save Our Native Species) of Lake Erie, has
stepped forward with the resources and volunteers needed to complete the project.
And while neither 'Loss of Fish Habitat' or 'Degradation of Fish Population' are
considered impairments in the AOC, the habitat enhancement projects under this
plan will improve existing fisheries and result in positive steps towards restoration
of the Bay.
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Great Lakes Tribes have been
using the resources of the Basin
for many generations
TRIBAL ACTIVITIES
EPA's July 1994 Action Plan for the Agency's Indian Program made Tribal
Environmental Agreements (or TEAs) the cornerstone of the Tribal/EPA partnership to
improve public health and the environment in Indian country. The key elements of a
TEA includes a description of environmental conditions, a description of Tribal
environmental priorities, and a workplan for addressing these environmental problems.
EPA and Federally recognized Tribes in the States of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin
and New York have initiated a formal process to develop TEAs for 1995-1997. ForFY
1998,27 TEAs had been completed, including those for seven Michigan Tribes and all
the ones for the Wisconsin and Minnesota Tribes.
The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission completed a EPA-funded
project entitled "Building Great Lakes Tribal Capacity". The purpose of this project
was to assist the Tribes in the Great Lakes Basin to raise their levels of awareness
regarding the variety of programmatic activities occurring in the Basin, and to help
them determine the level of involvement they would like to have in these programs.
These include, but are not limited to, LaMPs, RAPs, and the Binational Toxics
Reduction Strategy.
Members of the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Nation have expressed concerns about their
observations of an increasing rate of disease in their community, especially among
younger age groups, which they attribute to environmental pollution. In response, EPA
Region 2 and the NYSDEC embarked on a compliance and enforcement initiative in the
Massena, New York area to ensure that the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Nation are given
equal protection under Federal environmental statutes. This initiative involved a direct
commitment to the community by the Regional Administrator, close collaboration
between EPA Region 2 and NYSDEC, targeted compliance monitoring and
enforcement actions, work with stakeholders to address problems presented by the
regulated community, and a high priority assignment to site cleanups in the area.
Several Lake Superior Tribes have joined the partners of the Binational Program and are
participating in the development of the LaMP and broader program for Lake Superior.
Brownfields redevelopment can
improve local environments and
economies
NEW APPROACHES TO OLD PROBLEMS
Brownfields Redevelopment
Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial properties
where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived contamination.
Redevelopment of these sites is a promising way to revitalize communities and can
reduce suburban sprawl. Through the development of programs between Federal, State
and local governments and public and private organizations, Brownfields benefits the
environment and economies of communities by assessing the extent of contamination
at a site, cleaning up a site protectively if necessary, and by addressing liability issues.
A number of notable activities have taken place in support of reviving Brownfields:
President Clinton signed into law a Brownfields Tax Incentive in August 1997 of
approximately $1.4 billion over three years which will aid in the cleanup of almost
14,000 sites nationwide.
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In May 1997, Vice President Gore announce the Brownfields National Partnership
Action Agenda with more than $300 million in commitments from more than fifteen
different Federal agencies.
EPA has awarded 121 grants to State and local governments for site planning,
inventorying, and assessment. In 1997, EPA provided 23 grants to capitalize revolving
loan funds for cleanup. EPA Region 5 helped establish the Great Lakes Finance Center
at Cleveland State University, the Agency's first Brownfields Finance Center for
redevelopment research.
More than 30,000 sites were removed from the inventory of potential Superfund sites,
making them available for Brownfields redevelopment activities
EPA awarded grants of up to $200,000 for Brownfields pilots in a number of Great
Lakes communities, including the Region 5 areas of Cuyahoga County and Lima, Ohio;
Chippewa County and Detroit, Michigan; Milwaukee County and the WDNR Land
Recycling Pilot; Kalamazoo and the Downriver Community Conference in Michigan;
and the Tri-City area (East Chicago, Gary, and Hammond) of Northwest Indiana. EPA
Region 2 has initiated three Brownfields pilot projects in the New York State portion of
the Great Lakes Basin, in the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, and Niagara Falls.
In 1995, EPA Region 5 and the IEPA signed an innovative agreement to help redevelop
hundreds of Brownfields. It is the first such agreement in the nation to cover Federal
and State requirements for hazardous wastes, toxic wastes, and underground storage
tank cleanup. This reduces the uncertainties for lenders, property owners, developers,
and the regulated community and provides an incentive for cleaning up and
redeveloping these contaminated sites. Similar agreements have been signed with
Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Environmental Justice
In February 1994, President Clinton issued an Executive Order entitled Federal
Actions to Address Environmental Justice In Minority Populations and Low-Income
Populations and an accompanying Presidential memorandum to focus Federal
attention on the environmental and human health conditions in minority communities
and low-income communities. The Executive Order, as amended, directs Federal
agencies to develop an Environmental Justice Strategy that identifies and addresses
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their
programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations.
EPA has designated the pursuit of environmental justice as one of the Agency's top
priorities and released its Environmental Justice Strategy and Implementation Plan in
April 1995 and April 1996, respectively.
Through the Strategy and Implementation Plan, EPA illustrates its commitment to
promoting and supporting equitable environmental protection and its intent to continue
its pursuit of environmental justice. To this end, EPA has set a goal of virtually
eliminating disproportionate environmental impacts on low-income and people of
color communities. Efforts toward reaching this goal are exemplified in the number of
cleanup, restoration, community outreach and education, and Brownfields projects the
Agency has undertaken in the Great Lakes Basin urban environmental justice areas of
Greater Chicagoland, Northwest Indiana, Northeast Ohio, and Southeast Michigan,
among others.
EnvironmentalJustice concerns
are being addressed in minority
and low-income communities
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Sustainable Development
EPA Region 5 made 'Promoting Sustainable Urban Development and Reuse of
Brownfields' one of its five Regional Environmental Priorities for FY 1998.
Sustainable development seeks to meet the present needs of society without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Agency staff
are in the forefront promoting planned development.
The Cleveland metro area's Regional Environmental Priorities Project (REPP) was an
exercise in environmental priority setting and local consensus building to set
environmental priorities for the region and to develop coalition approaches and action
strategies for addressing environmental problems. The REPP concluded that many of
their highly ranked problems were directly or indirectly driven by urban sprawl. It was
thus decided that urban sprawl ~ which was not on the originally compiled working list
of 16 problems ~ should take priority as the "umbrella issue" to be addressed during the
implementation phase of the project. The REPP was recently recognized by EPA as one
of ten"success story" examples of community-based environmental protection (CBEP)
at work.
EPA's Northeast Ohio Initiative Team has taken the results of the REPP as a primary
focal point for its CBEP work in that metropolitan area. Other EPA regional teams in
the Great Lakes Basin have also begun to incorporate this issue into their work. The
Southeast Michigan Team is funding a grant that is working to increase one
community's involvement in local land use development and watershed protection
decisions; the Northwest Indiana Team is participating in a local council on sustainable
development; the Lake Michigan Team is assisting the Lake Michigan Public Forum
in promoting better land use planning; the Lake Superior Team is sponsoring a land use
conference promoting better nearshore development practices; and the Lake Erie Team
is currently studying how to incorporate sprawl and sustainable development issues into
its planning process.
The Menominee, Wisconsin Tribal People have long recognized the need for balance
among environment, community, and economy, both in the short term and for future
generations. Menominee culture and traditions teach never to take more resources than
are produced within natural cycles so that all life can be sustained. Cultural and
traditional beliefs are the foundation of the management practices and principles of
today's Menominee Tribal Enterprise operations and their forest-based sustainable
development project, parts of which were funded by EPA's Great Lakes National
Program Office. The concept of sustainability in the management of the forest allows
the Tribe to experience a traditional quality of life from an intact, diverse, productive
and healthy forest ecosystem on the Reservation. In September 1996, Menominee
Tribal Enterprises hosted a conference to showcase the Menominee tradition of
sustainable forestry and to promote safe timber harvest practices.
CONCLUSION
In the years ahead, the U.S. Great Lakes Program will continue to evolve to address ever
changing challenges in partnership with our Canadian counterparts, the International
Joint Commission, and other stakeholders. One constant emphasis, however, will be to
inform the public about the state of the ecosystem. Individuals are vital to further
environmental progress through their purchases of products, choices of lifestyles, and
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expectations of their civic and private institutions, including businesses,
environmental organizations, universities, and governments. The U.S. Great Lakes
Program will continue to promote public awareness through education and public
participation. Though the region's human inhabitants have often wrought harm to
this extraordinary ecosystem during the last several centuries, we still hold the key
to its future within our collective grasp.
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REPORT GLOSSARY
ANS
AOC
ARCS
ATSDR
BEACH
CAA
CAAA
CBEP
CDF
CEC
CMP
COE
CRP
DLA
DWSD
DWSRF
EDSTAC
EIS
EPA
FQPA
FWS
GLC
GLERL
GLFC
GLIN
GLNPO
GLWQA
IADN
IDEM
IDNR
IEPA
IJC
IMO
LaMP
LPBO
M2P2
MACT
MDEQ
MDNR
MPCA
NAWMP
NAWQA
NISA
NOAA
NORA
NPL
NPS
NRCS
NRDA
NYSDEC
PADEP
PAHs
PCBs
POPs
POTW
PRP
Pfotect and Restore The Great Lakes Ecosystem
Aquatic Nuisance Species
Area of Concern
Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sediments
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Beaches Environmental Assessment, Closure and Health Program
Clean Air Act
Clean Air Act Amendments
Community-Based Environmental Protection
Confined Disposal Facility
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
Coastal Management Program
United States Army Corps of Engineers
Conservation Reserve Program
Defense Logistics Agency
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
Endocrine Disrupter Screening and Testing Advisory Committee
Environmental Impact Statement
United States Environmental Protection Agency (the Agency)
Food Quality Protection Act
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Great Lakes Commission
Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab
Great Lakes Fishery Commission
Great Lakes Information Network
Great Lakes National Program Office
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (the Agreement)
Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
International Joint Commission
United Nations International Maritime Organization
Lakewide Management Plan
Long Point Bird Observatory
Michigan Mercury Pollution Prevention
Maximum Achievable Control Technology
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
North American Waterfowl Management Plan
National Water Quality-Assessment Program
National Invasive Species Act
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oil Recyclers Association
National Priorities List
National Park Service
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Natural Resources Damage Assessment
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Persistent Organic Pollutants
Publicly Owned Treatment Works
Potentially Responsible Party
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PTSs Persistent Toxic Substances
RAP Remedial Action Plan
RAPIDS Regional Air Pollutant Inventory Development System
REPP Regional Environmental Priorities Project
SDWA Safe Drinking Water Act
SEMI Southeast Michigan Initiative
SEP Supplemental Environmental Project
SMPs State Management Plans
SOGL State of the Great Lakes
SOLEC State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference
TEAs Tribal Environmental Agreements
TMDL Total Maximum Daily Load
TNC The Nature Conservancy
TRI Toxics Release Inventory
U.S. United States
UNEP United Nations Environmental Programme
USCG United States Coast Guard
USFS United States Forest Service
USGS United States Geological Survey
WDNR Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
WHPP Wellhead Protection Program
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