Kasich needs to take Lake Erie issues seriously
For reasons that elude logic but apparently make sense to Gov. John Kasich, Ohio officials long refused to designate the open waters of Lake Erie’s western basin as environmentally impaired. That is, until earlier this year when forced to do so by withdrawal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of Ohio’s stance following a lawsuit by two environmental groups.
That was the right decision. Except that Kasich still doesn’t get it.
In an interview May
11 with a reporter from cleveland.com’s sister publication in Michigan, MLive.com, Ohio’s governor said he doesn’t believe Lake Erie’s waters are impaired “because they’re not. Because I don’t believe that they are, that’s why.”
Kasich did note, correctly, that Ohio has “declared impaired certain areas of the lake.”
Yet he showed no understanding about how Ohio’s voluntary approach to reducing phosphorus runoff from large agricultural operations in the Maumee basin of western Lake Erie was contributing to the annual toxic green algal blooms like the one that in 2014 cut off Lake Erie drinking water to nearly half a million people in the Toledo area.
Why, wondered MLive. com’s Garret Ellison, does Ohio oppose setting a total maximum daily load (TMDL) on phosphorous dumped into Lake Erie?
Kasich’s muddled reply: “I don’t have any idea what that (a TMDL) even is.” He then proceeded to cite, as a policy model for solving problems, Ohio’s approach to engaging physicians in the fight against opioid addiction, which Kasich said evolved from voluntary guidelines into rules once doctors were on board.
If voluntary approaches worked, Lake Erie wouldn’t be in the state it’s in today.
If Kasich believes, as he said, that the lake’s “a jewel,” he needs to start paying closer attention to what’s tarnishing that jewel — phosphorus runoff — and direct the Ohio EPA to crack down on it.
In March, the Ohio EPA finally said it would designate the open waters of Lake Erie from the Ohio-Michigan border to Marblehead lighthouse as impaired for recreation (due to harmful algal blooms) as well as for drinking water (due to occurrences of microcystin — liver toxins).
Previously, the Ohio EPA designated a more-limited area as impaired.
But that turnabout is only part of what needs to be done — and done now — to protect Lake Erie. Critically, what’s needed at the Statehouse is articulate leadership, not clueless, cavalier comments, because many of the perils Lake Erie faces are political: The General Assembly has shied away from meaningfully addressing agricultural runoff because state legislators fear the relentless agribusiness lobby.
Kasich did make clear in the MLive.com interview that he realizes his fellow Republicans in the Statehouse are the major political impediments to tough Ohio phosphorus runoff limits.
The background: When the Maumee River and Lake Erie meet at Toledo, the Maumee discharges western Ohio’s agricultural runoff into the lake. About 60 percent of that drainage is from Ohio and the area is huge. As a federal judge recently wrote, the Maumee has “the largest drainage area of any Great Lakes river.” When sluiced into the lake, the runoff spawns toxic algal blooms.
Depending on the occasion and topic, Kasich’s spontaneity can be refreshing. But Lake Erie’s protection is a serious matter, and his comments, and approach, should be serious — not offhanded and dismissive.
Kasich needs to shelve his out-of-state 2020 presidential-bid test trips long enough to make sure GOP legislative leadership in Ohio understands that not only does the governor get that Lake Erie is impaired, but also that fixing the impairment requires cracking down on phosphorus runoff from farms and livestock operations.