Our federal govern-ment has become notori-ous of late for its inabilityto do its job. While thismay not be news to any-one, a confluence ofaction by the Coast Guardand federal courts couldmean good news for thosewho care about the healthof the Great Lakes even asCongress and the WhiteHouse refuse to do theirjob.

The issue of ballastwater — what it containsand how it is discharged— has been a decades-long debate in the ship-ping industry. Ballastwater is sucked up byfreighters in other parts ofthe world and, until nottoo long ago, dischargedat will.

From this dischargeoften comes invasivespecies. Sometimes theypose no threat to ourwaterways. But in otherinstances, such as whathas been seen for the pastthree decades with thezebra mussel, these crea-tures can have a devastat-ing impact on our water’secosystem.

You don’t have to own aboat or have a job that

directly relies on thehealth of the lakes for thisto impact you. Do youdrink water or take ashower? Then the impactof zebra mussels hasprobably impacted you atsome point. In 1989, thecity of Monroe saw itswater system shut downfor three days as a resultof the creature just oneyear after it was intro-duced to Lake St. Clair bya Russian vessel.

The United States Fishand Wildlife Service esti-mates the economicimpact of zebra musselsat billions per decade.Today, zebra mussels havenot only spread aroundthe Great Lakes but toseveral inland bodies ofwater as well. They cannumber up to one millionper square meter, attach-ing to boat hulls and clog-ging water intake pipesalong the way.

Stopping the nextzebra mussel is of criticalimportance for the healthof our waterways.Michigan, along with sev-eral other Great Lakesstates, has tired of waitingfor action from the federalgovernment and hasinstead enacted tougherprevention measures forthe discharge of ballastwater.

That has led the feds totake these states to courtand, to date, it appearsthe courts are with thestates on the matter. TheUnited States Court ofAppeals last month ruledMichigan and other stateshave the right to exceed

federal standards relatedto the discharge of ballastwater. That decision, com-bined with a new set ofrules about to be enactedby the U.S. Coast Guard,has the potential to createmeaningful reform thatwill force the internationalshipping industry to takethe health of our deepblue treasure more seri-ously while doing so in amanner that will not cre-ate a hardship on theiroperations.

As reported in TheVoice last month, U.S.Rep. Candice Miller testi-fied at a July 7 ballastwater hearing held jointlyby the Subcommittee onWater Resources andEnvironment, on whichshe sits, and theSubcommittee on CoastGuard and MaritimeTransportation regardingthe new rule, “Standardsfor Living Organisms inShips’ Ballast WaterDischarged in U.S.Waters.”

The end result will like-ly be the adoption of newstandards governing thecleaning of ballast waterin ocean-going freighters,which should help pre-vent the release of non-native species into theGreat Lakes.

According to Miller, aHarrison Township boaterherself who has kept closetabs on the issue sincebeing elected to Congress,it is critical that uniformi-ty be developed to preventthe dozens of invasivespecies that are estimatedto be dumped in our

waters every month.Absent wide-rangingaction initiated byCongress or the WhiteHouse, which is not likely,the new Coast Guard reg-ulation, combined withindividual state mandates,may be the best we canhope for.

Locally, while the largeocean-going freighters arenot the biggest offenders,it is typically the smallships known as salties,

which bring cargo into theGreat Lakes while operat-ing from the Hudson Riverbasin, that cause the mostdifficulty.

The downside of thispatchwork of state legisla-tion and Coast Guardaction, many believe, isthat the shipping industrycould just divert theircargo from our ports. Theaforementioned inactionby the federal govern-ment, as we have just seen

on the much more seriousdebt ceiling issue, couldbe resolved by real leader-ship on the issue. WhileMiller has been an advo-cate for just this, it doesn’tappear her work will beadopted by her peers onCapital Hill.

Apparently, the inabili-ty to reach a consensusfor the betterment of all isnot just a budgetary phe-nomenon in our nation’scapital.

Community support madeMC events possible

The Marine CityChamber of CommerceMarketing Committeewould like to thank allwho helped us in ourrecent tourism “outreach”programs.

In June, we welcomedthe “Back to the Bricks”car cruisers to Marine Cityfor a “pit stop” on theircross-Michigan tour.Volunteers were James

LaLonde of Steinmetz-Vandenbossche Agency,Scott Anderson ofAnderson Consulting, andGeorgia Phelan ofThompson-Phelan Group.Goodie bag items weredonated by KernChiropractic, Vera GraceEmporium, Anita’sRiverside Grill, Back PorchAntiques, Pride & HeritageMuseum, Muffler Doctor,Talmer Bank, Marine CityMusic Festival, The SweetTooth, Verellen Farms,Captain Lester House,Steinmetz-VandenbosscheAgency, and VG’s FoodCenters.

In July, our Marine CityMusic Festival booth washosted by Georgia Phelan,Thompson-Phelan Group;Chris and Katie Phelan,Talmer Bank; Chris Kadey,KD Bookkeeping;Elizabeth Steiner, MarineCity Chamber ofCommerce; and ScottAnderson, AndersonConsulting.

These outreach pro-

grams, along with otherefforts such as participa-tion in the regional“Discover the Blue” initia-tive, are very instrumentalin our ongoing efforts topromote Marine City as aday trip tourism destina-tion. We have been seeingsuccess in these effortsand will continue to pur-sue this support of ourMarine City businesscommunity.GEORGIA PHELAN, ChairMarketing CommitteeMarine City Chamber ofCommerce

Marathon helps BlueWater Choices

We would like to thankMarathon PetroleumCompany LLC for theirsupport and sponsorshipof our program at BlueWater Choices in MarineCity. Blue Water Choices isa community inclusionprogram for adults with

developmental disabili-ties; and 100 percent ofthe funds donated areused to purchase adaptiveequipment, learningactivities, and communityexperiences. Thanks againfor your support.STARR CARUTHERS andFRIENDS at BLUE WATERCHOICESMarine City

Charity golf outing madepossiblethrough sponsors

The Lions of St. Clairthank the following spon-sors for their support ofour 19th annual BudFriederichs MemorialCharity Night Golf Outingat the Pine Shores GolfCourse in St. Clair. TheLions direct all proceedsraised by this project tolocal projects includingthe scholarship program

for high school seniors.For over 40 years, gradu-ating seniors from St.Clair High have usedthese scholarships to pur-sue higher education.

Thank you to: PineShores Golf Course; JimFriederichs; St. Clair Eye;A1 Computers; SeawayCommunity Bank;Anderson Eckstein andWestrick Inc.; ClarkRussell Electric; Dr.Robert Reisig DDS PC;International ChemicalWorkers Union Local867C; Bruce Campbell;Wright Services Plumbing,Heating & AirConditioning; Silk’sFlower Shop; Neiman’sMarket; Young’s ColonialChapel Funeral Home;Saint Clair McDonald’s;LaCroix’s Riverside Pub;St. Clair Jeep, Dodge,RAM; and St. ClairChevrolet, Buick andGMC.TIM BURNSEvent ChairmanSt. Clair

Offended by offi-cial’s comment

In a synopsis of the cityof St. Clair’s council meet-ing, Councilmember JaneKrebs voted againstawarding the St. ClairHighway project to PamarEnterprises while refer-encing Pamar’s perform-ance on a previous projectas “a shoddy job.” As aPamar employee, I takeMs. Krebs’ quote as a per-sonal attack of my workethic and integrity. I havehad the privilege of work-ing with multiple crews atPamar, none of whichhave ever completed aproject of inferior quality.Any concerns of a cus-tomer are addressedimmediately to ensureabsolute satisfaction upon

project completion. Onnumerous occasions Ihave gone above andbeyond my job duties, aswell as contract require-ments to fulfill the expec-tations of a customer or acitizen affected by theconstruction process.These are not the qualitiesof an employee who per-forms a “shoddy job.”Furthermore, such quali-ties are exhibited by allPamar employees andcommended by manage-ment. In conclusion, Ilook forward to not onlyworking in my hometown,but in CouncilmemberKrebs’ ward. I would liketo extend an invitation toMs. Krebs to introduceherself and defend thebasis of her quote tomyself and fellow cowork-ers of Pamar Enterprises.JASON SHAFER (PamarEnterprises)St. Clair

What’s the purpose of the gate?

Could someone pleaseexplain the purpose/ben-efit of the new gate at theWalpole ferry stop onAlgonac’s boardwalk? Iwas at the Algonac CityCouncil meeting a coupleof years back when a gov-ernment official discussedthe need for thisfence/gate. The cityargued we didn’t needthis, that they could notrecall a problem with carsfleeing the border patrol.Government stated wewere getting it anyway.Why? Who is it helping?I’ve tried to see where thebenefit is, and I can’t findit. I find it a rude incon-venience to the people ofthe community and awaste of taxpayers’money.

Pedestrians now haveto walk around the build-ing, going down a steepcurb and cutting acrossthe car-filled, pot holed,bumpy parking lot. Thereis no way the disabled or amother with a stroller isgoing to be able to stepdown that “huge” curb,not to mention trying to

get your bicycle down andcross that pavementsmoothly.

The gate blocks pedes-trians from walking downthe boardwalk right infront of the old RussellIsland ferry spot, whichhas no fence. It is open foranyone to fall over. TheWalpole ferry pulls rightup to the boardwalk witha ramp that connects to it,allowing no spacebetween for anyone to fallinto the water there.

If that gate is intendedto keep a car from “escap-ing” the borderpatrol/ferry, as stated atthat council meeting longago, then that too hasfailed. The gate is wideopen for the cars comingoff of the ferry. Therefore,if a car wanted to speedon thru, they could andwould just run the pedes-trians over on the cross-walk in front of them. If itis so that the border patrolmay work more efficiently,that fails too. Only one carat a time can be under theroof at the border patrolbuilding. All others must

wait on the ferry, as it hasbeen for years.

The only benefit I’veseen thus far is that thecars getting onto the ferrycan get on quickly andsmoothly, as they’vealways been able to do. Ihave lived in Algonac for13 years now and havewalked that boardwalkyear round for just aslong. There has neverbeen an issue with thepedestrians and Walpoleferry that I have seen.Could someone pleaseexplain why we need thisgate?DONNA RUSSELLAlgonac

Early childhoodlearning critical

As a member of the St.Clair CountyCollaborative, I wasthrilled to see Gov. RickSnyder create an Office ofGreat Start within stategovernment: What a giftfor Michigan’s childrenand ultimately for thestate’s economy. The oldway of thinking says chil-

dren magically start learn-ing when they enterkindergarten. These dayswe know better. Researchconfirms learning beginsat birth and children whoget off to a great start tendto do better in school andlife. The key now, ofcourse, is to let the newOffice of Great Startmature and grow, whichwill require continuingsupport from lawmakerson both sides of the aisle.The pay-off will be sub-stantial. Michigan is onthe cusp of developing anationally-recognizedearly childhood systemthat will do more thananything else to increasethe number of highlyskilled workers inMichigan that businessleaders say is crucial forsuccess in the globaleconomy.BRIGITTE HARWOODMarysville

August 10, 2011

COMMENT OF THE WEEK“Taking away so much money from ourschools while giving tax breaks to businessesis not going to help our schools, or the futureof this state.”

- “Dawn” commenting on a petitiondrive to recall Gov. Rick Snyder at a

Macomb Township park.

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Coast Guard and state actioncould provide ballast water relief

Jeff PayneEditor

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