Author: terraviva

638670DE-E8FD-4836-A159-7EB9D8DB30A1@rogers.com” class=””>

Hi Alan, 

Your last series of articles on the Great Lakes has really caught my attention, as we bought a lake shore property on Lake Erie,at Selkirk, ON. in 1994 as a weekend retreat, but we moved there permanently in 1998, for 10 years, then to Port Rowan at the inner Bay of Long point 2008. Up until we moved to Selkirk, i was unaware of the invasive creatures that infested our waters until then. I knew that a great effort in the 60’s and70′ took place to clean up lake Erie, and in 1994, it was really a clear, enjoyable lake . BUT, when we bought, we thought our beach was a sandy one, discovered in the spring, it was millions of tiny pieces of Zebra and Quagga mussels. I also discovered Zebra mussel, as they coated the bottom of my friends aluminum boat to the depth of 3 inches, fortunately my sailboat had a bottom paint that discouraged their attaching to it. Hydro inlets at Nanticoke were affected by them as were many other structures. 

I experienced the Gobie, when fishing with my grandson, it was often the fish that he caught. 

In addition we experienced Algae, a scourge of the Lake on our beach, that when drying created a Nauseous odour, that often prevented sitting on our deck overlooking the lake, if the wind came from the wrong direction. 

No Asian Carp yet while there, but in the Spring during spawning , hundreds would do so on our beach, a nuisance in itself. The other invasives were not as prominent in our area, bur we were aware of them. 

I have enjoyed these writings, as it encourages me to try to do something about the spoiling of our wonderful great Lakes. Keep up the information. Sorry such a long winded compliment to you, but many people who may receive your stories may not have experienced  them. I have, and am aware of the problems these invasive creatures have had on the fishing industry, sports fishing, the balance of the ecosystem etc. about which you have so interestingly written. Thanks old Buddy. Gary Logan 

Begin forwarded message:

From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>

Subject: EPISODE 210 GREAT LAKES POLLUTION

Date: April 12, 2021 at 2:30:11 PM EDT

To: Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>, Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>, John Wardle <john.t.wardle@gmail.com>

EPISODE 210    GREAT LAKES POLLUTION

alan skeoch

april 2021

RIVER ON FIRE

In 1952 the Cuyahoga River caught fire when a spark from a passing train dropped on to the water surface.   The result was  an immediate explosive fire  that was so

high it almost engulfed a  tug boat.   The Cuyahoga River flows  through the centre of Cleveland, Ohio…a  city that was  heavily industrialized…  spewing various pollutants

including human sewage waste directly into the river.  Nobody cared really.  Even when the river caught fire because the water surface was covered with oil and  other flammable

chemicals little was done to control the use of the river as a sewer taking the city waste directly into Lake Erie. 

As far back as the 1880’s the river was  a sewer.   “The river was yellowish , thick, full of clay, stoking of oil and 

sewage.  Piles of rotting woo were heaped on either bank of the river, and it was all dirty and neglected….I was disappointed by this  view of an American river,” wrote Frantisek Vicek,  a recent

Czech immigrant.   Cleveland was not alone.  The use of rivers as a sewage and  waste disposal mechanism  was true for all rivers and creeks  flowing from cities and towns  all around the Great Lakes.  Nor was the Cuyahoga River the only river that caught fire.  Pollution problem ho spots

 included  Toronto.  Some places  were worse than others noted a few concerned organizations.  Of particular concern on he Canadian side were two ‘hot spots’…Toronto Harbour and Hamilton 

Harbour.

The waste those firms did discharge turned the river muddy and filled it with oil, solvents and other industrial products. Between 1868 and 1952, it burned nine times. The 1952 fire racked up $1.5 million in damage. But by most, occasional fires and pollution were seen as the cost of industry—a price no one was willing to dispute. 

When fire broke out on the river again in 1969, it seemed like business as usual. “Most Clevelanders seemed not to care a great deal,” writeenvironmental historians David Stradling and Richard Stradling. “Far too many problems plagued the city for residents to get hung up on a little fire…The ’69 fire didn’t represent the culmination of an abusive relationship between a city and its environment. It was simply another sad chapter in the long story of a terribly polluted river.” 

But attitudes toward the environment had changed since the last river fire. In the years before the fire, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which became a bestseller and opened the eyes of many Americans to the danger of DDT and other pesticides. Congress had begun passing laws to boost air quality and protect endangered species. And a growing counterculture had begun to embrace sustainability as people experimented with back-to-the-land subsistence farming and communal living. 

Another factor was at play: an enormous oil spill in Santa Barbara, California that sent 3 million gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean. Suddenly, people’s telev

 

Those same citizens soon opened their copies of Time Magazine to see a story on the Cuyahoga fire, along with a photo of the 1952 fire. The conditions it described, which included a river that “oozes rather than flows,” caught readers’ attention. (As the National Parks Services notes, many bought that issue of Time because it featured an exposé on the Chappaquiddick scandal.) 

Soon, cries for regulation of water pollution became a roar. A grand jury investigation of the causes of the fire followed, as did coalition efforts to clean up the Great Lakes. It even inspired plans for a national environmental “teach-in”—an event that would become the first Earth Day. In early 1970, President Richard Nixon called for sweeping environmental reform. He created a council on environmental reform which, shortly afterward, was consolidated into the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1972, Congress overrode Nixon’s veto to pass the Clean Water Act, which created national water quality standards.  

Though the Cuyahoga River fire did not directly lead to the formation of the EPA, it was an important landmark for a burgeoning environmental movement. Today, the river is no longer stagnant or filthy. Public and private efforts have diverted sewage and cleaned up its banks. According to the National Parks Service, the river still has unhealthy amounts of sewage in some areas. But in March 2019, the Ohio EPA announced that its fish are now safe to eat. 

Whether or not the river ever overcomes the remainder of its environmental challenges, the memory of the 1969 fire will continue to mobilize those intent on protecting the natural world. 

Begin forwarded message:

From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>

Subject: Great Lalkes POLLUTION

Date: April 11, 2021 at 10:15:07 PM EDT

To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>

After  The Cuyahoga caught fire in 1952 there was  not much local concern because the river had caught fire nine times between 1868 and  1952.   Of most concern was the $1.5 million in damage.  Most city fathers

and businesses chalked the river fire as just another cost of doing  business.  Occasionally the Cuyahoga River would burn.   As it did again in 1969.  “Most Clevelanders seemed not to care a great deal,’ wrote

environmental historians David Stradling and Richar Stradling.

But a major change in public attitudes was coming. The publishing of ‘Silent Spring’, by Rachel  Carson in 1962 shifted the thinking of many North Americans.  Her central thesis that North America was en route to an

environmental disaster was confirmed  by events  like the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire…the tenths such blaze.  One look at the river banks was enough to  heighten concern.  The bank of he

river was filled with scrap automobiles cheek to cheek as a storm break.   

Concern led to action and top of the list was an attempt to clean up the Great Lakes which contained 20% of the freshwater on the planet Earth.  In 1970 President Richard Nixon urged environmental

refer that led to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The first Earth Day was  The result in March 2019 was that the Ohio EPA announced that fish caught in the Cuyahoga  river were safe to eat.

The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970 as young  and  old North Americans  created a counterculture with new values as expressed in a hand  drawn sign on the back  of a hippie bicycle.

“Pollution, brought to you by the same folks that brought you Viet Nam”

CANADIAN POLLUTION

Many of my friends were Boy Scouts in the 1950’s.  We loved going on our own camping trips…i.e. without leaders.

Access to the wilderness west of Toronto was easy.   One of our favourite spots was along the banks  of the Etobickoe 

Creek.   There was an old iron bridge  crossing a side spot in the Creek.   We loved jumping and diving from the bridge

into the deep  pool below  Mostly jumping.  I remember distinctly how our feet would sink to the knees in the black

muck beneath the pool..   It did  not smell good but hot weather trumped any concern we had.  One of the other

boys, maybe it was Good Sanford,  announced that sewers emptied into the creek farther north.  That did not stop

us. Today, April 15, 2021, I think a little differently.

Our two Toronto Rivers…the Humber and the Don, were certainly used for sewage, chemical waste and refuse.

No point in taking  a  holier than thou stand on the issue of pollution.  One March camping to the nearby Etopicoke

Credk  stands out because someone had dumped  a  dead  horse  in the middle  of the creek.

There was so much construction waste thrown in the Humber River that I gathered enough to build a small

barn at the farm.  Not pretty.  Not designed properly for it collapsed after two months but it does demonstrate

our view that rivers are for garbage.  At least that was the predominant view back  in the 1950s and 1960’s

A reminder of those careless days came  in today’s Toronto Star (April 12, 2021) “During the 1960’s, the paper plant

in Dryden, then owned by ReedPaper, dumped 10 tonnes of mercury, a neurotoxin, in the Wabigoon River, contaminating

fish and those who ate them.”  

“Details….emerged when a retired casual mill labourer came forward out of ‘guilt’ in 2015, saying that in 1972 he was part

of a crew that dumped 50 drums of salt and mercury into a pit….tests at the site found mercury readings in the soil were

80 times natural  levels….fish near Grassy Narrows remain the most contaminated in the province.”  Toronto Star, page A13, April 12, 2021

Dryden factory now owned by Domtar.  Previous owners dumped mercury…barrels of it…into the

regions rivers and lakes with devastating effect.  

Mercury pollution is a local, regional, and global environmental problem that adversely affects human and wildlife health worldwide. As the world’s largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes are a unique and extraordinary natural resource providing drinking water, food, recreation, employment, and transportation to more than 35 million people.

“Mercury is one of the most persistent and dangerous pollutants that threatens our health and environment today.”
– U.S. Senator Susan Collins

June 2011 – Senator Collins Introduces Mercury Monitoring Legislation
Legislation follows up on studies by Biodiversity Research Institute.
Read full press release here.

The widespread loading of mercury into the Great Lakes environment is responsible for mercury-related fish consumption advisories in the eight U.S. states and the province of Ontario that border the lakes. Visit the U.S. EPA website and Ontario province’s Guide for more information.

For nearly 200 years, mercury has been released into the air and waterways of the Great Lakes region from human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, waste incineration, metal smelting, chlorine production, mining, and discharges of mercury in wastewater.