Industrial facilities dumped 575,930 pounds of toxic chemicals into Michigan’s waterways, according to a report released today by Environment Michigan: Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act. The report also finds that toxic chemicals were discharged in 1,900 waterways across all 50 states.
“While nearly half of the rivers and lakes in the U.S. are considered too polluted for safe fishing or swimming, our report shows that polluters continue to use our waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic chemicals,” said Shelley Vinyard, Environmental Associate with Environment Michigan.
“The Detroit River has played an important role in the economic development of Southeast Michigan,” said Robert Burns, Detroit Riverkeeper. “From an early trade and transportation route, to its current role as the source of drinking water and recreational opportunities for millions of people. Protection of the river’s water quality and its natural resources is essential for maintaining the quality of life for the area’s residents.”
The Environment Michigan report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged in to America’s waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2007, the most recent data available.
Major findings of the report include:
• The JR Whiting Generating Plant and the Detroit Edison Monroe Power Plant released a combined 65,794.7 pounds of toxic chemical waste into Lake Erie. The Mead Johnson & Co. facility was the largest reported polluter of toxic chemicals in Michigan in 2007.
• The Detroit River had 70,290.9 pounds of chemicals dumped into it in 2007.
• The Escanaba Paper Company released 3,125.0 pounds of cancer-causing chemical waste into the Escanaba River in 2007.
With facilities dumping so much pollution, no one should be surprised that nearly half of our waterways are unsafe for swimming and fishing. But we should be outraged.
Environment Michigan’s report summarizes the discharge of cancer-causing chemicals, chemicals that persist in the environment, and chemicals with the potential to cause reproductive problems ranging from birth defects to reduced fertility. Among the toxic chemicals discharged by facilities are lead, mercury, and dioxin. When dumped into waterways, these toxic chemicals contaminate drinking water and are absorbed by the fish that people eventually eat. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and reproductive disorders. In 2007, manufacturing facilities discharged approximately 1.5 million pounds of cancer-causing chemicals into American waters.
“There are common-sense steps that should be taken to turn the tide against toxic pollution of our waters,” added Vinyard. “We need clean water now, and we need the federal government to act to protect our health and our environment.”
In order to curb the toxic pollution threatening our Great Lakes and other waterways across the state, Environment Michigan recommends the following:
1. Pollution Prevention: Industrial facilities should reduce their toxic discharges in to waterways by switching from hazardous chemicals to safer alternatives.
2. Tough permitting and enforcement: EPA and state agencies should issue permits with tough, numeric limits for each type of toxic pollution discharged, ratchet down those limits over time, and enforce those limits with credible penalties, not just warning letters.
3. Protect all waters: The federal government should adopt policies to clarify that the Clean Water Act applies to all of our waterways.
This includes the thousands of headwaters and small streams for which jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act has been called into question, as a result of recent court decisions.
“We know these industrial toxins are harmful to both our health and our environment,” said State Representative Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor), Chair of the Michigan House of Representatives’ Great Lakes and Environment Committee. “As the Great Lakes state, we simply must work to preserve our inland lakes and streams, and send a strong message to manufacturers that it is unacceptable to continue to put Michigan’s citizens and natural resources at risk. By protecting the waters that define us, we are protecting our families, our jobs, our farms and the very features that make Michigan a special and unique place to live.”
“We urge Congress and the President to listen to the public’s demands for clean water. They should act to protect all of our lakes, rivers and streams from toxic pollution,” concluded Vinyard.
Environment Michigan is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization that works to protect Michigan’s air, water, and open spaces. For more information, visit www.EnvironmentMichigan.org.