A study, reportedly considered "alarming" examining the pollution of areas in the Great Lakes Basin was suppressed by the CDC for seven months.   The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the 400 page study and has a link to excerpts of it at their site.  Article excerpt, Sheila Kaplan, Center for Public Intergrity: 

"The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen “areas of concern”—including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee—may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants.

In many of the geographic areas studied, researchers found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and premature births, and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer."

 The article continues:

WHAT: Flyering at BP stations to let consumers know about BP's dumping plan.
WHEN: Tomorrow! Saturday, August 11, 2007, starting at 1PM
WHERE:
Madison: Wisconsin Environment Office, 122 State Street. Suite 310, Madison, WI 53703, ph. (608) 251-1918
Milwaukee: Outpost Foods, 204 E. Capitol Drive, Milwaukee, WI 53212

You can meet with Wisconsin Environment staff for a short how-to session and then head out from one of our two central locations listed above, or just print the flyer and go to your neighborhood BP station. If you're doing the latter, please let us know when and where.

Location(s)

Lautenschlager Rips State For "Do Nothing" Water Policies

Former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager blasts Wisconsin officials for their "do nothing" policy in the wake of Indiana's permission to British Petroleum allowing its Whiting, IN refinery to increase polluted dumping into Lake Michigan.

Lautenschlager is right about Wisconsin's curious and disappointing silence - - something I had noted on this blog almost two weeks ago.

And Lautenschlager mentions the rush to push Lake Michigan water to some Waukesha County suburbs.

British Petroleum is being allowed by Indiana officials to dump three tons of ammonia and other pollutants into Lake Michigan at the company's Whiting, IN refinery just east of Chicago.

Join an online petition drive. Details here.

The Congress, big city Mayors and tens of thousands of citizens are protesting Indiana's decision to allow tons more pollution daily to Lake Michigan at the British Petroleum refinery.

But Wisconsin officials, so far, have said nothing.

Could it be that it's Indiana's price for assenting to the request of the Wisconsin DNR for a Lake Michigan diversion to New Berlin - - before Indiana and most other Great Lakes states have yet to formally ratify the pending Great Lakes Compact?

Speculation and issues discussion, here.

Would it be too much to ask that the DNR do its regulatory job and work aggressively under Matt Frank, the newly-nominated secretary, to keep mass cattle fecal runoff out of Lake Michigan?

An earlier posting about this outrage in Manitowoc County is here.

Or is shoulder-shrugging by the agency in the face of obvious pollution now part of some new, secret DNR mission statement?

Should the entire burden of environmental protection in and around Manitowoc be borne by dedicated volunteer neighbors of these offending large animal operations?

Should sampling and improving Lake Michigan water quality along the lake's eastern shoreline be the responsibility of these activists?

Isn't that why we have a Department of Natural Resources?

I'd recommend that Matt Frank make splash in his new job with a road trip to Manitowoc, then a visit to the woodshed with his new staff, followed by an announcement of action.

And follow-up.