British Petroleum, Lake Michigan and Southeast Wisconsin

Bp held public hearings and nobody bothered to attend. They followed all the rules in getting their permit. Their wastewater discharges into the lake are comparable to a very small city. Chicago's beaches are often contaminated with human waste from sewage overflows - not BP's fault.

So now politicians are acting like the mafia and threatening BP? I did not realize I was living in Venezuela.

Dear "sober adult:"

Please do some research before making such broad statements.

Click here to see the results of ongoing research being done at the UWM Great Lakes WATER Institute (mentioned in the article) on the very issue of beach closings.

How many tons per year does BP discharge now? How many under new permit? How many tons per year are being discharged by all Lake Michigan polluters. Will this have a huge impact on Lake Michigan water quality?

I guess I have the same question about industrial waste. I don't seem to be able to find the numbers.

I followed the link in the response to the comment, but I couldn't find out where the e-coli causing the beach closings is coming from. Who are we to blame? Do we know yet?

Thanks for your help.

E-coli causing the beach closings are from various kinds of sewage. Some claim animals such as deer or raccoons, or seagulls. Human sewage can't be ignored as well.

Everytime I see the illegal immigrants from Mexico on the beach feeding these birds, I want to feed the illegals to Lake Michigan. But, there are plenty of people who feed these birds... just many illegals seem to do it in Kenosha.

As a resident of Indiana I can say that my state is just too stupid to be a part of the Midwest or Great Lakes. Our people are poor, our schools are horrible, and we are ranked near the bottom of every indicator of success or prosperity. Most cities and towns south of Northwest and North Central Indiana are run by morons and dummies including our Governor and elected officials down in Indy. Here people don't (can't?) even read or stay informed. Our politicians in the southern two thirds of the state are no better than the folks from "Deliverance" (remember that movie?), but they run the show and choke off any input from the northern part of the state.

Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Canada are all more advanced places compared to Indiana -- my state is completely out of place this far north since we usually compete with Southern States for the distinction of most backward place in America. We are moving backwards when it comes to off shore mixing of pollutants to dilute them? Yep. We are moving backwards when it comes to the Clean Water Act? Yep. We are exempting a company from our own water laws? Yep. If Chicago is corrupt, then what explains this stupidity?

"Influential established institutions are available.....". Is that right, Arthur, old bean? Tut, Tut. Cheerio, and all that rot! Good show, old boy! Good old boy! Good old boys! Good old "influential established institutions", don't ya know?
Some day when these godless, unimaginative, ignorant progressives learn that all creatures, great and small, been poopin' and peein' all over da place an' it been washed down the river and out to sea and comin' right back at ya in one form or another for about thirty two quatrillion years, they will probably be awestruck. Until that time, these denizens of the 'influential, established institutions', whether from Standard Oil, Standar & Poor's or Webster's Standard, who've already 'got theirs' (and got it from their Daddy), will continue to kiss each other on the lips and talk down to the rest of us.
We're a little bit above that, here in Indiana.

".....in the course of human events....."

Excuse me? But I'm a Michigan resident and that's my source of drinking water and where my 4-yr-old loves to swim, too! How was I to know about public hearings here in Michigan? This is SO not just an Indiana issue!!! This impacts far more than simply Indiana residents. Indiana can claim one tiny stretch of shoreline compared with the rest of us. So keep your crap in your own state!

It shouldn't matter. What matters is that its steps backwards from the important efforts that have been made since the 70s to clean up the Great Lakes. Our Great Lakes are so special, and Indiana would grant permission to squander such a remarkable source of drinking water for more than 30 million Americans and recreation for those of us who live near and visit. Indiana claims such a small stretch of shoreline compared to states like Michigan and Wisconsin and what bothers me the most is that I can't understand how they get off "granting" such permission when so many other states in this country really should have something to say about it, and in fact even Canada. Lake Michigan doesn't belong to Indiana...it belongs to all of us. Under the Bush administration, the EPA has slid way backwards in its protection of the Great Lakes and other natural resources. And for a company that has filed a record annual report with continued strong cash flow. BP can afford to make this right, they just thought they'd get away with it in the current political climate. I pray they don't. But it's scary how little information is out there to help us fight it.

About three centuries ago, the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, a country you mock. One consequence has been pollution of the water, air and land. Industrialization also has brought prosperity to many, many people, which in turn has permitted the growth of environmental protection movements. Please take the time and make the effort to learn about this history. One benefit will be that your comments on the subject, and others as well, will be informed and therefore perhaps persuade people who disagree with you. A.I. Cyr

Art, old boy, you refute not one whit of what I said, but suggest studying the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in 1707. Weel, maybe it did and maybe it didn't. And maybe I was mocking the British, and maybe I wasn't. One thing for sure, you just can't resist talking down to the rest of us, can you Art?
Yes, Art, if you burn oil or coal the smoke goes up in the air and some of the particulates fall to the ground and some of the atmosphere gets charged and some of the byproducts go into the earth and some go into the water. We get it, Art. But you want us to study the Industrial Revolution for what purpose? So that we can come to the realization that it is US? WE, HUMANITY, WE ARE THE PROBLEM!!!!?????? Swearingen, he may have worked for Standard Oil, but his heart was in the right place? The great environmentalist, Richard M. Daley? UH huh! It's the evil Bush and Daniels who are drowning all the polar bears and making it so the world isn't absolutely pristine, PRISTINE, I TELL YOU!, Like it absolutely, absolutely always forever and ever was before the Industrial Revolution, which began in, what was it, 1707? In the country of, what was it, Britain?
Question: Why is it you only want to go back two hundred, excuse me, three hundred years, Art? Why is it you never want to talk about Mt. Pinatubo, Art? Why don't you want to talk about meteorites and asteroids and things that go bump in the night? Because you can't put a face on it? Are you sure? It was the evil Bush and Cheney who caused the hurricane, so why not the volcanic eruptions and the mile-wide impact craters and the solar flares and the diptheria and dysentery and bubonic plagues, back when the world was pristine, ABSOLUTELY PRISTINE, I TELL YOU!!!!!
And your response would be, "Well, Bob, if you were INFORMED, like ME, you would know that it's just not politically CORRECT to do so!" It just ISN'T DONE, is it Art?
We've got a river that runs through near here, Art, and every so often it gets muddy and every so often it gets greenish, and every so often it gets E-coli in it. So if we want to swim in it, we usually wait til it clears up. It's called delayed gratification, Art.
We're really sorry about that river over there in Ohio, Art. We know it was not a good thing. Besides the flames, there were probably some adverse health effects. We don't know of any really catastrophic effects of the Love Canal, but that episode, too, was a springboard for politicians becoming intimately familiar with the Zebra mussel, et al. We just wish there was something the politicians could do about the earthquakes in Iran and Afghanistan, which kill 40-50,000 in a few minutes. We don't know what it would take; maybe an Industrial Revolution or something.
If only we were more informed.