One of the things I love most about Chicago summers is having the beach within walking distance. With that being said, I seldom actually venture into the water because Lake Michigan is in no better state than any other body of water in Illinois. But, there are the occasional days of 90 degrees + when I do need to run in simply to cool off. Two weeks ago was one of these days, but unfortunately I could not run in because the water was closed due to high bacteria levels. Really, this made for a rather unpleasant beach experience.
Now while this, in and of itself, really isn’t that big of a deal, I think it illustrates how polluted the Great Lakes are, which is sad. It’s sad that as a whole we care very little for how we impact our surroundings.
This morning and IL Congressman discussed a developing situation where BP has been granted permission from the Indiana government to increase their ammonia and sludge dumping into Lake Michigan (Tribune Article). While the increase amount is still within federal guidelines, it is a dramatic increase from what they’re currently doing and they had to be given a special exemption from Indiana state environmental laws, which was justified by an increase of 80 new jobs for that community.
Seriously, 80 new jobs – that’s all they have to show for this. Well, that and supposed less dependence on Middle Eastern oil, which will come at the cost of increased air and water pollution. The most ridiculous part of this is that BP claims to be environmentally friendly and spends millions of marketing dollars each year in this effort.
The Congressman hopes to get the federal government to enact some law that will prevent this from happening, but he realizes this isn’t likely to happen in a timely manner. So, his real plan is to embarrass BP executives enough that they will decide to do the “right thing” on their own.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
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7 comments:
no offense to your profession but it would be amazing to see how many problems in this country could be solved if all the billions of dollars that go towards marketing actually got put towards something of better use. we can't hardly swim in our own water anymore, and if companies keep up their usual activities, we're not going to be able to swim elsewhere either. dave may make a shitload of money by pushing factories down to mexico that 'help' the people by giving them shitty jobs but we're not going to be able to swim in luxurious puerto vallarta, cancun, or cabo san lucas in a few years either.
personally I think that American companies should be required to have the same environmental codes abroad that they do at home. part of China's problem is from all of our companies not adhering to US regulations.
Deb...beaches are closed on the lake because of the treated sewage the city disposes of in the lake, not necessarily bc of the high levels of chemicals.
I do agree with your sentiment though that this ISN'T cool, although "BP remains within the EPA limits for such and such chemicals..."
I go to the beach myself...like it but never actually go IN--god knows I'm exposed to enough shit on land.
Alright, fair point. I wasn't ever really sure why they were closed, but I knew that if they are closed on one day, they can't really be that much better on the next. I very rarely go in either - I think I went in once last summer b/c it was so hot that I had to.
Oh please Deb...it's probably a combination anyway, like I know.
On most days I think we're lucky if it doesn't catch on fire.
When are you going to start your blog?!! I need something else to read at work ;-)
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