I just finished my trip to the Middle East, where I visited Israel and Dubai. You may have read my blog post about touting Michigan's Green Jobs for Blue Waters initiative in Israel, where I was able to secure commitments from two Israeli water technologycompanies to locate in Michigan. To be clear: we will never sell our water abroad; but rather will position Michigan as a center of excellence for global water technologies. As the world's thirst for increasingly scarce fresh water grows, we want Michigan to reap enormous economic benefits by becoming the home of businesses who sell technologies that assist other states in solving their water scarcity problems.
We set our sights high when it came to advanced battery technology in Michigan. We began by positioning Michigan to lead in advanced batteries just a few years ago, and the payoff was enormous. Michigan received $1.2 billion of the $2 billion that the Federal Government allocated for advanced battery research and development. This has resulted in a number of companies who will be manufacturing advanced batteries for the new generation electrical automotive engine making Michigan their home-- securing jobs for our future. I believe we can do the same with water technologies bringing even greater benefits to our state.
Following my stops in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, I travelled to Dubai, one of the largest and fastest growing cities in the Middle East. There, even this Wolverine was proud to be the first state official to visit MSU's Dubai campus (and yes, I heard the U-M/OSU score already!). I also visited the American University-Dubai where I addressed the class of Professor Youssef Beydoun. One of Professor Beydoun's students is from Saginaw Valley State University where she is studying for a degree in Political Science, specializing in International Relations. She expressed to me her concern for the future of the Michigan Promise which is assisting her in paying for her education.
Both schools are emerging as great educational institutions in Dubai. Students at MSU's Dubai campus frequently travel back to East Lansing for at least a semester of classes, and receive the same degrees as students here in Michigan - and also pay tuition back to MSU as well. MSU-Dubai is helping all MSU degrees obtain more international exposure and marketability, and I was pleased to be able to visit its campus.
After a long week on the road, I'm thankful to be back home in Clio for Thanksgiving, where I'll enjoy the company of good friends and family. I wish your family a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
I look forward to working with Congress and President Obama to help protect and restore Michigan's most precious natural resource - not only for the environmental benefits, but also because we can leverage the Great Lakes to advance Michigan's economic recovery! Yesterday, I presented Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council of Environmental Quality with the MI-Great Lakes plan that was developed with public input from meetings I attended all over Michigan - along with comments on blogs like this one. I will keep you updated as we move forward on implementing the plan.
Since today is Great Lakes Day, please leave a comment below or email me about your favorite Great Lakes memory. To live in Michigan is to love the Great Lakes, and I'm sure nearly every reader has a great story to share. I look forward to reading your responses!
(From my remarks "The Blue Economy - Great Lakes Protection and Michigan's Economic Transformation" delivered at the Federal Reserve Bank's symposium on Fresh Water and the Great Lakes Economic Future, 11/10/08)
I come to this discussion today, obviously, as the Lieutenant Governor of THE Great Lakes state and as the immediate past chair of the Great Lakes Commission.
But just as importantly, underlying all that, is the personal connection I feel to Michigan’s water and woods. As an upland hunter and person who enjoys spending time on the water, I understand the attraction that our amazing natural resources have to people all across the Midwest. I recognize the tremendous impact that Michigan’s water has on the course of their lives and our local economies.
So it is important today, as we focus on big ideas and broad concepts, that we also remain mindful of the profound impact our work and discussions can have on a family, a town, or one tiny stretch of pristine beach somewhere on our shoreline.
From Lt. Gov. John Cherry and the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes comes news that a series of public meetings have been scheduled to give residents an opportunity to share their ideas on ways to protect the lakes.
These are the dates and locations:
October 13, 2008 in Marquette at Northern Michigan University's University Center
October 16, 2008 in Clinton Township at Macomb Community College's Center Campus University Center
October 17, 2008 in Grayling at the Grayling Township Hall
October 20, 2008 in Detroit at the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments' office
October 21, 2008 in Muskegon at Grand Valley State University's Annis Water Resources Institute
October 23, 2008 in Saginaw at Saginaw Valley State University
October 27, 2008 in Petoskey at North Central Michigan College's University Center
November 19, 2008 in Kalamazoo at the Kalamazoo Nature Center
All meetings are scheduled for 7 PM. They're seeking input on a draft action plan with specific recommendations for steps they can take to protect and preserve the Great Lakes in a way that enhances our economic prosperity. A copy of the draft plan is available here, along with more information on the meeting sites.
If you can't attend but still want to comment on the plan, you can do so by emailing DEQ-GreatLakesRestoration@michigan.gov, or by mailing your written comments to the Office of the Great Lakes, DEQ, P.O. Box 30473-7973, Lansing, Michigan 48909.
All comments are due by November 26, 2008, and additional information is available by contacting the Office of the Great Lakes at 517-335-4056.
On Thursday, the reauthorization of the Great Lakes Legacy Act was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. This Act has been the cornerstone of our work to preserve and protect the Great Lakes and it has already proven effective in those efforts. I applaud the U.S. House of Representatives and their commitment to expand and continue this vital program. Now we have to keep pushing to make sure the United States Senate passes the legislation as well.
During the next month I will be participating in public meetings conducted by the Office of the Great Lakes. We are seeking your input on the draft framework that will serve as Michigan's action agenda for Great Lakes restoration.
Also, the Great Lakes Town Hall has asked me to be a guest blogger this week. Starting today, I'll be writing about the upcoming hearings and the Commission's work thus far. Later in the week, I'll explore the main issue areas covered in the Commission Draft Action Plan, and the need for continued collaboration at the local, regional, and national levels.
I spent my morning walleye fishing in the Tawas Bay with Dave Dickman, a local insurance agent and city councilman. It was a beautiful morning. Great sunshine and the water had a low chop which is not the best condition for walleye fishing. Because walleyes have such great visual acuity, fishing for them is generally better at night or on overcast days. Rough water also tends to break up light penetration into water so walleye fishing can be more productive when the water is a little more choppy than was the case on Thursday. "Walleye" chop is a popular term among those who seriously pursue walleye.
Consequently, we chose to go 'fishing' instead of 'catching'. That allowed Dick and I to spend most of our time speculating on why the sports fishery on Lake Huron has become so challenged. Most of the discussion rests on a reduced population of forage fish. Various explanations are offered for that ranging from the zebra mussel disrupting the food chain to the voracious appetite of the cormorants who have made a startling comeback in recent years.
Above: P.H. Hoeft State Park on Lake Huron (photo: janet.powell)
This week's tour began with a stop at the City of Cheboygan, and featured a very unique program. For the past 35 years, the Noble Odyssey Foundation has operated a US Navy Sea Cadet Program under the leadership of Captain Luke Clyburn. Today the program operates out of Cheboygan. In terms of mission, the Noble Odyssey Foundation brings together young people, adults, and scientists interested in developing and supporting underwater research programs to enhance public understanding of the Great Lakes' science and history.
Exciting as this mission appears to be, it obscures an absolutely fascinating story of how a character-building program for young people has been used to uncover a spellbinding story of the geological history of the Great Lakes as told by the underwater formations of the Lakes themselves. It is a story of drowned forests, massive waterfalls, glacial rivers, and sunken beaches. All of this has been discovered by 30 years of academic research assisted by the US Navy Sea Cadets stationed on the Great Lakes.
(Welcome back LG Cherry! - promoted by wizardkitten)
Pam and I started our day at Thornton's Restaurant in St. Joseph. A friendly, family restaurant, Thornton's breakfast menu features a signature item-Big Bob's Big Bomb. The Big Bomb is an outrageously huge omelet whose consumption will earn you a place on Thornton's Hall of Fame. I passed up the opportunity to leave a historical mark at Thornton's, but we had a great breakfast anyways.
After breakfast we headed to Muskegon. The name "Muskegon" comes from the Ottawa Indian term "Masquigon" which refers to a marshy river or swamp. The area was home to native Americans from the earliest of times. Wikipedia points out that when the Wisconsinian glaciations retreated "nomadic; Paleo-Indian hunters" moved into the area. Subsequently in time, Muskegon became inhabited by the Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes.
Muskegon Lake, our first stop, can be found at the mouth of the Muskegon River. During the lumbering era, the banks of Muskegon Lake, which served as a natural harbor on the Lake Michigan shoreline, became a site for a number of sawmills for logs floated down the Muskegon River. Later as the State industrialized, factories replaced the sawmills. The legacy of the area is a body of water contaminated by toxic sediments, industrial waste, and the filling of shallow water habitat and wetlands.
The Tour is intended to highlight how regional partners in the Great Lakes States and Canadian partners are embracing the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Agenda; and to draw further attention to the need for the federal government to match the regional commitment. The timing of this effort is critical. Both presidential candidates have pledged their commitment to Great Lakes restoration. Great Lakes advocates must be prepared to press our agenda as the new federal government takes power next January.
How thirsty do you have to be to try to move a state border?
It sounded like a joke when I first read about back in February while visiting Georgia, but it was all too true. Plagued by drought and in the midst of a water feud with the states of Florida and Alabama, Georgia had set its sights northward, and began asking the state of Tennessee to allow their shared border to be moved, so a portion of the Tennessee River would enter the Peach State.
The manager of British Petroleum's Whiting, Indiana, refinery said Thursday that the company will not dump additional waste into Lake Michigan despite having the nessecary permits to do so.
For years researchers have been trying to figure out how unwanted, invasive fish arrived in the Great Lakes and spread so quickly. A big piece of the puzzle concerning round gobies has recently been solved by University of Michigan fishery biologist David Jude, a research scientist at the School of Natural Resources and Environment.
It's long been suspected that invasive fish are transported because freighters take on ballast water in one body of water and empty it in another. The round goby presented a mystery however because it is considered a bottom-dwelling fish. Freighters take on ballast water close to the surface.
Now Jude and U-M graduate student Stephen Hensler say they've found the answer: synchronized swimming on a grand scale.
At night during the summer breeding season, countless newly hatched round gobies leave their lake-bottom homes and swim to the surface. This nocturnal migration-never before documented among round gobies-boosts the chances that large numbers of hatchlings will get sucked into the ballast tanks of Great Lakes freighters.
Out of all the large multinational oil companies BP seems to go the greatest lengths to make itself appear environmentally sensitive. Their actions are proving that their ad slogan, "We make the World a little Better" is nothing more than empty PR rhetoric.
BP has recently received permission from the State of Indiana to substantially increase the amount of ammonia and toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead and nickel it can dump into the Great Lakes.
NPR's All Things Considered had an item yesterday about the proposed expansion of BP's Whiting, Indiana refinery, and the "firestorm of opposition" the plan is starting to generate.
