An antidote to what ails you; a remedy for disillusionment: Michigan's Dark Sky Park

Unnecessary light pollution plagues our cities, suburbs and countrysides.

Gas stations are illuminated like white hot suns. Whole floors of office buildings stay lit for a solitary night owl worker. And blazing security lights click on constantly throughout my neighborhood (note to neighbors: walking my dog on the sidewalk is NOT A THREAT; recalibrate your lights, goats).

But in Michigan we are still blessed with dark places where the Milky Way and a million twinkling stars inspire awe and wonder. Places where science and religion combined seem pitiable tools of inquiry. Places where – necks craned and mouths agape – words are insignificant to define what we see.

One of those places has now been recognized internationally. Michigan has an International Dark Sky Park. It’s one of only six Dark Sky Parks in the nation – one of nine in the world. 

Located along the Straits of Mackinac on 550 acres of undeveloped Lake Michigan shoreline called The Headlands, the stargazers' paradise is the result of years of hard work by Emmet County citizens and officials. They were dedicated to preserving this little slice of Pure Michigan that speaks volumes about the quality of life Up North.

The designation required light meter readings from the International Dark Sky Association, the adoption of a special lighting ordinance and 75 pages of paperwork according to my friend Ron Dzwonkowski’s Detroit Free Press column.

In a great tidbit of storytelling, Ron says one “key to securing the designation was the endorsement of Patrick Stonehouse, a teacher and astronomer in neighboring Cheboygan County who from his rooftop observatory in Wolverine discovered a comet in 1998 that the International Astronomical Union has labeled 1998 H1, or Comet Stonehouse.”

Michigan’s International Dark Sky Park. What a great, great story!

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DEBATE FAIL!: Great Lakes? Energy? Transportation? Rebuilding cities? IGNORED.

Michigan is smack in the middle of the world’s most astounding water system – 18 percent of the world’s fresh surface water surrounds us. It provides 40 million people with drinking water; fuels our water-intensive industrial economy and fertilizes our farmers’ bounty. It is threatened by sewage overflows, deposition of hazardous chemicals, and by Asian carp and other invasives.

We are on the cutting edge of advanced automotive batteries, have a burgeoning clean energy technology industrial sector and a vital tourism economy (all are growing – the only economic sectors in Michigan to do so recently).

We have world-class sand dunes, vast forests, fertile farmland and fantastic hunting, fishing, hiking, birdwatching, boating, mushroom picking, frog-spearing, cricket listening and Petoskey-stone hunting. Stone skipping, too. We also have a few cool cities where smart young college graduates want to live work and play. But not nearly enough.

So how did an hour-long gubernatorial debate take place tonight without any…ANY…mention of the role Michigan’s natural resources play in our economy and quality of life?

Not. a. single. one. Not in their opening or closing comments. Not in the questions from the moderators. The Center for Michigan says you can find the replay right here starting Monday, if you have trouble getting to sleep.

Thumbs down to moderators Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press and Nolan Finley of the Detroit News for ignoring energy, transportation, vibrant cities, and the future of the Great Lakes in favor of queries like “would you forego your salary as governor?” (as if that would make a difference) or “are you tough enough” to play political hardball? (seriously Nolan, how could that question elicit anything other than a minute-long infomercial?)

And thumbs down to Virg Bernero and Rick Snyder for utterly failing to incorporate our state’s important natural assets into any of your answers.

Oh, wait. I rewound the DVR and did find that Bernero did mention “…the green automotive future, the green technology, wind turbines…” during a frenetic monologue about manufacturing. So…there you have it.

Should either candidate want to feign interest in Michigan’s water, land or air,here’s a start. Until then, the hell with it. If this is all you got, I’m leaving the governor’s ballot blank in November.

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U.S. House committee findings: Sixteen hundred miles away, Enbridge Energy technicians scratched their heads for 18 hours

Enbridge restarted the pipeline twice before finally shutting it.

There was a leak in the gas line to our clothes dryer last year. We called Consumers Energy Co.

Their truck was there within minutes. The guy’s Deteco-machine found gas in the house and within minutes another truck with two guys and a gal screeched up and began unloading gear like a Marine Corps assault team.

The dug holes, took out ceiling tiles and combed every nook and cranny in the place. At one point they were suggesting that a backhoe might be called shortly to claw around our foundation in a frenzied treasure hunt.

Thankfully, they found the problem and shut it off. Then they noticed our outdoor gas meter was outdated. In a few minutes they’d torn off the old one and installed a new one – a procedure that involved an awesomely deafening few seconds of high-pressure gas blasting out of the pipe as he swapped meters. Think jet engine. And no smoking. Then they were gone with dark warning of what might become of us if I turned that gas line back on before getting it repaired.

It was professional, efficient, and fast – and I remain impressed to this day with how seriously these folks took their jobs when safety was at issue.

How is it then, that when the alarms detected Enbridge Energy Co.’s oil leak in Marshall, that it took technicians monitoring the problem 1,600 miles away in Alberta, Canada 18 hours to shut valves? 
That and other vexing issues are raised in a U.S. House committee report reconstructing the timeline of the oil spill. The Free Press’ Todd Spangler wrote this excellent account.

Folks who want to keep abreast of the latest on the Enbridge Oil spill have numerous places to do so…..one reason why I haven’t written more about it, others are doing it much better than I could.

But this committee report needs noting. It paints a picture of a company inexcusably out of touch with the infrastructure of its pipeline system – 1,600 miles away – infrastructure critical to maintaining the safety of Michiganders.

By the time one 911 caller told an operator that “the entire downtown smells like gas” Enbridge was still pumping oil into the water and scratching their heads. Or some other part of their anatomy.

A libertarian-minded friend told me, he hopes the disaster will be a wake up call to other companies to make sure their safety protocols are as close to infallible as humanly possible.

I hope so too. But wouldn’t mind our regulators kicking the backsides of violators too.
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Why don't journalists do good watchdog reporting? Because no one cares until there's anthrax in the mail or oil in your fishin' hole

I wrote a story for the Detroit Free Press once about the offbeat work of a state agency whose responsibilities included protecting Michigan citizens from chemical and biological terrorist attacks.

Editors hated the story. The believed it was needlessly hysterical and legitimized the work of a state agency that was wasting taxpayer money on a threat so remote to be laughable. They chopped it up and buried it on an inside page.

Then Al Quaeda’s 9/11/01 attacks and subsequent anthrax attacks sent shock and panic through the country. The obscure scientists in the story were suddenly Very Important People and the notion of exploring our readiness against chemical attacks suddenly seemed urgent and newsworthy.

A similar dynamic occurs with every high-profile disaster. No one – editors, citizens, politicians – no one, gives much of a rip about stories examining our readiness for disasters until the disasters strike. Then, it’s a free for all of blame and second guessing.

A good journalistic investigation might have unearthed – before the Gulf Oil Spill -- a pattern of corner cutting and noncompliance on the part of BP. But it would have been a real sleep inducer. No one would have cared.

Likewise, someone might have written or broadcast a story – before Michigan’s Kalamazoo River system oil spill -- noting that Enbridge Energy Partners has been warned about corrosion in their oil pipeline. Such a story might have quoted Hugh McDiarmid Jr., spokesman for an environmental group saying : “We believe corrosion in the pipeline needs to be corrected immediately, or we are courting disaster.”

It would have only been read by geeks and zealots with online identities like BAD*SSMUTHA, NO_TYRANNY, and AYNRAND. They would have written anonymous comments: “take your hippie ass and your Prius and move to Red China you spoiled jerk from the People’s Republic of Ann Arborstan” or “you’re an environmental wacko trying to kill the last jobs in Michigan that Two Penny Jenny Grandmole hasn’t already!.”

I thought of this dynamic the other day when I spoke with a reporter working on a story about oil pipelines in Michigan that may be completely unregulated. Apparently, there are certain sections of intrastate oil pipe that are not regulated or inspected for safety by any state or local agency. If there’s a federal agency that’s supposed to regulate them, they haven’t done so for decades.

But the reporter told me the story may never get reported. It would take a good month of digging for a story that’s complex and raises warning flags, but wouldn’t get much reader reaction even in the wake of the recent oil calamities. Meanwhile, there are plenty of stories that will get readers talking that can be reported in a week, a day, or a few hours.

There’s a lot of moaning about how the media doesn’t cover substantive issues anymore. But journalists know from experience that sober, lengthy analyses of important issues don’t sell newspapers, don't drive up viewership and never gets much feedback from readers. Until the public cares, media executives, editors and advertisers aren’t going to either.

Usually, sadly, that takes a disaster.

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The episode where Frank Beckmann assures us the Kalamazoo oil spill is no big deal, and that we shouldn't be mean to Enbridge Energy because they have people helping clean it up.

Oil trapped against a boom on the Kalamazoo River Friday

So by now you probably know that Enbridge Energy Partners had a little malfunction with one of their oil pipelines, one that federal regulators repeatedly warned the company about. Something like 1 million gallons of crude was dumped into the Kalamazoo River system where it has coated banks, choked off wetlands and disrupted the lives and economies in numerous local communities.

I was down there Friday checking it out, and it’s a God awful disaster. Yes, disaster. Even though WJR’s Frank Beckmann has declared it much ado about nothing primarily because no one has died. Frank says we shouldn’t condemn Enbridge because they have workers cleaning it up, and that government red tape is to blame for the problem. Frank, on his radio show, also beat up on the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment because they didn’t have enough respirators to go around to their people doing sampling. Of course, it was the right wing cavalry in the legislature that has stripped the agency of nearly 75 percent of its general fund money in the past decade, vilified it as a job-killing band of regulatory thugs and even tried to eliminate the division within the agency that responded to the oil spill! And we wonder why they don’t have an adequate equipment budget?

(There was a time when Frank had a mind of his own and wasn’t afraid to use it, but he’s increasingly is content to only parrot Rush Limbaugh these days.)

Since the whole media world is covering the spill, I’m content point out that there is a plethora of excellent coverage happening, most notably at my alma mater the Detroit Free Press where Todd Spangler and Jennifer Dixon did an excellent job Sunday of explaining the regulatory environment that lets the Enbridges of the world take calculated risks with the world’s greatest freshwater ecosystem. (An exception is the Freep’s web headline last night, cheerily pointing out that half the 1 million gallons has been collected, but failing to note that each remaining gallon gets tougher as it settles into wetlands, smothering bacteria and plankton and choking off the entire bottom of the food chain).

The Environmental Protection Agency is taking the lead on the response to the spill.
(EPA, another band of job-killing thugs except when, well….when it become apparent maybe polluters shouldn't actually be allowed to regulate themselves)

Meanwhile, the National Wildlife Federation has released a report noting that Michigan ranks 9th highest in oil spills in recent years.

The next time Frank Beckmann decides to declare a disaster zone a non-disaster, I suggest he do a show from the region where can talk to the people I did -- the lifelong hunter and fisherman near tears at the despoiling of his cherished river valley; the campground owner forced to simply shut down her business at the peak of summer season; or the golf course superintendent told not to use his sprinkler system that draws directly from the river lest the fairways get coated with oil.

These are the people who will still be dealing with this spill in six weeks, six months and six year -- long after the TV cameras and most of the politicians have moved on. 
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Lead poisoning: How much of a factor in delinquency and violent crime?

Millions of children, including tens of thousands in Detroit, are afflicted with an illness that permanently lowers their IQ; damages their neurological systems and makes them prone to erratic, aggressive and violent behavior.

The affliction is lead poisoning, and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that many of our children are suffering from it – through exposure routes including lead paint dust in old homes,contaminated soil in (mostly) urban areas and even children's toys. About 1 in 25 children tested nationally have elevated lead levels, more than 3 million kids. If this travesty were the result of bad children's vitamins or contaminated applesauce it would be front-page national news. Instead, it's been a slow, painful struggle to reduce kids' exposure to lead.

We’ve made great strides. Leaded gasoline was banned in the 1970s (over the strenuous objections of industry) and lead paint was banned in 1977 (over the strenuous objections of industry) and we’re cracking down on lead in children’s toys, too (over the strenuous….oh…you know the rest).
Yet there’s enough old lead hanging around to ruin the lives of families across the nation.

In 2002 I helped write a lengthy series of stories in the Detroit Free Press on lead poisoning in Michigan. During the course of research, we found a lot of evidence that lead poisoning was a significant factor in juvenile delinquency: Kids with this poison coursing through their veins were more prone to learning disabilities, violent outburst, anti-social behavior, etc.

That sort of thing is hard, perhaps impossible, to quantify. And it goes against the popularly held wisdom that delinquent children in the inner city are necessarily the result of single-parent households, the welfare state, or Democrats.

So I found it fascinating to read a short segment in "The Week" Magazine, exploring various explanations for recent decreases in crime nationwide:

One intriguing hypothesis about why Americans were so prone to violence in the 1980s was that many young people were suffering the effects of lead poisoning. The link between lead poisoning and aggressive or impulsive behavior is well established. And peaks in children’s exposure to the toxic metal, first due to lead paint and then to leaded gasoline, were followed roughly 20 years later by two of the 20th century’s worst crime eras. Under this theory, the phasing out of lead paint and leaded gasoline explains the reduction in crime.


It probably cost consumers some money, at least initially, to buy gasoline formulated without lead, and then lead-free house paint. Who's to say how much money we've saved by not having to treat -- both medically and criminally -- the damaged lives that would have resulted otherwise?



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Phosphorus ban takes effect for dish detergent - one small step toward cleaner swimmin' holes

Michigan’s beaches and swimmin’ holes will be busy this weekend with 90-degree temps and an armada of Michiganders doing what Michiganders do best. Swimming in the world’s best freshwater ecosystem and, uh, drinking beer.

So it’s timely that one small step toward keeping our beaches clean took effect yesterday. That’s when it officially became illegal to sell automatic dishwasher detergent with phosphates in them. Phosphates, as Tina Lam’s excellent Detroit Free Press story explains, contribute nutrients to our waterways that result in runaway weed growth, algae blooms, and the depletion of life-giving oxygen in the water.

A similar ban on phosphorus in lawn fertilizers is pending in the Michigan House of Representatives. More than 95 percent of residential soils tested have more than enough phosphorus – the remainder runs off into storm sewers and, eventually, into creeks, rivers and lakes. It’s an especially quick assault on a waterway when lakefront property owners use phosphorus-laden fertilizers. There should be a special place in hell reserved for riparian landowners who fertilize with phosphorus to the water’s edge.

Anyway, Tina’s article points out that phosphorus detergents do get dishes cleaner, which is generally true. But as more states go to phosphorus-free, good old American ingenuity is already making better and better products.

It reminds me of the furor over low flush toilets that were mandated in the mid-1990s. Critics screamed that 1.6 gallons per flush could NEVER do the job. Then Congressman Joe Knollenberg of Farmington Hills was the loudest, speaking about "suffering Americans" forced to use “tiny toilets.” You don’t hear that much anymore. Seems our entrepreneurs were up to the task.

But even if it takes a while for the phosphorus-free detergents to catch up, isn’t it worth a extra minute of scraping dishes to protect our beaches and swimming holes?

Happy Independence Day weekend. And remember, we’re celebrating our freedom from political and religious oppression and taxation without representation. As far as I know, the Founding Fathers said nothing about freedom to pollute our lakes to escape the oppression of rinsing a dinner plate.

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Life in the 48217: Not fair, and not justice in the state's most polluted ZIP code

“Environmental Justice” has always seems a poor piece of phraseology. The word “justice” makes me picture either courtroom drama or streets full of angry protesters.

What Environmental Justice http://bit.ly/957ALo means, simply, is that people should not have to live in places with disproportionately high levels of dangerous toxins because of their income level, their race, their neighborhood, or any other socio-economic factor.

That ideal is a long way from reality. Poor people get stuck with the shitty end of the pollution stick all the time. They’re the ones living next to the smokestacks and downstream from the toxic discharges. Many simply can’t afford to move elsewhere. And they lack the political clout (read: money) to change the status quo.

It’s especially unfair to kids. When you’re born into poverty, perhaps to a functionally illiterate parent in a decaying urban neighborhood, how much more of a kick in the teeth is it to have to deal with crippling asthma attacks from smokestack emissions or a nervous system gone haywire from lead? How many combative, violent 6 year olds are written off as bad apples when their issues were simply the neurological fallout of lead poisoning?

Anyway, this tremendous package of stories from the Detroit Free Press’ Tina Lam shows exactly how in the state’s most polluted ZIP code – The 48217 -- our least fortunate citizens get the shaft: http://bit.ly/aiUtMy It has a sidebar gadget that lets you enter your own ZIP code for a ranking, also.

But at least now we have a framework to begin addressing these issues. In 2007 Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed an executive directive that requires the state to begin considering Environmental Justice issues in its decisions: http://bit.ly/bH6ysT

There are concrete steps that can follow. At least 14 states limit how close schools and day care centers can be to sources of toxic discharges. Two states require that regulatory agencies take into account the cumulative impact of pollution sources when issuing permits.

There’s an old saying that a good judge of a society is how it treats its least fortunate citizens. We can do better by The 48217.
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Toxic cocktail of sewage overflows among worst in Metro Detroit rivers in 25 years, says the Freep

This spring’s heavy rains resulted in some of the most voluminous dumping of raw and partially treated sewage into Southeast Michigan’s rivers in the past 25 years according to today’s Detroit Free Press: http://bit.ly/cRQVcm

Two local beaches had bacteria counts 1,000 times higher than levels considered safe. More than 10 Metro Detroit beaches were closed last week due to the pollution.

I know this is a bit repetitive with one of last week’s posts http://bit.ly/bLX2eu. But does talking about raw feces in our rivers ever get old? No, I didn’t think so!

We consider ourselves a pretty civilized society, here in the early 21^st Century in the most powerful nation in the world. How bizarre that we’re still discharging huge quantities of what the Freep’s Steve Neavling calls  “…a toxic cocktail of rainwater, fertilizers, human and industrial waste, chemicals, parasites and other pollutants…” directly into our neighborhood creeks and rivers.

The Freep story is the first I’ve heard of State Rep. Sarah Roberts’ bill to “require health officials to notify the public immediately of overflows and contamination on a popular web site or other medium that is easily accessible.”  It sounds reasonable to me, as long as we remind ourselves that notifying people isn’t a substitute for fixing the problem.

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Michigan Green Leaders contest chips away some cynicism: Maybe everyone really is special?

Presenter at awards ceremony: “There were so many terrific and qualified nominees that it was incredibly hard for the judges to pick a winner!”
Translation: “We’re spewing this BS because we want to make everyone feel snuggly, warm and special even though some of these simpletons don’t even deserve our free bagels, much less this award.”

That’s pretty much my mindset, after covering way too many half-baked awards events and back-slapping-attaboy ceremonies. Everyone is special. Right.

After slogging through 351 nominees as a judge in the Detroit Free Press’ first Michigan Green Leaders contest, I’m humbled to admit it’s change my view: http://bit.ly/a4fWJ8

With the exception of perhaps a few dozen, every one of the nominees is doing something positive, tangible and often selfless to help protect Michigan’s natural resources. In most instances, their efforts were a financial boost to their businesses, schools or household budgets.

It was refreshing to read about 300 people, businesses and institutions who are doing great things for our state. And I can say that with a straight face.
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Detroit's Campus Martius earns national recognition as a successful urban park

Vibrant public spaces are critical for the health of cities and those who live, work and visit them.

In recent years Detroit has made significant strides. The banks of the Detroit River were walled off for years by a foreboding phalanx of buildings and concrete. It is now an accessible and thriving walkway showcasing the beauty of the river and urban fabric of the city: http://bit.ly/9FpkIC

And now the Detroit Free Press reports that Campus Martius Park was named a top urban park by a national organization: http://bit.ly/c8WrzR Campus Martius beat out competing parks from cities including Boston, New York and Seattle.

Public parks, walkways, rails and greenspaces often are considered luxuries when it comes time to slash tight budgets. But there’s strong case to be made that these lands are integral parts of a well functioning city and the sense of community and well-being that attracts residents and businesses.
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Are you more politically savvy than a 5th-grader? Or, Katie for Governor, 2030

Katie, my 11-year-old niece, wanted to have a garage sale to raise money for the Michigan Humane Society. Turns out the city of Bloomfield Hills has an ordinance prohibiting garage sales. Who knew?

For most kids, heck, for most adults, that’d be the end of the story.

But Katie pressed on. She asked why.

Last month she presented the Bloomfield Hills City Commission with a letter requesting the ban be rescinded. She spoke at the Commission meeting.

This week the city’s lawyer presented a plan to amend the ordinance and allow garage sales in the city. The commission took it under advisement and may vote on an ordinance change next month.

Already, Katie has exercised her rights in a democracy more effectively than half the adults in our state who don’t bother to vote, much less lobby their elected officials.

Her story was picked up this week by reporter Bill Laitner in the Detroit Free Press and by Detroit television stations WDIV and WXYZ.

I hope she gets her garage sale. At minimum, she’s elevated the level of discourse in Bloomfield Hills (and cost the city a couple of billable hours to a high priced legal firm!).

Donations for the Katie Baxter for Governor, 2030 campaign can be mailed directly to me.

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