Gas: Sure, hike the tax. But for conservation
Politicians, contractors and some business people are scrambling to hike gasoline and diesel taxes, or other fees, for upgrading Michigan’s highways.
Good. But, instead, use those dollars to restore and enrich the environment. Not to further batter it with more ecosystem-nuking high-speed travel.
Top priorities should include reduced speed limits, with enough police to aggressively enforce them, coupled with wallet-bashing mandatory penalties.
Use lots of those new dollars for restoration and protection of highway-mauled ecosystems. This includes everything from wildlife and fisheries habitat to making urban areas more livable, while cutting off funds for sprawl-spurring “country” road upgrades.
We’re, maybe, talking hundreds of millions of dollars here over several decades.
In the process, bring back conservation-friendly railroads. (There may be room for them along freeway rights of way.) Higher gas taxes and speeding fines should also be used to enrich other mass transit.
Highway contractors and the “Up North” tourist industry will howl. Let ‘em. They’ve gotten away with freeloading on taxpayers, and the environment, far too long.
Carp: The challenge reaches to the Atlantic ocean
There may be a plus to this Asian carp disaster. It is focusing more attention on the need to shut off invasive species access to the Great Lakes.
Not just to those, like the carp, reaching Chicago through the Mississippi River system. Also to those coming from saltwater via the St. Lawrence Seaway system.
Sure, conservationists have been warning for decades that these man-made canals to the lakes are an ecosystem disaster. But they remain open.
Detroit Free Press outdoor writer Eric Sharp put it in focus in a Feb. 25 column on the carp:
“The only sensible way to keep the Great Lakes safe is to close not only the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal---the access point for carp---but also to stop saltwater ships from coming into the lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway, the route by which dozens of other invasive species have arrived.”
“Closing the Chicago Canal while ignoring the St. Lawrence Seaway would be like patching a leak in a house’s roof while ignoring the fact the back door is missing,” Sharp added.
“The St. Lawrence Seaway has been an economic boondoggle that never carried more than a fraction of the cargo that its backers projected, yet it still costs big money to maintain it.
“And of the roughly 140 invasive species we know are in the lakes, the majority of those that caused the most biological and economic damage in recent years arrived via ships that steamed up the St. Lawrence Seaway from the Atlantic Ocean.”
“The federal government, which has primary responsibility for protecting our waters from such threats, did virtually nothing…”
Dr. Vernon Applegate, the lead scientist in developing the sea lamprey control chemical a half century ago, warned then that the Seaway would mangle the freshwater ecosystem. It has. Yet it remains open and new invaders keep arriving, costing hundreds of millions of dollars more than saltwater ships will ever contribute.
Sharp, obviously, is right: Access to the lakes at Chicago should be plugged (should have been long ago). But that’s just a start. Then poison the Mississippi, repeatedly if necessary, to wipe out carp and all other nasties.
There’s no way temporary “barriers” are ever going to keep them, and others, from reaching the lakes, our rivers and inland waters.
Election season is brewing. Press down on candidates to commit to purging the Great Lakes of these threats. Make it a “hot” political issue.
Energy: Wood is not the conservation solution
Traverse City officials seeking renewable energy sources to replace ecosystem-ravaging coal are exploring wood “biomass.” Estimates are that some 100,000 tons of wood would be required over 25 years (273 tons per day; ten truckloads daily, or 2.5 million tons annually).
Theoretically, only “scrap wood,” from logging and other operations, would be used.
Wood makes sense in efficient burners for some home and cabin heating…if there are surplus, renewable sources readily available. But on a massive scale it raises troubling concerns.
Except to generate and maintain the pockets of wildlife-friendly habitat, once created by fire and other natural causes, large-scale purging of wood fiber “starves” Nature. Those limbs and leaves are the nutrients that feed the ecosystem.
To its credit, Traverse City Light and Power, demonstrated it is conservation friendly by moving to eliminate its dams on the Boardman River. And, for sure, coal is dirty and devastates the environment where it is mined.
Wind and solar energy have their place. But, in reality, a small one.
The first priority should be energy conservation. Raise user fees and take other measures to encourage people to cut back on consumption. Rein in energy-gobbling sprawl.
Next, follow the lead of other countries where clean, quiet nuclear has become a major energy source.
Doves: Too few to hunt?
Dick Swan, of Clare, sent along this shot of mourning doves just outside his window the other day. Though doves are hunted (an estimated 50 million bagged annually) in 38 other states, anti hunters blocked hunting in Michigan. Doves that nest, and hatch, in Michigan are hunted as soon as they clear the state’s southern border.
Advocates point out dove hunting could take some pressure off birds like grouse, woodcock and pheasants that are more habitat sensitive than doves. It is also seen as an economic boost for the state because Michigan hunters now travel south to hunt doves (including birds from Michigan.)
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