Petition delivery to Indiana Governor's office
A Journey to Indy for Love of the Lake
By eight Thursday night we had
made it home from a day that had begun early and solemnly. All four of us had awakened at seven and
wordlessly rotated through our morning routines. After one final check of the petition site,
we packed up our bags, pulled together the posters that had been painstakingly
crafted the late night before, and, like a procession, left the hotel.
Driving through the streets
of downtown Indianapolis, we shared the road with others who were coming in to
the capitol to conduct their business. “I’ve been to London to visit the Queen,” the
old nursery verse seemed peculiarly apt to our modest expedition. The grandly imposing state building rose up
slowly before us: we rounded the corner to find a parking space waiting for us
just steps away.
A few minutes, one more chance to repeat some salient
science, then hit it. Gather the
petition, press release, placards, lists of links, books and enter the sunlit
stairs at the northwest corner.
Time: 9:20 a.m.
Not wanting to block access
on the sidewalk, I stepped aside for a bearded gentleman on approach. How incredible to hear him say in response
“I’m here for you.” I almost knocked him
over with my exuberance! Having barely
pulled myself back together, I noticed another bespectacled young man. Beyond our wildest hopes -not only was he
press, but Associated Press!
My husband Blair gave the
presentation: “Indiana is letting BP dump neurotoxic mercury into our Lake at a rate of over 20 times the amount allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Mercury is a heavy metal that can accumulate in fish. Expectant mothers and young children are warned not to eat tainted fish because mercury can damage fetuses' and youngsters' developing brains. An indefinite waiver just simply does not give anyone any incentive to clean up their act," he said. "Lake Michigan is the lake that we - people all around the lake - get our water from and it's an incredible national resource."
As the four of us Lake Michigan devotees stood on the street corner holding our signs, a man with a cane came to the corner. Here was a longtime EPA administer who had originally come to Indianapolis to help clean up hazardous sewage conditions that plagued the city. Beyond that, this environmental warrior had helped Cleveland put out its river fires when the pollution in the Cuyahoga River caused it literally to burst into flames. How inspiring to have the support of such a man!
As the four of us Lake Michigan devotees stood on the street corner holding our signs, a man with a cane came to the corner. Here was a longtime EPA administer who had originally come to Indianapolis to help clean up hazardous sewage conditions that plagued the city. Beyond that, this environmental warrior had helped Cleveland put out its river fires when the pollution in the Cuyahoga River caused it literally to burst into flames. How inspiring to have the support of such a man!
It was when we actually entered the capitol building - after being meticulously scrutinized by security - that our fellow-travelling friends soared with boundless energy and indomitable determination. Janice and her 17-year-old son Luke led the way to the governor’s office and we handed the petition to the intern staffing the desk. Later, by midafternoon when my adrenalin had long been expended, the two of them were back at the governor’s reception desk to make sure our petition had been delivered and then they revisited the press cubicles one-by-one to make sure our press releases and copies of my book The Glaciers’ Treasure Trove: A Field Guide to the Lake Michigan Riviera” - that we had left earlier to give some background of Lake Michigan southern shores - had been received.
Just after eight, after
dropping off Janice and Luke to husband and brothers anxiously awaiting their
return, we arrived back up at the Lake.
No sooner had Blair emptied the car in umpteen trips than the telephone
rang brightly with Janice’s great news.
AP had put the story on the wire, featuring her poster’s resounding
message
“Dear
Indiana,
Don’t let BP pollute
our great Lake Michigan.
Love,
http://www.ctpost.com/news/
Press Release
For immediate release
Indianapolis,
July 30, 2013
Governor Implored to Stop BP from Polluting Lake Michigan
Group seeks Indiana compliance with EPA regulations
On Thursday, August 1, at 10 a.m. a group of
concerned citizens will deliver to the Governor of Indiana a petition that reads:
"Corporate giant BP dumps almost 20 times more mercury
into Lake Michigan than is permitted under federal law, endangering human
health and fishing interests. The State of Indiana is allowing this to
continue. We demand that Indiana require BP’s massive Indiana refineries to
come into compliance with all federal pollution laws now and that BP, the State
of Indiana and the EPA act aggressively to protect our nationally treasured
Lake Michigan."
The State of Indiana currently allows BP to exceed limits
permitted under national Environmental Protection Agency regulations and is
preparing to grant BP a permanent exemption. BP’s discharge of industrial waste into Lake
Michigan poisons the freshwater lake and endangers the lives of human, fish and
plants.
“As a native
Hoosier who grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan, I know there is no place in
the world like it,” says petitioner, Jacqueline Widmar Stewart. “Together we can save this Great Lake, one of
the most important sources of fresh water on the planet. Why should Indiana let our precious national
resource become a wasteland? Look at
BP’s track record in the Gulf. Why
should the public give up its treasure to subsidize polluters?”
BP refineries in Whiting Indiana currently discharge into Lake
Michigan
some 20 times the permitted amount of mercury, a neurotoxin, at
a time when the states and the federal government are working to implement the
Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy of 2005. The goal is to restore the health of the
largest group of freshwater lakes on earth; Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron,
Erie and Ontario together contain 21% of the world’s surface fresh water.
The campaign to save Lake Michigan is a grassroots movement
through MoveOn.org Petitions, a nonprofit organization that connects petition
signers directly to elected officials.
A press briefing will be held at 9:30 a.m., August 1, at the
northwest corner of West Washington Street and South Capitol Avenue.
Contacts:
Jacqueline Widmar Stewart
Blair W. Stewart
650.619.1600
dub2go@gmail.com
----------------------------------------
Together we can save our national treasure, but we are up against a giant that is promising one billion dollars in jobs and claims commitment to the area.
Please sign our petition at
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-bp-pollution-of
Credo has a similar petition with 10,000 signatures at
http://org.credoaction.com/petitions/take-a-stand-for-lake-mi-tell-the-epa-no-more-mercury-dumping-exceptions-for-bp-1
Please help!
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When the Clean Water Act was enacted in the early 1960s:
President John F. Kennedy said:
"Our nation has been blessed with a bountiful supply of water, but it is not a blessing we can regard with complacency,"Kennedy said in a special message to Congress on natural resources a month after his inauguration. "To meet all needs -- domestic, agricultural, industrial, recreational -- we shall have to use and reuse the same water, maintaining quality as well as quantity. In many areas of the country we need new sources of supply, but in all areas we must protect the supplies we have."
Republication Senator Baker said:
Resources
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When the Clean Water Act was enacted in the early 1960s:
President John F. Kennedy said:
"Our nation has been blessed with a bountiful supply of water, but it is not a blessing we can regard with complacency,"Kennedy said in a special message to Congress on natural resources a month after his inauguration. "To meet all needs -- domestic, agricultural, industrial, recreational -- we shall have to use and reuse the same water, maintaining quality as well as quantity. In many areas of the country we need new sources of supply, but in all areas we must protect the supplies we have."
Republication Senator Baker said:
"There are many, many federal programs that are wasteful, and many American tax dollars are idly spent on programs that do not produce commensurate results -- but that is not true of the federal pollution effort," said Sen. Howard Baker, a first-term Republican from Tennessee, during floor debate.
"I believe that the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 is far and away the most significant and promising piece of environmental legislation ever enacted by the Congress."
Resources
Stop BP’s Mercury Pollution of Lake Michigan
MoveOn petition http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-bp-pollution-of
Blog and Social Media
Reference Materials
"Come for the Gulf Disaster,
Stay for the Great Lakes Pollution", John DeCock, Clean Water
Action, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-decock/bp-come-for-the-gulf-disa_b_621313.html
possible expansion of 17 refineries on the Great
Lakes to use tar sands. http://onthecommons.org/work/tar-sands-threaten-environment-thousand-miles-away
At what price? http://indiana.sierraclub.org/idem/w0016.html
Congressmen press EPA over Whiting. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=9999200034303
mercury info http://greatlakesecho.org/2012/06/29/mercury-vote-highlights-need-for-a-new-great-lakes-mindset/
slow drainage of Lake Michigan
Lake Mich institutions http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/lakemich/intro.html
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/aalexander/five-year_reunion_environmenta.html
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/aalexander/chicago_tribune_shines_light_o.html
