Conflicted

by Muskegon Critic

Sometimes I wish I were a conservative, simply for what I perceive to be their clean, clear path. Cut taxes, shrink Government. So simple. So easy to articulate.

But as a progressive I find myself often internally conflicted over jobs, sustainability, improving the middle class, environmental concerns. For example I love the notion that the St. Lawrence Seaway allows International shipping access to the Great Lakes region, making cities like Duluth, Minnesota one of the busiest harbors in America...but I hate, hate, hate, hate that the St. Lawrence Seaway has opened the door to hundreds of invasive species in the Great Lakes.

I want Michigan to manufacture again, and make STUFF and sell STUFF and get families back to work! But I want to reduce consumerism overall, and see people re-using STUFF and being less wasteful and being less dependent on buying STUFF.

continued at Daily Kos....

BP May Increase Sludge, Ammonia Dumping in Great Lakes

by Muskegon Critic

BP, also known as the British Petroleum of the oil world, is undeterred by its Gulf catastrophe from expanding one of their oil refinery plants in Indiana, which will dump more "ammonia" and "industrial sludge" into Lake Michigan. Indiana regulators, back in 2007, exempted BP from state environmental laws so that BP could expand its plant and process heavier Canadian crude oil...BP may be moving forward with that expansion soon. [2007]Under BP's new state water permit, the refinery -- already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes -- can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals. [snip] The company will now be allowed to dump an average of 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge into Lake Michigan every day. The additional sludge is the maximum allowed under federal guidelines. -- Article

continued at Daily Kos....

BP's Assault on the Great Lakes

by agnostic

2005 - 15 people were killed and over 170 injured from a fire and explosion on the Isomerization plant (ISOM) at the BP Products North America 2006 - BP's Prudhoe Bay  pipeline exploded, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of heavy crude. BP attack on the Great Lakes comes in three parts: a) BP wants to drill under Lake Michigan, almost a mile below the lake's bottom. Think of the Gulf leak, but with fresh, not salt water. b) BP is the 6th largest polluter in the Chicago area. With its new Whiting Refinery capacity (Canadian oil shale & tar sands), that will increase by 40%. c) BP is deliberately pollutes Lake Michigan with benzene & mercury. Remnants from tar sands refining process will be far, far worse.

continued at Daily Kos....