Greens for MWRD

On February 12 I attended the EPA hearing about plans to deal with the threat of Asian carp getting into the Great Lakes. Most of the crowd was people whose livelihoods would be threatened if the locks were closed. The sentiment was overwhelmingly against closing the locks. I would presume that the hearing in Michigan was dominated by people who fear losing their livelihoods if, or more likely when, the Asian carp makes it into the Great Lakes. The greatest passion comes from those who fear loss of their businesses or jobs.
The short version of my conclusions is that closing the locks is not going to solve this problem. In fact, I think that sooner or later the Asian carp are going to make it into the Great Lakes. We should do what we can to delay and mitigate this. Also, in particular there are things the MWRD needs to do to to stop the occasional discharge of stormwater and raw sewage into the lake, which also has the potential to dump invasive species into the lake.
The facts:
1.This has been a disaster in slow motion. It has been know for at least a decade that these fish were on their way to Lake Michigan. Now that they are either already in the lake or soon to be in the lake it has become an issue of urgent action. Now a comprehensive plan to forestall this has been hurriedly put together.
2.The two species of carp that are of concern certainly are a potential threat to the ecological balance of the Great Lakes. It is not certain that that can establish themselves in the Great Lakes, but there seems to be a good chance that they can. We probably aren't going to know for sure until it is too late. If they do, they could cause big harm to the commercial and sport fishing business.
3.The potential for these species to reach the Great Lakes was created by the reversing of the Chicago River which was completed in 1900. There are five water connections between the Illinois River and Lake Michigan. Only three of them have locks. Neither the Little Calumet nor the Grand Calumet have any locks. Thus if these two species of carp make it past the electric barrier, they have routes to Lake Michigan which can not be blocked just by closing the locks.
4.There is substantial commerce, tourism, and recreational boating which would be disrupted or wiped out by closing the locks.
5.Ten times in the last ten years the locks have to be opened by the MWRD because a heavy rain has filled up the Deep Tunnel (the TARP) and the overflow of rainwater and sewage has to be dumped into the lake.
My conclusions:
1.All the heat about closing the locks is misplaced. Closing them will not keep the Asian carp out of the lake. The proposals put forth in the draft plan presented at this meeting seem to have merit, but I don't expect them to succeed in the long run. Eventually these two species of carp are going to make it into Lake Michigan. We can delay this and perhaps mitigate the impact, but it seems unlikely that we can permanently keep these fish out of the Lake.
2.The MWRD needs a much more aggressive program to keep storm water out of of the sewer system. We can not just rely on the TARP to do this. There are a whole series of measures that need to be pushed much harder, including lots more rain barrels, stricter requirements for stormwater management for new development, transitioning to separate sewer and stormwater systems, rain gardens, green roofs, permeable paving,
3.As a number of environmental groups have stated, the goal should be ecological separation of the Mississippi watershed and the Great Lakes watershed. The Chicago River needs to be re-reversed. Planning on how to do this needs to be started right away. Besides the need to impede the migration of invasive species, water from Lake Michigan should not be diverted into the Gulf of Mexico. This project will take too long to be of use in stopping the Asian carp.
4.It should be noted, however, that there was never an absolute separation of these two watersheds. Chicago was settled because there was partial connection between these two water systems (Mud Lake) which flooded at times of high water. A complete ecological separation would require much more than just re-reversing the Chicago River.

Nadine has started a blog. Check it out.

We Green Party candidates have many important policy points to bring to the public. We need funding to get our message out. We need to do advertising on radio, billboards, CTA buses and trains, front lawns, and wherever else we can.

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Petitions for the three of us have been filed with the Cook County Clerk. We submitted 215 sheets. Eighteen different supporters collected one or more sheets of signatures for us. Thanks to all.

This means we had well over twice the required number of signatures. We were not challenged. This means we are on the February 2, 2010, primary ballot. Be sure to ask for the Green Party ballot when you go to vote. Note that the Green Party ballot is colored brown. 

Our three candidates will be

Nadine Bopp

Diana Horton

Jack Ailey

The Green Party is one of three ballot-qualified parties in Illinois.
In 2010, the Green Party will have the opportunity to run candidates
for every partisan race in the state, including U.S. Senator, Governor
and Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State
Treasurer, and State Comptroller; all 19 U.S. House seats; 20 Illinois
Senate seats; all 118 Illinois House seats; and hundreds of
county-level office, including County Clerk, County Treasurer, and
County Sheriff in most counties, and about half of all County Board
seats across the state.

The Daily Herald has posted a story on all nine candidates for the MWRD. It is brief, but it gives fair coverage to the three of us. Here is the link http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=247006&src=1

Nadine has now been endorsed by both major Chicago newspapers! Congratulations! Here is the Tribune statement.

Congratulations to Nadine for her endorsement by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Here is the comment from the Sun-Times concerning Nadine. "Our third endorsement goes to Nadine Bopp of the Green Party. She is a long-time environmentalist who teaches at DePaul University, Columbia College and the School of the Art Institute. Bopp was an environmental planner for the Cook County Forest Preserve District for four years."