The Alpena News: Peters promotes more care for Great Lakes

ALPENA - The importance of the Great Lakes and federal protection of its natural resources was on display to U.S. Sen. Gary Peters this week as he dove two popular wrecks within the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Peters also took advantage of his visit to announce a $131,191 grant to the Friends of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

"This funding will help researchers better understand how we can protect the sanctuary for future generations," he said.

Peters spoke to how the sanctuary has been a great economic driver for the area, bringing in nearly 100,000 people to the heritage center. He also said Thunder Bay can be a model for future sanctuaries around the Great Lakes.

With climate change affecting the Great Lakes, Peters said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies must continue their research and monitoring of the lakes to better learn the science involved in developing sound policy decisions.

"One of the aspects of keeping the Great Lakes great is keeping them clean and to restore them to before the industrial era," Peters said.

To this he cited the hundreds of millions of federal dollars in Great Lakes restoration funding secured to restore the entire Great Lakes Basin.

Peters spoke of efforts to eliminate invasive species which burden the sport fishing industry and impact the ecology of the Great Lakes. Another concern was the algae blooms from too much fertilizer being introduced to the waters. Here he said farmers were willing to work to be more efficient with their usage of fertilizer as it will save them money as well.

In June of this year Waukesha, Wis. became the first city outside of the Great Lakes Basin to be allowed to divert water from the Great Lakes, and then return fully treated wastewater back to the Basin.

Peters said he has serious concerns about this first of kind move. Other areas such as southern California, Nevada, and the Great Plains are rapidly developing without the needed water tables to support such developments, and they may look to the Great Lakes.

"I have seen there is an appreciation that the Great Lakes are not just a regional asset," Peters said. "It truly is a national asset and we have to protect it."

This led to his efforts in designating the entire Great Lakes Basin as a high consequence area regarding pipeline safety through the Basin. This means the highest and most robust federal standards are applied to all pipelines that traverse the region.

Another provision he was able to include in that legislation was something northern Michigan is all too familiar with - winter ice. Companies which operate pipelines now must have contingency plans for addressing a pipeline spill under the ice.

He was very happy with the measure being unanimously passed out of committee over any partisan or regional objections.

"Not to consider ice is a serious oversight," Peters said. "It goes up a significant factor when it is covered by thick ice."