Video: Jeff Skelding explains the HOW Coalition and Great Lakes Restoration

Do you want to know about the Healing Our Waters Coalition (HOW), but you hate reading? You are in luck, friend. Just click on the YouTube video below, and Jeff Skelding, campaign director for HOW, will give you the scoop.

Quick, before you have to read any more!



For you folks who are into the whole reading thing, there's also good news. HOW has an extensive website you can check out with all the news and advice you need to restore the Great Lakes. Check it out.

Michigan - Bringing Others On Board

The entire Michigan delegation is already signed on to Great Lakes Restoration, April Bennett, tells me, so Michiganders used lobby day to ask their representatives to reach out and sign up two new legislators either from inside the basin or some other part of the country.

April was in DC representing the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC).

Other priorities included getting a commitment for reauthorization of the Legacy Act and educate other legislators on curbing invasive species through the Ballast Water legislation.

Contact MUCC for a great new DVD and fact sheets on Great Lakes issues.

New blood pitching in on Great Lakes Day

Young people are the new hot voting bloc this year. Facebook debates, YouTube campaign videos, and throngs of twentysomethings screaming "yes we can!" are the most apparent images of this in the campaign season, but the numbers check out as well, with young voters turning the tide in key primaries, most notably the Iowa caucuses.

I caught up with three fellow Gen Yers (or is it Millenials?) at Great Lakes Day: William Ellison, who just graduated from Claremont McKenna College, Seth Buchsbaum, a freshman at the University of Michigan, and Marco Tori, A High School Senior involved with Ducks Unlimited. Their voices were welcome in planning discussions, and their activism key in a political season in which politicians will be paying attention to the youth vote again. Note to other young activists: notice the jackets, slacks, button-down shirts in the photo - looking sharp never hurts when you're speaking to power.

So for alla youse kids with your bloggy mumbo jumbo and your internets chat feeds, check out some Great Lakes social networking and other online stuff:

• Excellent blogs The Political Environment, Black Bear Speaks, and Great Lakes Blogger
• Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives blog, Facebook group, and MySpace Page

Friend you later!

Perform routine acronym checks

GLRC, AOC, USEPAGLNPO, ... looks like a tray of Scrabble tiles. It's enough to confuse even the wonkiest Great Lakes wonk.

"Be sure to do an acronym check," was a great tip coming out of the New York round table yesterday, "you never do know how familiar a official or staffer is with the issue."

It's a good tip for a lot of activists, whether you're talking to a congressperson or media or your grandma. Spell out what your saying, explain what the groups or concepts you're discussing are about, and most importantly, how they effect the person to whom you're explaining them. Running around rattling off acronyms and legalese West Wing-style should be done back at home or the office, safely in the company of other wonks.

BTW: Those letters? Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, Area of Concern, and U.S. EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office. Triple word score! Take that, Grandma!

Nice stuff in Ohio

I sat in on the tail end of the Ohio coalition member breakout session today - they were discussing the pretty interesting political climate in which they're operating. They have a new governor and senator, both Democrats taking the helm after multiple term Republicans who made it a point to keep Great Lakes issues at the top of their list. They're working hard to get the new guys on board.

I talked to Sandy Bihn, the Waterkeeper for Western Lake Erie, about getting the point across in the Buckeye State. She pointed out that Ohio's Lake, Lake Erie, is the most biologically productive but also the most vulnerable of the Great Lakes - it's the shallowest and the only one above sea level. She rightly suggested that Ohioans should be leaders for the region in the restoration effort But with the compact threatened in the state legislature, and most of the state outside the watershed and not totally plugged into Lakes issues, they've got some storytelling to do to get folks on board.

Sandy explained how she tries to "point out the nice stuff - why people care so much about the Lakes, not to only be all doom and gloom." Good advice - for some stories absent of doom and gloom, check out the HOW story and photo contest from last year - it's good to remember why everyone is working so hard.

Minnesotans fight invasive species

There's still more to report from Great Lakes Day in Washington, DC. As I write this, people are lobbying on the Hill to tell their legislators what the Great Lakes need.

Some common sense advice for lobbying all day? Wear comfy shoes! says one Minnesota advocate.

I listened in yesterday as Great Lakes supporters from Minnesota prepared for their visits. They'll be pushing for Great Lakes restoration and specifically the passage of the ballast water bill--legislation that could deal a blow to invasive species that find their way into the Lakes on ocean-going ships and cost the region billions of dollars as they wreak havoc on native fish, beaches, power plants, and municipal water infrastructure.

Minnesotans will be extending a big thanks to their own Rep. Oberstar, one of the longest-serving members of the House and a long-time Great Lakes champion as well.

Oberstar is the co-author of the critical ballast water bill that will be voted on in the House next week. Passing a strong ballast water bill that regulates how ships empty and clean their ballast tanks and ensures that there's strong enforcement and oversight is key to the health of the Great Lakes, say supporters.

Indiana Delegation--Building on The Compact

Even though Indiana has a reputation for being unfriendly to environmental issues, it was the first state to win passage for The Compact, an agreement among Great Lakes states to jointly manage future water diversion requests.

That's because industry backed the measure, says Steve Barker from LaPorte County. Lobbying on restoration in Indiana needs to build on that success, Barker says, by showing the connection between the funding for restoration and the economic issues.

One important point may be that just one invasive species, zebra mussels, has cost $3 billion so far.

Key to reaching the Indiana delegation also will be demonstrating that the northwest corner of Indiana that touches Lake Michigan is important to the state as a whole.

First interview of the day: Jennifer Nalbone of GLU

Witness our fantastic teevee reporting skills with the first video of the day - Valerie's interview about invasive species with Jennifer Nalbone of Great Lakes United (GLU). Earlier this morning Jennifer told everyone about legislation in Congress written to curb the spread of invasive species and gave everyone tips on talking to their Congresspeople about it.

For all of you back home, go ahead and pick up the phone, as NWF's communications guru Jordan Lubetkin suggests at the Healthy Lakes blog.

Busy Great Laker: Charlie Bristol

I just had a great conversation with Charlie Bristol, an engineer who does work with a lot of groups in southeast Michigan. An interesting problem he and the groups he works with face is that the water in the Lake St. Clair and the rivers are nice and blue - people don't think they need cleaning up.

He explained to me that even though the water looks nice, harmful runoff and sediments from dredging settle on the bottom and work their way through the system, even though isn't visible on the surface. Even more education than usual has to happen in cases like these.

Anyway, we talked about all sorts of great ideas he's implemented with groups in Michigan, which will be available on video as soon as possible - our internet connection here is pretty cranky.

In the meantime, he made sure to tell folks in southeast Michigan to check out detroitriver.org to find out what you can do to help.

Inside the National Press Club

For those of you who have never had a chance to attend a press conference at the venerable National Press Club in Washington D.C., it's a venue that provides rooms for press events (for a fee) and is where most organizations hold press conferences.

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative held its press conference there today to release a report on spending by local governments on the Great Lakes.

This morning's event was attended physically by a handful of reporters, but 15 reporters also attended by conference call. This is a good turnout for this type of event.

Reporter interest was heightened by a front page New York Times story, provided to the paper as an "exclusive" for publication this morning. Exclusives are often a good tactic for stimulating reporter interest, particularly when a story is complicated.

The press conference format was simple. Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Cities Initiative members made brief presentations lasting approximately 15 minutes in all. Then reporters asked questions. The lead question from Bloomberg News was a common one for people working on Great Lakes issues: What kind of pressure are Great Lakes states getting to divert water to western U.S. states. The answer: None, for now, but it's coming.

Associated Press, attending by conference call, followed up with a question about the amount of money the federal government is investing in Great Lakes projects.

And that was it. Watch your paper for tomorrow's news.

Big News: Great Lakes cities spend $15 billion on restoration - where's Washington?

A New York Times article this morning has a story on a new report, detailing the amount of money Great Lakes cities and local governments are spending to protect and restore the Great Lakes - more than 15 billion dollars annually.

The report points out that the federal government's role pales in comparison - approximately $350 million annually, according to Jordan Lubkin, communications director for the Healing Our Waters coaltion.

Given that the Great Lakes comprise one-fifth of the world's fresh water and are critical to the region's economy both in terms of jobs and quality of life, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which released the report, believes that the federal government can and should do much more.

Great Lakes municiple leaders believe that the federal government needs to step up to the plate and help local governments maintain adequate sewage facilities, fight toxic pollution and ward off invasive species, among other problems.

"Municipalities in both the U.S. and Canada are spending billions of dollars on stewardship, protection, cleanup, to reduce and prevent pollution, and to buy and protect shorelines. Local government is pulling its weight and more. But federal funding has not kept pace," said James Ulich, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.

Biggest Great Lakes Day ever

Pam Goddard (pictured), grassroots organizer for the National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Resource Center and co-planner for this third ever Great Lakes Day in DC, just told me that this year's event is the most highly attended ever at 150 concerned Lakers. We're seeing some younger faces, some regional and local leaders, and folks who just want to drink clean water and fish the way they used to.

Valerie and I have been taping interviews with experts on invasive species and pollution and what we can do about it. I'll be uploading those now, so make sure to keep an eye on our YouTube page.

Great Lakes threats and solutions

Newcomers to the Great Lakes restoration movement may need a little primer on what we're talking about here. The Lakes are still big and beautiful - they are crucial to the region's culture and economy, from fishing to shipping to tourism and drinking water.

But this treasure we share is threatened by a host of foreign creatures, chemicals, and other problems that sound like they're from a post-apocalyptic science fiction movie:

• Aquatic invasive species like the sea lamprey, zebra mussel, and spiny water flea have hitchhiked in the ballast water of seagoing ships and are decimating fisheries and from Duluth to Niagra and deep inland into the watershed. Hundred-pound Asian carp are making their way up the Mississippi, leaping around, eating half their weight daily, only kept at bay by one electric barrier. One of the most ghoulish of invasives, VHS, is a virus that infects fish like the bubonic plague, causing schools of them to bleed to death and wash up on the shore.

• Sewage run-off, also known as poop, is dumped into the Lakes by cities all over the lakes by the billions of gallons every year. Outdated sewer systems can't handle big rain storms, which drain into the Lakes instead of water treatment plants when overwhelmed.

• Toxins, generated by large farms and factories, make their way into the lakes constantly. Fertilizers and pesticides make their way through the watershed from farms, and sometimes factories like the BP plant in Whiting, Indiana, just go ahead and dump their chemical trash right in the lake.

So there's good news and bad news about fixing this.

The good news is, there's a Federal commitment and a plan for restoration. In 2004 President Bush issued an Executive Order recognizing the Great Lakes as a "national treasure" and created a federal Great Lakes Interagency Task Force to improve federal coordination on the Great Lakes. The Order also directed the U.S. EPA Administrator to convene a "regional collaboration of national significance for the Great Lakes." This collaboration process was needed to develop, by consensus, the national restoration and protection action plan for the Great Lakes. That collaboration, the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC), created that action plan, the Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes, which was released on December 12, 2005. The bad news is, it's been awhile, and the Lakes are still threatened by monster invaders and nasty chemicals. The funding for this commitment has been cut from budgets consistently since it was proposed, and the problem gets more costly with every delay. State and local governments are doing what they can to mitigate damage, but the only hope for a healthy body of water is with implementing with the comprehensive restoration plan outlined by the GLRC.

Which is why people who love the Great Lakes are in DC this week making it clear to leaders in Washington that the Lakes are important, in trouble, and voters in the region are going to be asking about it and voting on it. No one, not Republican, Conservative, rich, poor - Packer, Viking, or Bear fan, likes swimming in and drinking water full of human poop and bleeding schools of dead fish. This cause is something everyone in the region can get behind.

What about you? Why are the Lakes important to your area and to your life?

Great Laker gathering

Welcome HOW folks, GLUE folks, and other friends of the Great Lakes - thanks for checking out the blog. We hope to take advantage of Great Lakes Day this year to spread the word online about Great Lakes Restoration and how people in the region can help out. We'll be hearing from campaign leaders about legislative efforts, reports and new findings, and what people in specific cities and areas are doing for the cause. We'll also be covering a report from Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative that examines how much local governments are spending to clean up the Lakes versus how much the federal government is spending.

For even more detailed information about restoration efforts and threats to the Great Lakes, check out Tiffany Pache's blogging at the Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives campaign site. Tiffany will also be reporting from DC this week, and we'll be linking back and forth often.

So grab our RSS feed, check out our YouTube page, and check back here throughout the next few days. Also leave some comments and let us know what you'd like to hear about.

Stay tuned for Great Lakes Day coverage

We'll be reporting live from Great Lakes Day in Washington, DC. We'll talk to volunteers and leaders from Duluth to Niagra Falls about what you can do to promote Great Lakes restoration on a local, state, and national level.

Stay tuned.